I'm pulling for my local homeboy Rusty Woods to finally get a stage! If he gets some freedom from protecting Uran, it finally feels like his time.

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Yaaass and more yaaassss to this.

Superman Lopez is gonna go on a tear. And Nibali quietly coasts through first week, maybe ships some time here and there, but starts throwing haymakers in week 3. Bennet should also be up there. Sagan leaves with 87th career green jersey classification.

Tejay Vantana nabs a stage, then wraps up season crumbling once more. Really hope Boz or Joe D gets one.

Is there a link to the official start list? Is Tejay now riding for EF...I don't see him as one of the 8 BMC riders on Steephill but EF's team is not completely filled out on that site. Wondering who's going to ride for Sky and if Bardet plans to race.

Also...does anyone know if the time cuts are more laxed for the Giro and Vuelta. I was kind of surprised at how many guys got cut at the TdF or were at least always on the borderline each mountain day? The Giro and Vuelta tend to shed the main peloton a lot earlier, but it seems that the sprinters more or less make it to the last stage. Or am I just not paying attention and a ton of sprinters do get cut at all three GTs on a regular basis?

Is Chris Horner still racing? If so, I predict him to win because he's not yet 55 years old and he has the same last name as Ashley.

Grey Jersey classification will be hard-fought between Horner and Valverde.

He's moved on.

**Edit: Fabio slots in for Tejay. Same outcome.

Nibali for the win. With Tao Goagxxxxxx Hart as the wild card to piss everyone off as he is Sky.

No Joe D (off topic but do you think he resigns with EF??) So go Boz!!

Think, or hope?

are we doing this already? I'm still waiting for Froome's surge.

anyway, Sagan does at least two wheelies.

TJ was left off the BMC roster (probably because he signed with EF which takes effect 2019)

joe d showed nothing at tou, but with the crappy air and heat a lot of folks struggled
wonder if kuss keeps form and snags a stage - big if for such a youngster

That's what I was thinking, but hasn't Porte moved on, too? Tejay lost a lot of time in the mountains in France and Colorado. I suspect his form is not there for a mountainous Vuelta.

well played :)

though for some reason, i just can't be arsed the way i was for spring classics and the giro. Almost everything feels like a let down afterwards, for every year since 2011...

that's a good point (maybe the motivation wasn't there)

This is pure gold. Laughed my ass off.

I have to cheer for Woods and Uran. I would really like to see Woods finally get a win. Way too many close results. EF has had a stinker of a year so they could use some results. The only downside is this probably means they will not do much in the fall classics.

Man I love all these TJ Fan boys.
TJ was left out of the BMC roster not because he is leaving, so is Porte and a bunch of other BMC guys, he was left of the Vualta for the simple reason that he sucks...
I know he got 5th at the tour but that was 6 years ago, last week at the Tour of Utah he finished 21 minutes down to what wasn't exactly a star studded filed of world tour riders.
He also finished the tour 13 minutes behind his own teammate and famous Grand Tour contender Greg Van Avarmant....

Worlds training block, i fell off my bike, and or i sucked all year and need to accomplish something edition! Porte on paper should win, assuming he stays in to the finish. Training block for many like Sagan getting ready for worlds.

thats quite an assumption you're making there!

looks like being a tough race to predict with all the different situations for everyone, could be very good

Exactly! Joe is a local guy so I want to see him stay on a WT team but the results haven't been there. Not sure what team is the best fit for him--staying with EF, joining Boz on Katusha, joining Ben King on Data....so do you think or hope he stays with EF? It's a both question... Bottom line for this thread is he's not going to be at La Vuelta.

Rooting for Simon Yates to win, be awesome to have a British clean sweep of the Grand Tours with 3 different riders. Plus he's an exciting racer to watch (unless his key learning from the Giro has been to wheelsuck more and attack less).

Would be delighted if Porte won to make up for all the bad luck he's had over the years (similar to Thomas).

Sky announced their lineup this morning - main names are Kwiatkowski, Henao, Castroviejo and Tao Geoghegan Hart. Can't see any of them realistically being a podium contender, so hopefully Sky will be looking to get in breaks and go for stage wins.

So long as there is another sprint stage coming, GT sprinters try to put as little effort into climbing stages as possible -- so as to be fresh for the sprint stage. If they play it just right, they barely beat the time cuts every time. That said, I think Cavendish and Kittel knew they had no hope of winning any stages in this year's Tour, so they intentionally missed the cut.

well GvA has more yellow jerseys than TJ does ;)

Dimension Data. EF seems to be a place where people get stale, and the cultural shock on Katusha may be a bit extreme

[/quote]

well GvA has more yellow jerseys than TJ does ;)


Mic Drop! :)

Excited for the best grand tour. So many looking for redemption from the TDF from being injured.


Anyone who was in the Velogames Slowtwitch league last year, your automatically registered when you create your team.
To avoid any legal issues its now called Spain 2018 on Velogames.


League Code: 521835710 (League Code is good for all races on Velogames)

EF is a happy place for US guys. Katusha has cleaned up their act it seems though Zakarin is still their guy and that sucks. As a teammate, one would have to ride too close to him. I think Joe would be a good Mich Scott guy, but I don't see him leaving EF. He had a good Giro, tried to steal Colorado in a long attack and has been healthy.

As for Tejay, 2 5th place finishes at TdF. Not nothing. He rode Utah knowing he might hang given the tour in his legs and there are people (promoters) who like that he's in races. And finishing places in GT races especially outside of the top ten usually mean zip, though GvA was pretty studly for a grand tour.

David de la Cruz is sky's co-leader alongside kwiatkowski and arguably the stronger gc contender - he has a recent 7th overall GT compared to kwiatko's best 11th 5 years ago. will be interesting to see how these guys go given a chance for themselves.


if porte has another troubled GT then i'm calling it all over for him, hard to see getting over mental blocks if nothing else.


Yates is the favourite to my mind - best build up and the vuelta style should suit him. quintana could win by default though if everyone else has issues

not knocking the guy but i watched the tou in person and live tv and joe d never seemed to be a threat to
win a stage (even the snowbird climb) or animate a stage being comfortable with a top 5

I watched the live stream and reading your take means that the only rider that did anything was Kuss?? Not trying to argue-just understand where you are coming from since nobody other than Kuss looked comfortable and most just tried to sit on wheels....

other than lotto it seemed like it was the continental teams pushing and not ef, bmc, trek

Pah! Anyone can do that. Any big climbs for Bennett to have fun and wheelie up it like he did on Zoncolan?

There's unlikley to be much Montana in there, being Spain and all.
Quintana might podium, Tejay won't. It's time to accept that.

