La Vuelta a Espana

[okgo]

Wish I had bet on Froome at 9-1 rather than when I did at 6-1!

[Dr Imran T]

johnxjsc1985 said:

another cracking Vuelta stage Wow what a ride by Tom D cant remember someone attacking like that for a generation.

hugely impressive considering his speciality. Was great to see Froome going for it at the end.

I'd expect Tom D to fall back on stage 11. Looks utterly brutal, was also suprised to see valverde lose time yesterday - maybe because he crashed...

Echo those comments about the vuelta, really amazing racing. The format somehow works so well.

[mcelliott]

Mega stage tomorrow, probably going to be the best grand tour stage this year. 138km, just shy of 5000m of climbing with er, 4km of flat.

[tobinen]

Indeed, this looks mega

[SoliD]

tobinen said:

Indeed, this looks [strikethrough]mega[/strikethrough]Insane

Corrected for accuracy

[TonyHetherington]

Anyone else sit down in front of the TV ready for highlights last night, and then say "bugger!!!!" ? Or just me?

Anyway...today's stage...I am REALLY looking forward to this. I bet the peloton isn't though! Even the motorbikes and cars are going to struggle!

[okgo]

Could it be a bit early in the race for it to live up to its profile? I hope not...!

[Some Gump]

A few years ago (when I was at my fittest), I did a 150 mile ride with 7500 ft of climbing - and was properly knackered. I can't imagine how fit you'd have to do to cover the same distance with double the climb - even slowly. The fitness to do that at race pace is just beyond my comprehension, these lads are pretty amazing.

[Leithen]

There's a risk that the lead GC contenders will all be too defensive and seek safety on each other's wheels. Only takes one brave madman though to change all that.

[louiebaby]

Some Gump said:

A few years ago (when I was at my fittest), I did a 150 mile ride with 7500 ft of climbing - and was properly knackered. I can't imagine how fit you'd have to do to cover the same distance with double the climb - even slowly. The fitness to do that at race pace is just beyond my comprehension, these lads are pretty amazing.

Those are KM, not miles.

[okgo]

Some Gump said:

A few years ago (when I was at my fittest), I did a 150 mile ride with 7500 ft of climbing - and was properly knackered. I can't imagine how fit you'd have to do to cover the same distance with double the climb - even slowly. The fitness to do that at race pace is just beyond my comprehension, these lads are pretty amazing.

Its 85 mile stage today, a tough one for sure, though. Its got similar elevation gain to the Marmotte or very similar, but I guess it being spain they're likely steeper!

[Sandersports]

Also look at the road surface ... They love a 'loose stone chipping finish' which is baked in the sun , rolling resistance is shocking !

[TonyHetherington]

Leithen said:

There's a risk that the lead GC contenders will all be too defensive and seek safety on each other's wheels. Only takes one brave madman though to change all that.

Interesting point; all too aware that huge amounts of time could be gained or lost, so ultimately every GC contender will be covering every GC contender. Will be interesting though, even if that's what happens!

[TwistingMyMelon]

TonyHetherington said:

Leithen said:

There's a risk that the lead GC contenders will all be too defensive and seek safety on each other's wheels. Only takes one brave madman though to change all that.

Interesting point; all too aware that huge amounts of time could be gained or lost, so ultimately every GC contender will be covering every GC contender. Will be interesting though, even if that's what happens!

Even covering each other, its a tough one, more so with the heat, so some could drop off or struggle at even a nominal/steady pace and others therefore seize the moment.

[Some Gump]

Ooh, it's all happening =)

[okgo]

Ha, there goes my bet

[Dr Imran T]

Gutted about froome coming off and ending his chances of the Gc. He looked in a lot of pain post race.

It looked like he was taking pain killers from the race doctors!!

Millar's comments were interesting at the end of the itv4 highlights.

[anonymous-user]

I think Millar was spot on with his comments - a day like today might be too hard really in a multi stage race. He is probably right that, really, the peloton can't race a route like that: I think he worded it something like that 'the race disintegrates from the back rather than by attacks from the front'

Whilst I wouldn't advocate a 20+ stage race have 20+ equal stages, having one stage that has the potential to distort the overall result so much in favour of (a) climber(s) doesn't feel 100% right either

It was a good stage to watch though

[okgo]

Off for an x ray apparently, obviously that crash had a fairly large effect..

It was actually a pretty dull stage until late on, didn't need all that climbing really.

[tobinen]

Pity about Froome, the side of his knee looked very painful. What an insane stage.