The Vuelta!

[stevenaaus]

I'm starting to think Roglic can win this.

Nice to see Sepp Kuss having a ball in the limelight.

[blizzard]

I would love to see Sepp win, after doing the Giro and TDF, unlikely but not impossible.

[am50em]

+1 for Sepp!

[davehirst]

I liked his quote after the time trial " first time someone hasnt caught me"

[MichaelB]

Tonight’s stage will hopefully be interesting.

2 teams both have 3 riders in the top 10 - TJV & UAE !!!

[fat and old]

Another vote for The Kuss here. Was hoping that JV would take the "a win is a win, lets reward him" approach. Maybe......

[blizzard]

Great stage, I'm all in on GC Kuss. Very bad day for Remco.

[find_bruce]

Very bad day for Remco.

Yep, no need to think about whether he can make it back from there. Does he try for stages or accept that his race is over & abandon?

JV are in a very strong position monopolising the podium. Having survived the TT, Kuss is a great place - there are riders who would attack a team mate, regardless of how much work he has put in for them over the years, but it doesn't seem that Roglic & Vinegaard think that way.

I'm thinking it's up to Ayuso, Mas & Soler to attack & it's only if they succeed in breaking Kuss that Roglic & Vinegaard will take the fight up

[blizzard]

Hopefully, Remco stays for the stage wins and experience.

[stevenaaus]

Bit sad for the race spectacle. But blistering pace today....Storer went over the second mount first, but came in 21st overall, 14minutes down. Gerraint was Inneos #1 at 26 minutes.

[MichaelB]

Bonza stage !!!

[Warnesy]

Yeah that was a cracker. Everyone is hoping for Kuss (me included) but I just have a feeling it will be one of the other two.

[MichaelB]

Wonder if Remo just mentally cracked the other night and then got read the riot act ?

The bad stage would really dent his power to demand a proper GT team …

[stevenaaus]

Yeah, hard to fathom what's happened the last couple of days.

.... But I guess he just took it easy yesterday after he realised he was cracked.

[Warnesy]

Amazing comeback from the day before. Hard to fathom what happened but irrespective it’s super impressive to front up and win like that.

[find_bruce]

I don't believe in miraculous recoveries - it was only slightly more believable than stage 17 of the TdF in 2006. This is an occasion when I'd be glad to be wrong

[MichaelB]

I don't believe in miraculous recoveries - it was only slightly more believable than stage 17 of the TdF in 2006. This is an occasion when I'd be glad to be wrong

Think it was a mental crack rather than anything else and then spat the dummy.

Got read the riot act that night and now pulled his head in trying to salvage something.

He seems like when he is good, he's brilliant, but when he's not, he's average.

At least he didn't climb off the bike like Lopez (?)

[DernyDriver]

I don't believe in miraculous recoveries - it was only slightly more believable than stage 17 of the TdF in 2006. This is an occasion when I'd be glad to be wrong

Think it was a mental crack rather than anything else and then spat the dummy.

Got read the riot act that night and now pulled his head in trying to salvage something.

He seems like when he is good, he's brilliant, but when he's not, he's average.

At least he didn't climb off the bike like Lopez (?)

My take on it:
Remco lost the red leaders jersey a few days a go and has realised that he's probably racing for 4th place on GC. The 3 Jumbo riders, Roglic, Kuss and Vingegaard are going to go 1-2-3. Or at the very least, one of them will win the Giro. Now you or I would be happy with 4th place on GC, or even 3rd ....Remco has been told since he was 15 years old that he is the pride of Belgium, the next Eddie Merckx. He wants to WIN, not come 2nd. He is a dual world champ, winner of heaps of races. He doesnt want a top 10 GC result, it means nothing to him.
Now 1 of 2 things happened
1. The team hatched a plan to have an easy day on Stage 14, lose time and save Remco's legs. Let the GC riders smash themselves, Remco rides easy tempo and has an easy day. Remco said after Stage 15 that he had done reconnaissance on that stage and the team had identified it as one which suited him for a victory. He's already won stage 3 and the team want another stage win. If he loses 30 minutes and then gets in a break ....
2. He's on the queen stage and not feeling great and starts to lose contact with the GC guys. He's thinking to himself that if he's going to lose 2 minutes, he's out of GC contention anyway so he may as well switch off and lose 27 minutes and save his legs for tomorrow, the stage which he had already targetted before the tour began ....
Either way, its clever tactics. Its actually not an uncommon tactic. Dave Sanders, Australias most famous coach said exactly the same thing on facebook yesterday so Im in good company with this theory.

As for the drugs / Floyd Landis thing, there is no comparison. Remco was allowed to go in the break because he was no threat to GC. Landis rode away from a strong chasing field.
If you understand how the biological passport works, then you would not say silly things about drugs. Remco has had the big numbers every since he was a kid. His numbers have always been consistent, unlike our darling Cadel whose passport was always dodgy. If Remco rides like superman every day people scream drugs, if he has a bad day people scream drugs. You can't win. Do some research on the biological passport and then you can enjoy the racing without worrying yourself about imaginary things.

PS people dont like Remco because he's a bit different. He's young and is under enormous pressure. Imagine having the hopes of the greatest cycling nation in the world on your shoulders every day. He's allowed to be who he is.
He didnt speak to the media after the "bad day". So what. he doesnt have to. Just maybe, he didnt want to tell a lie, say he had a bad day when he didnt. Pretend he had no power when he did, he was just saving it.
Who knows? I like him. He an amazing cyclist, the likes of which we have not seen in a long time. Remco, Van der Poel and Wout van Aert are once in a lifetime champions and we are lucky to have them and be able to watch how brilliant they are (IMHO)

[fat and old]

I have to know Derny....was it the mention of Landis that got you posting again?

[MichaelB]

I have to know Derny....was it the mention of Landis that got you posting again?

Hahahaha, but his comments are good.

In Bali atm, so have to watch stages when I get home, but Angliru would have been amazing !!

[DernyDriver]

I have to know Derny....was it the mention of Landis that got you posting again?

haha no mate ..... I just saw dozens of punters on social media piling on Remco after his "bad" stage ...which annoyed me because anyone is allowed to have a bad day. Then he won the next day which really baffled the boofheads

[fat and old]

Looking more like Kuss will take this. JV takes absolute bragging rights then! And makes a key dom stay forever.

[MichaelB]

Looking more like Kuss will take this. JV takes absolute bragging rights then! And makes a key dom stay forever.

I reckon he would.

But will Roglic take it on the chin ?

[fat and old]

Why not? He went all Hinault on The Angliru, Kuss didn’t cave, point made. Now it’s time to reap the benefits. Otherwise, who’s gonna dom for Roblox next year? Vinningard?

[MichaelB]

It appears that it is all sweet in the world of TJV.

Whilst Roglic and Jonas would have loved to have win as planned, the positive press and internal harmony is something that will reward them long term.

I would be surprised if Sepp goes to another team but hopefully he gets the leader role on shorter stage races as a reward

Looking fwd to watching the stages when I get back home