2017 Vuelta a España

[Vetplant]

Strong Breakaway group forming, almost 16 riders together, including the following:

 

"This first break attempt features very strong contenders for the stage win: Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step), Marc Soler (Movistar Team), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin), Jérémy Maison (FDJ), Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), Lluis Mas (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Michel Kreder (Aqua Blue Sport) and Jetse Bol (Manzana-Postobón). 

Five riders try to bridge the gap with a delay of 30"."

 

 

1min50 over the rest of peloton

[Vetplant]

This break could just make it to the end, with Alaphillipe the obvious threat...

 

"The 16 leaders tackle the first climb of the day, the alto del Desierto de las Palmas: Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step), Rubén Fernandez and Marc Soler (Movistar Team), Michael Schwarzmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r La Mondiale), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin), Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Valerio Agnoli (Bahrain-Merida), Jérémy Maison (FDJ), Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), Lluis Mas and Hector Saez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Michel Kreder (Aqua Blue Sport) and Jetse Bol (Manzana-Postobón). 

The peloton is at 2'10"."

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Davide Villella on a mission for Polka dot points

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I have been glancing at the teams here and I dont really see anyone / team who can challenge Froome and Sky.

 

Without the big guns at Movistar and 'Berto pretty much out of it, realistically its up to Nibali, Bardet and Aru,... no matter how good Nibali may be, his team is not up there and consequently I really dont think he stands a chance, Aru, much the same,...Bardet has a fairly strong team and to me he is the only real challenger, he seems to have recovered well from the Tour, but honestly it would be very surprising to see him win,.....Frankly, I think its going to be a cake walk for Froome and SKY.  

[nochain]

I have been glancing at the teams here and I dont really see anyone / team who can challenge Froome and Sky.

 

Without the big guns at Movistar and 'Berto pretty much out of it, realistically its up to Nibali, Bardet and Aru,... no matter how good Nibali may be, his team is not up there and consequently I really dont think he stands a chance, Aru, much the same,...Bardet has a fairly strong team and to me he is the only real challenger, he seems to have recovered well from the Tour, but honestly it would be very surprising to see him win,.....Frankly, I think its going to be a cake walk for Froome and SKY.

If the Yates brothers end up supporting Chaves then Orica has the strongest climbing support of all teams at this year's Vuelta.Right now I think Chaves will be the main challenger.But then they need to back him all the way....

[shaper]

Another good day for Froome as his rivals fall away again! His to loose, but not seeing it as he is looking stronger than those around him.

[kosmonooit]

Like the fact that Chaves is hanging in there, literally.

[Gnarly]

Trek basically just pouring cash for zero return.

 

You should see their ROI in the middle east, flavor of the month here.Mind blowing.

[Pure Savage]

So post race yesterday Maincheese was intrviewed about his form. He was saying he is putting out the same numbers and feels as good as le Tour, just everyone is next level. 

 

Maybe the defensive nature and longer mountain passes suite the Saffa? 

 

The pace yesterday up the final climb was the same as in the 90's with Indurain et al...

[Gen]

So post race yesterday Maincheese was intrviewed about his form. He was saying he is putting out the same numbers and feels as good as le Tour, just everyone is next level.

 

Maybe the defensive nature and longer mountain passes suite the Saffa?

 

The pace yesterday up the final climb was the same as in the 90's with Indurain et al...

From what I read Sky set a steady pace throughout the day, so perhaps that it wasn't a high pace leading up to the last hell of a climb may explains that they were able to go faster up that climb?

 

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Pure Savage]

From what I read Sky set a steady pace throughout the day, so perhaps that it wasn't a high pace leading up to the last hell of a climb may explains that they were able to go faster up that climb?

 

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

Same as in TDF, maybe CF was just holding back saving himself for Vuelta. 

[Gen]

Same as in TDF, maybe CF was just holding back saving himself for Vuelta.

For sure he has timed his prep well.

 

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[Plentipotential]

Same as in TDF, maybe CF was just holding back saving himself for Vuelta. 

 

If I've learnt anything from the couch about cyclists it's that there are not too many bright one's in the bunch but this Froome fella is a cut above the rest. He slowly accumulates seconds as he pedals his way around various countries. Just the other day he picked up 3 bonus seconds at a sprint point while his rivals were all fast asleep in the bunch! So I think you are spot on, he has put a lot of thought into this double act, doing just enough to win TDF leaving the TV commentators to speculate that he's being hard pressed meanwhile he's been saving himself for the Vuelta.

 

I can't help but admire the man, I'm a fan.

[T-Bob]

in case anyone else is not getting the latest episode updated from The Cyclist Podcast site.

https://audioboom.com/posts/6233649-stage-5-benicassim-alcossebre-vuelta-a-espana-2017?playlist_direction=forward&t=0

 

[s14phoenix]

You can be as passionate as you want. If the results are not there you are just another backmarker.

 

Ask TJ...

[Vetplant]

If I've learnt anything from the couch about cyclists it's that there are not too many bright one's in the bunch but this Froome fella is a cut above the rest. He slowly accumulates seconds as he pedals his way around various countries. Just the other day he picked up 3 bonus seconds at a sprint point while his rivals were all fast asleep in the bunch! So I think you are spot on, he has put a lot of thought into this double act, doing just enough to win TDF leaving the TV commentators to speculate that he's being hard pressed meanwhile he's been saving himself for the Vuelta.

 

I can't help but admire the man, I'm a fan.

If he was to go on and win the Giro in 2018, Would that make it a Triple? Or is the cycling community pedantic and require it to all be in the same cycling calendar year?