I'd really love to see Dan Martin win but seems he'll be going for stages and Aru is their man for the GC. It would be good to see Aru performing better than he has of late, but I'm not confident. If he's not in the mix, Martin might become the GC man.
I'm looking forward to seeing what Nibali, Porte, Lopez and Simon Yates can do. Can Simon add a week to what he did in Italy?

I accept nothing- except that maybe my jokes maybe aren't as funny as I think they are and/or I don't know when I'm being trolled.

Tejay Quintana is a hybrid of the most maligned very good world tour pros out there. He wins the Tyler Farrar award every year.

Montana is Spanish for mountain.

Joe D will not win a stage of this year's Vuelta. Book it.

Oops, I thought I deleted that bit - so two errors on my part. Misread it, typed it, realised what you were saying and meant to remove it again. Duh

This is something that gets neglected a lot by pro cycling fans. While Sagan, Froome, and anyone finishing in the top five of a French, post-TdF criterium get the big paydays, appearance fees are a not insignificant part of the cost of putting on a world class bike race and can be a similarly substantial portion of the yearly income for any rider with solid name recognition. Probably number three on the list behind brand sponsorship and team salary, though the order and amount of all three varies quite a bit rider to rider, year to year. Sometimes it's more in-kind, as in a race will bias the invitation for or chip in more for a particular team if that team will bring certain riders. It is a business, after all.

From a fan's perspective, if they make it through the race, I can't see Porte and Nibali not making the podium. There are a bucket of strong maybes/top ten possibilities including Pinot, either Yates, Quintana, Uran, Meintjes, Bennett, Kruijswijk, Mollema, Aru, Martin, Buchmann, Majka, Formolo... Sky comes in with an strong, interesting group with Kwiatkowski, Geoghegan Hart, Castroviejo, and Henao all capable of a top ten, maybe a podium, if they peak right. I may eat my words, but I don't see any of them winning. Woods is the freshest of the EF team, so might actually be their highest performer. Valverde by all rights should squeak into the top ten, but not a likely contender in my book. BMC will have an interesting dynamic, too: with Porte moving on to Trek, are the domestiques given more free rein? All of them are potential stage winners.

Kuss rocked it to get into the race and will be interesting to watch from a Young Rider perspective, but he will have a huge target on his back. If he keeps racing like he has been, I would love to see a decade-long head-to-head between him and Skujins!

And the biggest gamble in the race: does Bouhanni win a stage?

Keep it coming, most of us get it.

I just wish the Vuelta Montana would get going already before Fitness Star Ashley Horner completely overruns ST. Been a long August.

Going out on a limb: Porte avoids throwing himself on tarmac for 3 weeks, gains time in 32k TT and wins first GT.

Porte is skipping the media day and team presentation due to stomach issues. It will be interesting to see if that continues into the first couple days of the race and how that may impact his overall chances. I'd love to see him string together a complete tour to see what he's capable of.

i thought your jokes were quite good

I think I know what you're doing there. Also a Sky domestique will definitely emerge as a huge Grand Tour-dominating talent.

Not sure if Kwiato contending would be any sort of revelation. He's already a stage race leader on any other team.

Yeah, the only revelation would be that he can go 3 weeks without a really bad day or 3. That's always a question mark for any rider.

My comment was just acknowledgement that it'd be just like Sky to go 3 deep into GC contenders and still find a GT winner. Eye-rolling as a Sky-hater (though I like Kwiato).

I’m a fan, he’a a badass. Just wish he’d find another team.

Individually, I like the Sky guys. Collectively, not so much because they have a lot more money than the other teams and then squash them like grapes in GT's.

So I pull for the Americans and teams like EF and Mich Scott and the local Euro teams that get spots in the big races. And I'm really looking forward to seeing Sep Kuss ride. He made Utah look like a Wednesday nighter.

Kwiatkowski

perhaps I am too prone to fan-boying but MK is the most badass mercenary in the peloton. he can win the WC, MSR, Amstel [I think], etc, etc AND be a watt factory in a GC.

I'd love to see a team celebrate him, like BMC did for GVA

I would love to see Kwiato win. Or Rigo.

Yeah, based on the stomach issues and the quotes on the cyclingnews article, Porte doesn't look like a contender. Dude didn't ride for a while, had a baby, and is riding for another team next year. I'm thinking BMC put pressure on him for the start here, but we'll see.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...t-i-was-in-the-tour/

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He can also TT pretty well, could conceivable be in red during first week as he has a faster finish than pretty much any other GC guy. Spindly climbers won't want anything to do with a guy who beat Sagan to the line at MSR.

a certain team doctor told me on Wed that CCC (no surprise) is trying very hard to get both Kwia and Majka after next year although Kwias' contract with Sky is thru 2020; don't know about Majka

indeed; or the guy who won Amstel from a group of 20 (in other words, a real group sprint)





your memory is correct

Is this thread open to people who ride with tri bars. My last bike race was in 1986, but been to 10 grand tours and ridden 360,000 lifetime kilomenters. Or just current roadies? Or does being a roadie (well, I was a roadie, a track guy and a tri guy at the same time that year) when Lemond finally beat Hinault qualify?

I'd say you're welcome here. You remember more than I know. Just don't get all nostalgic and mopey.


closing thoughts on Kwi; in 2017 (or 16), Gerriant went down and Sky pretended to do a "next man up" . . . . . yea ... I can't think of another team who's "next man" has rainbow stripes on his arms. but with no visible complaints kwi grabbed the front and manufactured Infinite watts for Froome. day after day. fark. that's a contenders dream.

[/hagiography]

Bienvenido, amigo.
Just stay out of the aero bars in the pace line. :)

of course; we aren't snobs here :)

Is this start ramp in a fu*king parking lot?!?! That is so Vuelta of them.

Kiw came flying

Wow, Kriatkowski put 30+ seconds on Uran and Aru on this tiny short stage. Let's see what Nibali can pull off after his cracked back on Alpe d'Huez.

well, the 2015 UCI Worlds TT started in a parking lot as well ;)

Nibali "only" lost 38 seconds to Mr. K from Sky. That's not a bad outing for a guy who just broke his back 5 weeks ago! That form seems to bode decently for week 3?

and perhaps UCI Worlds

Kwiatkowski may do well in Worlds, too. Very good all-rounder

He’s stated his goals ares stage hunting, supporting Izaguirre and getting fit for worlds so third week would make sense. Porte basically said the same. Someone has to win it.

I do hope that both of them have an awesome Vuelta. Talk about bad luck at the TdF!

Anyone else have an Amazon Firestick and info how to watch stages?

A vpn and Eurosport.....both of which you can do month to month. And if it’s a boring stage you can watch fencing.

