Just turned it over... Great finish from Simon Yates... Looking forward to seeing what he can do as he's better than his Brother who got fourth at the Tour this year and only missed it because of a joke "Drugs" ban!!
Excellent battle between Froome and Quintana. Froome is just playing with him until the ITT later on in the week, where I suspect he'll blow Quintana out of the water.
Yates was awesome today. He'll win a Grand Tour in the next three years.
Excellent battle between Froome and Quintana. Froome is just playing with him until the ITT later on in the week, where I suspect he'll blow Quintana out of the water.
Yates was awesome today. He'll win a Grand Tour in the next three years.
I suspect you are totally correct about Yates ...and definitely right about Froome
Which Yates though, that's the question. Adam looked amazing in the tour - every inch the GC contender, but if anything, Orica think Simon is the better choice. I think one of them needs to move team - they won't get a look in with Teenytana there at two of the tours each year.
Which Yates though, that's the question. Adam looked amazing in the tour - every inch the GC contender, but if anything, Movistar think Simon is the better choice. I think one of them needs to move team - they won't get a look in with Teenytana there at two of the tours each year.
On this showing then Simon Yates surely has to be the better prospect... You never saw Adam Yates pulling away from his contenders like that in the Tour!!
Which Yates though, that's the question. Adam looked amazing in the tour - every inch the GC contender, but if anything, Movistar think Simon is the better choice. I think one of them needs to move team - they won't get a look in with Teenytana there at two of the tours each year.
On this showing then Simon Yates surely has to be the better prospect... You never saw Adam Yates pulling away from his contenders like that in the Tour!!
The Vuelta isn't the tour though. Froome is only at about 80% here - and the other contenders aren't at the same level either (except Quintana, who always seems to be better early or late season). Fourth place on the tour is as good if not better than second at the Vuelta - and Yates (Simon) won't get that.
I usually see the final stage/procession in Madrid on the last day which normally consists of a few laps of the city centre. Is the winner already decided by then?
Couldn't watch a single second of it today, cos the telly was being monopolised by pre-teens girls watching some atrocious shit called pretty liars. FML.
Major problems for Froome today. His team have completely blown up. He could lose over two minutes to Quintana.
Not being a fan of Froome I was pleased to see him having to do the work himself for a while. He doesn't show respect to other teams so why should they work with him when his team mates aren't there for him. Really hope this buggers the Vuelta for him.
I don't get that. I haven't ever seen him show disrespect for any other team - not having a dig here, but would be interested to know what you mean when you say that?
I must say I watch cycling on TV purely for enjoyment so have no real knowledge of the technical side of it at all - which probably answers your question! But from what I have seen so far this Vuelta the Sky team have been happy to sit behind other teams letting them do the work (I guess this is what I mean by disrespect) so when Quintana etc broke away and Sky had to chase I was pleased.
I must say I watch cycling on TV purely for enjoyment so have no real knowledge of the technical side of it at all - which probably answers your question! But from what I have seen so far this Vuelta the Sky team have been happy to sit behind other teams letting them do the work (I guess this is what I mean by disrespect) so when Quintana etc broke away and Sky had to chase I was pleased.
SKY were doing that a lot during the Tour de France though... Whenever one of their rivals broke away you'd see Thomas / Poels / Henao / Froome chasing them down whilst Quintana and one of his team mate (Valverde) would just sit there with them, it was a credit to the strength of the Team Sky team that they were able to do that work and not cook themselves.
Looking at the Team Sky squad for the Vuelta it does seem understandable that Froome is struggling on his own as none of his team-mates for this race were at the Tour de France so you could say its very much their B Team.
I must say I watch cycling on TV purely for enjoyment so have no real knowledge of the technical side of it at all - which probably answers your question! But from what I have seen so far this Vuelta the Sky team have been happy to sit behind other teams letting them do the work (I guess this is what I mean by disrespect) so when Quintana etc broke away and Sky had to chase I was pleased.
Normally its the job of the Yellow (in this case Red) Jersey team to chase down any potential threats to their man, Sky have and always do their share of the chasing normally to keep Froome safe and in contention for the GC.
Yesterday they got caught out by the break and couldn't get back to Froome, it looked like they saved themselves for the days ahead and Froome just had to mange the gap.
I fully expect Sky to put in a really big shift the next few days to get Froome within a min of the GC to give him a chance on the time trial.
I must say I watch cycling on TV purely for enjoyment so have no real knowledge of the technical side of it at all - which probably answers your question! But from what I have seen so far this Vuelta the Sky team have been happy to sit behind other teams letting them do the work (I guess this is what I mean by disrespect) so when Quintana etc broke away and Sky had to chase I was pleased.
Yeah, the tactics can be quite opaque, so I can see why watching it you'd think that Froome was just letting the other teams do the work, but there's a lot of subtlety to it. Firstly, Froome and Sky know that in a Time Trial, he can put minutes into Quintana - so he really just has to mark him and not let him get too much of a lead in the really high mountains (there's a 37km TT coming up later this week, during which Froome could be expected to be at least 90 seconds faster than Quintana) Secondly, each team exists to protect its main rider - Movistar have Quintana, Sky have Froome, OBE have Chaves & Yates etc. They'll all go about that in different ways - Movistar by attempting to animate the race and panic Sky into chasing pointless attacks, Sky by trying to control Quintana's progress up climbs and not put Froome into the red too early, OBE by hedging their bets between Yates & Chaves, trying to get both of them into a good position on the GC etc. Thirdly, a lot of teams won't have a genuine GC contender, so will just be hunting stage wins (Contador is in this position because Tinkoff's team here is shit and couldn't help him like Sky's and Movistar's could)
There's definitely a narrative around Sky in the cycling media as a whole. They aren't looked on fondly because of the way they control races - the tour this year was a perfect example of this - it was about as close to a perfect tour for them as you could possibly get - and there's no doubting that it's much duller with them crushing the life out of any attacks and controlling every stage like robots. But the problem is, they aren't in the race to make friends. They're there to win - and you can't argue with results.
