Vuelta Stage 18: Suances → Santo Toribio de Liébana - 169 km

[Leinster]

Re:

The unusual thing about this Vuelta is the inconsistency of the riders. Someone who's good today can have a bad day tomorrow. On the Sierra Nevada López dropped Contador; on Los Machucos it was the other way around. Nibali gains time one day; loses time the next. However in the end it's still the top 2 that everyone expected.

That isn't unusual, it's the normal run of things. Today Nibali had a bad day, yesterday Froome did, on stage 3 Contador did, tomorrow it could be Zakarin, Lopez, whoever.

 

[SafeBet]

I don't think Nibali had a bad day. Nibali had his usual day on steep muritos. Exactly like Lopez.
The results of Alcossembre, Cumbre del Sol and yesterday are very consistent: Froome, Woods and Contador good/very good, Kelderman and Zakarin ok, Nibali bad, Lopez very bad.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

I don't think Nibali had a bad day. Nibali had his usual day on steep muritos. Exactly like Lopez.
The results of Alcossembre, Cumbre del Sol and yesterday are very consistent: Froome, Woods and Contador good/very good, Kelderman and Zakarin ok, Nibali bad, Lopez very bad.

Lopez is still a baby and yet to be used to riding hard for three weeks near the end of the season. I wouldn't be surprised if he lost more time tomorrow.