The Cycling Thread

[Fighter]

In other news, the great Alfredo Martini has passed away. He was the former Italy's national coach team, also during the golden years of "La Squadra".

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...ed-national-coach-alfredo-martini-dies-133776

 

[IslesRock4]

Degenkolb much faster than anyone on the sprint today, despite the G-S lead out fizzling a bit near the end.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I can't imagine how they can ride that far, that long, in that heat. I hate riding in heat like that.

 

[IslesRock4]

Degenkolb wins for the second day in a row. Bouhanni got himself boxed in. I only got to catch the last 5k, and I'm assuming I missed something as the peloton looked a bit small.

Another hot day on the race. Not sure how it's safe for the riders (Cancellara said he lost 4.5kg on stage 3, yikes).

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

It was a pretty boring race, but the peloton did split with bout 40K to go as Tinkoff Saxo tried to take advantage of a change in the wind and drove hard causing a split. Some got back on and many others didn't.

 

[IslesRock4]

Valverde takes the stage and the lead. Froome and Contador on his wheel, both looked to be in good form. Quintana actually couldn't hold on to the finish. Interesting situation for Movistar for sure.

 

[Fighter]

Valverde did what he was supposed to do, Purito couldn't hold the lead, bad year for him.

Contador and Froome appear to be in very good form, Quintana not so much (but during the Giro he was rusty as well the first ten days or so). This Vuelta is starting to deliver

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

The tempo up that last climb was amazing, especially, again, in that brutal heat.

AC is riding awfully good for a guy who claims not to be fit enough to contend. Looks to me like he is right there with the best for this race.

 

[The Imp]

Saxo's cross-wind ride yesterday sort of gave away that they have GC hopes.

No more mountain-top finishes until Sunday, giving AC (and CF) further time to finde the gamefaces. This could be good...

 

[Fighter]

Time trial stage doesn't let down: Martin with the victory, Contador new leader, Froome not good and Quintana even worse after a crash, losing 4 minutes.

 

[The Imp]

Quintana showed real moxie today, crashing hard and then recovering, riding hard on the descent.

Hopefully he's unscathed, and ready to attack on the coming stages - maybe in a 1-2 punch with Valverde. This is going to be a good race, still!

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Well, the race is shaping up as very interesting. But AC looks like he is already back in top form. I think he has to be the favorite now. But hopefully it looks like there will be enough guys who need to attack early in the mountains so that we can have some excitement. I don't really care who wins, I just want an exciting race.

 

[Fighter]

Quintana ABANDONES!

 

[The Imp]

Yeah, he suffered another crash. Looked a bit like a collarbone, from the (limited) tv coverage I've seen.

Major palmarés for Aru.

Contador needs to put more time into Valverde, or he'll get eaten up by bonus sprints.

 

[Fighter]

Aru was great today, this kid has numbers

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I just finished watching the race. I really can't figure out what Froome was doing. He looked like he was going to get dropped a couple of times then charges to the front like he had something then got his butt kicked on the final dash for the line. WTF?

 

[The Imp]

He was riding his watts, I think.

I think the other GC guys were varying their watts a lot, while Froome does his look-at-powermeter-and-go-at-THIS-pace thing.

To put it another way: http://chrisfroomelookingatstems.tumblr.com/

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

He was riding his watts, I think.

I think the other GC guys were varying their watts a lot, while Froome does his look-at-powermeter-and-go-at-THIS-pace thing.

To put it another way: http://chrisfroomelookingatstems.tumblr.com/

I know he rides like a robot and by his power meter, but he isn't usually yo-yoing off the back of the group like he was today. And with Sky setting the pace no less. And then, all of a sudden he charges to the front.

Anyway, at this point it looks like AC is now the favorite. The announcers today were apparently challenging whether he lied to the public about just how long he really was off the bike after the Tour.

 

[Fighter]

Contador showed clearly who's the boss today, Froome looked great out there but at the end AC was too much for him. Sorry to see the brave Alessandro De Marchi caught with 3km or so, he has the heart of a lion but no luck.

Notable also the fisticuffs exchange between Brambilla and Rovny, both got expelled shortly after.

 

[The Imp]

I'm reasonably satisfied that the Vuelta has developed the way that it has, but I'm still a bit disappointed. Froome's turbo is obviously lagging, Aru isn't truly up to snuff, Purito is getting stale... I had hoped for more.

The fighting bit was low-rent. If I were a DS, I'd be seriously pissed. Rovny was there as a routemarker for AC, while Brambilla was there to go for the stage win - and that could have happened.

I don't get why it took so long for the commisioners to pull Rovny - seemed like 10 minutes passed between the notification of Brambilla, and the notification of Rovny. Meanwhile, Rovny played a part in supporting AC in the group.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I'm reasonably satisfied that the Vuelta has developed the way that it has, but I'm still a bit disappointed. Froome's turbo is obviously lagging, Aru isn't truly up to snuff, Purito is getting stale... I had hoped for more.

The fighting bit was low-rent. If I were a DS, I'd be seriously pissed. Rovny was there as a routemarker for AC, while Brambilla was there to go for the stage win - and that could have happened.

I don't get why it took so long for the commisioners to pull Rovny - seemed like 10 minutes passed between the notification of Brambilla, and the notification of Rovny. Meanwhile, Rovny played a part in supporting AC in the group.

Me too. Although some of the stage races have been entertaining, the GC battle has been less than I expected.

 

[Fighter]

Aru

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Pinnochio wins La Vuelta

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Not bad for a guy who said he wasn't going to race the Vuelta.

 

[Fighter]

Impressive, props to Contador: I thought his season was gone after that crash at the Tour. Very pleased with Aru, he can only get better, looking forward to him at next year's Giro d'Italia.