I think yesterday they just shit the bed. It happens - a lot of their riders were hosed from the efforts of the day before, they missed a gap, and chapeau to Contador for the immense shift he put in extending it when he realised they were off the back.
I fully expect Sky to put in a really big shift the next few days to get Froome within a min of the GC to give him a chance on the time trial.
Nah. It's too much time. Quintana needs a lead of less than two minutes in the TT, there's no way Sky will claw anything like two minutes back from Movistar. They might give it a go, but it won't work. I'd love them to do it - be brilliant to see the two of them about ten seconds apart after the TT - but it won't happen
What do people think about not disqualifying those not making the time cut a few days ago? I think they should've been disqualified- you can't change the rules as you go along. Teams who had taken a long time and got away with it did very well the next day.
Tough one. Letter of recommendation law, they should have gone - but they'll argue that every time a big group misses the time cut they get let off. Ordinarily I'd think that it would be daft to cull 670 percent to of the riders, but the grupetto was fifty minutes down on a stage only 120km in length, so a bit of a pisstake for riders who have bust their bollocks to make time cuts in the past (think about the sprinters smashing themselves to bits trying to minimise their losses and make cuts after the climbers have blown the race apart up three or four first cat or hc climbs). In this instance I'd have pumped them.
Monster of a rider. Love riders like him and Cummings - ride their absolute hearts out for their team when required, and monster it when they get the chance. He was sooo close at Paris-roubaix this year as well
i think the major issue to why they weren't disqualified would of been the reaction from the sponsors. there was at least one team that would of been completely removed from the race.
Tough one. Letter of recommendation law, they should have gone - but they'll argue that every time a big group misses the time cut they get let off. Ordinarily I'd think that it would be daft to cull 670 percent to of the riders, but the grupetto was fifty minutes down on a stage only 120km in length, so a bit of a pisstake for riders who have bust their bollocks to make time cuts in the past (think about the sprinters smashing themselves to bits trying to minimise their losses and make cuts after the climbers have blown the race apart up three or four first cat or hc climbs). In this instance I'd have pumped them.
Did anyone else see Mark Cavendish working on his popularity again the other day?
Was riding up one of the climbs during the Tour of Britain the other day when he heard some abuse (Dont know if it was directed at Cav himself) from a fan by the side of the road... Apparently he turned around and went back to the fan who'd spoken and offered him his bike asking if he could do any better himself?
I've opened a separate thread for the Tour of Britain. Purely out of self interest, as I don't want to know about it yet (a bit like the footie results on match threads stuff). Would appreciate if that could be used rather than this. Cheers.
I've opened a separate thread for the Tour of Britain. Purely out of self interest, as I don't want to know about it yet (a bit like the footie results on match threads stuff). Would appreciate if that could be used rather than this. Cheers.
We almost need a thread in itself for all the Pro Cycling events that happen over the year seeing there are a few of us who are really into the Sport
Comments
Reckon Quintana will win the Vuelta though
Yates excellent today.
Yates was awesome today. He'll win a Grand Tour in the next three years.
Looking at the Team Sky squad for the Vuelta it does seem understandable that Froome is struggling on his own as none of his team-mates for this race were at the Tour de France so you could say its very much their B Team.
Yesterday they got caught out by the break and couldn't get back to Froome, it looked like they saved themselves for the days ahead and Froome just had to mange the gap.
I fully expect Sky to put in a really big shift the next few days to get Froome within a min of the GC to give him a chance on the time trial.
Firstly, Froome and Sky know that in a Time Trial, he can put minutes into Quintana - so he really just has to mark him and not let him get too much of a lead in the really high mountains (there's a 37km TT coming up later this week, during which Froome could be expected to be at least 90 seconds faster than Quintana)
Secondly, each team exists to protect its main rider - Movistar have Quintana, Sky have Froome, OBE have Chaves & Yates etc. They'll all go about that in different ways - Movistar by attempting to animate the race and panic Sky into chasing pointless attacks, Sky by trying to control Quintana's progress up climbs and not put Froome into the red too early, OBE by hedging their bets between Yates & Chaves, trying to get both of them into a good position on the GC etc.
Thirdly, a lot of teams won't have a genuine GC contender, so will just be hunting stage wins (Contador is in this position because Tinkoff's team here is shit and couldn't help him like Sky's and Movistar's could)
There's definitely a narrative around Sky in the cycling media as a whole. They aren't looked on fondly because of the way they control races - the tour this year was a perfect example of this - it was about as close to a perfect tour for them as you could possibly get - and there's no doubting that it's much duller with them crushing the life out of any attacks and controlling every stage like robots. But the problem is, they aren't in the race to make friends. They're there to win - and you can't argue with results.
I think yesterday they just shit the bed. It happens - a lot of their riders were hosed from the efforts of the day before, they missed a gap, and chapeau to Contador for the immense shift he put in extending it when he realised they were off the back. Nah. It's too much time. Quintana needs a lead of less than two minutes in the TT, there's no way Sky will claw anything like two minutes back from Movistar. They might give it a go, but it won't work. I'd love them to do it - be brilliant to see the two of them about ten seconds apart after the TT - but it won't happen
What a race so far though!
Was riding up one of the climbs during the Tour of Britain the other day when he heard some abuse (Dont know if it was directed at Cav himself) from a fan by the side of the road... Apparently he turned around and went back to the fan who'd spoken and offered him his bike asking if he could do any better himself?