Can you guys get flobikes.com in the US. That's what I used for the Giro. For the TdF we have it on one of the main sports networks.

I am debating if I will have enough time in the next 3 weeks to watch or not. Well it's not really a question of if I will have enough time, if I get the subscription then I'll devote a big chunk of my evening to watch replays and I'll be watching live at work. The problem is that this takes away from bandwidth I will put into my start tech company so its a trade off. I know if I just get text updates and watch whatever replays I can get for free on youtube etc, then I won't devote "as much" time. I am hoping that the commentary that the rest of you guys provide delivers more useful insight than the mainstream cycling media which often ends up being the case.

Stage 2 looks muy bueno for Sagan. And Kwiatkowski in Rojo?

Dev - Americans can get Flo Bikes or NBC Sports Gold. Both pay sites, but IMHO worth it.

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You never have the wind with you - either it is against you or you're having a good day. ~Daniel Behrman

Yesterday was the first time since, like forever, that I've seen Sagan in a "regular" team jersey

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/...d-team-jersey-384011

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

there is no god........i thought Kwiat had him when Valverde chased.....nice move by the QS guy...

....there's a whole "looking to Worlds" thing happening....Nibs, Dennis- I guess the Dennis as GC guy experiment is over......Porte is sick and Sagan hates the heat....a Yates and a Porte, cooked

Rigo solid for GC looks like

Might not be a very predictable race. The riders who have showed up sick/hurt (it doesn't seem like Sagan has recovered, along with Nibali and especially Porte) but "using the race as training for Worlds", Sky not sending one of their A-Teams (although any of their B-Teams is pretty good), and who knows which riders might emerge from the shadows.

Quintana looks good. Who can trust Simon Yates? Will Aru and/or Uran show us something. Should be interesting.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Kwiatkowski is going to be kicking himself for a while but gotta hand it to Valverde for how he managed to get stage. Past aside, that doesn’t happen without the experience and instinct for how to play it. He looked good aong with Quintana, Uran and Aru. Bennett could also be a dark horse contender when all’s said and done.

Sagan looks svelt. Would be something for him to content at worlds.

Looks like Nibali is already setting himself up so he has enough time delta so he gets rope to stage hunt :-)


Seriously though, I was kind of hoping he would be able to limit time losses and work his way into second half fitness and be a factor in the second half of this race on the GC

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/horner-set-for-vuelta-a-colombia-with-team-illuminate/

Montana is an American state; montaña is the Spanish word for mountain. Subtle but distinct.

K.......

Is it break day? Unleash the KUSS day?
SEP! I like every bike racer I know named Sep.

Not looking good for break today, Sepp will have to wait for a stage with more Montanas.

Oh wow. I hope he's independently wealthy or has a rock-solid plan for a career starting basically age 50 because living like a 20 year-old neo-pro has to pay basically nothing.

you are a pedant, and manage to be wrong, too...

https://www.britannica.com/place/Montana-state

good one.........

I upgraded my Xfinity package in the Spring for $10 more and get the Olympic Channel, they are showing 2 hours of coverage every day. So I am able to watch online at work. Commentators are Paul Sherwen & Bob Roll. Coverage works for me instead of TIZ cycling with sketchy pop ups and player always freezing.

Tomorrows stage should be good!

I know race started but I am cheering for Uran to win!

Speaking of good ones, and Viviani bagging another today, why would any sprinter in their right mind ever leave QS? Like Sky grows stage racers, Lefevere shows fast finishers how to win.

Sheesh. This Vuelta is harder to pick than the Final Four! When Porte and Nibali said they weren't in it for the GC, they apparently were NOT sandbagging! While Kwiato's still holding onto red, I still say Sky does not win this one.

I went through the stage profiles again last night. My thoughts:

• I forgot that Vuelta only categorizes climbs HC-3.
• Only three stages without rated climb, all in the last week, two of which are the time trial and the finale in Madrid...so 18 stages with at least a cat 3 climb.
• They are very stingy with declaring an HC, so some of the 1's are quite possibly underrated.
• There are buckets of climbs throughout the race that would be cat 4 (maybe 3) in Tour and Giro that are all pain, no glory for the Vuelta riders.

Tomorrow should be interesting to see who is fit right now but I bet not decisive. I'm starting to think Uran could content for win. He's got the most established all-around GC game of those left in contention.

Charlottesville boy Benny King in the break and the virtual lead. Operative word is virtual, but Sky is not going to chase the break down to keep him off the GC lead. He may be American but he's no Chris Horner......in a good way. Would be cool to see him in the jersey.

Lotto in the break. It's not Sep! Kuss (pronounced KOOOOOOOOOOS!).
He punked my friend Joe on Snowbird. I say he gets a stage or comes very close.

Why indeed?

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

She's way too young to have seen the Zep. But really, I've got no truck with the shirt. Or anything else. I don't know why I brought it up. Thank you.

Day for the break. *Ben won’t get red jersey*.

 


BENNY!

What? They don't have Hot Topic in Belgium?

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Awesome win for Ben!

well i'll be ...

1 Benjamin King (USA) Dimension Data 4:33:12

that's pretty cool
good for him

and yea, Kwi is enjoying himself (first weeks are great)

Yeah, that was sweet. He needed it and so did team

Mabra represent!

.[/quote

Mabra represent![/quote]
The good guys get one! I think his dad is still riding some Masters races.

pretty sure his brother was at a local race in 2016

can still remember him repping the Commonwealth at 2015 Worlds, well deserved

I wonder how Nibali's spine is doing and if he just lost fitness or he has lingering pain. He was 11 minutes back. I guess it's build for a chance at stage hunting in week 3 and then go for it at World's. Our home guy Woods is not having a great Vuelta this far.

From what I hear Woods is on the "build for World's" program that quite a few other riders are doing, and has said he's hoping to stage hunt in week 3. We'll see how much domestique duty he does for Rigo in the meantime.

another hot day of active racing....seems like the Vuelta, especially this year is about free range stage hunting and less GC stuff, for many anyway........my biggest concern is that Carlton Kirby bursts into tears if things don't go well for Sky...........

i think deMarchi is sandbagging...no he's cramping Clarke should get it anyway

Loving watching trackie Clarke here.

Edit: Yeah, that was predictable.

Dimension, EF... now Katusha needs to get one at last chance saloon.

Finally caught up with the first 4 stages last night. Sucks to see Porte and Nibali already out of it and Sagan not looking like himself...but not all that surprised either. Must be hard to be on form in terms of fitness, injury, and health (sickness) this late in the season when this GT wasn't your focus.

