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.