Vuelta Stage 14 *Spoiler*
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Give me more wrote:afx237vi wrote:Ratto looks like he's about to keel over sideways... painful.
Hell of a ride though. ballsy and gritty in equal measure.
Yep... was getting a bit worried 5 or 10 minutes ago, but looks like he's got it now.0 -
Nice. Enjoying the finish.....sort of.0
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What a ride by Gatto. Horner should get an advertising gig highlighting the benefits of sanatogen!0
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Hah, epic wheelie by Ratto. Sagan will be jealous of that
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Is Horner dropping Nibs? Ah, no - thought he had a gap at one point.0
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Speaking of gutsy rides, Valverde is putting in an amazing climb to recover some ground.0
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Not bad by J Rod either.0
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Roche the day's biggest loser, unfortunately.0
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What's going on with Horner's shoes? 0
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Nice that they have to head straight back down too. Pleasant descent to freeze your ass off on.0
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Why is Ratto wearing a bag on his head?0
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I heard (can’t vouch for its truth) that Horner didn’t have time to take off the second overshoe at the bottom of the Ordino, so before the Comella climb.greasedscotsman wrote:What's going on with Horner's shoes?
The group with most of the other favourites were apparently quicker ‘stripping down’, and had Horner taken those extra few seconds to get the second overshoe off, he would have found himself adrift and behind the Nibali group.
And that is reputedly exactly what happened to Valverde – by the time he’d taken off his rain gear, a gap between him and the Nibali group had opened and he had been dropped.0 -
Nah, I believe Valverde said he just felt dizzy and didn't feel alright before the final climb.0
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Had to miss today's stage, but sounds crazy. Too bad about Basso.0
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I could really do with Horner being busted. Have Valverde and J-Rod E/W.0
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Wonder will all those *only* riding to train for the Worlds start abandoning.
The weather didn't seem that bad compared to what they've been encountering earlier in the season. Maybe the body just doesn't adapt to changing conditions after 2 weeks in a grand tour.....“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
I doubt your theory - only maybe true if the riders weren’t fully fit to begin with or have developed something underway.TailWindHome wrote:The weather didn't seem that bad compared to what they've been encountering earlier in the season. Maybe the body just doesn't adapt to changing conditions after 2 weeks in a grand tour.....
Some well-known rider (my head has gone blank about which rider – Delgado or Evans) compared yesterday’s stage with the 1988 Giro Gavia stage – that’s the snow one with some famous photos.
Whoever it was is definitely exaggerating, purposely or not, but I can imagine the 20 km descent from the Envalira was pretty cold, not just because of temperatures alone, but also because moisture from outside and inside, accumulated on the long ride up to its summit, wouldn’t have evaporated in such conditions.
As for your comparison about earlier in the season, presumimg you mean the Giro, the rain in this year’s Giro was mostly at much lower altitudes, so without the very cold temperatures. When the stages were high and cold, because it snowed, they shortened or cancelled the stages.
Eitherway, yesterday Lotto lost 3 riders, so I wouldn’t buy the rainwear gear they wear!0 -
It was 9 degrees at the top of the highest point so definitely cold when soaked through but no worse than many early season races and much warmer than several Giro stages. I suspect the problems came from riders being under prepared and underdressed for the conditions combined with a sudden drop from hot, sunny weather.0
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Pross wrote:It was 9 degrees
9 degrees in the rain isn't pleasant it's hardly epic.
I still reckon it's the accumulation of tiredness and change in conditions which cause the problems..
Would the riders be losing weight through the race?“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
TailWindHome wrote:Pross wrote:It was 9 degrees
9 degrees in the rain isn't pleasant it's hardly epic.
I still reckon it's the accumulation of tiredness and change in conditions which cause the problems..
Would the riders be losing weight through the race?
Exactly. I still think the sudden drop in temperature after spending a couple of months riding / racing in high temperatures will have made it feel worse than it was though.0 -
WOW, what a stage. Some serious talent and bravery from Ratto there and a big shame that Basso had to pull:
"When I stopped, three or four people were needed to get me off my bike. I was confused and lost, the team car did the right thing because I could have hurt myself," Basso said.
"It happened suddenly. I came out of a tunnel and I suddenly felt frozen. But I was wrapped up, I'd eaten and I'm only as thin as everyone else. I was just four kilometres from the bottom of the descent…"
That`s two GTs this year where he is hit by bad luck so I hope that he comes back fighting next year.
Gilbert had told Sportwereld that Saturday's stage “was hell from start to finish”
Glad to see Nibali just showing his True Champ status, proper hard man like Contador who thrives in the hardest meteorological conditions.
Photos are awesome from this stage.Contador is the Greatest0 -
Contador is the Greatest0 -
frenchfighter wrote:Glad to see Nibali just showing his True Champ status, proper hard man like Contador who thrives in the hardest meteorological conditions.
Come on, lets not get carried away. Yes it was exciting and maybe even a little dramatic but it wasn't the harshest meteorological conditions. As they say there's no such thing as bad weather only the wrong clothing and clearly some riders coped better than others or were better prepared than others. Whether the lack of preparedness was the rider or the team's error I don't know. You rarely see much comment about the weather in 'cross as people are generally prepared for it even though it can be pretty brutal at times.
I know some people will accuse me of the "When I were a lad" type of comment but unfortunately these days there is a tendency to veer towards hyperbole with these sort of things. Thirty years ago people would have hardly batted an eyelid about Saturday's weather.0 -
You know I tend to agree with you but there were a ridiculous amount of abandons and if some respectable riders are saying it was appalling then it may have been.Contador is the Greatest0
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frenchfighter wrote:You know I tend to agree with you but there were a ridiculous amount of abandons and if some respectable riders are saying it was appalling then it may have been.
I think it's not quite as clear as it seems tbh. The worlds being round the corner is definetly having an impact on whether people complete the race and I guess it's not good form to say "I only came here to get a bit of form etc". Of course when the weather turns a bit nasty it's the perfect get out clause.
I also think some people or their teams were just unprepared. Maybe the last couple of weeks fooled people. I certainly wouldn't fancy riding in some of that without leg / arm warmers or even a basde layer and proper gloves but it would be much more bearable if you had the right gear on.
Edited as mistyped last line0 -
Both good points. Yes certainly some people are pulling out as the Worlds are too big to miss from picking up a cold etc and yes the weather change was quite abrupt.Contador is the Greatest0
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Martin, Gilbert etc obviously for the worlds... but Basso wasn't. He sounded wrecked...0
