Im happy good result imo You were basically 5th overall in apart from TTT so you climbed good.
Seemed tough competion, crazy how Froome seems to get even better most dominant TDF in his carear aged 33. Please do not let him be alone on the TDF archive page please.
Bit dissapointing TDF for Alaphillipe as i thought he would of got a stage win but he is showing some nice promise for a GT bid one day perhaps. Does worlds parcours suit him? Does he head to La Vuelta
My word that gap to Froome! I think you had the older parcours which is of course stacked with time-trialing. Anyhow, certainly a decent TDF for Jungels, putting himself in the mix with some really good climbers.
@ Sutty - Thanks, yeah it was nice to atleast get that!
@ atlanta - Yeah, thanks! Ill try As for Ala, I did try on several stages, which probably hurt Jungels support, but I think the game just wouldn't let him go for whatever reason. Riders like Landa and MAL were allowed to join the breaks, but Alaphilippe wasn't, even though they were further up the GC and more often than not stronger favourites for the stage win.
@ Timmsoski - Yeah, I think it was the 1994 Tour I think, and thanks! I think Jungels if not for 2 stages could have finished 4th, but he's still young and Mas will be a strong GC rider too, so overall the teams looking strong!
We're riding the 2015 Vuelta route, which will suit the puncheurs as there are many hill stages including Stage 2 and 4, so a rider like Woods or Valverde could be targeting the Red Jersey in the first week of the race.
There is also a lot of climbing in this tour, with minimal time trialing needed, so Chris Froomes advantage may be lessened to some extent, although there is still a Team Time Trial to open the race, which could see Sky open up a big advantage like they did at the Tour de France, however that was a much longer TTT than the one here!
The startlist is very strong, with pretty much all of the top GC riders present, and even in terms of our own team, Deceuninck have both Mas and Jungels here. Jungels was a late addition to the team, but some of our support riders were looking a little tired, and Jungels was feeling light on race days, so he will be here in support of Mas, who will be looking to reach the podium again, after last years 2nd place!
Viviani was also a late addition to the squad, but he was also in good form, and still feeling fresh, so we felt it would be better to bring him here, than have an out of form weaker rider.
The biggest question is, how will the riders from the Tour de France fare? Usually a rider can hold their form across both races, but will usually be a little weaker at La Vuelta, so Mas may be one of the freshest in the race.
On the other hand, Mikel Landa will probably be one of the least fresh of the riders, as he is set to ride all 3 Grand Tours this season, after completing the Giro and Tour already, albeit not as strongly as he wouldve been expected, so perhaps targeting all 3 has hurt his form.
With that being said, the race should be very exciting, and hopefully, a lot closer than the Tour de France too!
@ tsmoha - True, he really dominated in Poland! Indeed it will be a good duo, although Jungels is only on low 90's form. I just figured with his stats and the fact he has no tiredness he would be a better teammate than someone with lots of tiredness.
@ baseball - It seems that way doesnt it
@ Freitas - Thanks, I think so too, as long as his daily form helps him out!
The TTT went fairly well for us, only losing seconds to Team Sky. Stage 3 and 5 went exceptionally well for the sprinters as Hodeg and Viviani finished first and second on both stages, a great result for us!
Jungels and Mas were both climbing well in the first week, perhaps Jungels even being slightly better than Mas, but overall a great week. Froome and Roglic look like the two to beat for Mas, who seemed a little weak on the lone mountain stage so far, but he is very familiar with the second week climbs, so look for him to improve as the race goes on!
Froomey and Roglic was strong on that mountain, as I expect the others comming from a breakaway. With just 25" from 3rd to 8th next week will be crucial.
Tamijo wrote:
Pretty with an early stage win for Viviani
Froomey and Roglic was strong on that mountain, as I expect the others comming from a breakaway. With just 25" from 3rd to 8th next week will be crucial.
Yeah, bringing Viviani was clearly a good choice!
