Electric. Brutal. Paz had a very good day as did Ben O. Mas Macho is really competing.
I hope not. Movistar is too disorganized, would like to see him in a team with a bit more structure such as EF, Decathlon, etc. The guy is 100% PT material.
What a brutal climb, I will be riding in the area in October and was planning on tackling the Angliru, Covadonga, and Pajares-Cuitu, but man I am going to need a mountain bike, if these guys were struggling on 34 x 34.
Epic pain faces indeed. Itās amazing both of those guys kept it upright to the finish. I thought Vlasov had it when he bridged up but he had absolutely nothing left, mad props to Castrillo for keeping it going and having something left for a final surge. That looked absolutely hellacious.
so Roglic goes to 1x when he switches bikes and gets docked 20 secs for drafting behind team car
that could really play out later !!
The pace and splits on first climb had me thinking there were going to be major gaps. Then the break got away and it was a stalemate with no gc rider willing to stick a nose into the wind until very late. If Landa didnāt have his team ride flat out just to only lose 1:30 from the base of the penultimate climb - Sivakov would have gained at least 3-4 more minutes. Sivakov and Vine did an amazing ride AND the gc dudes just looked wrecked - they couldnāt make any gaps to one another.
Looks like A LOT of dudes need this rest day. They also need to come out of the rest day raging bc the two set up climbs are very tough and the finish climb is harder and longer (but not cuito or ancares). Uae is only a really good soler away (maybe McNulty will be feeling ok again) from pulling off a huge break that bora/decath/movi canāt pull back.
Ben OC looks pretty good - he really only has to watch Primoz and it looked like Gall got crushed - so itās all for him now.
We see UAE is willing to take big risks at 5-6 minutes back in gc - is Skjelly (his team looks solid)? Is Sepp? Is Bora ready to release Lipo?
oh yeah and Castrillo is a HOT commodity.
Lisa will want him bc he beat UAE 2x, UAE will want him bc if you canāt beat him, sign him up/join him!
He seemed to really know his physiology - that had to be his best 10 minutes all day and he seemed to go right to the edge where heād still have a smidge left in the final 2 minutes. Just staying with a raging Vine/Sivakov 1-2 was great, holding off Siv and Vlasov from 10 minutes out was amazing.
Word on the street is that he already signed up with Ineos for next season, but just a rumour.
I hope nothing was signed before today because he just doubled his salary at least.
He had the added advantage of being viewed as an inspired fluke the first time. He then sat on the back a lot and did a great just hanging on imitation right up until he out climbed 2 of the best on an absurd grade.
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Just a quick question.
Did the other thread go away?.
Seems so. And apparently @trail and @echappist were taken in the Rapture.
I knew they were good souls.
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Thanks for the shout-out.
Still here, just having a grand ole time navigating everything and not sure where to find stuff. I know, itās trivial, but the difference in lay-out takes a bit to get used to.
Ah, good. Hopefully Trail hasnāt been cast into the digital abyss.
At this point, gonna one out for our 2024 Spoilers thread. Seems as though that one reached the end of the ST road.
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just posted a question to Ryan if they plan to bring it forward
I just had to go back to the team car for a bit . Iām back. Anyone need anything - finishing bottle?
Meanwhile, moving just outside of Spain, some good XCO stuff. Glad to see Puck and Hatherly put it the respective Olympic winners.
Further south the agonizingly slow fall of Ben OāConnor is brutal. Though heās hanging tough.
It would be shame if our thread is gone. Some pure gold in there. Are past yearsā still with us? Havenāt tried the search features of this joint yet. In any case, more gold yet to come.
Edit: Any funny, I donāt even get a letter for my avatarā¦Iām an amorphous, gender-neutral icon.
Good to see much of the gang has survived this migration/update/change. To quote many a gc rider - sometimes you win a little bit, sometimes you lose, and weāre taking it day by day.
making some picks cuz thatās what I do. thinking a really good rest day (the kind of magenta room rest day of years gone by?) could make a big difference with such a hard penultimate and yet another very tough final climb.
Iām going rest helps the elderly most - roglic for a big day / mas to put the rough ancares day behind him and work with rog a little. skjel to rise above the crowded pack on their heels. uae to make yet another dangerous break (itās yatesās turn), Ben OC to bend enough to lose red but not break such that he stays 2nd and looking podium good.
with a title like spoilers-vuelta it seems only right to talk about mtb worlds (andorra - got my tourist on for 3 days of riding there last year!)/ tour of Britain / lament the loss of Maryland Pro raceā¦
It is interesting. G said on his podcast a while back the Castrillo was signed for the team. Then he said he wasnāt. Rumours again came this week that it was done and his mom confirmed it to Spanish media. My guess is it was done, but he now has won a few stages and is trying to re-negotiate things.
As far as Castrillo goes, I am sure that he has had many teams come calling with way better offers in the last week or so, canāt really blame him for trying to cash in while the going is good (ok great).
Regarding the Baltimore race, are we sure itās gone? the announcement said that it was gone due to the bridge situation but would be back next year, was that just hot air?.
G dammit. Visma/Woutās cursed 2024 continues to unclip.
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Iām currently muttering unpleasant things at my tv screen. Horrible luck for Wout.