Itzulia Basque Country 2021 ***Spoilers***

mididoctors

I want valverde to keep going and not retire

kingstongraham

Pross said:

pblakeney said:

diplodicus said:

Why is Gaudu towing Roglic to the line?

Deal made. Gaudu has the stage.

Brave to trust him. Days like this I really warm to Roglic then he reverts to sitting in the group until the last 200m but I suppose it's just the most efficient way to ride, especially when organisers dish out time bonuses on the line so shouldn't really be critical.

Good to see Valverde can still be Valverde on stages like this.

It's not quite comparable - they obviously agreed a mutually agreeable pact for the day, compared to in PN when he just rode past and beat someone close to the line.

m.r.m.

Today the commentary from Kirby was particularly bad again with both him and Brian Smith bleating on for 20-30 km after McNulty had already cracked that Pogacar should have stayed with him, just because he "looked good again" on the bike. In this time McNulty was shedding time and the gap was going all the way up to 1:40 behind Roglic while Pogacar was at least able to keep it to 35-40 seconds behind Roglic (and a minute ahead of McNulty).
I can't understand how you can keep making this call when McNulty clearly cracked and was unable to even hold Pogacar's wheel with 2 climbs still remaining.

Pogacar got practically no help outside of a tiny bit from Adam Yates and a littel bit more from Valverde. If his group had been able to cooperate better he may have stood a chance of catching Roglic.

Bahrain (Landa) did no work at all eventually got caught by the Pello Bilbao group, only to be all dropped again anyway. Really don't see the point of their negative racing. Serves neither them nor anyone else.

Then when McNulty basically cracked again, Kirby does the 180 and says it was probably a good decision for Pogacar to ride on. Smith unable to even concede makes some vague point on team tactics having to have been different.

Cracking stage and great finish to a solid stage race. Chapeau to Roglic turning the tables for once. Will be good for him to experience it the other way around for a change!

I can even see UAE's pov trying to get McNulty the GC win at expense of Pogacar (Pog waiting on the descent) considering it's a minor race and is good for moral for a lieutenant to get a win.

RichN95.

kingstongraham said:

Pross said:

pblakeney said:

diplodicus said:

Why is Gaudu towing Roglic to the line?

Deal made. Gaudu has the stage.

Brave to trust him. Days like this I really warm to Roglic then he reverts to sitting in the group until the last 200m but I suppose it's just the most efficient way to ride, especially when organisers dish out time bonuses on the line so shouldn't really be critical.

Good to see Valverde can still be Valverde on stages like this.

It's not quite comparable - they obviously agreed a mutually agreeable pact for the day, compared to in PN when he just rode past and beat someone close to the line.

Also this was the last stage and the race was won. In Paris-Nice there was still another stage to go for Roglic to lose it - which he did

RichN95.

Double post

andyp

phreak said:

There's zero chance of Roglic attacking from distance.

This aged well. 😂

phreak

m.r.m. said:

Today the commentary from Kirby was particularly bad again with both him and Brian Smith bleating on for 20-30 km after McNulty had already cracked that Pogacar should have stayed with him, just because he "looked good again" on the bike. In this time McNulty was shedding time and the gap was going all the way up to 1:40 behind Roglic while Pogacar was at least able to keep it to 35-40 seconds behind Roglic (and a minute ahead of McNulty).
I can't understand how you can keep making this call when McNulty clearly cracked and was unable to even hold Pogacar's wheel with 2 climbs still remaining.

Pogacar got practically no help outside of a tiny bit from Adam Yates and a littel bit more from Valverde. If his group had been able to cooperate better he may have stood a chance of catching Roglic.

Bahrain (Landa) did no work at all eventually got caught by the Pello Bilbao group, only to be all dropped again anyway. Really don't see the point of their negative racing. Serves neither them nor anyone else.

Then when McNulty basically cracked again, Kirby does the 180 and says it was probably a good decision for Pogacar to ride on. Smith unable to even concede makes some vague point on team tactics having to have been different.

Cracking stage and great finish to a solid stage race. Chapeau to Roglic turning the tables for once. Will be good for him to experience it the other way around for a change!

I can even see UAE's pov trying to get McNulty the GC win at expense of Pogacar (Pog waiting on the descent) considering it's a minor race and is good for moral for a lieutenant to get a win.

It was a bit weird for Astana to drill it on the front only to have no one left at the end. Didn't work out for them in the end, but their effort worked a charm for Roglic.

phreak

andyp said:

phreak said:

There's zero chance of Roglic attacking from distance.

This aged well. 😂

Ha. To be fair, it was mainly Astana that broke things up and Roglic helped to solidify the break. It was hardly a Froome on the Finestre. Once the elastic snapped though he rode really well. Hopefully we'll see more of this kind of racing from him as it's much more exciting than his usual 200m sprint at the end of a climb.

m.r.m.

phreak said:

It was a bit weird for Astana to drill it on the front only to have no one left at the end. Didn't work out for them in the end, but their effort worked a charm for Roglic.

I agree. Not sure what that was all about. Fun to watch, but don't really see the point.

mididoctors

Valverde and other GC dreamers trying to slip away in the Astana move really did the damage

mididoctors

Eventually roglic got in the move ... He did the bulk.of the pulling from about 40 k out .. pretty impressive