Vuelta Stage 16 **Spoiler**

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Comments

  • fredmac
    fredmac Posts: 83
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Top ten GC carnage.

    JRod and Valverde are a total joke.

    Well done Contador. You try unceasingly. You ride from the front. One more chance to take out Joaquim.

    This goes to show the fact you post a lot about racing doesn't mean to say you know a lot about racing
  • Lichtblick
    Lichtblick Posts: 1,434
    IF your J-Rod turns out to be on drugs I will laugh myself sick.

    And to the poster who angrily posted to another poster who suggested this, that he should STFU, it was a good day's racing........ I'm sure millions of other people thought that in the Armstrong years of glory.

    Just saying.
  • Crankbrother
    Crankbrother Posts: 1,695
    Frenchie ... You can't diss J-Rod for taking the bonus seconds when your hero won his vuelta by having Levi throw the race marking out Valverde and still only win by the exact margin he gained in 'J-Rod' points ...

    Great racing ... and regardless of the results of any doping controls, a fantastic feat of sporting athleticism ...
  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    Favourite bit of commentary on itv4 today. "It's totally silent on this climb, all they can hear is their heartbeats" Whilst a sodding great helicopter flies over them...
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  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,821
    "Rodriguez and Valverde don't do climbs" what nonsense.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    JRod is a new man, this year.
    Gone is the obligatory one, really bad day in the high mountains.
    Plus, at 33, he's finally learned how to time trial like a good 'un.

    Froome? Obviously should have ridden the Tour like Valverde
    and he would still be as fresh as a daisy.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    Paul 8v wrote:
    Favourite bit of commentary on itv4 today. "It's totally silent on this climb, all they can hear is their heartbeats" Whilst a sodding great helicopter flies over them...
    I'm sure I heard Harmon on Eurosport have a little chuckle to himself as he mentioned somebody's 'suitcase of courage' :D
  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    Paul 8v wrote:
    Favourite bit of commentary on itv4 today. "It's totally silent on this climb, all they can hear is their heartbeats" Whilst a sodding great helicopter flies over them...
    I'm sure I heard Harmon on Eurosport have a little chuckle to himself as he mentioned somebody's 'suitcase of courage' :D
    :lol:
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  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    Paul 8v wrote:
    Favourite bit of commentary on itv4 today. "It's totally silent on this climb, all they can hear is their heartbeats" Whilst a sodding great helicopter flies over them...
    I'm sure I heard Harmon on Eurosport have a little chuckle to himself as he mentioned somebody's 'suitcase of courage' :D

    I like that he said he had heard Sherwen say it once!
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    Paul 8v wrote:
    Favourite bit of commentary on itv4 today. "It's totally silent on this climb, all they can hear is their heartbeats" Whilst a sodding great helicopter flies over them...
    I'm sure I heard Harmon on Eurosport have a little chuckle to himself as he mentioned somebody's 'suitcase of courage' :D

    I like that he said he had heard Sherwen say it once!
    Must have just caught the end of it then cause I missed the Sherwen bit. That's explains his chuckles then.
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    Must have just caught the end of it then cause I missed the Sherwen bit. That's explains his chuckles then.

    Yeah, pretty sure he said Sherwen. It was just that he said once that I thought was funny. He says it every race!
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    Must have just caught the end of it then cause I missed the Sherwen bit. That's explains his chuckles then.

    Yeah, pretty sure he said Sherwen. It was just that he said once that I thought was funny. He says it every race!
    At least once! The airlines must make a fortune in the excess baggage! :lol:
  • LeicesterLad
    LeicesterLad Posts: 3,908
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    JRod is a new man, this year.
    Gone is the obligatory one, really bad day in the high mountains.
    Plus, at 33, he's finally learned how to time trial like a good 'un.

    Froome? Obviously should have ridden the Tour like Valverde
    and he would still be as fresh as a daisy.

    Is that sarcasm I detect in your tone?
    http://www.twitter.com/InTheGC http://www.InTheGC.com http://www.facebook.com/intheGC
  • alan_a
    alan_a Posts: 1,587
    Paul 8v wrote:
    Favourite bit of commentary on itv4 today. "It's totally silent on this climb, all they can hear is their heartbeats" Whilst a sodding great helicopter flies over them...

