Vuelta al Pais Vasco 2013 *SPOILERS*

DeadCalm

TailWindHome wrote:

T'was Peraud who crashed

Hope he's ok. I'd like to see him bag a podium here if possible.

danlikesbikes

DeadCalm wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

T'was Peraud who crashed

Hope he's ok. I'd like to see him bag a podium here if possible.

Looks like he went down hard on his side, but kept his arm in and just slid into the camera peps who very kindly just bothered to move their equipment out of the way rather than trying to help out.

Seemed to get up OK though - guess we will know more tomorrow after he has seen the team and got some rest in.

nevman

Thought that Sky did a creditable job today-depleted crew meant more long turns on the chase and once more, apart from Movistar, it seems they have no friends in the pro peleton.The Henao/Porte one two is a very effective combo,enough to see off Contador today in filthy weather.
They do need to cultivate some friends however. :roll:

DeadCalm

Wow. Spare a thought for Mikael Cherel. Apparently he had a mechanical only 2km into the stage and didn't manage to get back to the peloton until the 60km mark such was the early pace. He eventually finished 25th @1'16. Chapeau that man.

RichN95.

nevman wrote:

Thought that Sky did a creditable job today-depleted crew meant more long turns on the chase and once more, apart from Movistar, it seems they have no friends in the pro peloton.The Henao/Porte one two is a very effective combo,enough to see off Contador today in filthy weather.
They do need to cultivate some friends however. :roll:

Why would anyone want to help the number 1 team?

(I can see why Movistar might, but the others? I wouldn't)

A bit of trivia for today: The riders in first and second, Quintana and Henao, are flatmates in Pamplona (along with Uran)

danlikesbikes

DeadCalm wrote:

Wow. Spare a thought for Mikael Cherel. Apparently he had a mechanical only 2km into the stage and didn't manage to get back to the peloton until the 60km mark such was the early pace. He eventually finished 25th @1'16. Chapeau that man.

Did not realise that - chapeau indeed for that effort

dolan_driver

It is great to see some good climbers from Colombia coming to the fore again after the glory days of Lucho and Fabio Parra. I hope Betancur and Henao make up after yesterday's battle too. It didn't look like there is much love lost between them.

DD.

DeadCalm

Danlikesbikes wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

T'was Peraud who crashed

Hope he's ok. I'd like to see him bag a podium here if possible.

Looks like he went down hard on his side, but kept his arm in and just slid into the camera peps who very kindly just bothered to move their equipment out of the way rather than trying to help out.

Seemed to get up OK though - guess we will know more tomorrow after he has seen the team and got some rest in.

Peraud actually managed to crash twice after the finish. The one we all saw plus another chute on the descent to the bus. Poor old Jicé. Shouldn't prevent him from starting tomorrow though.

danlikesbikes

Glad that he is OK.

Watched the moto camera angle as it was pretty straight on to the direction of the riders & the 2 who went down were not on the same part of the road. Did look V wet and that one part had some standing water on it but wonder if any of the vehicles that went over prior to the riders making it there might have dropped some oil.

alihisgreat

RichN95 wrote:

nevman wrote:

Thought that Sky did a creditable job today-depleted crew meant more long turns on the chase and once more, apart from Movistar, it seems they have no friends in the pro peloton.The Henao/Porte one two is a very effective combo,enough to see off Contador today in filthy weather.
They do need to cultivate some friends however. :roll:

Why would anyone want to help the number 1 team?

(I can see why Movistar might, but the others? I wouldn't)

A bit of trivia for today: The riders in first and second, Quintana and Henao, are flatmates in Pamplona (along with Uran)

Nice bit of trivia - the Colombians unite!

DeadCalm

frenchfighter wrote:

LeicesterLad wrote:

Sky bag another stage race then, with a domestique. Whats everyone else playing at?!

Race aint over. Henao cant TT. Porte is a good TT rider certainly but who knows. There are some handy TT riders up there. Not a pan flat TT course so could be interesting.

Tomorrow isn't a straightforward stage either and this is not a strong Sky squad. I'd love to see some of the other teams take the race to Sky.

jerry3571

I think the top guys racing full gas in races like this is a bit of risk. A quick trip over the barriers or a slip could end a rider's season. A day like today could wipe out a rider like AC or Talansky or Van Garderen who have bigger fish to fry. Riders have in the past only done about 40-50 days of racing a year and 2013 seems to be a year where the top guys are racing very frequently. The LA and Ullrich days seem to be over.

