2018 Vuelta

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MichaelB
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2018 Vuelta

Postby MichaelB » Wed Aug 22, 2018 1:31 pm

Well, it's almost here.

On SBS (apparently commercial free), and no fully dominant Sky train present. A whole host of TdF GC guys that either didn't do well, crashed out or ones that weren't even there. Then there are the others trying to have a memorable performance to get a contract or tone up for the Worlds.

Vuelta Roadbook here (sorry, full Spanish edition, but pics make sense !!!

CN's list of the stages - here, and from Steephill.tv, here is their info

So who's gonna win ?

Porte, Yates (either ?), Quintana, Martin, Kelderman, Pinot, Aru, Uran - who knows

Will Sagan get the points Jersey ? Or will Boohanni or Ewan get their chance ?

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MichaelB
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby MichaelB » Wed Aug 22, 2018 1:50 pm

Some quick stats ;

Total distance : 3,275km
Total Ascent : 42,368m
Avg stage distance : 164km (not incl 1st Stage of 8km)
Avg Stage ascent : 2,118m (not incl 1st Stage of 8km)
Longest stage : Stage 12 - 209km
Shortest Stage : Stage 20 - 106km and 3,280m ascent

5 stages with < 1,500m ascent
4 stages with 3,xxx ascent
1 stage over 4,000m ascent

fat and old
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby fat and old » Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:29 pm

mmmmmmm Vuelta goodness. Big chance for the second stringers :lol: Nah, it's my favourite GT of the year :D

Gee it would be funny if Kwiatkowski podiums or god forbid wins :lol:

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MichaelB
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby MichaelB » Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:41 pm

Giro is still my favourite.

Can’t pronounce half them Spanish names !! Great racing though !!

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biker jk
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby biker jk » Wed Aug 22, 2018 8:54 pm

fat and old wrote:mmmmmmm Vuelta goodness. Big chance for the second stringers :lol: Nah, it's my favourite GT of the year :D

Gee it would be funny if Kwiatkowski podiums or god forbid wins :lol:
And your favourite sprinter, Nacer Bouhanni, is starting.

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby RobertL » Thu Aug 23, 2018 10:51 am

MichaelB wrote:Giro is still my favourite.

Can’t pronounce half them Spanish names !! Great racing though !!
I'm learning Spanish, so watching the Vuelta actually helps me improve. I love it.

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby fat and old » Fri Aug 24, 2018 10:52 am

biker jk wrote:
fat and old wrote:mmmmmmm Vuelta goodness. Big chance for the second stringers :lol: Nah, it's my favourite GT of the year :D

Gee it would be funny if Kwiatkowski podiums or god forbid wins :lol:
And your favourite sprinter, Nacer Bouhanni, is starting.
Not so fast, they haven't toed the line yet. He's still got time to belt something and break his hand :lol:

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby fat and old » Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:39 am

He made it! A solid fourth last for Boohani! :lol:

Good onya Rohan Dennis :D

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby find_bruce » Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:49 am

There were some big time gaps for an 8km prologue. No surprises in the first 2 places, but of the contenders

10 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:22
16 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:24
20 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:27
28 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:29
30 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:29
34 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:30
35 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:30
41 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:34
44 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:00:35
57 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:38
59 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:39
65 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:40
71 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:00:42
80 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:00:45
97 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:51

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MichaelB
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby MichaelB » Sun Aug 26, 2018 11:25 pm

Still 42,300 and something m to climb.

I think some of them will get it back and some will lose waaaaay more !!

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby find_bruce » Mon Aug 27, 2018 6:56 am

MichaelB wrote:Still 42,300 and something m to climb.

I think some of them will get it back and some will lose waaaaay more !!
Well yes & to play the flute you blow in one end and move your fingers up and down the outside. Bit embarrassing to leave Kwiatkowski off the list. No prizes for guessing the first to lose big time, who is your pick for the win ?

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby biker jk » Mon Aug 27, 2018 7:35 am

Yes, Porte 155th at 14:22. BMC going out with a wimper.

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby fat and old » Mon Aug 27, 2018 7:38 am

On a day when Valverde wins, Kwifroothom comes in second my man Boohani crushes Nibali, Yates, Sagan and Porte!!! He's cracked the top 100!!

Allez chier Français !!!!!

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MichaelB
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby MichaelB » Mon Aug 27, 2018 1:46 pm

find_bruce wrote: .... No prizes for guessing the first to lose big time, who is your pick for the win ?
Well, I wasn't expecting LRP to win (didn't have him picked in my 'le Tipping team' and be up there from the start, but I wasn't expecting that :shock:
Plenty of GC guys slipped a bit of time, and some more than others. Mind you, both Porte & Nibs are coming of heavy stacks.