In any case, Yates picks up 25 seconds yesterday. Seemed like a great move considering most of his time gains were because the group behind were dicking around...not that Yates burned 5 matches. Had I not seen the Giro, I would have said it was brilliant...but I did see the Giro...so now I kind of wonder.

I love Kirby!!! Really, for some reason he is soothing to me personally.

Just watched the first 5 stages, this might be Kiwato's race.

Kirby does a great job keeping many boring kilometers interesting. I enjoy him. Not easy to do what he does, keeping up the banter.

going with Mr. Peto today.........he says he's beginning to feel better and he hasn't "fly through forest and ass heet big rock" lately so he pips Viviani

I'd be astonished if it was. At his freshest and with a strong Sky team backing him I still think Kwiatkowski loses significant time at some point to a climber like Yates or Quintana. With the Tour in his legs, a relatively weak Sky team, and having apparently also trained for the Worlds, I think he'll have greatly enjoyed his time in red but has no chance of being in the running in week 3. Would love to be proved wrong, would be an amazing reward for his super-domestique services over the last few years. It would also give Brailsford the mother of all headaches in terms of balancing GC aspirations if he had 3 different reigning GT champions plus Bernal on the team!

I don't feel too bad for Brailsford. You can go at least to 5 or 6 on their depth chart before you run out of guys who are legitimate Tour top-10 riders. Lots of teams have only one rider with a snowball's chance in hell of a top 10. Consider Poels. He barely makes the Tour team in any year yet I would pick him over Loius Menke from Dimension Data or anyone other than Uran at EF or anyone at Quick Step.

lordy, it hadn't occurred to me until you said it. winning all three GTs, but with three different riders? nucking futs.

I don't feel in the slightest bit bad for Brailsford, other directors would kill to have that problem! I do think though that the super-domestique role can gloss over weaknesses which are exposed when riders become team leaders. Both physiological and psychological. Not sure Poels would thrive as a bigger fish in a smaller pool for example. And Landa, Porte and to a lesser extent Uran haven't been as successful (yet) since leaving as you might have expected.

If Yates wins, which is much more likely than Sky winning, that's 3 different British GT winners in the same year which is also pretty nuts for a country that only had its first GT win in 2012.

Some good shit going on right now. Split. AT least Pinot and Kelderman on the wrong side. Not sure who else.

When the camera showed the lead moto going past that piece of traffic furniture and the head of the peloton avoiding it, I was thinking to myself...how the fuck do they not crash? Well...1 second later...

It's crazy how stressful bike racing at that level must be.

Yeah, when I wrote the above, I'd missed the crash and was hoping it'd been a crosswind or something.

I'm sticking with Uran to bag this one. He's due.

That was basically negligent. Surprised that so few people fell victim, in the replays you could see riders locking up their brakes trying to avoid it.

---

I talk a lot - Give it a listen: http://www.fasttalklabs.com/category/fast-talk
I also give Training Advice via http://www.ForeverEndurance.com

The above poster has eschewed traditional employment and is currently undertaking the ill-conceived task of launching his own hardgoods company. Statements are not made on behalf of nor reflective of anything in any manner... unless they're good, then they count.
http://www.AGNCYINNOVATION.com

welcome to the welta..........inexcusable that they didn't get a flag guy at least or remove the bollards but bike racing is sketchy at all levels......sucks for Wilco, great rider, great band

Bouhanni may be the biggest tool in the peloton but he did get him some today. It'll only encourage him.

The team car and DS came through the stage unscathed.

You are definitely right about the mental side. I am sure the paycheck is great, but you have to question if someone like Poels even has the ambition to be a leader on a lesser team. Landa obviously wants the leadership role, but either the paycheck or mental problems seem to land him on a team where he is number 2 on the depth chart. It is a rare combination of the mental toughness, ambition, and physical gifts that makes great GT riders IMHO.

You put Bouhanni as bigger tool than Moscon?

can Woods bag a stage, 3k to top

damn, not to be thought he had a chance to get over the top alone

kuss 10th on stage, hope sunday is good for him

Haven't really paid attention to Moscon, but the Bouhanni stories are legend. A real diva, apparently. Even for a sprinter.

Nice win for Gallopin. Smart attack. Sagan seems to have bounced back. Uran was 6th. Crappy roads.

Some real competition for Tool title. Bouhanni's potential to kick someone's ass versus Moscon's propensity for racial epitaphs and hanging onto cars.

Good win for Gallopin after his nasty crash last year. Sagan seems to have more form than he's showing. And Uran hanging tough.

Somebody found their blood bags today, the ageless wonder just outsprinted Sagan

Unbelievable, he went around Sagan? Peter can't be that far out of form can he? I know he's on a build to the WC's, that could be a factor. The reality is that the WC profile really don't suit him. But he is Sagan however, so even if he's not my favorite rider you can't deny his talent.

not to mention throwing a few punches of his own; literally a puncheur

To be fair it was uphill, Sagan is off form and valverde started as a sprinter.

Plus Piti played it perfectly. He made Sagan close down Cortina, then just pipped him.

Wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if he's doping, but he also knows what he's doing.

valverde got cut off twice in the sprint - first on the right by sagan, then on the left by nizzolo, third time he found space to get through.

he's always had a good sprint on a tough finish and has beaten the likes of sagan before. he didn't intend to sprint on this stage though, just found himself doing it anyway!

could this be the year valverde finally wins worlds? nobody will want to come to the finish with him

The bummer is that Valverde is both a sublime bike racer and a total cheat. Eff him. Ill gotten gains.

he certainly has a dodgy past but so many from that period do, he was just unlucky to get caught up in puerto along with dozens of others. it was 12 years ago - i don't forgive or forget but we all move on.

he even seems to be a nice guy, i can't help but be a fan despite his past.

I watched the post race interview with Valverde. He just looks old.

He is old. Relatively speaking. He’s the Spanish Chris Horner, America’s most popular rider.
Ben King in the break, maybe in red?
That would be cool. That would be a story.

Break should make it, will be interesting to see how much.

World champ fetching bottles from car.

can break stay away - ben king another win ? dylan teuns as commentators are saying

What a ride. Go BK!
Red Rudi also needs to not lose time within the GC group which is not a given. BK has a real shot here.
USAUSAUSA

does it seem that mollema tries to push too big a gear - what do i know, must be what works for him as he takes off in pursuit

is that kuss at the front of peloton ?

KOOOOOOOOOS!

did i just see kwia out tieback ?

That was one of best GT stages of year.

agree......really happy Ben didn't fall off his bike on the steep portion ...what a ride

two mtn top wins - awesome
did they say he was dropped by ef two years ago ?

King is king. Kuss ejected Sky out the back of the GC group. What's not to like?

