Vuelta a España 2014 Stage 16 *Spoilers*

tailwindhome

Macaloon wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Quintana and Contador have never gone toe to toe properly in a GT. Hopefully that will be in the Tour next year but would be nice if they both raced.
In TA this year Contador beat him convincingly. Beat him in Catalunya.
In fact over the 6 mountains this year, Contador has placed ahead of him on all 6.

Pub talk for the off-season. If Contador can keep this up, Froome stay up, Quintana turn up, and World Champ Nibali be bothered, well 2015 ...

When was the last time there were 4 serious, equal, contenders for GTs?

I've a feeling Contador won't be at the Tour and will instead do the Giro and Vuelta next year.
Part of the reason for signing Sagan.

Nibali would have owned this race.

frenchfighter

@dailystews · 2h
Fun fact: @tinkoff_saxo has won the queen stages in all the grand tours @mickrogers @majkaformal @albertocontador

Contador is not even flying yet. If the guys cant put him to the sword now they never will.
Contador has consistently been better than Nibali and this year would have been no exception, however much I like and rate the Shark.

tailwindhome

frenchfighter wrote:

@dailystews · 2h
Fun fact: @tinkoff_saxo has won the queen stages in all the grand tours @mickrogers @majkaformal @albertocontador

Contador is not even flying yet. If the guys cant put him to the sword now they never will.
Contador has consistently been better than Nibali and this year would have been no exception, however much I like and rate the Shark.

It would have been a great battle.
I reckon he would have torn up that TT...

milton50

Not the most exciting stage to be honest. Contador just sat on Froome's wheel for 4ks and then jumped ahead in the last 800m so you could see the way it was going to end from a long way out. Good performance from Froome and Contador though.

The problem is that at the end of this season we're left with "yeh but such and such isn't on top of his game," "so and so was coming back from injury" "so and sowasn't even there" etc etc. when the start of the season promised so much.

Anticipation already building for Froome v Contador v Quintana next year. Don't know what Nibali's plans for next year are.

Macaloon

frenchfighter wrote:

Contador is not even flying yet. If the guys cant put him to the sword now they never will.
Contador has consistently been better than Nibali and this year would have been no exception, however much I like and rate the Shark.

Helluva pep talk, to pick your man up from the trouncing on stage 14, FF. Considered a career as a sports management guru? Top tier vacancy in the offing methinks.

RichN95.

Milton50 wrote:

Anticipation already building for Froome v Contador v Quintana next year. Don't know what Nibali's plans for next year are.

He's talked about doing the Giro and the Tour, which seems a mistake to me, unless he wants to get his excuses in early. After all, Aru looks ready for a proper Giro assult.

iainf72

Contador showed he read it right being most worried about Froome.

Feels like Contador has gone into the race with the level of form people thought Froome had.

Also today did show that those stupid steep things they do don't suit Froome as much.

tailwindhome

David Millar ‏@millarmind · 6m
Tragic to hear of the death of a Guardia Civil motorcyclist on the Vuelta today. They protect our lives every kilometre of every day.

gsk82

i wonder if tinkoff saxo will be disqualified for making use of a disqualified rider? he had more impact than the ineligible legia warsaw player

inseine

Good last climb that. Valv and J-Rod paid for their timidity yesterday.

hammerite

gsk82 wrote:

i wonder if tinkoff saxo will be disqualified for making use of a disqualified rider? he had more impact than the ineligible legia warsaw player

I did wonder if Sky (perhaps they're trying to remain friends with everyone) or one of the contenders teams would put in a complaint for the use of the disqualified rider.

Looks to me that Froome was riding for the podium today rather than an attempt to ride away from Contador. Contador just rode sensibly. Although perhaps like yesterday had they formed more of an alliance they could have buried Valverde and Rodriguez.

RichN95.

hammerite wrote:

Looks to me that Froome was riding for the podium today rather than an attempt to ride away from Contador.

I think he just gave it everything he had to see what happened. He was just riding to drop as many as he could. To beat Contador he was going to need him to crack either today or stage 20. And that is still the situation. Whether the time gap is 1'20 or 1'40 difference makes little difference.

frenchfighter

Macaloon wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Contador is not even flying yet. If the guys cant put him to the sword now they never will.
Contador has consistently been better than Nibali and this year would have been no exception, however much I like and rate the Shark.

Helluva pep talk, to pick your man up from the trouncing on stage 14, FF. Considered a career as a sports management guru? Top tier vacancy in the offing methinks.

Stage 4 you mean? Has nothing to do with your ability to win a GT. Nothing. 7 GTs in the bag and 8 looking increasingly likely, my top man, who I have backed unceasingly since forever, is still and will remain, the best stage race rider of his generation.

mroli

I thought that was a fascinating finale. J-Rod and Valverde got found out on a "time-trialer" type hill - that suited that Sky riding and didn't allow for jumps. Froome managed to ride them off his wheel, but Contador showed his ability. I think Froome made him hurt a couple of times - there were a couple of grimaces, but contrary to what someone above wrote, Contador rode that perfectly - Froome did the work for him, secured his time over Valverde and then he put some more time into Froome. I have no idea why Contador would have worked earlier - even if he had finished on Froome's wheel or a second in front of him, it would have been a fantastic result.

