Vuelta a Espana Stage 9: Villacastín - Sierra de Bejar. La Covatilla 183,0 km

[killswitch]

Very interesting stage. TGBM really is good, never expected him to be up there. But, just to bait the Dutch Maffia, Mollema didn't do a single turn on the front for the entire climb (or at least I didn't see it) while Martin and Nibali attacked hard and Wiggins did a lot of pulling on the final bit. If it wasn't TGBM but a rider from a different country you'd be calling him a wheelsucker now

Blasphemy!

 

[ingsve]

I didn't see Kessiakoff all the way up that climb but he must have done well. Where did he finish?

They had one camera with the leaders and the second camera stayed with J-Rod when he got dropped but the group he got dropped from was still in between. It had Kessiakoff, Menhov, Seeldrayers, Poels, Zubeldia etc, but they didn't have a camera with them.

 

[Parrulo]

5) Nibali puts another nail in the coffin of the myth that he doesn't attack going uphill.

i would even say:

 

[Tank Engine]

Danny Boy yes. As for Wiggins, I must admit he's not my favourite type of rider (even as a Sky fan), but that's the closest you'll get to a Wiggans attack and he and Froome were just awesome. Congratulations to TGBM. It'll change tomorrow though

 

[Michielveedeebee]

i am eager to see what nibbles, VdB2, anton and machado can do.

the first 3 because their form is "unkown" for several reasons and the last one simply because he is portuguese

would be nice if machado could enter the top 20 today as he has said to the portuguese newspapers that his form is improving

Cracked, although not that much, Nibbles clearly not as strong as last year.

major fail

Wiggins was superstrong, Froome as well.. Scarponi disappointing, Menchov and Cobo good Mollema was a pleasant surprise tbh, Wiggins leader after tomorrow me thinks

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Ah, isn't it nice to see a Grand Tour again. Like, an actual Grand Tour, with three weeks of racing.

 

[Parrulo]

http://www.lavuelta.com/11/es/resultados/index.html?e=9

ty

machado fail confirmed

 

[Magnus]

Kenyan......

According to wiki he's got British citizenship.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Cracked, although not that much, Nibbles clearly not as strong as last year.

major fail

Wiggins was superstrong, Froome as well.. Scarponi disappointing, Menchov and Cobo good Mollema was a pleasant surprise tbh, Wiggins leader after tomorrow me thinks

Scarponi wasn't just disappointing, he was terrible.

He fully cracked rather than just joke cracked, losing nearly 2 minutes to Wiggins on a climb was not in the script for him.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

nibbles is a champ anyway, who could not like him

 

[LaFleur]

I'm probably not the first one saying this, but WTF in the team standings???? 3 teams in 1 second!!!

 

[movingtarget]

The GC will flip flop again tomorrow. Wiggins and Menchov will make up big time and Nibali will probably end up in Red or Wiggins.

 

[sublimit]

Froome is having a solid year and this Vuelta and that early pull was fantastic before Wiggo took over.
Guarantees his continuing presence at Sky next year hopefully.

 

[Pharazon]

Froome rocks...

awesome effort from him to split the peloton on his own at 3km

 

[jens_attacks]

what a renaissance by zubeldia _O_!

 

[Gingerale]

feed went to track and field so fast i hardly know what hit me.

was guessing the pure climbers would be behind after ITT but not this much. but there is time and maybe chances on stages to come and the way this designed.

still wow'ing at the surprises today - TGBM and martin....nibs and wiggo too.

 

[Parrulo]

Cracked, although not that much, Nibbles clearly not as strong as last year.

major fail

Wiggins was superstrong, Froome as well.. Scarponi disappointing, Menchov and Cobo good Mollema was a pleasant surprise tbh, Wiggins leader after tomorrow me thinks

i would say that spending more time against the win attacking had some influence on him cracking

nibbles is a champ anyway, who could not like him

2 letters for you

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

what a renaissance by zubeldia _O_!

yeah epic, always liked him..

Gotta be said, this was a pretty good stage.

 

[Nielsa]

Froome is having a solid year and this Vuelta and that early pull was fantastic before Wiggo took over.
Guarantees his continuing presence at Sky next year hopefully.

For sure. If he can keep it up at a good level for the rest of the Vuelta then they have to bring him to the TdF team, instead of second tier sprinter/4th leadout Ben Swift.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Very interesting stage. TGBM really is good, never expected him to be up there. But, just to bait the Dutch Maffia, Mollema didn't do a single turn on the front for the entire climb (or at least I didn't see it) while Martin and Nibali attacked hard and Wiggins did a lot of pulling on the final bit. If it wasn't TGBM but a rider from a different country you'd be calling him a wheelsucker now

it was headwind. TGBM is not a total moron

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Scarponi wasn't just disappointing, he was terrible.

He fully cracked rather than just joke cracked, losing nearly 2 minutes to Wiggins on a climb was not in the script for him.

Scarponi tried to split the race up lower down, worked too hard to pull attacks from relatively insignificant people like Pardilla and Seeldraeyers back, and paid for it later on.

 

[movingtarget]

Scarponi and Rodriguez showed once again why they will always struggle to win a grand tour. Great climbers but don't consistently put it together over three weeks.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

this was a nice stage.

great win for martin. the head wind killed nibali completely . . . wiggins looking very good on this kind of climbs. should be interesting to see him climb the angliru.

this vuelta is getting very interesting.

btw D_T nibali doesn't attack? do you still consider him your most hated rider?

I don't give a flying **** Mollema is leader. You can't say anything

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

i would say that spending more time against the win attacking had some influence on him cracking



2 letters for you

I don't think nibbles is actually weaker this yaer, the field is probably a little bit better this year. Jrod clearly had an odd day, the guy really lacks in consistency and anton is simply very bad at this vuelta.

 

[Jamsque]

Dan Martin took the mountains jersey today, he won't have to wear the combination jersey by default any more.

In related news, why does the Vuelta have a combi jersey but no young rider jersey?