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Vuelta a San Juan 2023 (January 22-29)

Page 19 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
For me the big news of yesterday have been that Bernal seems to come back this year! It was his first Top 5 showing after his big crash, so he will not be a Froome 2.0 and I am really looking forward to follow him this year.

Does anybody know, what happened with Marco Brenner yesterday? He was supposed to lead DSM here, but was nowhere to be seen yesterday..
 
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Congratulation to Miguel Ángel López for wining the queen stage in impressive fashion. And for getting a ticket to return to European peloton.

After small splits in the peloton it was time for Evenpoel to insert his dominance. This time to no avail. After Ineos chasing him down a perfect opportunity for López to make a move. Only Higuita being able to follow. López putting on a relentless show. Higuita had to let go. Now it was down to Ineos to change the outcome. Not Bernal or Martínez. If anybody was gonna do it it was Ganna. Unfortunately for Ganna the hill got steeper and the rest is history.

We got our answers. On why we watched this race. Because it was worth it. Bernal seems to be back on the track again. I just hope it makes sense for him to ride Tour 2023. Instead of Vuelta 2023. As for Evenpoel too bad he made this stupid mistake on this race and not on Giro. But OK.

P.S. Now just make sure there will be no significant crashes. And we are good. Some nice sprinting still ahead. Likely Bennett and Jakobsen being rather hungry for it.
 
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I'd like to know what Superman said to Higuita right before he dropped him. It definitely looked like Sergio got scared straight.

It could potentially have been interesting if the gap had only been seven seconds to Ganna, but now there probably won't be much acton before the final kilometre on the two remaining stages.
 
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Congratulation to Miguel Ángel López for wining the queen stage in impressive fashion. And for getting a ticket to return to European peloton.

After small splits in the peloton it was time for Evenpoel to insert his dominance. This time to no avail. After Ineos chasing him down a perfect opportunity for López to make a move. Only Higuita being able to follow. López putting on a relentless show. Higuita had to let go. Now it was down to Ineos to change the outcome. Not Bernal or Martínez. If anybody was gonna do it it was Ganna. Unfortunately for Ganna the hill got steeper and the rest is history.

We got our answers. On why we watched this race. Because it was worth it. Bernal seems to be back on the track again. I just hope it makes sense for him to ride Tour 2023. Instead of Vuelta 2023. As for Evenpoel too bad he made this stupid mistake on this race and not on Giro. But OK.

P.S. Now just make sure there will be no significant crashes. And we are good. Some nice sprinting still ahead. Likely Bennett and Jakobsen being rather hungry for it.

To the bolded, I honestly think Evenepoel wanted to assert his majesty, but alas the king was nude. He wanted to take on Ineos and the others, to show the Remco 2.0 version of last Vuelta and not the struggling one at the 2021 Giro. Yet he lost ground to a returning Bernal again. No big deal, as you say, for this moment. However, he won't want to botch it again in the next race against Pogacar for morale. Cycling is a mind game too.
 
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Big words from someone who once got an article about two sprinters published (or maybe you can't use the word "published" if it's on a cycling website?).
I was young and oblivious, and I was a huge fanboy of Gaviria after that one season where he seemingly could do everything (not just sprint, mind you..)

Point being that it just doesnt make much sense to me to complain about a race thats structured the way this race is structured..
 
I was half-joking yesterday when I wondered how the climbing times would compare to Najar's. I'm scared to ask what Ganna's watt output was considering his weight...
Wide range to calculate due to dehydration (first 3 hours of the stage were 29 degrees average) but somewhere around 445-475w for the final 20 minutes, final 10-minute burst at 2500m average altitude of ~465-490w (Ganna states he's almost 90KG at this point in the season usually, iirc last year specifically said 88KG).

Maybe his best climbing performance ever accounting for altitude. Pretty massive performance from Ineos as a whole tbh, Rivera in his last few stage races has quietly been a good-level WT rider. Probably helps that he didn't snap and dislocate his elbow and collarbone this off-season :tearsofjoy:
 
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To the bolded, I honestly think Evenepoel wanted to assert his majesty, but alas the king was nude. He wanted to take on Ineos and the others, to show the Remco 2.0 version of last Vuelta and not the struggling one at the 2021 Giro. Yet he lost ground to a returning Bernal again. No big deal, as you say, for this moment. However, he won't want to botch it again in the next race against Pogacar for morale. Cycling is a mind game too.

If 2023 season would turn out to be a flop. Remco would still be Remco. If he has every third season as he did in 2022. He will still be one of the greats. Just don't be a slacker and the rest will come.
 
You had the first part right.

Yeah, and thank you to you for mentioning it :)

Always impresses me how strong Ganna can be at these „unipuerto“ (I hope I named them correctly) stages, when the gradients are around 5%. Also yesterday he beat so many climbing specialists who are 25 kgs or more lighter than him.

A little bit sad that Remco lacked something at the end, but he‘s good.

So relieved for Bernal. Performance of the day, after what he‘s been through… Maybe he really will be back to 100% - I‘d be pleased for him. Such a good guy!… :)
 
To the bolded, I honestly think Evenepoel wanted to assert his majesty, but alas the king was nude. He wanted to take on Ineos and the others, to show the Remco 2.0 version of last Vuelta and not the struggling one at the 2021 Giro. Yet he lost ground to a returning Bernal again. No big deal, as you say, for this moment. However, he won't want to botch it again in the next race against Pogacar for morale. Cycling is a mind game too.
But why was he so lacking on a 4% climb? Seemed like overconfidence to me - a bit like Pogacar's demise on stage 12 of TdF. I think we were quickly reminded nothing is certain in this sport. I was glad to see Bernal looking good over what he has come back from. I am also now wondering if Remco has a physical problem with altitude? This was only a minor pre season stage race and Remco will be back for sure but there won't be cakewalks.
 
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But why was he so lacking on a 4% climb? Seemed like overconfidence to me - a bit like Pogacar's demise on stage 12 of TdF. I think we were quickly reminded nothing is certain in this sport. I was glad to see Bernal looking good over what he has come back from. I am also now wondering if Remco has a physical problem with altitude? This was only a minor pre season stage race and Remco will be back for sure but there won't be cakewalks.
Precisely. As much as Remco wants to win, the competition, even in a "meaningless race in January," is going to try and make it as difficult for him as possible. Take Ineos, for example, they put three guys ahead of him on Alto de Colorado. Bernal surely gains morale and confidence, because he should still have a big margin to improve before July. Ganna and Higiuta also gain something.

Clearly it's too early to draw conclusions and we'll doubtless know more come spring. But the level is going to be too high for walks in the park. Plus he has the Rainbow Jersey, which makes him even more of a marked man in every race he's in.
 
So around 10 years ago, there was much derision of the Tour Down Under, it being a very dull race that deliberately did not use the obstacles at its disposal in order to not stop riders from coming, being a very short and boring race consisting of five sprints and Willunga Hill that most riders not from Australia itself treated as a bit of warm weather training, and anybody who actually wanted to do some challenging racing in January instead headed to Argentina.

Oh how the tables turn, now it's the precise opposite, the Tour Down Under has finally turned into a competitive race with varied stages, and San Luís with its ITT, the hilly stage around the motor racing circuit and its two MTFs (one short one long) has been replaced by this absolute mess.

Jancouver would be rolling in his grave.