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Vuelta a Espana Discussion
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| tastasol |
Posted on 16-01-2018 13:28
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Haha, what a sprint. Schleck in 4th and Guldhammer and Galta leading out Holst Enger. Truly a weird one, but happy to see another win for ember! Congrats, hopefully not too much energy used by the likes of Galta in the finish.
Edited by tastasol on 16-01-2018 17:16
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 16-01-2018 13:57
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What a week for the nordic teams, congrats ember!
Andy just schleking is way into a comfortable win in the points classification.
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| ember |
Posted on 16-01-2018 15:55
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Haha, indeed what a sprint that was 
And Guldhammer has clearly found his role, doing the perfect leadout for Holst Enger, keeping him at the front and still making him start his sprint late, to catapult past both Houle and Groenewegen. Just perfect! 
Slightly worried all this work by Galta will affect him in the TT, more than it would if a mountain stage was next, as the TT is all about the energy they've got left when it comes so late in the race. Really hope he can defend that 10th place, and also the small gap down to Velits.
And thank you, roturn, tastasol and Gustavovskiy! |
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 16-01-2018 16:02
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Hehe, it just had to be Stage 16. 7 years after winning the Stage 16 bunch sprint, he sprints to 4th place today.
Not good TT preperation, but good fun nonetheless. Really happy to see that the selection of Vanmarcke proved to be a good one.
Now to desperately hope for a good form of the day, and to limit losses. The race has gone so very well until now, but that can all change in one stage.
Congrats indeed to ember for the win, at least getting a reward for GC rider efforts. And Spotify with the much more sensible breakaway option, rather than wasting Abal.
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| fjhoekie |
Posted on 16-01-2018 19:57
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Meh, was sort of expecting to win this TT... Golovash very underwhelming, was hoping for a top 10 from Nepom, but he at least moved up in the GC. Biggest surprise from my team though has to be Super Marios... Now back to losing heaps of time again.
Manager of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska in the PCM.Daily Man-Game |
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| viking90 |
Posted on 16-01-2018 19:59
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Okayish TT by Abal hoped for more, loosing so much to Lecuisinier is worrying. His weaker backup stats sig guess played a big part hope he can regain energy for those last mountains, Lecuisinier Will most likely pass him. I just hope 3 min is enough down to Velits.
Dombrowski with a good result for his caliber , can he challenge Schleck?
Edited by viking90 on 16-01-2018 20:09
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 07-12-2025 23:42
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| roturn |
Posted on 16-01-2018 19:59
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4th as best time trialist here sucks. Not even getting a stage result from Keizer...might as well trade him after the season as he is simply not good enough for more than just outside top10.
Pluchkin and Kritskiy might have more energy left. But also losing out on Lecuisinier is not acceptable. Totally underperforming Vuelta by Keizer and not a single good stage in TTs or mountains by him yet.
Olivier is 2 positions only behind him despite sucking in TTs and delivered better stage results.
So only wish for remaining stages is. Get me 1-2 times into the break.
So far a good Vuelta anyway of course with two in top15 and 2 stage wins.
But I still think the team could have done better on 3-4 stages already, which is a bit annoying. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 16-01-2018 20:05
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Really good TT by Arndt.
Yes, you're gonna say he lost nearly 6 minutes, but he improved from 9th last in the TdF TT to 37th last here, I call that an improvement.
Of course the really tough mountain stuff is very unpredictable, but we have all chances to keep that 13th place overall now.
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| ember |
Posted on 16-01-2018 20:11
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That's quite a stage from especially Lecuisinier. Congratulations, SotD, but also of course to stage winner Kritskiy and OlegTinkov!
The GC is also kind of tense, I'd say, as it only takes another one of those aggressive Dombrowski performances to see him grab the lead, which would be sensational, after all it's Schleck he's up against. As it stands now, though, it feels like he's the only competitor to Schleck, with Madrazo and Pluchkin still at almost two minutes or more.
Galta's time loss was to be expected. Obviously he lost more than I would have liked to Lecuisinier, but that fight for white was always going to be difficult. Velits with a better TT than I hoped for, but on the other hand, Monsalve did worse than expected. Seeing the overall now, a top 10 overall at the end of the race would definitely be an achievement, so here's for hoping
Also, please, Guldhammer and Nesset, get in the breakaways now! |
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| SotD |
Posted on 16-01-2018 20:23
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Perfect result from Lecuisinier here. Let's hope it means he is upping his game here in the final week, also in the mountains. If he is then it's possible to catch Abal aswell to take the 7th I wanted Pre-Race aswell as the U25.
