Ha ha, Lopez getting a taste of his own medicine with no one helping him.

when Unpopular Lopez and Mas Nachos got up the road and really started to get a gap i thought, for a sec, uh oh.......but good on Yates, he was really comfortable on those roads, home field for him

Kruisjwijk has to carry those shoulders up and down mountains...it's a little weird seeing him right up there climbing like that...kind of wish he had hung on to the podium

good seeing Tejay Q and Horner stick together like teammates should......

Highlight: Ben King and Ben King...other than that, on to Worlds.....place your bets

Adios, muchachos.

https://www.velogames.com/...php?league=521835710

This looks like it's going to be a closer finish than the actual race!

MAS NACHOS. Getting it done with Pistolero panache. Quite a good battle and highly entertaining.

Now Sagan needs to crush it tomorrow to wrap things up,

word

in this thread I've seen more than one post re: "a training block for worlds". could Peto think he has even an outside chance? I've seen the guy do amazing things but that profile just doesn't suit.

La Vuelta is my favorite race. The NBC Olympic Channel coverage was atrocious (Not Bobke or Paul).

They showed the race as breaks from their Indy/NASCAR/Golf commercial show.

They were about half a lap behind the actual race, my daughter was sending me pictures of Sagan after the race before the "live" feed had them at 1.5k to go

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

That looked like the messiest sprint ever, and also that Viviani is just too good right now—at least against that field.

Yates put the Giro behind him, Valverde showed his age and Mas & Lopez came of age.

Worlds should be damn good this year if all the guys using the Vuelta as training come on form. And Il Lombardia too.

Back slaps and high fives all around to the squad that participated on this thread. Yet another one on bike racing with good convo and civil dialogue. Thanks for starting it, McNulty.

Hey Thread,

Thanks for the insights along the way. Enjoy this edit from MS:

Let's get a World's thread started then. should be epic. Not since that edition in Colombia have they included long climbs in the closing circuits of World's. Once a generation thing, i guess

Thanks for sharing that vid GS, and thank you to the collective on this thread, feels like a privilege to check in here each day and get unique insight. tip of the cap to all and many thanks.
oh, and marking the thread title with a few asterisks makes it much easier to spot on the forum each day, perfect!

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http://www.PatGriskusTri.com USAT Certified Race Director
2024 Races: USAT State of CT Age Group Championship/State of CT HS Champs/ CT Club Championship - Sat June 15th (Oly/Du/Sprint) Hopkins Vineyard Tri at Lake Waramaug Saturday July 13th http://www.HopkinsVineyardTri.com

I think Adam Yates might just be the one best placed to use the Vuelta as a springboard for the Worlds. Kept in reserve for the first 2 weeks, showed some great form in the last few days.

interesting....that would be kind of cool.......this WC should be nuts...Sagan has shown on a day or two that he can climb if/when he has to, wondering how long he sticks in the front or how it will all shake out, will groups come back together or will there be an early culling of the herd that leaves one front group racing, haven't paid any attention so far but this week is it

I'd love to be wrong but Sagan has no chance. I hope I eat these words. ;)

yep Worlds should be interesting; like GVA at the Olympics i'm not sure you can rule Sagan out or anybody coming into great form
what country has the strength to push the pace and drop perceived threats

enjoyed everybodies input also and the Vuelta has always wide open

I have to imagine that Sagan will sit in the pack all day and pray that it comes back together on the last lap. Highly unlikely...but I've seen stranger things happen before.

This one is going to be fun to watch because I really have no clue how it's going to play out. Can't just look at the profile and say..."I'll start watching from the 3rd laps because that's where the action should start."

That in itself should make it an interesting race. Climbers can't really afford to let it be easy enough for the likes of Sagan or GvA to hang around so it ought to be good action.

Congrats to Got Salbutamol? on your Velogames Slowtwitch league win. Another close one.


I wish I knew Dan Martins wife was days away from giving birth, maybe I would have scored more with a different cyclist.
At least it was not as bad as my tour of Britain team where I was almost in dead last overall.


Another great Vuelta, where the podium were all under 25 years old, the future is bright for cycling.
I had high expectations for everyone who raced that crashed out of the TDF. Nothing happened for any of them except for Uran in the top 10.


Excited the Olympics Channel is showing full coverage beginning to end every day for the World Championships.

Sagan is a few kilos too heavy, and the hills are just a few percents too steep. The last climb, at 2.8 km at 11.5%, would seem like an eternity. Had that been 2.8 km at 8%, Sagan has at least a punche(u)r's chance. The Igls climb otherwise wouldn't trouble him though. So conceivably, he could try to get away early, and hope that he'd be caught close to the summit of the finishing climb. That's what GvA essentially did.

One other thing is that no mountain stage in the grand tours is this long, and pure climbing ability may matter less here. We saw all sorts of strong climbers falling off the pace in Rio, and I'd imagine this to be similar.

Adam Yates and Uran would be expected to do well. As does Henao and Martin

GVA hanging on at the Olympics was awesome to watch. he started each climb at the front and he was near last at the top. truly a wonder of "hanging tough". I cheered the entire time. and I didn't foresee Nibs crashing on the descent. he was my pick to win. that said, I just can't see any punchers hanging on over this profile. its just wacky.


but i'll call it now: Alaphilippe breaks early and solos the last two laps. an amazing victory!!!

Not sure about the soloing part but Alaphilippe looks like the red-hot pick. Moscone, number of Colombians, Kwiato, Dumoulin and Valverde too. The distance really favors someone who rides classics, which knocks out most of the Colombian cartel.

good call; dude was in the hunt at Rio, and got 4th. Actually crashed during the race as well.

I think early for him would be the penultimate climb. Luck really does favor the brave, and whatever power burned by breaking away is rewarded when the other teams just putz

They are expecting the winning time to be around 7 hours, which I think might be generous. Wouldn't be surprised at a 7:30ish winning time.

160+ miles with around 17,000 feet of climbing. I haven't really been watching the WC with the exception of the past 3 years. Is this the most brutal course they've had in recent memory?

since the edition in the mid-90's in Colombia (the one Olano won)

I gotta say that the French have to be the favorites as already mentioned, Alaphilipe.
Pinot coming off 2 stage wins at the Vuelta And Bradet with his long break at Strada, thats a pretty stacked team and with any of those 3 up the road it will force other teams to chase hard and give the other French a free ride.

Piti at 3/1.

Alaphillipe at 11/2

S Yates and Nibs both at 12/1.

Roglic (good pick) A Yates and Pinot all at 16/1

Interestingly, D Martin at 35/1. Seems high.

Mas Nachos, Sagan, Lopez, Dumoulin, Uran and Bardet all at 35/1. Seems a bit high for Bardet given the Frenchie strength but he's really not an argy bargy circuit guy.

Woodsy at 40/1. Bob of the Jungel at 40/1 also. I'd throw a couple of bucks at Rusty Woods.

Wilco at 70/1. He's been going better than that.