Vuelta 2021 ????????

[Charles71]

Heartbreak for breakaway that was hard to watch. Roglic looking like a King and Mas is really looking good too. Can they keep it up for 3 weeks? The last week is going to be really brutal I'm afraid. Exciting stuff.

[Jewbacca]

Magnus Caught Nielsen......

(shows himself out)

[Mountain Bru]

It's such a pity that the Vuelta isn't more popular and isn't as well covered as the TDF. I only watched the last 10 or 15km today, but it was seriously far more exciting than so many of the stages in the tour. 

I mean 11 stages down, and Roglic is looking really dominant, but it's still all to play for.... One bad day from Rogla and Mas or Haig could easily take this. 

[Mountain Bru]

Also really exciting to see Mas and Lopez working well together as a team, not just for this race, but for future races too. Movistar will be a real force to be reckoned with if those 2 can consistently work well together and Bala is in the mix too. I know it's fun to tease Movistar for having terrible tactics and attacking each other and getting up to all sorts of shenanigans, but it's a far more entertaining race to watch when they're performing well as a team and are a serious contender for the win. It's funny to watch Valverde chase down Landa after Nairoman makes a random attack, but I think it makes the spectacle of the race itself far worse

[Yyyy]

9 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

It's such a pity that the Vuelta isn't more popular and isn't as well covered as the TDF. I only watched the last 10 or 15km today, but it was seriously far more exciting than so many of the stages in the tour. 

I mean 11 stages down, and Roglic is looking really dominant, but it's still all to play for.... One bad day from Rogla and Mas or Haig could easily take this. 

TDF may be the biggest race but as a cycling fan I am enjoying both the Vuelta and Giro way more than the Tour this year

[lechatnoir]

 

9 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

It's such a pity that the Vuelta isn't more popular and isn't as well covered as the TDF. I only watched the last 10 or 15km today, but it was seriously far more exciting than so many of the stages in the tour. 

I mean 11 stages down, and Roglic is looking really dominant, but it's still all to play for.... One bad day from Rogla and Mas or Haig could easily take this. 

TdF and Giro are prettier than the Vuelta - the roads and scenery are just nicer with the Vuelta doing lots of miles on wide open roads in brown countryside. But when it comes to the tough stuff and the "balls requirement" is large, then the Vuelta takes the top step with ease. Them Spanish hills are beastly. Look at yesterday's stage - 133km, lumpy a breakaway, the usual not-so-pretty countryside, followed by a character-building last km where it all kicked off and the cream rose to the top. IMO, from a bicycle racing perspective, the Vuelta is more interesting than TdF

['Dale]

He got away in week 1 but this time around he got caught by a very determined duel between Mas and Vuelta King Roglič up the wall of Valdepeñas de Jaén.

The Slovenian seems invincible. Got lucky after crashing the previous stage. He is racing with a kind of freedom, well supported by his domestiques. 

[Mountain Bru]

2 hours ago, lechatnoir said:

Them Spanish hills are beastly. Look at yesterday's stage - 133km, lumpy a breakaway, the usual not-so-pretty countryside, followed by a character-building last km where it all kicked off and the cream rose to the top

That climb had gradients of 24% on it ???? 

Not sure if you caught Lanterne Rouge's recap, but he has Kuss' power data overlayed for the last climb. Absolutely mental to think he was left behind by Roglic and Mas while doing some serious watts. 

Edited August 26, 2021 by Mountain Bru

['Dale]

Crash including Roglič and the peloton exploded. UAE pushes on and there’s a chase. 46 kms to go; gap to the red jersey group at 60 seconds. 
 

 

['Dale]

The finalè promises to be ‘Whoah!’.

Edited August 26, 2021 by 'Dale

['Dale]

Iturria is still alone at the head of the race. He by 10 seconds over the rest of the break, which has stitched back together after splitting in two over the top of the climb. - CyclingNews 

Edited August 26, 2021 by 'Dale

['Dale]

Meanwhile, in other news, Peter Sagan returns to racing.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sagan-to-return-from-knee-injury-at-european-championships/

 

['Dale]

UAE lus vir 'n stage win.

['Dale]

Ooohh a very lekka strong quartet surges off the front - Bardet, Vino, Ciccone and Henao. This'll be interesting. UAE would be back conserving  after pulling under the hot Spanish sun. Hmmmm, hard to predict.

['Dale]

36 seconds to the break!

['Dale]

Please tell me it's Magnus Kort..... wow!