Vuelta a Castilla y León 2012

frenchfighter

iainf72 wrote:

Dire weather again today and a number of riders don't want to start (via Inrng)

Two things strike me - the weather in Spain being so bad on several occasions and the attitude of riders.

inkyfingers

frenchfighter wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Dire weather again today and a number of riders don't want to start (via Inrng)

Two things strike me - the weather in Spain being so bad on several occasions and the attitude of riders.

Whilst I like the idea of riders being all weather conquering heroes I do also have some sympathy...if your big aims are the Giro or the Tour then would you really want to mess that up by crashing or getting the flu from riding a pretty small time race in really bad weather? These guys earn their living from the sport, unless you are an up and coming rider then this is a warm up event and doing well here won't make them much money or get them a big fat contract for next year, if it causes them to miss out on bigger targets then it's a false economy. That, perhaps sadly, is the really of professional sport.

The Kennington Kaiser

victorponf wrote:

Two videos from yesterday

1:10 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn0debQeXaw


20:52 minutes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgSLpetQ ... re=related

Nice one, Victor. That looked like a proper day's hard bike racing. Not sure about the euro-disco soundtrack accompanying the second video though......

victorponf

You right, music is awfull

Gerdemann (RadioShack) y Maté (Cofidis), and Schumacher (Christina Watches) tried to stop the race this morning...

Rabobank director said his riders to race and everybody follow them

In Morcuerra past -3ºC

Now they are climbing Navacerrada and LL Sanchez already lost contact with the main group...

frenchfighter

So LL, do you know why JTL bailed?

You would have thought he'd be a rider to shine when the conditions took a turn for the worst and it is not like he has many opportunities.

frenchfighter

inkyfingers wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Dire weather again today and a number of riders don't want to start (via Inrng)

Two things strike me - the weather in Spain being so bad on several occasions and the attitude of riders.

Whilst I like the idea of riders being all weather conquering heroes I do also have some sympathy...if your big aims are the Giro or the Tour then would you really want to mess that up by crashing or getting the flu from riding a pretty small time race in really bad weather? These guys earn their living from the sport, unless you are an up and coming rider then this is a warm up event and doing well here won't make them much money or get them a big fat contract for next year, if it causes them to miss out on bigger targets then it's a false economy. That, perhaps sadly, is the really of professional sport.

Agree in the main. Have a look at the startlist - very light on talent and most of these teams I have never heard of so it's not like they are going to be duking it out at the GTs. And then recall this happening much in previous years.

frenchfighter

victorponf wrote:

Rabobank director said his riders to race and everybody follow them

Now they are climbing Navacerrada and LL Sanchez already lost contact with the main group...

Need more than 4 wins this year....doing really badly...not good that LLS is dropped.

frenchfighter

Looks like the same finish as the Vuelta used a few years back (edit, yes from 2009):

frenchfighter

Etapa 3:
1. Yelko Gómez (Caja Rural) 4:42:17
2. Javier Moreno (Movistar Team) m.t.
3. Brice Feillu (Saur-Sojasun) m.t.
4. Matthew Busche (RadioShack-Nissan) m.t.
5. Adrián Palomares (Andalucía) m.t.

General:
1. Javier Moreno (Movistar Team) 12:46:05
2. Guillaume Levarlet (Saur-Sojasun) a 1
3. Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel-Euskadi) a 3
4. David de la Cruz (Caja Rural) a 10
5. Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan) a 19

LeicesterLad

frenchfighter wrote:

So LL, do you know why JTL bailed?

You would have thought he'd be a rider to shine when the conditions took a turn for the worst and it is not like he has many opportunities.

Bailed purely because of the weather, to be honest this was probably one of the biggest targets of his season, its not like he's prepping for the Giro or Tour or anything even close to that, his Endura team-mates carried on with the race, I can't really see what benefit JTL gets from abandoning his biggest race of the year because of the weather and then the team carry on without him anyway...seems odd to me, and yes, very dissapointed. Can't really think of any excuses to make for him, coming from the hilly south west where the winter winds can whip up etc I thought he wouldn't have minded a bit of dodgy weather...

inkyfingers

Bear in mind that he was ripping up the Tour of the Med two months ago, that's a long time to hold that kind of form for.

LeicesterLad

inkyfingers wrote:

Bear in mind that he was ripping up the Tour of the Med two months ago, that's a long time to hold that kind of form for.

That's fine, but he had specifically been training at altitude in preperation for this race, seems unreasonable to then go and quit at the first hurdle, especially when its a highlight of your enire season.

inkyfingers

You can focus on an event as much as you like but sometimes your body just won't answer the call, either due to illness, injury, racing too much or just that old favourite, "un jour sans". Disappointing for him of course, but for me it was inevitable considering how he was flying in February, hopefully he'll be back to his best later in the year.

frenchfighter

I don't think holding form or having some form is an issue. If he can't hold form this long then he has no chance of being a real pro, right. They need to race for a ton more time than he has, in more races and a lot harder races.

Think he will be fine and come back strong under Sky, if that is where he goes.

LeicesterLad

Route De Sud will be his next big goal and its a few months away yet so hopefully he will be back on form in time for that...

frenchfighter

“This is my most important victory,” said Moreno. “I won in Asturias last year, but the field was stronger here, plus it has a special meaning thanks to Xavi Tondo.

“We came here with the intention to dedicate him a victory, and we did it.”

symo

I am sure JTL will make it up to us all by winning the tour du dud.

victorponf

Nice summary of the last stage...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHh1DeAZNGI

LeicesterLad

It's confirmed that JTL was training with sky prior to this race. It really is a shame he withdrew.