For the likes of Saxo Bank, if AC crashes badly then there's no one else for the biggest prizes for the Team. Hope their luck holds out. Tricky stuff.

frenchfighter

Swapping glasses:

Danlikesbikes wrote:

JTL nice blue rain jacket IMHO

frenchfighter

Alberto Contador ‏@albertocontador 12h
Thanks very much to all that are on the road under the intense rain. Climbs are less tough with your support!

Alberto Contador ‏@albertocontador 11h
Today, stage under water in Basque Country.4h non stop raining, finally whit out differences at overall. Tomorrow a really tough stage!

inkyfingers

Gilbert nearly 9 minutes down yesterday, hopefully saving himself for today, which would be a good day to test himself if he still has real hopes of making a splash in the Ardennes.

Hope to see a teams having a go today on what is quite a gnarly looking stage. Movistar hopefully, Katusha (who have 3 guys within 1 minute on GC) and of course Euskaltel must be getting pretty desperate for a win now. Wouldn't rule out a move from Contador either, he clearly doesn't have the climbing yet, but a brave move like he pulled in the Vuelta may work, though he probably needs to team up with a squad without much chance on GC (Movistar or Euskaltel would be the obvious ones), but even lacking numbers Sky look strong, Porte has looked relaxed throughout this race, riding calmly while Henao has been fighting for the wins.

frenchfighter

Gilbert on Wed. Check top speed:

Richmond Racer

Possible snow above 500m apparently

danlikesbikes

Richmond Racer wrote:

Possible snow above 500m apparently

4 climbs over that height today.... I think?

frenchfighter

Oh my, didn't look at the profile properly before. This stage is very tough - over 3000m climbing and 10 categorised climbs!

Good preview:
http://c-cycling.blogspot.cz/2013/04/vu ... eview.html

danlikesbikes

Yep looking like today's stage is going to be........... tough whatever happens. Breakaway goes & all the teams will want to working but might want to force Sky too, though didn't seem to work like that yesterday.

Richmond Racer

18km into the race, all together, the first climb, a cat 3, done. Next up, a cat

EDIT: feck, I meant a Cat 1 up next

(thanks to Dan...)

danlikesbikes

Richmond Racer wrote:

18km into the race, all together, the first climb, a cat 3, done. Next up, a cat

meow

danlikesbikes

Richmond Racer wrote:

18km into the race, all together, the first climb, a cat 3, done. Next up, a cat

EDIT: feck, I meant a Cat 1 up next

(thanks to Dan...)

Stupid, childish & immature quote from me - but I just couldn't help myself I'm still having a little chuckle at it, the image of cyclists stopping due to a cat crossing the road

Richmond Racer

Danlikesbikes wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

18km into the race, all together, the first climb, a cat 3, done. Next up, a cat

EDIT: feck, I meant a Cat 1 up next

(thanks to Dan...)

Stupid, childish & immature quote from me - but I just couldn't help myself I'm still having a little chuckle at it, the image of cyclists stopping due to a cat crossing the road

There have to be some pics of feline intervention in races somewhere. Plenty of canine intervention.

danlikesbikes

Richmond Racer wrote:

There have to be some pics of feline intervention in races somewhere. Plenty of canine intervention.

Have seen - dogs, sheep, cows & a few from S.A. & Aus with some pretty big birds (no pun intended) & roo's plus one with a croc/alligator

Richmond Racer

Klodi's thrown inthe towel

After 29km, Herrada (MOV) and Silin (AST) have 30" on the peloton

Must be near the summit of that first cat 1 now

danlikesbikes

Poss move from Movi & Astana for later on?

danlikesbikes

Also P Gilbert has abandoned

Richmond Racer

Danlikesbikes wrote:

Also P Gilbert has abandoned

And Cesar. The DNFs are going to rack up today, horrible stage and pouring with rain

At the 40km mark peloton split into 2 groups, all faves in front group

jibberjim

Danlikesbikes wrote:

Poss move from Movi & Astana for later on?

2 guys down the road is not enough, would be ideal situation for Sky really, not that hard to control 2 with 4 riders even if Saxo showed no interest.