Vuelta 2021 ????????

[Slowbee]

oh yes. Cannot wait for todays stage !!

 

[TheoG]

1 hour ago, Slowbee said:

oh yes. Cannot wait for todays stage !!

 

Yip, vandag word die manne van die seuns geskei ... .

 

[Slowbee]

I am knackered watching that !! Oh my soul.

But sheesh, one day, when I grow up, I want to ride up those hills.

 

 

[Charles71]

Fantastic ride by Bardet to win the stage, and good to see that Eiking managed to retain the Red jersey. and Yates lost a few seconds ????

['Dale]

Jay Vine can release his tag as Swift Academy winner. The dude can ride. Working on his sticky bottle move, I hope. His contract has been extended. How he rebounded after his high speed crash alongside the team car to compete in the mountain finish, yoh.

Today's work. It is a mighty 197 kms with lots of vert and a tricky downhill finish. The Slovenian is the favourite to get the leadership jersey today. 

Edited August 29, 2021 by 'Dale

[Mountain Bru]

Good to see IWG on the front and not just leaving TJV to control. 

Don't think this last climb is going to result in much. I don't think the climb is long enough to drop anyone serious abut GC, and with a downhill finish, I don't think there's much incentive in going over the top with a 5s gap

['Dale]

Hmmmm... the powder being kept dry for week 3. Remember there's a final stage 'race of truth' too. UAE gets a stage win with Majka. It's gonna be a thrilling final week. 

[TheoG]

Primoz didn't look his punchy self today, probably going through a bad dip.  Hopefully he comes out firing again after the rest day.

['Dale]

????️ @majkaformal: "Today I tried from the start to the end. I wanted to win the stage for my father and my two kids" ????

[Mountain Bru]

7 hours ago, TheoG said:

Primoz didn't look his punchy self today, probably going through a bad dip.  Hopefully he comes out firing again after the rest day.

Naa there was nothing to gain today. He's basically sitting in the lead marking attacks, and the only thing that hinted at looking  marginally threatening was Mas marking Yates' first attack, which Rogla was immediately all over (marking Mas, not Yates).

The stage's profile looks intense, but if you try think about how you can actually win time and look at the gradients, the descents and the valleys, it becomes clear it's not gonna happen. Biggest climb is still with 40km to go, so a huuuge attack there from Roglic would leave him needing to do a 40km solo break, (or bridge to Kruijswijk?), but Ineos, Movistar, IWG, BV all had multiple domestiques and would all chase him with their full team, so would have been a big waste of energy. Last climb was 8km @ 4%, but only with 1 short steeper section. It would have taken a massive effort to maybe win 10s seen as no one is gonna crack on that, so really not worth it. Yates only got away cos nobody could be bothered to chase a guy that's 4 minutes down and at best is gonna win 20s. 

[Yyyy]

Any thoughts on IWG tactics with Meintjies going on the attack with De Le Cruz? Initially though he was just covering but then he got in front.

[TheoG]

49 minutes ago, YaseenEnos said:

Any thoughts on IWG tactics with Meintjies going on the attack with De Le Cruz? Initially though he was just covering but then he got in front.

I might be wrong but in the end I think Louis will end up higher in the GC than Eiking anyway.  In the past Louis was too passive for my liking, seeing him being a bit more aggressive, I like.  Sure he probably stepped on Eiking toes but personally I don't mind that .... .

[geomark]

Any speculation yet on what sort of lead the Moviestar guys would need on Roglic to not be destroyed by him in the final time trial?

[Mountain Bru]

2 hours ago, YaseenEnos said:

Any thoughts on IWG tactics with Meintjies going on the attack with De Le Cruz? Initially though he was just covering but then he got in front.

I reckon he learnt that move in the Movistar playbook. 

If I was the IWG DS, I'd have been pissed. Would have been so bad if Eiking got dropped and lost red while Meintjies meme attacked to maybe get a top 10 at best.

But having said that, I get the feeling the IWG DS writes down the tactics for the day with a wax crayon in his colouring in book every morning while drinking tea out of a sippy cup

 

[Mountain Bru]

1 hour ago, geomark said:

Any speculation yet on what sort of lead the Moviestar guys would need on Roglic to not be destroyed by him in the final time trial?

I'd guess 1:30 minimum for Mas, and more for Lopez. I mean Mas lost 18s on stage 1 in 7km. Final TT is 34km, so basically 5 times longer, so if things scaled completely linearly, he'd loose 1:30s. Roglic has this in the bag as long as he doesn't randomly crash or completely blow up on stage 17 or 18

[Mountain Bru]

@J Wakefield Great ride from Majka yesterday. Was it always the plan for him to do a ambitious 70km solo attack?

Also, does Majka still have functioning kidneys after neading a fresh  bidon every 2 minutes for 70km?