Kuss is bringing the pain.

Top 10 separated by only :48. Lots of great racing ahead.

Lotto Jumbo is fun to watch. Kuss reminds me of Tyler Hamilton. I’ll just leave that one out there for rest day.

Coming into the first rest day, all the GC is bunched up really close. I hope Simon Yates paces this Grand Tour better. If he can pull this off it would awesome. Then again, we're looking at everyone outraged with Froome's inhaler "leak" meanwhile we have "unintentional doping guy" Yates leading the Vuelta and Mr. Turbodope Valverde 1 second off and it's all business as usual. It's almost like dopers get a pass unless they are dominating. Then they are raked over the coals constantly. Its a funny double standard.

• Fan1, "I hate doping"
• Fan2, "I hate doped winners, but shady fast challengers are kind of OK..everyone is doping"

fast forward 3 years

• Fan1, "Your guy just won the last four grand tours"
• Fan2, "I have a new doped challenger I am backing. I hate that doped 4 time winner now. That cheesy pistol move, he really needs to put that one away"

fast forward 3 more years

• Fan1, "Hey your old guy is not winning that much anymore after eating all that tainted beef. he's almost human now"
• Fan 2, "He rides with panache and passion. He's keeping the new 4 time winners honest....did you see how he danced up Angliru towards heaven on his penultimate pre retirement ride...that one was for the ages"

and here was are in love with Valverde out sprinting Sagan!!!!

Who be this "we" you be referring to? :)

If Kruijswijk and Bennett fade from GC, I want to see the Kus unchained and Ben King's wins give me hope against dope. I want to see Valverde fade and Tejay Quintana quietly roll people up. I want to see Sagan roll it uphill with the best at worlds. The Vuelta is weight loss and form camp for him. I'd like to see the breaks keep sticking, with Euskadi and Caja getting theirs and maybe Jack Haig if Yates falters. And I'd like to see Rigoberto win it all.

don't over think it. at a practical level, it's the rule of law. they did the crime AND the time and then we move on. but the stain is always there and there's some karma to that. just ask Ted Kennedy.

anyway, I actually think Valverde is clean. LOL

Kwiatkowski’s interview on CyclingNews podcast and it got me wondering if he was going drop anchor and join Porte, Nibali, Sagan, etc on worlds training program.

Is Fabio Van Garderen still in race? At least we have King and Kuss throwing leather.

On the other land 4th-man-up De La Cruz is talking like it's his turn to do the Landis thing in the next week or two.

We as the entire collective on ST (and maybe the general cycling world) full on hate for Sky, giving Yates the pass and loving Contador in his fading years...and hey, I'm equally guilty of enjoying the rides by Yates and Contador (last year)....but let's not fool ourselves that we're giving those guys a bigger pass than Sky gets. Sky gets the full on hate, just because they win often. It's like loving Pantani or Beloki and hating Lance. All dopers, its just easier to hate the frequent winner. But hey, its an awesome show all around. I just assume they are all doing every greyline hanky panky they can get away with, just like Gomez sitting at 5m frequently yesterday, or a Philadelphia Eagles lineman holding (while doped to the gills). It's pro sport, and no one is a Saint. Its just really a matter of how hard the authorities manage to keep the clamp on the players to keep it kind of level.

But Valverde getting all that love from fans in general (for super high octane doping), is kind of funny when Froome gets all the hate (for low Octane doping)

Sky always has another at the ready. Handy.

Man, Viviani is fast. Sagan looks off his peak sprint, which would make sense with tilt at worlds, but still. I like it when lead out man raises hands before line. Job well done today by Sabatini.

Another good day for QS with Alaphilipe tearing up Tour of Britain.

Sagan got boxed and had to freewheel a bit. I agree with you though he may be a bit off. But now Sagan is in the green jersey! Take that Valverde!

Wolfpack having quite the season. I think their communications lady needs a raise!

She's definitely working overtime this year.

Sagan said post race the sprint was not the right type for him - not turns, hills, etc. It was a straight up drag race for pure sprinters with legit lead out men. Sagan noted Vivianni is simply faster in those types of sprints while also noting he is working on getting back into form. I like that 3 second places is off form! Ha.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

and yet, there's still doubt as to who their new title sponsor will be

if the best run classics team from the region most interested in the classics can't obtain a title sponsor...

Interesting stage tomorrow. Longest of the Vuelta at 208 km with 4 categorized climbs...probably should be 7-8 of them though if they were to count cat 4s. It has breakaway written all over it. Doubt any of the sprinter teams will do any chasing and the GC teams will be saving some for a very hard Friday-Sunday.

That said, I would love to see the break caught by a reduced peloton in the final 20 km to give Peto a chance. With such a hard day you could see action on that last little kicker with 7 km to go that creates gaps. GC guys may get caught out with no teammates to help them on the run in to the finish.

According to her IG, she's with the team in Britain, so maybe they gave her the first week of La Vuelta off, to join them there?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Bet there will be a few unusual, big GC names in break tomorrow.

Not to mention winning how many stages at Tour plus mountains jersey.

Shows how sad the state of affairs is for cycling. They have charismatic riders like Gilbert, Alaphillipe, Viviani, Mas and Gavaria giving them reach across the languages of biggest cycling audience nationalities, which should be a marketer's dream.

I'm so pissed at the poor USA sports networks coverage of their coverage of this race. And my cable company as well.
All before the Vuelta began I was looking to see where coverage would be. Couldn't find out where. Searched my cable guide every way I could imagine to find, no luck.
Then, this weekend I find a daily 2 hour show on the Olympic channel, which I have.
Missed the first week because somehow they couldn't communicate before the race that it was on.

That would be cool if it happens. There is very little flat road in the last 170 km of this stage. So much potential...I hope it's not a let down from a viewership perspective.

Did I hear Terpstra moved?

Back when I had cable (Timer Warner/Spectrum), I simply set my DVR to record anything "Cycling" on any channel. Pretty much caught everything...even the smaller races I didn't know were going to be on TV or that even existed as a race.

Now that I cut the cable, I use NBC sports gold for most races. Will eventually move to VPN and Eurosport next year though now that I have a new laptop. NBC sports gold was worth it just so I don't have to listen to Phil and Paul.

The Gorilla to Fortuneo. Terpstra to Direct Energie with Gaudin. What a convoy.
Bookwalter to Mich Scott seems a good fit.

Can't blame Terpstra for taking advantage of his "show me the money" moment, but he might rethink it next spring while getting stomped by the Wolfpack and Bora. He should ask Sagan about being THE guy on a team with target on back, while not possessing anywhere near the all-around skillset.

