Re:
portugal11 said:
This shark is so weak. Stupid andorra stage. Contador would have won this vuelta
Don't blame the stage, I blame Contador's illness. The Andorra stage was great apart from that. Bertie has been so strong since then that you can only just wonder what might have been (the GC would definitely be more open than it is, although there is still a small probability that things will change). I'll be shouting for him at the weekend (apart from the fact that I'll be hiking in the mountains).
Bertie's claim that there were 7 bots in a group of 20 is a bit of an exaggeration, but not a lot. On the penultimate climb Mike Snow was slightly distanced when there were about a dozen riders left including 3 Sky riders (the Tractor, ET and Poels). David Lopez came back on the descent after which there were 5 bots in a peloton of 30-40 riders. This was a good profile for an ambush, but Sky are (and this is from someone who should naturally be a Sky fan) unfortunately clearly the strongest team in the race. I was expecting Moscon to fade in the last week, due to his youth and it being his first GT, but for a relatively big guy, he seems to have great recuperation.
Based on yesterday's stage, Nibali seemed to have a decent chance of overtaking Froome, but today has put Froome back in the driving seat.
Congratulations to Armee. He has had a great Vuelta and really deserved this win. It was a great stage with beautiful scenary.
p.s. I was expecting better things from Rosa in this race though. I didn't expect Puccio to be better.