Froome and Roglic both look good, but Jungels and Mas may be able to both challenge for a Top 5, something I didn't think would be possible heading into the race, so for now I will try to keep both riders well placed.
Certainly a good start to the Vuelta! Vivi seems to have really peaked in recent weeks. Hopefully Mas can cling onto Roglic and Froome going into week three, will be tough though as definitely a strong startlist!
Timmsoski wrote:
Certainly a good start to the Vuelta! Vivi seems to have really peaked in recent weeks. Hopefully Mas can cling onto Roglic and Froome going into week three, will be tough though as definitely a strong startlist!
Thanks, I think Mas looks strong, however Roglic and Froome are simply better so it will always be difficult, but in PCM most AI always seem to have atleast one bad day in a GT so im hoping to capitalize on that.
Simon Yates crashes out, his brother Adam becomes the new leader
1
Chris Froome
Team Sky
+00:00
2
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo - Visma
+00:00
3
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+00:00
4
Davide Formolo
BORA - hansgrohe
+00:00
5
Vincenzo Nibali
Team Bahrain Merida
+00:00
Stage 9
1
Chris Froome
Team Sky
+00:00
2
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+00:00
3
Enric Mas
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
4
Miguel Angel Lopez
Astana Pro Team
+00:00
5
Ion Izagirre
Astana Pro Team
+00:00
Stage 10
1
Elia Viviani
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
2
Alexander Kristoff
UAE - Team Emirates
+00:00
3
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+00:00
4
Yves Lampaert
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
5
Pascal Ackermann
BORA - hansgrohe
+00:00
Stage 11
Froome wins the queen stage of the Vuelta
1
Chris Froome
Team Sky
+00:00
2
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
+00:41
3
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+00:49
4
Daniel Martin
UAE - Team Emirates
+00:49
5
Enric Mas
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:49
6
Miguel Angel Lopez
Astana Pro Team
+01:12
7
Ion Izagirre
Astana Pro Team
+01:24
8
Vincenzo Nibali
Team Bahrain Merida
+01:24
9
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo - Visma
+01:24
10
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+01:34
Stage 12
1
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+00:00
2
Álvaro José Hodeg
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
3
Alexander Kristoff
UAE - Team Emirates
+00:00
4
Benjamin King
Team Dimension Data
+00:00
5
Vincenzo Nibali
Team Bahrain Merida
+00:00
Stage 13
1
Benjamin King
Team Dimension Data
+00:00
2
Mads Würtz Schmidt
Team Katusha - Alpecin
+00:00
3
Victor Campenaerts
Lotto - Soudal
+00:00
4
Valerio Agnoli
Team Bahrain Merida
+00:00
5
Álvaro José Hodeg
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+00:00
Stage 14
Mas is the strongest of the contenders on Stage 14!