He's a beast, but there was a serious set up going on with that team of killers. I think he was a serious pita for the ds's and teammates. I can already seeing him bitching at the DE guys.

he'll get his comeuppance, especially as he's getting older

DE rarely has 4 guys patrolling the front so that any of the four could slip away when the other big hitters are tired from chasing moves.

I have a search set for cycling, it didn't catch the Vuelta. I even searched for 2018 Vuelta... on the eve of the start and it wasn't there. Now, that's what it is.
Haven't cut the cord yet, all the various apps might cost as much or more and I do like DVR function

This ^^^ exactly. Terpstra can only break away if nobody chases; which has been the case when everybody looks around and sees Gilbert/Stybar/etc. sitting in. But next year Terpstra will be without teammates in the lead group, and will be brought back without hesitation.

I bet he ends up "sprinting" for 3rd/4th a lot.

Before La Vuelta even started, I went to the NBC Sports website to see which it was on [NBC Sports Channel or Olympic Channel] and set my DVR accordingly

Also, I can use my Xfinity voice remote and just say "cycling" and it brings everything up [in case they switch from OLY to NBCS for the weekend shows]

You'll find that with Sherwin & Bobke doing the coverage, there's a different vibe than the TDF coverage = it's just them, no Jensie, no Schlanger, no Porino out on the bike ... they don't even have a studio. In fact, it's very possible they could be in New York, LA, or Connecticut, just doing voice overs from a satellite feed, and not even BE in Spain. The patter between the two of them sounds like they're doing this for their own entertainment, and don't care if anyone is watching [there's a lot more joking around, and Bob Roll laughs & giggles a lot]

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

And somehow, Sagan is in green ... I guess those 2nd place points DO add up

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

agreed, happy to have a legit way to watch and no more shady TIZ Cycling feeds. Plus I can logon to my Xfinity account and watch an HD feed at work.

Olympic Channel also has highlights from the UCI MTB tours, Road and MTB Worlds, and Cyclocross in the Winter/Spring

https://www.nbcsports.com/cycling-schedule

Be aware

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Only reason I had to cut the cord was when I moved to an apartment that is only wired for Spectrum and landlord won't let me install anything else. Spectrum knows this, and they were going to charge me max rates on everything despite the promotions they have online saying that I'm not eligible. I'm already getting raped on internet service so I can't afford to pay $170 a month for internet and one cable TV box when I was paying $110 for internet and 2 boxes, plus additional sports channels prior.

That said, most streaming services have DVR type capability. And most streaming add ons like NBC Gold are basically live or on demand, so it's like DVR except you never have to schedule the recording. The great thing now is that Sling, Hulu, Direct TV, YouTube, Fubo, etc are all competing for business and have great promotions without long term commitments. I've been constantly switching between them and on average am paying about $20 a month for the channels I want the last 10 months or so. Currently on Direct TV now paying $10 a month for the first 3 months.

I actually think DVR service is going to be obsolete soon or a niche market for people who like to keep things on recorded for LONG periods of time. Everything is going to be live or available on demand so long as you pay for service or subscribe to the network the content is on.

Good call. Pretty solid day of racing. Kudos for Pinot for trying...I was hoping he could at least pull back 60-70 seconds when all was said and done. MTS didn't get the win with Haig, but great job getting him in the break and forcing Movistar to do a lot of work. Wondering if they will be paying for that effort this weekend when the real fireworks start.

Damn, Jimmy goes on a little bender and we fall off onto the second page. Tri shmi.....bike race is on!

It's LUMPY today. Nibs just started some sheet in the Cabeza de Carrera. That's a reputable break group.

Nibali in break today.

Next week might be most existing of GT racing this year. All the guys training for worlds should start polishing form. Some of the breaks could end up looking like a typical GC battle.

will be interesting to see the GC group coming in today and who tries to pick up some time.....this run in is tricky

this is fun stuff today

yes, this is cool.....watching these punchy one day guys pop these hills hard with a straight climber like Formolo not looking comfy...van Baarle looks like an Orca with Brambilla trying to cling on alike a pilot fish

damn Formolo, Van Baarle got stuck with him and had to work to get back on...was rooting for him....woops, he's a Sky guy......

But also a classics guy so have to root for him a little.

Good stage today. Next three should be solid, plus two CA races Friday and Sunday.

Three epic days ahead, with the peloton entering my home turf... good thing the weather forecast is improving! Let’s see how long Herrada can hold it.

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Sr. Salitre

Thank goodness that was a breakaway finish and not a bunch sprint today, that “minor” post race accident could’ve been bad. Hopefully Van Baarle is ok and can continue.

Plus did anyone else see the 2 box trucks, taking up half of a lane about 2k from the finish?

so which stage would be harder Friday or Sat. regardless of their order ? obviously Sat coming after Friday's climb but whatever the order
one is basically uphill from the get go while the other is up/down up/down both similar in length and vertical

The last 5.3 km of Friday's stage looks nasty with a 10.5% average, but it looks like there is a 2 km stretch in there that must average around 14% or so. Expect to see gaps there regardless of how hard the stage is.

Saturday also has a 4 km finish that averages 12.5%. The earlier part of the stage looks harder than Friday since there are so much flat roads between Friday's first and final climb but you never know how hard the race is going to be depending on the break.

Sunday is going to be a killer after those two stages.

bike racing is a podunky ass sport......the AG2R guy wins a GT stage and the presentation looked like a local 123 race...if it weren't for the press there wouldn't have been an audience....kind of cool in its own way when compared to the insane hype in other sports

Yeah, what Jason said. By the end of Sunday there are gonna be a lot of guys on their knees, and only a few left in fight for podium.

Suspect there will be more days like today with breaks that go to the line too, and with more big names in em. GC teams don't have enough willpower or firepower to control the whole peloton. Racing should be pretty wide open and exciting.

will King be allowed to get away , Majka , Mollema, Haig.
Moviestar gets depleted shutting down attacks
as you said teams aren't strong enough to cover, shut down all the next 3 days
I like Lotto-Jumbo to send Kuss up the road one of these days to be there for Kruijswijk, Bennett

Alrighty, we've got a little classics-like action tomorrow and Sunday. Gotta pick 'em for Quebec GP:
Degenkolb, GvA, Ulissi
Matthews, Stybar

GvA, Stybar, VanMarcke
Wellens, Bennett

I really like the Quebec race, it's a nasty little circuit they do.

