Marcus_Ti

Sagan now out too.

Sagan abandons the Vuelta a Espana after motorbike incident | Cyclingnews.com

Blue Belly

drone technology. I think that's all that needs to be said.

Blue Belly

I'm happy to see Sagan get a stage win. Too bad he didn't get a chance at one, yesterday. Stage finish today should be interesting. Relatively flat run into a 4k climb could be begging for a show of power!

DLBroox

That's a real shame. Twice in two days a moto knocks down a rider. I hope the race organizers are taking a good look at what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again.

Leinster

Well that makes sense. Get the feeling that for the rest of his career every time he shows up near the front at Roubaix or Flanders there'll be a "this guy's so tough he won a Vuelta stage with a broken wrist" type comment?

holden west

I love the moto shots that make me feel I'm right in the peloton but I wish they could do it without actually getting into the peloton.

Caretaker

Froome shows he can perform in this Vuelta coming in a close second.

Jakedatc

It was a shimano neutral support.. even less of a reason to be in the middle of stuff in the last 10k.. The video guys tend to have a better clue about when they can move around. Neutral support should be pulled to the back with 10-15k to go.. in that range you aren't going to change a wheel and catch the group anyway.

TCR Rider

Quite a finish today. Where did that performance from Dumoulin come from? First of all I think we can rest assured that Froome still has a bit of fight left in those legs but what really impresses that after Dumoulin got dropped by Froome within the final kilometer he fought his way back to take the stage and the red jersey. Chapeau Tom.

DLBroox

Brilliant finish by Dumoulin! This has been a heck of a fun race to watch!

PepeM

Today was one of the best stages I have seen in a long while. That climb was brutal. Froome seemed like he was about to get dropped but came back with force! And Dumoulin, simply impressive. Looking at the general classification, we have an extremely tasty race in our hands. Loving it.

Leinster

Reading some of the post-race quotes, it seems Purito and Valverde weren't surprised to see Dumoulin performing like that; the climb was made up of several short steep sections connected by longer flatter sections, so a big guy can power up the stiff ones and recover on the level ones.

That said, it was an awesome ride by the guy, and it really is turning into an outstanding race.

PepeM

We have within a 21 second margin: Rodriguez, Chaves, Roche, Aru, Valverde, Quintana, and Froome. Majka and Pozzovivo aren't too far either and obviously Dumoulin who leads them all by a minute. Many ways this race could end up going.

Leinster

Degenkolb and his leadout team blew that one today. Obviously protecting Dumoulin was as important as anything, but with Bouhanni, Sagan and Ewan all gone home, JohnD ought to be getting it done.

Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday look like some of the most brutal bike racing you'll ever see. It's gonna be awful for some of them.

PepeM

For all the talk about Sagan's string of second places, Degenkolb seems much better than him at bottling it.

Leinster

2 monument wins in the spring earns a lot of leeway in the GTs, especially when Giant aren't hurting for stage wins or jerseys. I'd say Sagan would happily trade his green jersey for a few extra bike lengths at MSR.

holden west

What happened with the Sky rider who crashed and his bike disappeared over the guardrail? He was just standing there with torn shorts and it looked like he was thinking "Now what do I do?"

Leinster

Henao. Finished 123rd on the stage and slipped from 14th to 26th on gc. Rolled in with the 3rd big group 10'50 down. Probably more annoyed about not being able to support Roche and Froome in the finale than about losing the position.

diphthong

more excitement in one week of the vuelta vs three weeks of the tour. and no, it's not an anomaly.

Giacomo 1 

I think there are a few reasons for this though.

First, all the riders really target the Tour. They are at there peak for that because that is a race that can change a career. I think the Vuelta really suffers from letdown among the riders. It's got to be seriously hard to peak for another GT after the TDF.

Secondly, it's pretty much at the end of the season, meaning there are a lot of tired legs out there and the Worlds follow right behind, which many riders want to be in shape for. The Vuelta just wears riders out and I don't think everyone is going 100% everyday here like they are in the Tour.

And, it's just plain hot! Wow, temps easily in the 90's almost everyday, so some riders will cope better than others. That doesn't happen in the Tour or Giro.

All that said though, it is an interesting race!

holden west

Great, thanks for that. The guardrail that Alex Howes and the other guy hit the day before had a gap below but Henao's rail had no gap--that's why the bike flipped right over. Lucky he didn't go over with it.

Leinster

Good thing it's going to lash rain and cold all day tomorrow in Andorra then, isn't it.

CafeVelo

Another tinkoff rider out from a moto crash. What's happening here?

68venable

Wow. What a day!

busygizmo

They got the day the organizers were looking for. Not sure if hey expected these results but it looks like the overall might be decided barring an accident although there is still that long TT looming.

Hoping Purito can hang onto a podium spot. Be interesting to see if Dumoulin can hang on over what looks like a brutal 3 days starting Saturday until the TT where he might put minutes into some of the GC contenders.