1
Gorka Izagirre
Astana Pro Team
+00:00
2
Jack Haig
Mitchelton - Scott
+02:00
3
Rigoberto Uran
EF Education First Pro Cycling Team
+03:11
4
Damiano Caruso
Team Bahrain Merida
+03:28
5
Bauke Mollema
Trek - Segafredo
+04:11
6
Tim Wellens
Lotto - Soudal
+04:34
7
Mikel Nieve
Mitchelton - Scott
+04:34
8
Ilnur Zakarin
Team Katusha - Alpecin
+04:34
9
Enric Mas
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+05:18
10
Chris Froome
Team Sky
+06:01
11
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+06:01
12
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo - Visma
+06:29
13
Miguel Angel Lopez
Astana Pro Team
+06:41
14
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+06:41
15
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+06:41
GC After Stage 14
1
Chris Froome
Team Sky
+00:00
2
Enric Mas
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+01:33
3
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
+01:57
4
Primoz Roglic
Team Jumbo - Visma
+02:38
5
Miguel Angel Lopez
Astana Pro Team
+03:25
6
Daniel Martin
UAE - Team Emirates
+03:47
7
Geraint Thomas
Team Sky
+04:13
8
Tom Dumoulin
Team Sunweb
+04:19
9
Romain Bardet
AG2R La Mondiale
+04:30
10
Vincenzo Nibali
Team Bahrain Merida
+05:22
11
Ion Izagirre
Astana Pro Team
+05:39
12
Thibaut Pinot
Groupama - FDJ
+09:05
13
Bauke Mollema
Trek - Segafredo
+09:06
14
Wilco Kelderman
Team Sunweb
+10:31
15
Richie Porte
Trek - Segafredo
+11:11
16
Bob Jungels
Deceuninck - Quick Step
+11:53
17
Gorka Izagirre
Astana Pro Team
+12:22
18
Davide Formolo
BORA - hansgrohe
+14:25
19
Adam Yates
Mitchelton - Scott
+15:30
20
Rigoberto Uran
EF Education First Pro Cycling Team
+15:35
Points After Stage 14
1
Chris Froome
Team Sky
134
2
Alejandro Valverde
Movistar Team
130
3
Enric Mas
Deceuninck - Quick Step
105
4
Elia Viviani
Deceuninck - Quick Step
92
5
Benjamin King
Team Dimension Data
90
KOM After Stage 14
1
Omar Fraile
Astana Pro Team
33
2
Benjamin King
Team Dimension Data
24
3
Chris Froome
Team Sky
23
4
Nairo Quintana
Movistar Team
21
5
Pawel Poljanski
BORA - hansgrohe
20
Thoughts After Stage 14
Stage 8 and 9 were won by Froome which helped him move into the lead in the Points classification. Valverde was also up there on the hilly and flat stages, showing just how good he still is.
Viviani got back to his winning ways on stage 10, another great result for the team, and now him and Mas will look to fight for the points jersey, a 4 man race between them, Froome and Valverde.
Stage 11 was the main spectacle of the week, with several climbs on the day, it would be the toughest stage of the entire 3 weeks. Froome as the favourite did not disappoint, and took the win. Mas lost time to Froome, but only 49 seconds, which can still be brought back, and with how tough the day was, 49 seconds isn't too bad!
Stage 12 was a flat stage, bu Valverde managed to win, ahead of Hodeg who is starting to outperform Viviani now! The decision for who will be the sprint leader in the 3rd week could be a tougher decision than you'd think, as he also finished ahead of him on Stage 13, albeit behind the breakaway winners.
Stage 14 also went to the breakaway, but of the contenders, Mas was the strongest! Jungels pulled him half way up the climb, where he made an attack which only a few could follow! He kept up a strong pace and slowly riders started dropping off his wheel. He took back nearly a minute on Froome, who perhaps peaked too early? This should make the last week quite exciting with several riders still in contention!
Tour - looked great at the end of week 2 but sadly Jungels just faded towards the end and missed out on that Top 5. Sky just ridiculous and that winning margin for Froome is insane!
Poland - what a race for Viviani and the mass of wins for him. Shame there was no DQS in the GC race
San Seb - Thomas clearly taking Tour form into San Sebastian but a good Top 5 from Mas in the race
Binckbank - looks like a nothing race for the team. Was it underperformance or weakened squad?
Vuelta - strong riding from Mas and Jungels so far. Viviani taking Poland confidence into the race has given him some fine victories!
Have I missed the nat champs? What happened in them?
. 
As for Ala, I did try on several stages, which probably hurt Jungels support, but I think the game just wouldn't let him go for whatever reason. Riders like Landa and MAL were allowed to join the breaks, but Alaphilippe wasn't, even though they were further up the GC and more often than not stronger favourites for the stage win. 
Tour de Pologne (2.UWT) 2019
Clasica San Sebastian (1.UWT) 2019
BinckBank Tour (2.UWT) 2019
Mas/Jungels make for a nice duo, too. Top-5 should be the goal then, I guess.