I'm thinking:
Colbrelli, Matthews, Degenkolb
Wellens, GvA


Should be an interesting finish in the Vuelta tomorrow too, lots of good cycling to watch

friday stage(tomorrow) and next two days are KEY, time to suffer. I wonder if the lack of work from michelton to lead the peloton would have some consecuences or not

It wasn't on the NBC broadcast, but articles mention that MTS were working hard to control the break yesterday in the first 100 km because there were real threats (including Pinot), but then handed it over to Movistar to do the rest of the work as they had to protect Quintana and Valverde. They basically said they couldn't do it on their own, which is true, but all you saw on TV was Movistar at the front.

Today MTS probably didn't mind losing the leader's jersey to Herrada as he's not so much of a real threat. I bet that both MTS and Movistar want some relief from chasing the break and I bet they purposely gave Herrada 3 minutes net. It is just enough where he's not *really* a threat overall, but enough that Confidis should send their team to the front this weekend. I can't see Herada losing 3 minutes tomorrow as the decisive part of the stage is only 4 km, so Confidis should still be at the front Saturday with a 1-2 minute lead at worst...which could also mean that they have to work at the front for at least part of Sunday too when the real GC teams then rally their troops up.

It's a small gamble, but like Carl mentioned...these teams look gassed and the racing is only going to get harder.

Colbrelli is a good pick. He’s been oh-so-close.

Nairon in an interview said the same thing: MTS did the work at the first part fo the stage then movistar. i cna understand MTS does not have a team to do a skytrain tactic, but thats the taxes you have to paid if you want/have the lead jersey, you want the lamborgini you paid all aditionals that comes with it. I think Herrada is dangerous, its not a guy to keep underpressure all time but you should nto give him 5 mn, even Nairo metioned at the same interview. La vuelta have this unique characteristhic that allows drama and spectacle from other sources: cuts due to winds, people bonking more often, leaders falling down due to being tired,stage endings with amazing results, dark horses making special presence at third week, unexpecte stage/race winners. Due to being the last big race and being done at the end of the year, people goes to the vuelta tired after racing so much time, so much km in their legs and la vuelta is the last chance to make it big in a big stage so all this sums up for a special tour. Cofidis have to pay its taxes now.

1/3 of Peloton in breakaway, including what appears to be nearly entire Lotto team.

I was excited for a second until I realized you meant Soudal.

Majka and Henao in there too, might have a chance to stick it.

This is going to be close for Herrada. It’s so fucking steep...fans look to be respectful at least.

I always had a soft spot for the old Euskatel Euskadi mountain goats, and it's nice to see version 2.0 of the team start to come together nicely.

Nairo looked solid today. Tomorrow has potential for some long range attacks out of the GC group to bridge up to teammates. Without the Sky train to shut these type of moves down...I hope someone at least has the courage to try. Can't blame them if they don't though...I really don't know how these guys survive this type of brutality.

Yeah, me too. But I also cringe a little when a guy with no real results from small Spanish team lays the wood to everyone.

Looked like the Quintana of old, and that he might be ready to put it on Yates. How do these two stack up against each other in the chrono?

Local boy. Love it. Tejay Q looks good.

Quintana didn't commit to it. He'd have been better off staying put and following. Yates played it right.
Uran hung very tough.

The finale was so steep that it just seemed like a day for many to limit losses. Wonder who will have anything left in tank tomorrow.

Rigo tomorrow.

You’ve got my vote, still pulling to Rigo to take the whole thing.

Would like to see Rigo do it but I don’t think he can punch up these climbs. He rode like Tom D. yesterday which is to say, great. But Astana is already hammering away for Lopez who is not ever going to be confused with a brilliant strategist but he will attack hard. I see Yates and Tejay Q following him, with Rigo hanging tough again. Valverde needs to just go away but probably will not.

Yeah I predicted with my heart with Rigo. Today I eat crow. :)

Devil his due, Valverde clearly tried to ride for Quintana which must be super frustrating. Quintana over thinks it, Lopez under thinks it.
Good to see Pinot win. I don't think Q has many fans in the peloton, def not Lopez or Yates.

Figure Valverde gets the Red Jersey after Tuesday, but will he have enough of a gap on Yates to be able to hold it after Stage 19? (And/or will Yates run out of gas again?)

Should be a good last week!

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Yates asked Q to help out on the catch, Q said nope.
The tuesday TT is gonna be huge, Yates will lose time, Valverde, Kruijswijk, Uran will gain.
Could this be Valverde's year?
Pinot nOw has atleast 1 win in all of the GTs

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res, non verba

Nice win by Pinot, he had one coming.

Agreed about Valverde doing some good work today. He plays the teammate role well.

Not sure why but I can’t root for Yates. And with that helmet and goggle glasses he looks like he got lost on the way to a ski holiday.

i'm getting tired of yates complaining about movistar not chasing to defend his jersey... not sure if he is going overboard with tactical games, is really worried about him/his team imploding again, is a typical millennial who expects everything done for him, or just has no idea about or respect for the responsibilities of leading a GT.
its expected to get some disputes over who does the work but yates & MS seem to be continually looking to movistar to do all the work in this vuelta and do the work that MS want done.

and yeah, those glasses don't inspire me to support him either!

of those in strong contention i think i'd have to root for lopez. maybe a storming comeback from pinot?

MS has done a good job of doing very little work as a team thus far, but yesterday Yates needed to just ride his ride. Made no sense to look to Quintana. Given the tt nature of the race at that point I'm always wondering a little bit about the whole do the work thing. I think if a rider at that point with 1-2-3 k uphill to go just puts his head down and rides, he probably saves time. These jumps and follows and attacks don't really add up to much unless the stage itself is at stake. Pinot is already up the road, so get to the line as fast as possible and stop worrying about who you drag with you. They either hang or they don't. I guess I'm underestimating the benefit of following, even at 13%. In those situations I was always just thinking survival and don't fall over sideways.

And Pinot is way down so why would MS burn matches chasing him? Let Yates do it, or Lopez if he wants to defend his jersey. I think Quintana was smart by doing as little as possible, especially with that kick Yates has.

When you really think about it though, it was brilliant by Yates the way it worked out. Pinot up the road is the least of his worries compared to how he, Lopez, Quintana, and Valverde would finish at the line. They are by far the most immediate threat to him. The stage win was already out of the question, but there are still 4 and 6 second time bonuses available between the 4 of them. 2 people are going to lose out if they all ride hard tempo to the line. So Yates makes a decision to see if Movistar will work, and eventually Valverde comes through to the front on the flatter section. This allows Yates to jump both Valverde and Quintana at the line and take the 4 second bonus, plus small time gaps at the line. If Yates just TT's to the finish, Lopez and Valverde probably out kick him and he loses more time to his closest rivals.

