slcbob

Absurd conjecture:

Rein Taarame is last man standing from the break but gets passed by Ben O`Connor sneaking away with a not-so-late attack.

Shadco 

Ooofff. rain.

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Shadco 

Not surprised by Ineos wouldn’t expect anything less.

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ooga-booga

lucky we didn't have more wipeouts today. stage seven a funky profile but liking it. immediately thought cavagna for this stage before la vuelta started and his teammate ended up in the red jersey the day before.
dunno the weather for mañana but there are enuff wiggles off the descent and exiting the mountains to keep it interesting. should be a rather large break to keep an eye on.

GrainBrain

Oof Landa. Carapaz not so hot - this is supposed to be his kind of weather too. Nice to see Mas performing!

Great to see Craddock in the break yesterday -- pretty neat to see Vine nab it today. Will Vine stick with it or was this a hail mary?

ooga-booga

personally...fave stages are those that climb an hc mountain, then descend and finish quickly within 1-2 km of the bottom of the hc descent. none of those in this edition of la vuelta. plenty of mountaintop action tho so i'll survive.

gpsblake

Seems so far that the GC contenders aren't pushing anything at this point, maybe it's the fact it's close to the TDF or they saw what Podacar did at the TDF by trying to deliever a 1st round knockout only to burn himself out in the 2nd week of the tour?

I think some fireworks happen tomorrow in stage 9...

MinnMan

Wow - Jay Vine and Ayuso. The new talent just keeps coming. Ayuso is 19. Vine isn't that young, but what a great story (and great advertising for Zwift)

ooga-booga

already some big time separation on gc and more riders gonzo in the first week than expected. remco looks great so far. so did tadej at the tdf till just after the first week. ayuso holy bleep! we’ll see if he’s got the stamina and the smarts to stay in contention for the podium at that age but even if he drops off the map after the rest day, wowzers.

expecting roglic to gain time on all the gc contenders on stage ten’s tt but not necessarily win the stage. thinking remco loses 20-25 seconds to roglic.

MinnMan

Maybe so, but Roglic doesn't look so hot in the mountains. And having the J-V team behind him hasn't been much of a factor.

Also, it's sort of cool to see Alaphillipe take the role of super-domestique. He's doing a phenomenal job.

ooga-booga

agreed on both points. stage ten just may be roglic’s swan song since he is still the man to beat. losing seppuku was huge tho.

alaphilippe is my current pick to win the worlds. thinking he’s using the vuelta to get into fighting shape for the worlds since it seems to fall fairly late this year. kinda seems to be wout’s year tho.

ooga-booga

meintjes is having quite the unbelievable, renaissance year…

OBoile

I've got to say, I'm surprised to hear someone say they think that Remco will *lose* time on this TT. He's a better time trialist and he's currently on better form

ooga-booga

he doesn't have the body of itt work roglic does but he has the form. we shall see. i haven't been wrong since lunch.

MinnMan

At times, lunch can be a big mistake

MinnMan

We should remember that Roglic had a nasty fall in the Tour and probably lost a bunch of training time. He's still formidable, but his form probably isn't optimum.

On another point, there are some very high paid/high profile GC riders (maybe 3-4 ineos guys, S. Yates, Almeida, Hindley, Lopez) who are either going to have to do something spectacular pretty soon, or give up on their hopes for the podium. Because there are 4 or 5 riders not on that list who are looking much better.

Also, I don't think Mas has ever been this strong.

ooga-booga

methinx mas finished 2nd twice and 4th once in the last few vueltas. he's this, well that generation's mollema or majka. always in the top ten on gc. always a follower. never a leader. if he attacks, you fall out of your chair. don't see mas
winning a gc unless the gc leader crashes into a snowbank or gets covid dq'd in the last 2-3 stages. he's always close tho. maybe the new anti-menchov...always competitive but without the crashes. can't win it all unless everything breaks just right.
maybe it's just me but the worlds seem later this year so thinking fewer guys will bounce to prepare for that. we've still got a grip of big mountain stages to go. remco looks great and he's got the support of quick-step
with patty l suddenly dealing with almeida, part ii, serious gc contender. pogacar looked unbeatable for roughly the same amount of stages in this year's tdf. let's get to stage 17 or so with remco still killing it before we anoint him as the winner.
for all we know, he could be gone tomorrow with the current protocols.

doesn't look like roglic is at top form but never discount the heart of a champion. we'll find out tuesday exactly what form remains. i would say dismiss his chances to make a formidable showing at your peril tho.

yeah...all the boys better be set to roll in this next week of la vuelta. otherwise, it'll just be stage picking without any guarantees of success. get busy, boys. most of them are already relegated to stage hunting. looking at you bora and ineos.
you would think all the established old-timers would be tired of the youngbloods kicking their proverbial assets lately and consistently and that they'd love to put one of the premier youngbloods in his place. we'll see.

MinnMan

[QUOTE=ooga-booga;22627721.pogacar looked unbeatable for roughly the same amount of stages in this year's tdf. let's get to stage 17 or so with remco still killing it before we anoint him as the winner.
\.[/QUOTE]

True, but Pogacar fell victim to a combination of his hubris -attacking too much when he didn't need to - and an unbelievably intense team strategy that J-V was able to mount largely because they always had WvA up the road.

ooga-booga

that's why it's always my biggest meal of the day...

ooga-booga

this is a brutal week coming up. that's why the vuelta is my fave gt. short and sweet.

scenery the last two days has been top notch. absolutely gorgeous. think i prefer the giro scenery the most (could be because it's the first gt of the year tho) but this has been really nice.

think having the rest day after stage 10's itt would have been very interesting with all the destroyed legs. it is what it is.

slcbob

That depends, almost Clintonesquely, on what the meaning of interesting is. Rested coming in,not such a big GC day tomorrow, so let 'er rip. But nowhere to hide from the post rest day blues.

Shadco 

Damn, just damn.

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ooga-booga

“extraterrestrial.”

Doge

The Merckx I remember was not this good even with his "help".

Eric F

3 weeks is a long time to race, and 1 bad day can ruin you. Pogacar can tell you all about it.