One of the loveliest things about the Grand Tours is that you get a feel, by the nature of the route, of the country’s landscape and physical qualities. Italy is littered with mountains and coasts, France is bordered by mountains with large swaths of open landscape throughout, and Spain is like Tatooine; mostly desert with some rocky outcroppings. I might be oversimplifying here, but it seems like every edition of the Vuelta features a week or two of riders cutting through open desert on a freeway and then finishing it off with some climbs that require a buzz-saw gear to get up. Of the three Tours, this one is my least favorite, but it’s a bike race and I loves me a bike race.
The Vuelta also stands apart as being the event which generally decides the Velominati Super Prestige GC and the personalized Shop Apron that goes with it; in past editions, we’ve even had newcomers to the event debut at the Vuelta and win the overall, as was the case last year with @Nate’s performance. Unless I have that wrong, in which case I don’t really care. The important point here is that even though there is less interest in this event than others, it matters quite a bit to the year-long VSP, so you better be paying attention, corporal.
No fancy prizes on offer as we did at the Tour, but we do have our customary Symbol Pack up for grabs, in addition to second and third places winning a pair of Handlebar Cufflinks each when they come available in a few weeks. So, check the race details, get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero (5am Pacific time on Saturday), and buckle in for the ride. Regular GT VSP rules apply. Good luck.
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@Daccordi Rider
Yeah that last 5k's was brilliant, it seemed like he wanted to make sure Froome was out of it from the first week. Love a GT that has a finish like that 3 days. in.
@minion
Hey mate, you're from hobbit land - I'd have thought you'd be enjoying "The Return of the King"
@Duende
Funny how 2 people watching the same climb can have 2 completely different interpretations! I saw C make 3 orf 4 spirited attacks, and I saw Froome look up, and without bothering to leap out of the saddle close the gap in moments. So my interpretation was that Froome realised the C attack wasn't fast enough to be decisive so simply reeled him in with a minimum of effort. And then nip into third for good measure
So my view of those last 3km was basically Froome saying to C "you're going to have to work a lot harder than that, my son, if you want to lose me".
But I could be wrong........
David
@Duende
Based on yesterday's stage alone, methinks Contador would have systematically busted Sky over the course of the Tour.
@David
Fair point"”Froome was there at the end. It looked, though, like Contador almost just wanted to see what would happen when he attacked"”only one of those seemed especially deliberate. And I also think that three weeks of elastic band could be a bit more than Froome can handle. Softening him up a little, maybe?
Watching Eurosport coverage and they seem to think Froome is unable to keep up. Yet, he's still there. I think it is just style. You don't have Contador's kick? Who does? But he keeps catching him. We'll see.
Interesting to ponder the tactics, particularly in light of Contador's nipping ahead to claim a 2 second bonus in an intermediate sprint the day before. Time wasn't the issue, as he lost it the next day letting Froome finish in front of him. I also doubt that his attacks were an effort to open a gap that would stick this early in the show. Perhaps he is just showing that the skytrain-type tactic (impressive in its own way and equally legit) won't be in play here. Or even more likely, after saying that he would need a week of racing just to get his rhythm back, he was just doing that, racing for "practice."
Not a fingerbang fanboy, btw. Just nattering (for practice).
Also not from a fanboy, but really, eurosports comments seem way off base (I saw it on itv4 and I guess different commentators, unless these budget stations share!) as there is no way Froome looked like he was struggling at any point.
I won't argue with those that say C was having a play, testIng himself and others. After all, this was the first proper climb and yes it's likely they were just looking at each other.
To those more experienced than me in following these tours - do riders develop a sense of when a breakaway is for real, or whether it's just a little nibble?
And we can discount post race comments by riders - they are hardly likely to tell the world ie their rivals what they were really thinking on the climb!
David
Inasmuch as it seems to me a VSP is won or lost on how well you pick 3rd, 4th, and 5th... I need to stop picking Gadret.
@David You may be right. I guess that time will tell. However, I am more inclined to agree with @Steampunk. I thought that one of the more telling moments in that last climb came about 3kms from the end when Contador responded to a little dig by Igor Anton (I believe). Contador was sitting in fourth at that point and he simply flew past the three riders ahead of him to take the lead. Rodriguez and Valverde were able to go with him. But Froome seemed unable to respond (and he did seem to me to be trying to do so at that point). Froome settled back into the saddle and only caught the three leaders when Contador again slowed the pace. As I said, we'll see what happens. But thus far, my hopes for a very exciting next few weeks have certainly been raised.