Prob the only thing about the Vuelta compared to the TdF, is that many of the climbs are short & sharp and hence are harder to TTT up them and smother the opposition( :lol: I hope ... :| )

Haven't watched the stage yet, but looking fwd to it tonight.

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby biker jk » Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:07 pm

MichaelB wrote:
find_bruce wrote: .... No prizes for guessing the first to lose big time, who is your pick for the win ?
Well, I wasn't expecting LRP to win (didn't have him picked in my 'le Tipping team' and be up there from the start, but I wasn't expecting that :shock:
Plenty of GC guys slipped a bit of time, and some more than others. Mind you, both Porte & Nibs are coming of heavy stacks.

Prob the only thing about the Vuelta compared to the TdF, is that many of the climbs are short & sharp and hence are harder to TTT up them and smother the opposition( :lol: I hope ... :| )

Haven't watched the stage yet, but looking fwd to it tonight.
One problem is that some (Keenan for example) just don't listen to what the riders said about their form ahead of the Vuelta. Porte told us he is well below TdF form and is also recovering from gastro. That is, he'll be performing poorly. Similarly, Nibali, acknowledged he won't be in great form and was riding for Izzaguire.

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MichaelB
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby MichaelB » Mon Aug 27, 2018 2:09 pm

I read after the fact about the gastro for Porte, and Nibs is recovering from a fracture.

Meh, I tend to watch the racing rather than pay full attention to the commentators, no matter who they are.

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby fat and old » Tue Aug 28, 2018 7:59 am

Kwifroothom going well so far. Boo made a solid xth (don't wanna spoil it now...) keeping the ravenous hordes of Spanish second division stringers at bay....so far so good.

I really really want to be in Spain right now! I'm gonna go next year, do the camper thing 8)

If only bananito was riding.....my life would be complete. :lol:

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MichaelB
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby MichaelB » Tue Aug 28, 2018 8:41 am

fat and old wrote: ..
If only bananito was riding.....my life would be complete. :lol:
Who's 'bananito' ?

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby fat and old » Tue Aug 28, 2018 3:03 pm

The latter day Jan Ullrich? The pedalling jarmon? Mr MIA?

Who is bananito?????? :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby AndrewCowley » Tue Aug 28, 2018 11:01 pm

biker jk wrote:Yes, Porte 155th at 14:22. BMC going out with a wimper.
Richie’s GC days are numbered. Dunno why Trek bothered. Hopefully for them he doesn’t ruin another team.

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MichaelB
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby MichaelB » Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:57 am

AndrewCowley wrote:
biker jk wrote:Yes, Porte 155th at 14:22. BMC going out with a wimper.
Richie’s GC days are numbered. Dunno why Trek bothered. Hopefully for them he doesn’t ruin another team.
He's coming back from injury, had gastro before the Vuelta, and aiming for training for the Worlds - so not surprising he isn't up there.

Disappointing, yes. Nibs and a whole pile of others are not up there either - Aru, Martin, Zakarin as well, so the big gaps are not limited to LRP.

Haven't seen it yet, but looking fwd to watching Yates in the final climb !!!

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MichaelB
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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby MichaelB » Thu Aug 30, 2018 8:49 am

And the Vuelta serves it up again.

Nice win by Clarke and the Boohani bookends the filed as the last man in, some 7 and a bit minutes after the Grupetto (what's it called in Spanish ?)

Did Sky intentionally lose the jersey or did they stuff it up ....

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby find_bruce » Thu Aug 30, 2018 8:54 am

I'm thinking it was intentional decision by Sky & also other GC teams to let the break get enough of an advantage for FDJ to take the red jersey. Its an interesting decision so that FDJ will do the work until Sunday - compare with stage 7 last year when the other teams worked to keep sky in the lead.

Also interesting that its only stage 5 & already 2 breakaways have succeeded, compared to the Giro where none stayed away until the 3rd week

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby find_bruce » Thu Aug 30, 2018 6:56 pm

fat and old wrote:On a day when Valverde wins, Kwifroothom comes in second my man Boohani crushes Nibali, Yates, Sagan and Porte!!! He's cracked the top 100!!

Allez chier Français !!!!!
& your man Boo came out swinging again - this time it was the team car.

The commisairs hit him hard with a 30 s penalty, on a day when he finished 8 minutes behind the gruppetto :roll:

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Re: 2018 Vuelta

Postby biker jk » Thu Aug 30, 2018 9:28 pm

find_bruce wrote:
fat and old wrote:On a day when Valverde wins, Kwifroothom comes in second my man Boohani crushes Nibali, Yates, Sagan and Porte!!! He's cracked the top 100!!

Allez chier Français !!!!!
& your man Boo came out swinging again - this time it was the team car.

The commisairs hit him hard with a 30 s penalty, on a day when he finished 8 minutes behind the gruppetto :roll:
There are reports he punched his DS and the team car. Both denied of course by Cofidis.

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