Vuelta stage 11 ****SPOILER****

alanjay

Blazing Saddles wrote:

I think that the TT result may well spell disaster for the forthcoming big mountain stages.
Totally failed to produce any selection where it counted.
Looks to me as if Froome's legs are definitely starting to suffer a mechanical.
That leaves Contador, the lone climber in contention who needs to attack from further than 400 metres from the finishes.
The other two, will be following his wheel, (as long as they are able)
expecting to out drag him and grab the juicy bonus seconds.

For all those tasty profiles, I smell a second half stinker cooking.

^^^^ This

Turfle

The positive is that Valverde actually attacked at the bottom of the climb the other day, for perhaps the first time ever. Maybe that will continue. Maybe Froome finds a second (or 5th) wind.

milton50

I wouldn't be surprised to see Froome finish outside of the podium by the time we get to Madrid. The hard miles he's put in through the season really look like they're catching up with him, as a lot of us predicted they would. From the first pedal rev you could see he didn't look fluid. Contador seems to be riding himself into form with every stage that passes.

Great TT from Rodriguez though. To remain in red after today is amazing. I hope he goes on to win it but it's hard to look past Contador from here on in.

Pross

Fantastic ride by J Rod, I doubt even he thought he'd be in red still tonight. Bertie looking good and a very good ride. Froome looking very tired and might struggle to get on the podium. J Rod to increase his lead tomorrow and then a big battle between him and Bert in the higher mountains. Should be a very exciting week or so ahead.

Vino'sGhost

Aahhhhh perfect, contador still needs to have a real bad day, it's bound to happen, he hasn't got race miles so all to play for. Bodes well for the rest of the race.

powerbookboy

Strange TT. Bertie's performance was ominous. However J-Rod and Valv were to me surprisingly quick. Either that or Froome and Bertie surprisingly slow.

Sad for Froome. It's looking like his form is starting to seep away, which makes it highly unlikely he's going to be able to put enough (or any time) into the other 3. I shouldn't feel happy about this, but I am. For whatever reason it makes me believe more in Sky's Tour performance. Hope next year he get to focus as team leader on a single race.

Contador's probably feeling somewhat confused this evening. Should he celebrate that Froome lost time, or be worried that Purito's still in front of him?

mattshrops

Very narrow and technical in places today.
Contador had a good day, but i guess you'd say ride of the day Rodriguez.

Looking forward to the next week - despite what the doom mongers are predicting.(i'd prefer to be optimistic/naive and wrong )

frosty99

For me it wasn't that bad a day for froome. Its not like it was 50km on the flat. As TTs go it was pretty climber friendly. He climbed the hill faster than rodriguez so to me it seems his legs aren't in a bad shape.

Contador and Froome are going to have to push the pace early on the climbs to try and shake Rodriguez so I'm looking forward to this next week.

thomthom

Third day out of four that Froome has looked fragile compared to the three others. Wouldn't say he looks in that good shape either..

smithy21

ThomThom wrote:

Third day out of four that Froome has looked fragile compared to the three others. Wouldn't say he looks in that good shape either..

Really?

So above you state that this was as close to a mountain time trial as it gets and J Rod and Valverde's performances were nothing unexpected on that course yet Froome beats both of them and he looks fragile in comparison. Am I missing something? :?

Pross

smithy21 wrote:

Really?

So above you state that this was as close to a mountain time trial as it gets and J Rod and Valverde's performances were nothing unexpected on that course yet Froome beats both of them and he looks fragile in comparison. Am I missing something? :?

Not really, even with that lump in the middle I think most people would have expected Froome to comfortably beat both Valv and J Rod. Even with a full blown mountain TT specialist climbers tend to do worse than a climbing TTer. It can't have been that tough a route or the riders wouldn't have ridden disc wheels. Froome looks a bit fragile as he struggled on the weekend's (relative to the other 3) and failed to close the gap in the TT where he would have been expected to comfortably beat two of them. He looks (understandably).

