Vuelta 2021 ????????

[Mountain Bru]

2 hours ago, dsw said:

I wonder why Yates did not push on when he had Haig on the ropes a few times.  Maybe he was trying for a stage victory but that was always going to be unlikely as Roglic was covering his attacks.

Have to agree. Yates look really strong today. I think he might have had a chance of a podium spot if he sacrificed the win and just pulled Roglic up the mountain once he'd gapped Haig by a few bike lengths. Roglic would probably have even given him a turn or 2 knowing he can take him on the line. Instead Ineos come home with peanuts with Yates getting nothing from the day, and Bernal loosing buckets of time because he didn't want to pace Lopez back to Yates' group

He can maybe be forgiven for sitting up after the first 1 or 2 attacks if he wanted the win, but when he saw that Roglic and Mas have his every move easily covered, and Haig basically gets dropped at every acceleration and then claws his way back when they sit up, I think he really needed to reassess the situation and see his chances of a win are small, but he can get on the podium. 

[Frosty]

15 hours ago, 'Dale said:

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 83:11:27
2 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:38
3 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious 0:04:48
4 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:05:48
5 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious 0:08:14
6 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:11:38
7 Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma 0:13:42
8 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:16:11
9 David de la Cruz (Spa) UAE Team Emirates 0:16:19
10 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:20:30

The Least Expected Day could be quite a good series this year, if they do it… Mas doing well and, well, the breakdown of Superman 

[dsw]

14 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

Have to agree. Yates look really strong today. I think he might have had a chance of a podium spot if he sacrificed the win and just pulled Roglic up the mountain once he'd gapped Haig by a few bike lengths. Roglic would probably have even given him a turn or 2 knowing he can take him on the line. Instead Ineos come home with peanuts with Yates getting nothing from the day, and Bernal loosing buckets of time because he didn't want to pace Lopez back to Yates' group

He can maybe be forgiven for sitting up after the first 1 or 2 attacks if he wanted the win, but when he saw that Roglic and Mas have his every move easily covered, and Haig basically gets dropped at every acceleration and then claws his way back when they sit up, I think he really needed to reassess the situation and see his chances of a win are small, but he can get on the podium. 

I just saw on the Ineos website ( as per quote below) that Yates was indeed chasing the stage and not really the podium. I agree with you though that he could have changed this strategy after realising he was not going to drop Roglic. As it stands now his chances of making the podium is probably just about zero unless there is an accident or other mishap during the ITT. 

 

"I’m quite far down on GC and that was a stage I really wanted to try and win. I kept getting chased. I tried my best but it just wasn’t enough. If you’re trying to win a stage you need to drop everyone, especially when there are still some fast guys there in the group. I tried a few times. That’s all you can do – I tried my best." - Adam Yates.
 

 

['Dale]

Meanwhile, at TOB, the other powerhouse of the Jumbo’ roster

['Dale]

And Fabio Aru wraps up his professional career. Still surreal news to me.

['Dale]

Magnus still in the hot seat. Top 4 to go. 

[Charles71]

2 hours ago, 'Dale said:

Meanwhile, at TOB, the other powerhouse of the Jumbo’ roster

That was a fantastic uphill sprint, JA went too early though

[Charles71]

Primoz overtaking Enric Mas sent a strong message for worlds later on in September. He has been untouchable.

['Dale]

Wow. What a great racer. 3 in a row under the hot Spanish sun. 
(Pic GCN+)

Edited September 5, 2021 by 'Dale

['Dale]

His team strength and individual dominance in week 3 - yohhh

['Dale]

3 Vueltas, 3 wins

 Biggest winning margin in 24 years

2022, Dumoulin likely back; Dennis on the team sheet

More Roglič magic to come

 

['Dale]

Tracking Jack Haig now for several seasons, consistently serving other leaders at Orica’ for many seasons and now this podium finish. Chapeau! 

[TheoG]

11 hours ago, 'Dale said:

3 Vueltas, 3 wins

 Biggest winning margin in 24 years

2022, Dumoulin likely back; Dennis on the team sheet

More Roglič magic to come

 

Yip, looking forward to a proper Rog vs Pog showdown.

[Shebeen]

12 hours ago, 'Dale said:

Tracking Jack Haig now for several seasons, consistently serving other leaders at Orica’ for many seasons and now this podium finish. Chapeau! 

yes. The odd thing was that OGE moved to being a GC team and had a good go at it with the Yates twins and Chaves, Here was this aussie who could take it further. Top GC placings for this team in past 2 years at Giro/TDF/Vuelta DNF/9/19     3/13/31.

Much like Qhubeka, I'm not sure what the medium term future for BikeExchange is. But Haig made the right move by leaving.

[Dirt Tracker]

8 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

yes. The odd thing was that OGE moved to being a GC team and had a good go at it with the Yates twins and Chaves, Here was this aussie who could take it further. Top GC placings for this team in past 2 years at Giro/TDF/Vuelta DNF/9/19     3/13/31.

Much like Qhubeka, I'm not sure what the medium term future for BikeExchange is. But Haig made the right move by leaving.

Seems GreenEdge have gone a bit off the tracks since that Manuela Foundation debacle and then there was a house clearing by Gerry Ryan in management after that. Seems the introduction of Copeland and McQuaid, the salary cutting, riders they've let go / missed developing and signing of Bling has seen them go backwards in terms of team and strategy. Might not be a popular opinion here because he's from here but Copland wasn't exactly kicking down doors when he was at Bahrain either. 

[Mountain Bru]

7 minutes ago, Dirt Tracker said:

Seems GreenEdge have gone a bit off the tracks since that Manuela Foundation debacle and then there was a house clearing by Gerry Ryan in management after that. Seems the introduction of Copeland and McQuaid, the salary cutting, riders they've let go / missed developing and signing of Bling has seen them go backwards in terms of team and strategy. Might not be a popular opinion here because he's from here but Copland wasn't exactly kicking down doors when he was at Bahrain either. 

I think their financial issues are a bigger problem than we realize, and are probably part of the reason they didn't renew the contracts of some of their best riders, and signed Matthews, probably for a bargain seen as he was desperate to get out of Sunweb/DSM and hasn't won in a while. 

But my other completely unfounded opinion is that the team has lost the fun vibes they had in the early Back Stage Pass videos, and since then, their performance has been mediocre at best. It seems that in trying to become a GC team, they became far more serious and the riders seem to be under more pressure and performed worse.