Vuelta 2018 A bit shite?

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  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    M.R.M. wrote:
    If Yates had won the Giro, would he have ridden the Vuelta trying to win GC? Pretty insane to start your GC palmares with a Giro/Vuelta double. Insane how close he was to it!
    He really wasn't that close to the Giro.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,031
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    If Yates hadn't collapsed so spectacularly in the Giro, the Vuelta GC would have been dull as dishwater.

    It's only the fact that Yates hadn't been able to put together 3 good weeks which has kept it interesting.

    It's not as if his lead was that big until last night.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • coopster_the_1st
    coopster_the_1st Posts: 5,158
    It's been a good GT to watch from the daily 1 hour highlights and it is fantastic to see another British winner.

    However it has had the weakest field of this years GT's. Had any of the top 4 from this years TDF targeted the Vuelta, they would have won because their TT strength would have changed how it was raced.

    When so many top riders are riding this race as training for the worlds it demonstrates how the race is viewed from within the peleton.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    I know resources and infrastructure isn’t as good as the TdF, but some of the coverage has been a bit poor as well. Too many shots of more well known riders slipping out the back instead of seeing some of the key attacks for points and prizes elsewhere
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    Ultimately, three months from now what are you going to remember about this race other than the results? My guess is not a lot.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Probably. But theway Yates rode away from the GC group to the stage leaders on Friday would be my HTRWW moment and should stay in the memory banks for a while. I feel that he could have done the same thing yesterday, but was being ultra conservative.
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,455
    Is there a lull in terms of quality among GC riders atm? Contador retired, Nibali, Quintana & Aru are suspect in terms of form all the time.
    The young ones aren't entirely ready and Froome and Dumoulin seem to be the only true blue chippers.

    Roglic and Thomas are closing fast, but with everyone targeting the Tour, the other GT's could use some star power (perhaps just the Vuelta).
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,241
    RonB wrote:
    Probably. But theway Yates rode away from the GC group to the stage leaders on Friday would be my HTRWW moment and should stay in the memory banks for a while. I feel that he could have done the same thing yesterday, but was being ultra conservative.
    Which to me shows that it was an underwhelming race. That incident was him bridging a ten second gap in a few hundred metres with next to no reaction from anyone else. Yates has won this race without using top gear against a field either too young or too Tour-tired to really challenge. Any excitement came from what might happen rather than what did.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • richard_t._biscuit
    richard_t._biscuit Posts: 246
    edited September 2018
    I enjoyed it because I like watching cycling and thus do not need something rare or exceptional to happen in order to enjoy it. It was a decent race with a lot riding on it and quite open (albeit obviously not in retrospect). There were quite a few good stages and an interesting result. At worse it was a fairly average Vuelta.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    From Smithy on Twitter “We now have a generation of GB cyclists growing up believing they can win a Grand Tour instead of just riding one...”

    Sure it is unintentional but this kinda strikes a bit of a chord with something posted here a day or two ago about actual numbers of GB riders in the races being nothing to shout about. I guess reducing rider numbers overall doesn’t help.

    Poor analogy = tennis. Seem to get a few top class players but casualty could be strength in depth.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,447
    Really? We're in a golden age in terms of strength in depth. There are at least 20 British riders in WT teams, that is unprecedented in my lifetime. If you look at the u23 and Junior levels, we have riders winning races at the highest level. The base of the pyramid is strong.
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,325
    Daniel Friebe pointed out earlier that there have been as many British winners of GTs this year as there were appearances in GTs in 2005. It's still fewer than we might hope, but given the astronomically low base that British cycling is coming from it's nothing short of staggering (I can remember watching the TdF that year and feeling that I must be like those cool people who watched Italian football despite the presence of no British footballers - I'd say it's the closest I've come to being a hipster but I own a unicyle and four ukuleles and oh god just shoot me now).

    https://twitter.com/friebos/status/1041085850057093120
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships

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