    I think Frenchie's favourite bit was as Quintana, Valverde, Contador & J Rod made their way onto the new tarmac he referred to the 4 of them as "True Champions".
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  • oldwelshman
    oldwelshman Posts: 4,733
    Wicked climb.
    Still think the steak mans only chance is for a prolonged attack and forget who is on his wheel, he is not going to loose J-Rod with short bursts followed by a recovery, J-Rod will just follow each one, even Valverde rode back up to them a few times today afetr he looked cooked.
    Feel a bit sorry for Froome as Sky would have known he was not tiptop. He will learn fronm this and I think next year Wiggo will do Giro and Vuelta with Froome doing TDF. Today he had Montfort with him with Gesink and tendam and others in front of him ffs. He is at least couple percent below par but fair play he said he will learn from the race, he has to if he wants to win tdf for sure.
    Can's see any change at the top for this race, would be good to see heano or Uran given free role for last climbing stage along with a couple of other decent strong climbers as can't see the podium teams wanting to close break down as it's last chance to gain time.
    On this showing I think next years GT's will be far more competative and close Contador will not rule as he did pre ban however many miles of racing he does. At least he has a go though.
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  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    That climb was ridiculous! I think having a breakaway tackle it before the GC guys emphasised how tough it was, if you just saw Contador and Rodriguez attacking it then it wouldn't have seemed so bad. Cataldo and de Gendt looked like me riding Ramsbottom Rake, albeit today's climb was about 20 times as long!
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  • gattocattivo
    gattocattivo Posts: 500
    That was the single most brutal end of a stage I've ever seen, I think. Cataldo with 200 or so metres to go was going so slowly I thought he was going to fall off.
  • inkyfingers
    inkyfingers Posts: 4,400
    gattocattivo wrote:
    That was the single most brutal end of a stage I've ever seen, I think. Cataldo with 200 or so metres to go was going so slowly I thought he was going to fall off.

    Oh it is possible to ride slower than that, you want to see me riding up the hill into my village after a long ride (it is an 18% climb to be fair, and i'm not built for hills).
    "I have a lovely photo of a Camargue horse but will not post it now" (Frenchfighter - July 2013)
  • milton50
    milton50 Posts: 3,856
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Mama mia, they were riding circa 10km/h on that last bit. I have mixed feelings about these sorts of climbs. They rule out so many riders very quickly. It's almost too niche.

    I personally think the top of yesterday's climb was too extreme. I'll always enjoy watching the top athletes in the world being pushed right to the edge to some extent. But the last 2-3km of yesterday's climb was like watching a 15min snail race. I don't mind small sections of that kind of gradient but having miles of it is pretty pointless.

    The problem with comparing Rodriguez's performance to how he has measured up to Contador in the past is that Contador isn't a constant benchmark. Even leaving the doping question to one side Contador is still trying to race himself into top shape after his ban. It looks to me like on Sunday and Monday J Rod was right on the edge trying to stay on Contador's wheel. The difference is that in the past Bertie would have that extra 2-3% to keep the attack going for that bit longer, whereas at the moment he's just as knackered as J Rod.
  • LeicesterLad
    LeicesterLad Posts: 3,908
    Saturday could be interesting - Contador has another weeks racing in his legs by then.
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    edited September 2012
    "There's still the Bola del Mundo to go and I had much better legs than on the Lagos de Covadonga, but the weather's not in my favour. A cold, rainy day would be good for me."

    x610-2-4.jpg

    He suffers with the heat.

    Today I want to give thousand thanks to my team for the great work,I'm proud of each of you.THANKS!!!

    vuelta12st16-tendam.jpg
    Contador is the Greatest
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    JRod (or other riders) pipping Contador in a sprint is not new btw.

    47a4d8f5bacf1ccc023e6ec5e67bdc43-ge.jpg
    Contador is the Greatest
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    “When Alberto and Purito started to attack, I preferred not to go into that war because they would go very hard and then stop,” explained the Movistar rider. “I preferred to go my own pace because I always ended up catching back up and it was important to keep getting ahead of Froome.”
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Richmond Racer
    Richmond Racer Posts: 8,561
    oldwelshman wrote:
    Wicked climb.
    Still think the steak mans only chance is for a prolonged attack and forget who is on his wheel, he is not going to loose J-Rod with short bursts followed by a recovery, J-Rod will just follow each one, even Valverde rode back up to them a few times today afetr he looked cooked.
    Feel a bit sorry for Froome as Sky would have known he was not tiptop. He will learn fronm this and I think next year Wiggo will do Giro and Vuelta with Froome doing TDF. Today he had Montfort with him with Gesink and tendam and others in front of him ffs. He is at least couple percent below par but fair play he said he will learn from the race, he has to if he wants to win tdf for sure.
    Can's see any change at the top for this race, would be good to see heano or Uran given free role for last climbing stage along with a couple of other decent strong climbers as can't see the podium teams wanting to close break down as it's last chance to gain time.
    On this showing I think next years GT's will be far more competative and close Contador will not rule as he did pre ban however many miles of racing he does. At least he has a go though.


    No need to feel sorry for Froome - he wanted to be leader for the Vuelta, rather than Sky forcing him. Sure that otherwise they'd have played it as they did the Giro and had Uran and Henao doing their own thing, but with a bit more support from the rest of the team than the Giro where they were trying to to help Cav get the consolation prize of the points jersey.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Rodríguez and his Katusha teammates Denis Menchov and Dani Moreno were oddly riding near the back of the peloton as the group churned up the day’s third of four climbs, the Cat. 1 Cobertoria climb.