Thanks ember. Congrats on the Holst Enger win
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 16-01-2018 20:26
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Jack Haig, I love you Obviously, I had secret hopes for a strong timetrial, but of course it can always go worse than expected. 5th place against this competition is certainly strong and moving up to 15th is great as well.
The mountains will probably change some things again though. I'm still hoping for him to go ahead and try an attack at some point. Maybe the only way to defend this strong Top-15 in the GC, I guess.
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 16-01-2018 20:49
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Better than expected against Madrazo and Pluchkin, particularly considering how the Tour TT went last year. 16th is a reasonable stage result for Schleck, Goos could perhaps have done more than 15th - but 13th is certainly excellent for König.
But Dombrowski with such an unbelievable performance. Somehow losing time to him is a real blow, on a stage where I expected his challenge to fade. Given how threatening he has sometimes ridden, it certainly means Schleck has a fight on his hands. Stage 18 most plays into Dombrowski' advantage over Schleck, stamina, so we go straight into the next fight.
The stage win was always likely to go to Kritskiy or Keizer, and it's Kritskiy to deliver for the GC 5th advantage. Impressive times for Lecuisinier, Haig and Bibby - super cool to see Bibby so strong in a GT, in particular for me. Just as well that Madrazo couldn't match these other 77 TT riders.
It looks like maintaining their current Top 25 placings is all I can hope for from Goos and König, besides the Schleck support. An absolutely terrible ride by Kirsch for 96th. While of course other stats play their role at this stage of a GT, he does have the same TT stat as Dombrowski! Little chance of making it into the Top 30, in his bid to have one of the best combined placings of those riding all three grand tours.
Finally, some good gains on Aker in the teams classification - although Gazelle back within 10 minutes. Can certainly expect both to place riders in any breakaways that may go (although perhaps Madrazo will rein in his team), and they are close enough for that to make a difference if the breaks do stick. Will certainly be interesting to now see who goes to join them.
And thanks Tamijo too - reporting a time trial better than I ever would have the patience to do!
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 16-01-2018 20:51
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SportingNonsense wrote:
And thanks Tamijo too - reporting a time trial better than I ever would have the patience to do!
I have to second that. I'm kinda jealous  Really cool stuff here and definitely some outstanding GT reporting. Very well done. It can't be said too often.
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| wackojackohighcliffe |
Posted on 16-01-2018 21:53
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Fucking get in Dombo.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 16-01-2018 23:05
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Kristkiy delivering where was supposed to. Congrats, Oleg! Moving back into 5th means Machado has to make up for it on the mountains, which despite being doable should provide a nice duel between the two.
Dombrowski has to the revelation of this Vuelta. He's developed into a real GT contender and with overperformances like this could well stand taller at the end of the race.
Massive report, once again. This one in particular was a titanic effort, which I very much enjoyed. Thank you, once more, Tamijo!
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| jt1109 |
Posted on 17-01-2018 06:45
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So unlucky with Houle on stage 16 very close to a stage win maybe the final stage he can get another podium to finish the tour strong, for the final few mountain stages I would love Bonnin to get in a break that or Hughes to keep gaining some mountain points to earn some ranking points for that competition |
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| Heine |
Posted on 17-01-2018 08:06
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Hmm, Preidler falling farther down, I really need a breakaway for him, he should be perfectly placed and has shown to join good breakaways in former seasons
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| Shonak |
Posted on 17-01-2018 11:35
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Dombrowski definitly too close for comfort for Schleck and has the momentum now going into the last stages. Really exciting race for all the podium spots.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| roturn |
Posted on 17-01-2018 11:37
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Are you sure, Olivier wasn`t in the crash as well? Losing quite a bit seems weird. Then again losing 2 GC positions might mean going into the break again. Really hope so.
Keizer doing okay but yet again losing almost 2 min on Abal and Lecuisinier, who are very similar climbers, is weird. Still only average or under performances by him and hence 12th in the GC without big chances to improve. Quite a disappointed GT so far for him.
Koep as well losing big today as 90th only and hence dropping out of the top70 even. Guess he is protecting Keizer late and hence being more exhausted as some free riders.
Goal for upcoming 2 mountain stages is clearly to send Olivier into the break, get 2nd in the KoM and 3rd in U25 plus top15 GC for him with Keizer not losing more than this 12th GC spot.
Thanks for this fantastic report once more and congrats yet again wacko for making this a very thrilling final 2 mountain stages with Dombrowski coming closer. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 17-01-2018 11:38
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Nooooooooo...such a courageous ride by our young German. Heartbreak.
68 stamina probably killed him in the end. I hope Mager can find some energy for one more break to make use of those gained KoM points.
Arndt rather anonymous, but important time gained on Olivier. Just gotta watch out for Haig now.
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