At the end of the day, if you told Yates with 3 km to go while they were all together (Yates, Quintana, Valverde, Lopez) that he would gain 6 seconds on Valverde and 8 seconds on Quintana while losing 4 seconds to Lopez...he would probably take that all day.

Had Valverde not come through, Pinot gains more time...Lopez gains more time, then Yates is forced to chase while Valverde jumps him for 3rd and Yates/Quintana come across ST...then yeah...that would have been a disaster. You could call him a bone head if that happened...but what actually unfolded worked pretty well all things considered.

Spot on.

very true....it broke well for Yates for sure

Pulling for Pinot out of this group of hit or miss GC TTers. He's the only one of the contenders other than Enric Mas that didn't do the Giro or TdF. He was battling illness, but he might just be rounding up into form for the 3rd week. If it were not for the crash that split the peloton near the end of stage 6 that caused him to lose 1:44 to the rest of the GC, he would be right there in the mix. His efforts for laying it out there in the 2nd week have definitely won me over.

Overall the course is mostly flat and not too technical. The last few hundred meters does seem to have a sharp hairpin and a sweeping U turn...so it could be interesting from a perspective of riders having to slow down and accelerate hard to the finish while seeing stars.

Wednesday is going to be another really hard day even though it's not classified as a mountain stage. It's a shame this thread doesn't get nearly as much following as the TdF. It's building up to be an exciting week 3.

Pinot can do a good GC ITT and should move way up on GC. But the way Lopez and Mas are climbing it doesn't look like enough to stay there.

Kruijswijk is a potentially interesting joker. But he does have the Tour in his legs, and Yates, Quintana and Valverde ought to be landing some big blows in the mountains.

Pinot rode the Giro and did incredibly well until Froome went solo long and blew everything up. Pinot dropped out of the Giro w/ pneumonia or bronchitis.

You're right. I remember Pinot getting sick at some point this summer, but forgot it was in the middle of the Giro.

yeah it worked out well for him and i don't mind the tactics, just the constant complaining that movistar aren't riding the way he wants them to

It's just gamesmanship. Screaming and gesturing when someone refuses to pull through is like "Tuesday" in bike racing.

I loved watching it. For all the complaints of how boring it is to watch the Sky train beat the GC into a pulp with a steady tempo, I would have thought this type of attacking and gamesmanship would have been a welcome change to the script.

Not a massive GC shakeup but surprised to see Yates put time into Valverde. But IMO the ride of the day goes to Mas--holy cow, 6th, only 1:03 off Dennis? He could be the real danger man going forward, and certainly looks deserving of Contador's anointment of Spain's next great GC hope.

Good TT by Yates today, gained time on all the GC contenders apart from Kruijswijk and Mas. Shouldn't really be a surprise, he's a small rider but has a background in track pursuit and has ridden good TTs before including at the Tour to win white jersey, and at the Giro when he was still defending his lead from Dumoulin. Quintana not looking like he has the legs. And Valverde continuing to defy his age - riding strongly into the 3rd week of your 2nd consecutive GT at the age of 38 is astonishing.

Killer rides from Mas and Kruiswijk. Rigo looked awful! Hopefully Yates holds together better after this TT than in the Giro.

And Valverde is perpetually peaking. Nothing to see there! I expect a big day for him tomorrow in his home territory.

This is setting up to be good. A few days ago, Yates could make the argument that Movistar had the most to lose. Not anymore. I expect a lot of attacks and Yates being put on the ropes. If he was someone like Dumoulin that could just ride a super hard tempo to negate or bring back attacks then maybe Yates would be okay just miniminzing a few seconds lost here or there. But Yates' punchy style is going to be put to the test. I think Mas or Lopez still has a chance to win this thing if they make the right move and the others look to Yates to bring it back...and he can't.

I just wish the white jersey competition didn't exist sometimes. When all the young riders are outside the top 10, then it adds additional drama...but when 2 of them are in striking distance of the overall it really screws things up.

I'd like to see Yates and Mich Scott hang tough, with Jack Haig doing great things for Yates when it matters. Yates looks a little like the Great Gazoo in his helmet and shades but otherwise seems to be a good dude. Funny he was considered boneheaded in the Giro and now he's a dynamic swashbuckling pistolero.

It all comes down to legs or no legs, aka recovery magic.
Gonna be fun.

You said it, and today showed that Quintana does in fact look to be gassing, while Valverde could be showing signs. Kruiseship roared back into it but he has Le Tour in his legs. I'm thinking more and more that Mas and Lopez could lay the madera in Montanas this week.

Ben King for polkadots manana.

That would be cool.

Could tomorrow be ideal for a Fuente De style ambush?

Looks like Ben missed the break but Nibali and Majka are in there.

When Nibali started attacking before the climb, that was sign he didn't have legs for the climb. Steep stuff not best for him anyway I think.

Don't know about tomorrow's stage, but I think the race is wide open. On Friday Valverde or Mas could win it if they have good days. I'm going with Mas as a dark horse. He seems to have ridden intelligently and has gotten stronger as race has gone on.

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________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Great stage today! So Happy for Woods, and his dedication was emotional, I can't imagine what Him & his wife went through.

MTS did a great job for Yates today and he hung in there tough. Glad we didn't see another post TT implosion like we did at the Giro. Quintana is done...which means the team focus should go to Valverde. I think it was heading there anyway, but this just confirms it.

Mas looks great, as does Chris Horner...but I think Mas would benefit if Astana continues to go to the front leading into the final climbs to make sure the race is hard. With Lopez losing some time today, I'm not sure if they still will. They almost caught the break today, and if they did, the time bonuses would have really hurt Yates.

The profile of Friday and Saturday should be enough for anyone with any resemblance of legs to make up time. Today's finish looked painful. Kudos to Woods...I thought he was going to fall off his bike with 30 meters to go.

surprised to see Aru come in 14:14 down after getting shredded and his whole backside/ass exposed
wonder what the mechanical was with the bike

I wouldn't be surprised if his team car or a race official made him pull over to pin a towel around his waist or something. At that point, he had no motivation to save time and the nature of that climb requiring you to stand was likely going to rip the remaining threads that were holding his bibs together.

Wait what? Is Horner an age joke to refer to Piti?

@McNulty is the nickname master, but I'm going for Mas "Macho" as the nickname for Mas.

Mas Macho is perfect as is Chris Horner, Spain's most popular rider. He'll be sprinting tomorrow, no problem.

Awesome for Woods. All kinds of good guys bagging stages.

What about Mas Nacho?

I'll root for mas nachos all day, everyday.

What a stage today. Peloton looks dead tired. I almost thought that Chris Horner would end up sprinting for the stage.

Break wins again....si bueno.

Chris Horner looked strong and will be well rested and very popular going into the finale.