Dan Martin riding well. Aru doing great given the season he's had.

Given the weakness of Contador's team (and the fact he lost another one today), I'd like to see some attacking riding trying to crack them - he has to mark both Froome and Valverde and Garmin have a bit of the devil in them too and Katusha are strong. Love it if all those guys would just roll the dice and chance their arm against him. They're not going to do him any other way.

bigcgilmour

Stage 4 you mean? Has nothing to do with your ability to win a GT. Nothing. 7 GTs in the bag and 8 looking increasingly likely, my top man, who I have backed unceasingly since forever, is still and will remain, the best stage race rider of his .



Who enjoys a steak from time to time!!!

frenchfighter

bigcgilmour wrote:

Stage 4 you mean? Has nothing to do with your ability to win a GT. Nothing. 7 GTs in the bag and 8 looking increasingly likely, my top man, who I have backed unceasingly since forever, is still and will remain, the best stage race rider of his .



Who enjoys a steak from time to time!!!

Who doesn't like a nice steak? I enjoyed my last one at Hawksmoor.

joelsim

He hasn't won 7 GTs.

salsiccia1

frenchfighter wrote:

7 GTs in the bag and 8 looking increasingly likely, my top man, who I have backed unceasingly since forever, is still and will remain, the best stage race rider of his generation.

He's 'only' won 5 GTs. But it's hard to argue that he isn't the best stage race rider of his generation.

philbar72

RichN95 wrote:

Milton50 wrote:

Anticipation already building for Froome v Contador v Quintana next year. Don't know what Nibali's plans for next year are.

He's talked about doing the Giro and the Tour, which seems a mistake to me, unless he wants to get his excuses in early. After all, Aru looks ready for a proper Giro assult.

Agree re Aru. Looks like he is going to be up there, and 3rd in the giro and 5th in this is not bad going at all.

Nibbles just needs to do the tour...

philbar72

mroli wrote:

I thought that was a fascinating finale. J-Rod and Valverde got found out on a "time-trialer" type hill - that suited that Sky riding and didn't allow for jumps. Froome managed to ride them off his wheel, but Contador showed his ability. I think Froome made him hurt a couple of times - there were a couple of grimaces, but contrary to what someone above wrote, Contador rode that perfectly - Froome did the work for him, secured his time over Valverde and then he put some more time into Froome. I have no idea why Contador would have worked earlier - even if he had finished on Froome's wheel or a second in front of him, it would have been a fantastic result.

Dan Martin riding well. Aru doing great given the season he's had.

Given the weakness of Contador's team (and the fact he lost another one today), I'd like to see some attacking riding trying to crack them - he has to mark both Froome and Valverde and Garmin have a bit of the devil in them too and Katusha are strong. Love it if all those guys would just roll the dice and chance their arm against him. They're not going to do him any other way.

Yes, but running out of places to do just that.

mroli

Yep - there's probably 2 stages left that something "exciting" could happen on...

RichN95.

philbar72 wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Milton50 wrote:

Anticipation already building for Froome v Contador v Quintana next year. Don't know what Nibali's plans for next year are.

He's talked about doing the Giro and the Tour, which seems a mistake to me, unless he wants to get his excuses in early. After all, Aru looks ready for a proper Giro assult.

Agree re Aru. Looks like he is going to be up there, and 3rd in the giro and 5th in this is not bad going at all.

Nibbles just needs to do the tour...

The ASO should just pay whatever they have to to make sure that the 'big four' just do the Tour. (And then send them down really narrow furniture filled roads in the low countries to ensure that two of them don't make it to the first mountain).

Macaloon

Gianluca Brambilla ‏ @glbrambilla 3h
I'm sorry. This situation shouldn't have happened. For my part in it, I apologize to #OPQS, race organizers, and the fans. #sadday

Vuelta belter, Thrilla Brambilla.

frenchfighter

Uran lost 15mins today. He has bronchitis. Big shame. Was he even mentioned?

Contador changed his bike before the big climb (and he also nearly got taken out by a moto)?

frenchfighter

TailWindHome wrote:

David Millar ‏@millarmind · 6m
Tragic to hear of the death of a Guardia Civil motorcyclist on the Vuelta today. They protect our lives every kilometre of every day.

This is very sad. Has anyone heard the context? Would be good if they did a minutes silence before the start tomorrow.

redbicycle

It was a great stage today...enough said. Accelerations, tempo, attacks...and a bitch slap fight in the peloton. Who could ask for more?! Both Froome and Contador showed their class today.

rick_chasey

Contador would have smashed the Tour had he stayed upright.

inseine

Rick Chasey wrote:

Contador would have smashed the Tour had he stayed upright.

Well, that's one of a million ifs so i guess we'll never know.
It's interesting that he says that Froome is the only guy he fears, but I think he is downplaying Qunitana especially.

milton50

Rick Chasey wrote:

Contador would have smashed the Tour had he stayed upright.

Serious?

tailwindhome

frenchfighter wrote:

Uran lost 15mins today. He has bronchitis. Big shame. Was he even mentioned?

Contador changed his bike before the big climb (and he also nearly got taken out by a moto)?

Uran was covered on the ES coverage. I think they had mercy after a while and took the camera off him.