Vuelta al País Vasco 4–9 April 2016

[blackmamba]

Re: Re:

Bit of a greenedge Yates fail today aswell, not in top 26 and over 43 seconds down

They targetted the wrong Yates for GC - Adam did all the work and had to push himself to get back and pace Simon for the last 2kms.

Anyway Landa showed he's the best pure climber in the peleton.

2.7km - best pure climber in the peleton

Sure man sure since 2.7km is the true definition of a real climb

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Bit of a greenedge Yates fail today aswell, not in top 26 and over 43 seconds down

They targetted the wrong Yates for GC - Adam did all the work and had to push himself to get back and pace Simon for the last 2kms.

Anyway Landa showed he's the best pure climber in the peleton.

2.7km - best pure climber in the peleton

Sure man sure since 2.7km is the true definition of a real climb

What a naive comment by you - I've watched of Landa and the other mountain goats to judge a rider's climbing capability.

 

[yaco]

I posted yesterday the end of stage 2 was brutal - It's that type of climb that only suits a few - I doubt today's stage will have much impact on GC.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

From the posts here one would think Contador missed the top ten.

But the problem is the posters on here before the stage saying things like
Contador will win by 20secs
Contador will attack from the bottom of the climb
Contador will beat everyone...and so on and so on

If you post this type of stuff then you are bound ot get back lash if he doesn't come in first
Also many Contador fans want him to attack and beat everyone all the time

It is possible he can still win this ...SKY are his biggest threat as I see it..but he can win
But to what cost
Contador is working too hard against too much different opposition in many races like PN, Catalunya, Pais Vasco, etc ...I think he is trying to hard to be the Contador of ore and he is not as can be seen

better not tire yourself too much and concentrate on winning the Tour
And retire on a high

I love how he races in every race but I don't think he is doing himself any favours in the long run

 

[Taxus4a]

People take too much conclusions for the climb today. Landa did 18,2 Km/h in just 2,8 Km climb, step, but not Aia or thing like that, they get the start of the climb at 40 Km/h or more...

Maybe in VAM is a lot, becouse in this short step climbs VAM is much more than in 15 Km climb at 6 %, but it is not a superperformance.

 

[Taxus4a]

1943 VAM, with the start of the climb at higt speed.

The same VAM cyclist did in Mortirolo, 4 times long, in the past

 

[del1962]

Re: Re:

Bit of a greenedge Yates fail today aswell, not in top 26 and over 43 seconds down

They targetted the wrong Yates for GC - Adam did all the work and had to push himself to get back and pace Simon for the last 2kms.

Anyway Landa showed he's the best pure climber in the peleton.

Unfortunately we wont se him going mano mano against Froome his rival for that title

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I suppose the issue of whether the finish today would be one for the GC climbers or for the Mur de Huy boys was pretty conclusively answered, with only Henao making the top 10 for team "potential winners of Fleche".

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Unfortunately we wont se him going mano mano against Froome his rival for that title

Froome is not a pure climber

 

[SeriousSam]

Landa showed last year that he's a great climber. In peak shape, he may well have surpassed Contador, behind only Quintana and Froome.

The Giro will prove informative.

 

[Bushman]

Felline likes steep climbs? This should be too tough for him but he finished quite well in 20th. Climbed really well on Mortirolo last year as well

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

Bit of a greenedge Yates fail today aswell, not in top 26 and over 43 seconds down

They targetted the wrong Yates for GC - Adam did all the work and had to push himself to get back and pace Simon for the last 2kms.

Anyway Landa showed he's the best pure climber in the peleton.

Showed how? And to who? He hadn't show that to me, that's certainly! Strong ride and a stage win, yes, but nothing extraordinary. Favorites ride conservative and that's why Landa and Kelderman got the chance for a stage victory. Landa was stronger, so kudos to him. As far as Landa concerns, I doubt he'll be with the best on Aia...

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

I suppose the issue of whether the finish today would be one for the GC climbers or for the Mur de Huy boys was pretty conclusively answered, with only Henao making the top 10 for team "potential winners of Fleche".

Samu has two podiums in Fleche...

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

I suppose the issue of whether the finish today would be one for the GC climbers or for the Mur de Huy boys was pretty conclusively answered, with only Henao making the top 10 for team "potential winners of Fleche".

Samu has two podiums in Fleche...

At the end of this stage, the three best riders of the chasing group have all podiumed Flèche Wallonne.

 

[johnymax]

Super impressive ride by Landa. I didn't expect that to be honest. It could really be an epic Giro ahead of us. Nibali, Landa, Valverde, Majka, Zakarin, Dumoulin, Uran, Kruijswijk, Chaves, Pozzo, Henao?,... Best GC field in years?

Great ride by Kelderman, too. The first stage only extends the list of possible winners. There are some names I didn't expect that can fight for the win such as Landa, Kelderman, Gesink, Sanchez even Rui Costa looks better than I expected. On the other hand the Yates were very disappointing. I had Simon very high on my favourites list.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

From the posts here one would think Contador missed the top ten.

But the problem is the posters on here before the stage saying things like
Contador will win by 20secs
Contador will attack from the bottom of the climb
Contador will beat everyone...and so on and so on

If you post this type of stuff then you are bound ot get back lash if he doesn't come in first
Also many Contador fans want him to attack and beat everyone all the time

It is possible he can still win this ...SKY are his biggest threat as I see it..but he can win
But to what cost
Contador is working too hard against too much different opposition in many races like PN, Catalunya, Pais Vasco, etc ...I think he is trying to hard to be the Contador of ore and he is not as can be seen

better not tire yourself too much and concentrate on winning the Tour
And retire on a high

I love how he races in every race but I don't think he is doing himself any favours in the long run

+1.

