Vuelta 2014, **el sp-olé-rs**

[themosquitoking]

to be fair froome said he was trying to ride into form in week 2/3 so hanging on now is great as long as he can fire in week 3. especially as contador et all put no/little time into him today, if he can get his legs by the end of the week it'll be fireworks

the problem for me is we all just expect froome to smash everyone over any discipline on the bike.

Not necessarily all of us.

 

[themosquitoking]

If only I knew how to.

Really? Are you going to make someone post another link?

 

[tigger]

Somewhere in Spain, Dave Brailsford speaks: "we're shít, we've been shít for a while, none of the riders can win, none of the DSs can call a race, we've stifled loads of riders, it's time to face the fact that this one trick pony needs to be turned into hound food; it's time for this SKY project to be wound up..."

You forgot to mention, "and we got especially shoot, to the man, after Henao's unexplained but ultimately cleared adverse analytical finding earlier in the year. Read into that what you will."

Just a thought ORM.

 

[jifdave]

You forgot to mention, "and we got especially ****, to the man, after Henao's unexplained but ultimately cleared adverse analytical finding earlier in the year. Read into that what you will."

Just a thought ORM.

Not forgetting it was sky oh pulled henao out of competition to check an anomily then had him tested themselves. Wada never had any case or interest in henao till sky asked them too

 

[RobNewcastle]

Turned into a great stage that! I thought Froome was dead and buried to be honest but the way he dug himself out and hung on was impressive. To suffer like that and finish with the others will no doubt give him a boost. He won't win it unless Bertie has a mare somewhere but I think that performance will probably mean he might finish second.

Great win for Aru too, he's clearly one of the next big things. Valverde had a particularly dismissive manner talking about Froome and his "tactics" when commentators made the simple point that he was riding intelligently at a continuous pace. I really hope Froome does Valverde in the coming mountain stages. Compare him with a Contador who I think has genuine respect for other riders.

Right bugger Quintana had to quit he could've really lit up the mountain stages. With a couple of easier stages Froome might've just gone up a little bit in form and with the likes of Aru we could still have some quality shoot outs to come. It's going to be brutal in the mountain top finishes on sat, sun, mon, could see a few have some bad days over those 3 days.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

...could see a few have some bad days over those 3 days.

Froome?

 

[RobNewcastle]

Froome?

Very true, Froome really could get dropped. I can't see Contador going really, he looks too strong. Will be interesting to see what happens either way.

 

[Crackle]

Morabito out too

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/morabito-out-of-vuelta-a-espana-due-to-motorbike-incident

I've noticed in this race that the motorbikes really crowd the riders, even the camera bikes are not getting out the way. Yesterday there were four or five hemmed in tight by the crowd, right in front of the lead group.

 

[BSRU]

Morabito out too

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/morabito-out-of-vuelta-a-espana-due-to-motorbike-incident

I've noticed in this race that the motorbikes really crowd the riders, even the camera bikes are not getting out the way. Yesterday there were four or five hemmed in tight by the crowd, right in front of the lead group.

One example from yesterday, when Contador went on the attack he had to slow down because the camera bike was in the way.

 

[MisterStan]

One example from yesterday, when Contador went on the attack he had to slow down because the camera bike was in the way.

I don't think the crowd helped though, to be fair to the bikers. There seem to be some of the local police at various stages, but not enough to make a real difference.

 

[The Couch]

I don't think the crowd helped though, to be fair to the bikers. There seem to be some of the local police at various stages, but not enough to make a real difference.

Yeah, and to be extra fair to the Spanish bikers:
there were many crashes in the 1-day Flanders races as well, while the cameramen, reporters,... should be among the guys with the most experience with bike races

 

[HF2300]

I noticed in the interviews lastnight Contador looked more upset about Quintana's abandon than Valverde did.

 

[400bhp]

I noticed in the interviews lastnight Contador looked more upset about Quintana's abandon than Valverde did.

Agree completely. It was like "oh yeah, Quintana crashed, sorry about, now about me and the team..."

I like Valverdi even less now-he was scornful at Froomes riding. His arrogance really showed.

I warmed to Froome. He just TT'd it, in the belief that no-one could take much time off him. For once the Sky numbers game played out well.

 

[The Couch]

Wow, Froome actually managed to avoid the crash yesterday....

He must have been looking at Degenkolb's stem and got lucky

 

[The Couch]

There were a couple of usual GC-suspects that stated that they didn't have much hopes and would perhaps try to go for a stage in the last week.
Talansky is holding up with his part of the deal.
But with Pinot and JVDB not even getting to the final week, maybe Contador is just overcompensating for the others