Vuelta Stage 4 ***Spoiler***

sonny73

afx237vi wrote:

Eh... I enjoyed it. Anton bombing out, Nibs having his little show of strength... this climb is not suited to fireworks, but it was an intriguing little appetizer for later in the race.

+1 it was enjoyable, Wiggins looked good too I thought.

ratsbeyfus

frenchfighter wrote:

ratsbeyfus wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

How much did Moreno pull if at all?

He didn't need to pull... J Rod was behind... I'm surprised he even did one turn.

They were both going for the win. Rodriguez doesnt figure. Check Sorensens position on GC before today.

But it was the threat of J Rod's sprint that meant Moreno didn't need to pull. CAS had to keep a decent distance from J Rod and his sprint, so Moreno didn't need to work. Geddit?

ratsbeyfus

Sonny73 wrote:

afx237vi wrote:

Eh... I enjoyed it. Anton bombing out, Nibs having his little show of strength... this climb is not suited to fireworks, but it was an intriguing little appetizer for later in the race.

+1 it was enjoyable, Wiggins looked good too I thought.

It was good to see Wiggins getting decent support from Froome as well.

cal_stewart

reading tomorrows profile and is it the crazy finish thought the middle of a village that anton won last year.

frenchfighter

Gutted. Felt bad from the start of Vuelta. Not bad form, just drained. I'll have tests & find out how @mattgoss1986 is. Then maybe more info

-Cav

cornoyemade

Cavendish is a quitter. When he is not perfectly placed, he just gives up. why am i not surprised.

cornoyemade

found this intersting quote on www.abc.net.au

"He's not ill, he had no power left in his body and he was totally empty," Cavendish's sports director Jens Zemke said.

"He was dropped on a climb and so far from the finish without a team car to help him along, he had no chance to survive."

inkyfingers

Impressive riding from Chris Froome to guide Wiggins all the way to the finish. He's shown flashes of good form before but has often not been able to sustain it, will be interesting to see how he goes for the rest of the Vuelta. I guess one thing he will have on his side is that he will be used to the heat.

Regarding Cav, looking at CQ only at HTC on Lars Bak has raced more KM's than Cav this year, think he may just be knackered. Plus I don't think he's raced since the Tour (apart from a little sportive in London) so probably quite a nasty shock to the system to suddenly hit those climbs in that heat. Personally i'm not sure that riding the Vuelta is that key to his Worlds preparation, think if he can have a rest then ride the ToB then he should still have a chance. In my opinion his chances of success will hinge more on how well Team GB can protect him and also how hard the other nations make the race.

Right this minute i'm happy that I picked Nibali for GC, but it's early days yet!

TMR

cornoyemade wrote:

Cavendish is a quitter. When he is not perfectly placed, he just gives up. why am i not surprised.

Oh look, you're behaving like a 2 year old again. Why am I not surprised?

iainf72

cornoyemade wrote:

Cavendish is a quitter. When he is not perfectly placed, he just gives up. why am i not surprised.

#FAIL. That's a fairly unsophisticated troll. A better one would be to say "why didn't he just hold onto a car like the Tour"

Poor effort.

2/10

inkyfingers

Not a bad palmares for a quitter.

derbygrimpeur

iainf72 wrote:

cornoyemade wrote:

Cavendish is a quitter. When he is not perfectly placed, he just gives up. why am i not surprised.

#FAIL. That's a fairly unsophisticated troll. A better one would be to say "why didn't he just hold onto a car like the Tour"

Poor effort.

2/10

I like this approach. People can't resist feeding the trolls so much better to feed them by way of a rating :thumbsup:

andyp

inkyfingers wrote:

Personally i'm not sure that riding the Vuelta is that key to his Worlds preparation, think if he can have a rest then ride the ToB then he should still have a chance. In my opinion his chances of success will hinge more on how well Team GB can protect him and also how hard the other nations make the race.
!

Recent history suggests that riding two weeks of the Vuelta is essential for winning the Worlds;

http://www.pavepavepave.com/2010/09/30/ ... y-numbers/

As for the ToB, Cavendish would need permission from the Vuelta organisers and the UCI to enter another race having abandoned the Vuelta. Even if he gets that, it's far from ideal preparation for the Worlds as the course and the depth of quality in the field just aren't good enough.

That said, Cavendish does seem to be at his best when he has a point to prove.

rick_chasey

andyp wrote:

inkyfingers wrote:

Personally i'm not sure that riding the Vuelta is that key to his Worlds preparation, think if he can have a rest then ride the ToB then he should still have a chance. In my opinion his chances of success will hinge more on how well Team GB can protect him and also how hard the other nations make the race.
!

Recent history suggests that riding two weeks of the Vuelta is essential for winning the Worlds;

http://www.pavepavepave.com/2010/09/30/ ... y-numbers/

As for the ToB, Cavendish would need permission from the Vuelta organisers and the UCI to enter another race having abandoned the Vuelta. Even if he gets that, it's far from ideal preparation for the Worlds as the course and the depth of quality in the field just aren't good enough.

That said, Cavendish does seem to be at his best when he has a point to prove.

He's also at his best when he's been suffering like a dog in the week or two beforehand.

I get the impression in the Tour that the two-three weeks sans racing before the Tour starts takes that edge off his sprint, which he later finds the deeper he goes into the Tour.

Even with the M-SR win he really suffered in Tirreno beforehand (hence, Boonen writing him off, mistakenly).

Definitely not ideal preparation.

greasedscotsman

Rick Chasey wrote:

Even with the M-SR win he really suffered in Tirreno beforehand (hence, Boonen writing him off, mistakenly).

I thought his struggling in Tirreno that year was part of a deliberate deception?

rick_chasey

greasedscotsman wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Even with the M-SR win he really suffered in Tirreno beforehand (hence, Boonen writing him off, mistakenly).

I thought his struggling in Tirreno that year was part of a deliberate deception?

*shrugs* that wasn't the impression I got.

I think he just needs to really bury himself to get that top form.

rick_chasey

The Vuelta seems kind to riders and teams from Eurasia.

tailwindhome

A True Sociopath (TM) wouldn't quit

inkyfingers

greasedscotsman wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Even with the M-SR win he really suffered in Tirreno beforehand (hence, Boonen writing him off, mistakenly).

I thought his struggling in Tirreno that year was part of a deliberate deception?

Cav certainly said that it was part of a deception, though whether that was a convenient bit of historical rewriting is questionable.

As for getting UCI approval to start the ToB, they are already working on that something tells me that they'll get it.

As for the fact that lots of guys who rode the Vuelta win the worlds, yes in recent years that's been the case, but I don't think that with the worlds course this year (i.e. pretty flat) that has to hold true. If he can do enough miles to get the endurance in his legs for a 250KM+ race and the GB team are ready and motivated then it MAY be enough to get him throug. I'm not sure that suffering through endless hilly and mountainous stages will do anything other than tire him out, look at how all the guys who finished the Giro went after that.

avoidingmyphd

cornoyemadeupthatquote

rajMAN

One consolation of Cav pulling out is that a certain LOON troll has nothing to troll about.

frenchfighter