Originally Posted by MinnMan

I've heard it said that Valverde didn't want to bring Nibali across the gap, because Nibali is a better sprinter, but in the end Valverde outsprinted Nibali, so maybe Valverde should have gone with Costa in the first place....

But I agree that I'm not sure how Valverde could have helped Rodriguez. What if he had stuck on Costa's wheel? Costa would still have arrived behind Rodriguez in more or less the same situation, having the advantage in a sprint. What was Valverde supposed to do, power past Costa doing a leadout for Rodriguez?

But I am disappointed with the results overall. Costa wasn't out in front in any other part of the race. Kudos to his strategy, I suppose, but I would rather have seen any of the other 3 take the win.