Pross

ThomThom wrote:

dougzz wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

So. The idea was to hit Contador when he didn't have the racing in his legs and he wasn't in his territory. It didn't work. Contador now almost wears red and we are heading for many big mountains. Bring them on.

Sean Kelly was saying that he thinks Contador may find it harder as the race progresses. He thought that you can come back after a gap and feel very good, but without the racing in your legs you start to suffer after the initial feel good days.

Sean Kelly talks nonsense then. Every pundit I've heard so far and Alberto himself say that he'll find an even better form as the race progress - which would seem pretty sane to me.

I'm not so sure. With so little racing he might not have the base there to ride himself into the 3rd week. It could go either way.

I also think after the Giro that J Rod looks better on longer climbs than in the past and with his ability to take sprints for stage wins on the steep stuff he can possibly build a safety net.

smithy21

I understand what you are saying. I did think the lump and the technical nature evened things up a bit for the climbers so on one hand I agree with ThomThom that Valverde and Rodriguez performances were not a shock. At the same time I think Froome did ok. If it had been flatter then clearly he would have been expected to put well over a minute into them.

Pross

For me the time Froome lost to Bert on the flattter sections at the start and finish was the issue. I would have thought Froome on Tour / Olympic TT form would have been quicker than Bert on those sections even if Bertie is back to his old best.

coulcher

Pross wrote:

ThomThom wrote:

dougzz wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

So. The idea was to hit Contador when he didn't have the racing in his legs and he wasn't in his territory. It didn't work. Contador now almost wears red and we are heading for many big mountains. Bring them on.

Sean Kelly was saying that he thinks Contador may find it harder as the race progresses. He thought that you can come back after a gap and feel very good, but without the racing in your legs you start to suffer after the initial feel good days.

Sean Kelly talks nonsense then. Every pundit I've heard so far and Alberto himself say that he'll find an even better form as the race progress - which would seem pretty sane to me.

I'm not so sure. With so little racing he might not have the base there to ride himself into the 3rd week. It could go either way.

I also think after the Giro that J Rod looks better on longer climbs than in the past and with his ability to take sprints for stage wins on the steep stuff he can possibly build a safety net.

Pross - another pundit who knows a little about riding Tours agrees with you.

Stephen Roche on the ITV4 Cycling Show about Contador - "will he still be fresh in the final week or will he taper off in the final week as you sometimes do after a long layoff, you go very good early on and then taper off."

oldwelshman

Pross, not sure base will have any effect on Bertie, he will have more than enough base miles in due to his ban, base is not the issue here it is weather he has got the speed in his legs due to lack of racing. Its one thing doing 500miles a week base and training but another doing it at race pace. I am not convinced about J-Rod on longer climbs, will soon find out later in week.

Pross

oldwelshman wrote:

Pross, not sure base will have any effect on Bertie, he will have more than enough base miles in due to his ban, base is not the issue here it is weather he has got the speed in his legs due to lack of racing. Its one thing doing 500miles a week base and training but another doing it at race pace. I am not convinced about J-Rod on longer climbs, will soon find out later in week.

Yeah, I was struggling for the right word - I mean his 'racing base', for want of a better term might be lacking, i.e. doing fast, hard miles day after day. That said he seems to be improving at the moment.

oldwelshman

Pross wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

Pross, not sure base will have any effect on Bertie, he will have more than enough base miles in due to his ban, base is not the issue here it is weather he has got the speed in his legs due to lack of racing. Its one thing doing 500miles a week base and training but another doing it at race pace. I am not convinced about J-Rod on longer climbs, will soon find out later in week.

Yeah, I was struggling for the right word - I mean his 'racing base', for want of a better term might be lacking, i.e. doing fast, hard miles day after day. That said he seems to be improving at the moment.

I think there is more to come from this race yet. Gesink is getting better and better but think he may have a bad day, I dont think froome is overly worried about the TT or loosing a bit yesterday. bertie has always been a good TT rider. If Froome was fatiguing badly he would have lost a bucket load of time ion both the TT and that steep finish but to loose only 15secs to Bertie is not huge issue. If froome can't win it I hope J-Rod does, cannot bear for either of the dopers to win it.