Volta a Catalunya 2016 **spoilers**

[rich p]

Bouhanni doubles up - takes stage 2. Incidentally, I was somewhat taken aback by comments about Bouhanni elsewhere - he really is not liked by a lot of fans, is he?

I seem to recall he's not much liked by the peloton either. He has 'attitude' which rubs some people up the wrong way.

 

[SWSteve]

It's probably because he spends all winter brawling.

 

[themosquitoking]

Yes, I have been caught by that before now ... very annoying!

Eurosport seem to be doing better at putting recorded coverage in their 'On Demand' section so I use that now. I can skip the ads and the boring bits of races. It takes a few hours for a recording to be added to the list, but it usually there when I want to watch at about 23:00.

I watch it on Sky mostly on the internet as the MIL lets us use two of her three log ins. Plus 23:00 is way past my schoolnight bedtime.

 

[smutchin]

Dan Martin!

Have been too busy for the last few days to watch any cycling but very happy to see Dan the Man's name at the top of the list when I checked the results on PCS just now.

Bertie put a few seconds into Froome and Quintana as well. Not sure how meaningful that is. Bertie has hit the ground running this year and is ahead of them in racing terms, but I'm reserving judgment until Romandie at least.

Porte, Tejay and Bardet all in the mix. And Formolo too - he'll be worth keeping an eye on in the Giro.

Hugh Carthy not far off the pace either. Yay! He's going to get snapped up by a big team this year, surely.

 

[Bonus]

Taking a day off "work" tomorrow so that we can take a 2 hr drive through the countryside Eastwards to catch tomorrow's stage of the race somewhere around an hour from the finish.

If my calculations are correct we should get to see the riders twice, once as they turn off the main road for a loop in the hills and then as they come back again. If my calculations are wrong we may just see some fields . . .

I will be standing at the side of the road in one of my Team Sky shirts while I cheer as my boys go past :-)

 

[Scoosh]

I will be standing at the side of the road in one of my Team Sky shirts while I cheer as my boys go past :-)

You do appreciate that this is CycleChat and that you should be wearing a CC Jersey, don't you ?

Have a good day !

 

[Strathlubnaig]

Absolute belter of a win by Dan Martin, really put those Big Names to the sword that last 500m, nice one.

 

[Strathlubnaig]

It's probably because he spends all winter brawling.

And the bawler has bailed

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Martin is too often tactically suspect, but he got the timing exactly right today.

 

[rich p]

Good to see Hugh Carthy in 12th overall. A superb achievement

 

[ColinJ]

I watch it on Sky mostly on the internet as the MIL lets us use two of her three log ins. Plus 23:00 is way past my schoolnight bedtime.

I have always been a bit of an 'owl' - I often used to do my homework after 23:00 as a teenager and would sometimes be doing university coursework after midnight in my 20s.

PS An impressive win by DM!

 

[smutchin]

Good to see Hugh Carthy in 12th overall. A superb achievement

It's really interesting that he's quietly making his mark as a prominent member of a mid-ranking Continental team - I want to see him do well and step up a level as he clearly deserves, but I don't want him to be swallowed up in the machinery of a big team, as seems to have been the case with Alex Peters this year.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I have heard that Froomedog had a mechanical yesterday, might by Sky PR tho...

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Things didn't really hot up until the last few km today, but it was still good: De Gendt for a superb individual stage win, but Quintana showing he can take Contador & Co this year. Froome definitely has more than mechanical problems. He wasn't far behind, but again, he wasn't able to match Quintana, Contador, and Porte.

 

[Crackle]

Thomas was nearly 14 minutes back. Aru was 2 and a half back but Froome seems to have started his season a bit slower this year. Good finish though and the coming stages may suit Martin more.