    Contador was puzzled and eased back to see what was going on.

    “Sometimes you can tell a lot by looking at the face of a rider. Menchov and Moreno were suffering, so I wanted to see,” Contador said. “At the end of the day, it was Rodríguez who was strongest.”

    Rodríguez shrugged off suggestions that he was trying to bluff Contador, saying that he didn’t want to put his team under too much pressure ahead of the most important climb of the Vuelta.

    “There was a lot of wind up on the top of that climb. This has been a Vuelta of measuring your forces,” Rodríguez said. “We wanted to save our legs and put pressure on the others to work. I wasn’t playing poker. You cannot play poker in the Vuelta, because you can lose everything.”
    Contador is the Greatest
  • LeicesterLad
    LeicesterLad Posts: 3,908
    Stage profile makes the Bola look deceptive. Climb doesn't officially start untill about 6km in but it rises up to 4% well before that: Overall length of the climb is alot longer than the advertised 10km:

    adzt18b4gs8ws4g0gs4048o-la_bola_del_mundo_collado_villalba_profile.jpg
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Gaps were not massive last time but Contador will go for it all the same.

    Last 2.5km from 2010
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecX-f2Bc ... r_embedded

    And top 20:
    Stage 20 Results
    1 MOSQUERA MIGUEZ, Ezequiel (Xacobeo - Galicia) 4h 45' 28"
    2 NIBALI, Vincenzo (Liquigas - Doimo) + 1"
    3 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (Katusha) + 23"
    4 SCHLECK, Fränk (Saxo Bank) + 35"
    5 TONDO VOLPINI, Xavier (Cervélo Test Team) + 39"
    6 ROCHE, Nicolas (Ag2r - La Mondiale) + 42"
    7 NIEVE ITURRALDE, Mikel (Euskaltel - Euskadi) + 50"
    8 VELITS, Peter (HTC - Columbia) + 52"
    9 LE MEVEL, Christophe (Française des Jeux) + 55"
    10 DI GREGORIO, Rémy (Française des Jeux) + 1' 00"
    11 SASTRE CANDIL, Carlos (Cervélo Test Team) + 1' 27"
    12 PUJOL MUÑOZ, Oscar (Cervélo Test Team) + 1' 30"
    13 DUPONT, Hubert (Ag2r - La Mondiale) + 1' 33"
    14 JUFRE POU, Josep (Astana) + 1' 32"
    15 KREUZIGER, Roman (Liquigas - Doimo)
    16 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (Caisse d'Epargne)
    17 DANIELSON, Tom (Garmin - Transitions) + 1' 46"
    18 GARCIA DA PENA, David (Xacobeo - Galicia) + 1' 50"
    19 CARUSO, Giampaolo (Katusha) + 1' 55"
    20 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (Caisse d'Epargne) + 2' 07"
    Contador is the Greatest
  • LeicesterLad
    LeicesterLad Posts: 3,908
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Gaps were not massive last time but Contador will go for it all the same.

    Last 2.5km from 2010
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecX-f2Bc ... r_embedded

    And top 20:
    Stage 20 Results
    1 MOSQUERA MIGUEZ, Ezequiel (Xacobeo - Galicia) 4h 45' 28"
    2 NIBALI, Vincenzo (Liquigas - Doimo) + 1"
    3 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (Katusha) + 23"
    4 SCHLECK, Fränk (Saxo Bank) + 35"
    5 TONDO VOLPINI, Xavier (Cervélo Test Team) + 39"
    6 ROCHE, Nicolas (Ag2r - La Mondiale) + 42"
    7 NIEVE ITURRALDE, Mikel (Euskaltel - Euskadi) + 50"
    8 VELITS, Peter (HTC - Columbia) + 52"
    9 LE MEVEL, Christophe (Française des Jeux) + 55"
    10 DI GREGORIO, Rémy (Française des Jeux) + 1' 00"
    11 SASTRE CANDIL, Carlos (Cervélo Test Team) + 1' 27"
    12 PUJOL MUÑOZ, Oscar (Cervélo Test Team) + 1' 30"
    13 DUPONT, Hubert (Ag2r - La Mondiale) + 1' 33"
    14 JUFRE POU, Josep (Astana) + 1' 32"
    15 KREUZIGER, Roman (Liquigas - Doimo)
    16 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (Caisse d'Epargne)
    17 DANIELSON, Tom (Garmin - Transitions) + 1' 46"
    18 GARCIA DA PENA, David (Xacobeo - Galicia) + 1' 50"
    19 CARUSO, Giampaolo (Katusha) + 1' 55"
    20 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (Caisse d'Epargne) + 2' 07"

    If he can stop J-Rod getting any more bonus seconds in the run up and then grab them himself on the Bola aswell as get a time gap then it could come good for him, but i'm very doubtful.
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  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    There is tomorrow's stage maybe. Could be harder than expected.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/riders- ... uitu-negru
    Contador is the Greatest

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