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Vuelta a Espana Discussion
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| ember |
Posted on 05-02-2025 12:31
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Team Leader
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Thank you for another report, kb, and for posting it, UU.
Olala, where Novak looked super strong on the previous stage, this was far from it. Happy to see him in the breakaway, and must admit I thought it was a given that the break would go all the way. A negative surprise to see him dropped very early. Well played to Evonik for having Eenkhoorn out for so long, but clearly not meant to be for the breakaway!
The GC is now gone for Novak, and it looks like he is happy having it this way. The KoM jersey surely must be the goal now, and hopefully bring home a stage with it. That would be the dream scenario from here. Looks to be proper competition for the KoM jersey, though, with both GC riders still in contention, but also Schlegel looking convincing on that stage. Excited to see how the racing continues when we get back to the mountains.
Congratulations on another win, ryant! What a Vuelta this really is for Moser and cycleYorkshire! |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 05-12-2025 15:09
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 05-02-2025 13:18
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World Champion
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Sorry for not commenting more, but there's really not much going on for us. Good to at least see Kron somewhat active.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 05-02-2025 13:32
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Tour de France Champion
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Pretty good stage for Galta. He remains in the top 5 selection and gained significant time on everyone behind him except Sivakov. We're reaching the point where everyone behind Wellens will likely need a breakaway to leapfrog him in the GC before the end of the race, which is good but nerve-racking. Losing time to Sivakov definitely sucks though. With his recovery, I think we can expect him to outlast Galta in the final few mountains stages, so Galta's 4th place is likely on borrowed time.
Gregaard continues to be strong in the mountains. A wash for us depth wise today, with him moving up to 21st but Eg falling to 28th.
This stage definitely had the rumblings of a potential big breakaway score, but the favorites were too aggressive in the end. Interested to see how stages 18 and 20 go. And the GC fight is as crazy as ever between Morton and Bernal. Very exciting to watch.
Thanks for the amazing reports kb!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| redordead |
Posted on 05-02-2025 13:57
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I think I'll just wait until we get to Madrid 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| tastasol |
Posted on 05-02-2025 19:30
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3030
Joined: 11-09-2010
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Good effort by Vingegaard (and Roman). Haven't really paid off in the GTs so far this year, those breaks, but that's our only way to glory, really.
Plot thickens even more in the GC .. We're in for a thriller, but starting to lean towards Bernal showing his energy skills here the last few days.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 05-02-2025 20:03
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Posts: 7374
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Nice to grab a stage win and to see Faglum Karlsson and Burke climbing reasonably well. If we could time our breakaway attempts right and get a GC top 10 and/or a strong KoM showing out of this then I think that would be a successful race all in all, particularly given Dekker has provided some better than expected sprint results. |
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| beagle |
Posted on 05-02-2025 20:08
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4235
Joined: 06-10-2007
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I need end of this race. NOW! 
Morton will take red jersey for sure, he is clearly strongest in the mountains.
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 05-02-2025 21:01
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2797
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It's the same pattern every single mountain stage. Dombrowski is the first big gun to attack, gets reeled in and then doesn't have the energy to follow the counterattack. Usually by Morton.
Dombrowski needs to be smarter in all of the remaining mountain stages to still have a shot at top 2.
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| roturn |
Posted on 05-02-2025 21:18
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Team Manager
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Weekend attacking was good but in the end couldn't follow the top5. Best of the rest it seems. At least this time with decent gaps behind him then.
Schelling unfortunately lost time on 2 flat stages when being in the top20. And also here he lost contact in the break too early and lost big time, so top30 is all I can hope anymore.
Morton really on fire. Less tt kilometers and he would have dominated the GC as well with Dombrowski struggling to match. |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 06-02-2025 04:12
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16552
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 13638.70
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Another terrible day for AKA. Seemed to be in decent position at 5 km to go, and then just slipped way behind a bunch of 77-79 sprinters instead of holding position. Disappointing, but I guess I'll just pretend we didn't bring a sprinter here.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| knockout |
Posted on 06-02-2025 07:17
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Grand Tour Champion
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Joined: 21-12-2010
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I barely got a few points out of this with Suredas top10 finish but we did a lot of things right today. Dversnes is an excellent choice for the break and Sureda had pretty good positioning in the final. Didnt end up lucky but all i expect on a stage like this is that we give ourself the chances and we did that.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| ember |
Posted on 06-02-2025 08:11
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Team Leader
Posts: 7057
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 900.00
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So close for Groenewegen! Had a hope all the way to the line that this was the stage. Nice to see Manninen do it, though, congratulations, jandal! |
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 06-02-2025 08:22
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Classics Specialist
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Lucky we got that stage win earlier, as Halvorsen is back to his +-15th place performance again. Very sad that we don't use Ruiz like we should. Nice to see Matti win!
Thanks for the great report, kb! And thank you Ulrich!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 06-02-2025 09:14
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World Champion
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Too little too late. Sorry to still be grumpy, I wasn't going to comment here again until the end but I thought I should acknowledge this
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
1x  x1
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| ryant |
Posted on 06-02-2025 12:18
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2388
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It's neck and neck going into the final 3 decisive stages 
I do think Morton has this but you never know with PCM, there may well be issues with the AI that screw is yet but you can't often say that after winning 4 stages, your GC rider is not leading the overall at this point in the race
I have to say thank you to kandes for the reports so far, it's always better to read them when you are likely to win the stages! 
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 06-02-2025 12:26
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4615
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What a mess these sprints have been. So happy for Roman with Gaviria’s exploits, but pretty wel every other major sprinter being dudded sucks.
Amazing to see Morton taking his chance to win a GT here - has an Australian rider won a GT in the MG before? A rider I’ve always admired (and tried to sign every year ), so it a great to see him doing so well. Dombo looks strong, but these panic attacks appear to just be wasting his energy. Bernal is a freak and +1 or 2 MT next season and he will be unstoppable.
Terrific reports too kb, thank you for putting on so much effort.
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 06-02-2025 13:34
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Best performance yet from Thijssen for 3rd which is positive vs the way he started here in the opening week. The focus really is on Choi though for the final days here!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 07-02-2025 04:56
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16552
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Galta has been great, but unfortunately Sivakov is really coming into his own in the final week, and that's what 82 recovery will do. We're lucky that Galta has remained in a great top 5 position, plugging away and gaining time on everyone else. That has us slip a position, and lose the team classification, but that's okay. We need a great TTT tomorrow so we have a breakaway-proof gap on a lot of the similar guys behind going into the final mountain stage. We'll see how it goes!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| roturn |
Posted on 07-02-2025 06:36
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The dominance of Morton is crazy in the mountains. Somehow he only is 1s ahead of Bernal, who really is the beast GC wise with his training.
Going to be an interesting finale.
Behind also thrilling and bad luck for Sivakov that he lost time early in stage 1 already unnecessarily. He looks best right now while Wellens unfortunately sees his age as not able to challenge the similar strong climbers ahead. 6th would still be decent and better than the Giro.
Schelling dropping a bit more than hoped but well. Mainly teammate only. But had hoped for a few stage results.
Thanks for the steady reports. |
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| knockout |
Posted on 07-02-2025 08:12
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8235
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A bit disappointed to not get into the break on this stage but at least we more or less defended the gc positions. Even more crucial to attack the final mountain stage now...
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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