You have been reading my posts, have you?

 

[johnymax]

Re: Re:

Contador is totally going far with this team... Don't get me wrong, some guys were already alone while he ''still'' had Roman there before the climb, such as Costa (surprise, surprise), but when Cannondale, Etixx, Кatusha and your rival team for your biggest objective of the season all have more than 4 guys in the end while you're virtually alone and, in some cases, not even getting help from your only domestique left, something is not right.

I think that Roman had trouble with the complicated start of the climb on narrow roads, I don't think that the Pais Vasco climbs suit him well.
Spilak to attack on Friday, if he gets back some time before the ITT he has a shot at finishing in the top 5 or even on the podium.

It would be a disappointment if he doesn't finish in the top 5. He'll get only better with every stage and he should be the favourite in the ITT. Personally, I think he still has a shot to win it all, but it will be very difficult. It's going to be interesting to see how will the teams play their cards in the following stages. Sky, LottoNL, Katusha and FDJ all have 2 riders close to the top, so they should ride aggressively.

 

[HelloDolly]

No..I haven't seen your posts on this ...at least I don't think so

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Contador is totally going far with this team... Don't get me wrong, some guys were already alone while he ''still'' had Roman there before the climb, such as Costa (surprise, surprise), but when Cannondale, Etixx, Кatusha and your rival team for your biggest objective of the season all have more than 4 guys in the end while you're virtually alone and, in some cases, not even getting help from your only domestique left, something is not right.

I think that Roman had trouble with the complicated start of the climb on narrow roads, I don't think that the Pais Vasco climbs suit him well.
Spilak to attack on Friday, if he gets back some time before the ITT he has a shot at finishing in the top 5 or even on the podium.

It would be a disappointment if he doesn't finish in the top 5. He'll get only better with every stage and he should be the favourite in the ITT. Personally, I think he still has a shot to win it all, but it will be very difficult. It's going to be interesting to see how will the teams play their cards in the following stages. Sky, LottoNL, Katusha and FDJ all have 2 riders close to the top, so they should ride aggressively.

Honestly if he doesnt loose a lot of time on the mtf (and there have never been huge time gaps in the last years on that climb) I don't see anyone in the top 10 right now who I would expect to beat him. Maybe Pinot with his new TT skills but for me he is still a big question mark in the TT's.

 

[jonan92]

Re: Re:

Honestly if he doesnt loose a lot of time on the mtf (and there have never been huge time gaps in the last years on that climb) I don't see anyone in the top 10 right now who I would expect to beat him. Maybe Pinot with his new TT skills but for me he is still a big question mark in the TT's.

The Arrate stage is a little different this time, bit harder

 

[johnymax]

Re: Re:

Contador is totally going far with this team... Don't get me wrong, some guys were already alone while he ''still'' had Roman there before the climb, such as Costa (surprise, surprise), but when Cannondale, Etixx, Кatusha and your rival team for your biggest objective of the season all have more than 4 guys in the end while you're virtually alone and, in some cases, not even getting help from your only domestique left, something is not right.

I think that Roman had trouble with the complicated start of the climb on narrow roads, I don't think that the Pais Vasco climbs suit him well.
Spilak to attack on Friday, if he gets back some time before the ITT he has a shot at finishing in the top 5 or even on the podium.

It would be a disappointment if he doesn't finish in the top 5. He'll get only better with every stage and he should be the favourite in the ITT. Personally, I think he still has a shot to win it all, but it will be very difficult. It's going to be interesting to see how will the teams play their cards in the following stages. Sky, LottoNL, Katusha and FDJ all have 2 riders close to the top, so they should ride aggressively.

Honestly if he doesnt loose a lot of time on the mtf (and there have never been huge time gaps in the last years on that climb) I don't see anyone in the top 10 right now who I would expect to beat him. Maybe Pinot with his new TT skills but for me he is still a big question mark in the TT's.

He won't lose much (if any) time in the Arrate stage. But there's still the Aia stage where I can see him losing some seconds to Henao, Contador, Quintana and Pinot. Tibopino looks really strong to me.

Edit: But I still think Contador is the man to beat.

 

[liamito]

Like you need TT skills for saturday It will just be a matter of climbing fast and taking lots of risks in the (wet?) downhill.

I do remember a very young Spilak really messing up a wet downhill of the Jaizkibel years ago.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re:

Like you need TT skills for saturday It will just be a matter of climbing fast and taking lots of risks in the (wet?) downhill.

I do remember a very young Spilak really messing up a wet downhill of the Jaizkibel years ago.

After the climb there is flat and after the descent there are 5 Km of flat... not too much but it is not just a question of climbing and descending.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

Honestly if he doesnt loose a lot of time on the mtf (and there have never been huge time gaps in the last years on that climb) I don't see anyone in the top 10 right now who I would expect to beat him. Maybe Pinot with his new TT skills but for me he is still a big question mark in the TT's.

The Arrate stage is a little different this time, bit harder

Why? I dont think so, very similar always the last years...

 

[jonan92]

Re: Re:

Honestly if he doesnt loose a lot of time on the mtf (and there have never been huge time gaps in the last years on that climb) I don't see anyone in the top 10 right now who I would expect to beat him. Maybe Pinot with his new TT skills but for me he is still a big question mark in the TT's.

The Arrate stage is a little different this time, bit harder

Why? I dont think so, very similar always the last years...

This time one of the previous climbs to Arrate is from Matsaria side, a harde one