Vuelta stage 3 spoiler

dave milne

I like gilbert a lot but his haircut...

LangerDan

dave milne wrote:

I like gilbert a lot but his haircut...

That was a haircut?

His head looked like a neglected dog from an RSPCA campaign.

rick_chasey

Is it a little early to be this good?

I know Glibert's a guy who can hold good form for a long time, around the 85% but even he can only hold that super top 100% form for a week or so.

frenchfighter

I don't think he was trying : ) Looked like measured efforts to me and his face was calm. I think riders like him are on another level and don't need and don't like to stay in the shadows until one or two races in the year which is great for the fans. He said he wanted to ride this Vuelta hard and he is showing that.

Blazing, I sure hope not one for the sprinters. I guess I could take a look with google street view to get a better idea of it before hand.

frenchfighter

"I've suffered yesterday like 95 percent of the riders in the bunch and I was dropped in the last three kilometres of the Puerto de León," said Gilbert. "I lost maybe 30 seconds but I didn't panic because I had studied the course really well and I knew what I was doing when I rode at my own pace. On the downhill I took a lot of risks to come back. I rode from car to car. When I made it across to the bunch I quickly moved to the first 20 positions to avoid any crashes.

"I received a great help from my teammates, especially Jan Bakelandts, who closed the gap to the Galicia rider [Serafin Martinez], and Greg van Avermaet, so I managed to start the final climb in the first five positions. I accelerated 600 metres from the finish line. I knew all the curves and the details of the route because I had done it in a car this morning.

"It's a similar climb as the Cauberg in the Amstel Gold Race. I climbed on the big ring with a 53 and I rode fast: at 35km/h. I came to the Vuelta for gearing up for the world championships and with the ambition of winning a stage. The second goal is already reached. I felt it was a long time since I last won a race. It was stage one of the Tour of Belgium in May. The surprise comes from the fact that I get the red jersey as well. It's a nice surprise because it's my first leader's jersey in a Grand Tour. Now I'll do my best to respect this jersey."

"The target was to win the stage, so getting the overall leader’s jersey is a bonus."

blazing_saddles

frenchfighter wrote:

Blazing, I sure hope not one for the sprinters. I guess I could take a look with google street view to get a better idea of it before hand.

Eurosport show the hill. Bloody hell! :shock: