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Is there a gif of the FDJ rider grabbing some psikk air?
no idea - was good though 😀Is there a gif of the FDJ rider grabbing some psikk air?
(clever people could prob make a gif from [url= http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/vuelta-a-espana/watch-tobias-ludvigsson-pulls-off-impressive-whip-vuelta-breakaway-348027 ]THIS[/url])
really clever people might notice that it's already a gif
Had a good christmas riding up that final climb three days in a row, it's tough and the down hill run they did on the first loop is grest fun if empty.
Made my 35min climb look week and feeble, which it was.
Had a good christmas riding up that final climb three days in a row, it's tough and the down hill run they did on the first loop is grest fun if empty.
Also have memories of the area. I rode that bloody road from Altea to Calp 4 days in a row in spring. Windy, cold and wet on each occasion. Awful. The mountains I have better memories about.
is it just me having problems with ITV Hub, cant watch any of the episodes and ive missed the televised highlights since Wed.
ITV hub is shite.
Should work eventually - click through to ITV4 from channels then you should see Vuelta.
Just watched Sunday's stage - great finish 🙂 The speedbump cross-up though.. I can't imagine going that fast to get that much air off a speedbump 🙂
Proper mountains today 🙂
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Wonder how much that bump at the start might shake things up?
pissing it down too 🙂 foul day
Well that shows how much belief Astana have in their team leader 😆
Cracking finish. Real last man standing stuff.
Crikey, that looked a bit of a brutal finish.
I'm loving Froomes fighting spirit - he didn't need the extra seconds but he'll take them if he can.
That last rough section looked hell though.
Kind of hoping that he has a bit of a wobble at the weekend as I'm watching 3 stages live next week. The TT, the Queen stage in Asturias and the finalé on the Angliru. At this rate he could be out of sight.
Some of Chris Froome's early days in Kenya, and where he might have got some of the fighting spirit.
http://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/3353/interview-david-kinjah-the-man-who-made-froome
I'm struggling to stay engaged compared to the excellent Giro and decent TdF this year.
Not just cos Froome is dominant, there just doesn't seem to be much in the way of interesting sub-plots or exciting stage wins.
The woeful coverage and lack of on screen timing isn't helping.
I'll disagree - haven't seen any problems with the timing, and have really enjoyed seeing a lot of changing fortune at the front of the race. Contador's outstanding determination is brilliant. 30th on GC after stage 3, now 9th!
I'm enjoying this vuelta. Didn't watch the giro, but imo the tdf was not as interesting. It's a long way from over for Froome; he will have a bad day. The route is interesting, but a bit pointless unless you can climb. There is a lot going on in the top 10. I'm only watching the itv highlights, the coverage is definitely not as slick as the tdf, but it's good enough and millar is going from strength to strength as the pundit.
The vuelta is living up to its usual rep as being a bit random. That said, it's enjoyable, even if I'm mostly watching the highlights package.
I don't think Froome is quite as dominant as some think, I think yesterday he was struggling (not much but enough) and the shark had the hand on him, but he was saved because he had a team mate to help him on that last false flat with the horrendous crosswind (where there were no spectators) and Nibali had attacked and was on his own at that point. if he has an off day or runs out of steam on the angliru then Nibali is great at capitalising on any weakness, could still be close.
Broadly speaking, though, if Nibali had played it smarter and sheltered a bit with the other riders in the pack, he could probably have ridden away from Froome once Nieve had cracked finally. Instead he burned his matches on the solo run.
The Vuelta is often a bit random. Sometimes it can be absolutely brilliant, sometimes it gets to this time of year, everyone is wrecked from a hard season and no-one (including the commentators) can be arsed with another 3 weeks of riding bikes.
It doesn't help that Spain is simply not as picturesque as France - or at least France has more nice bits through which to route a race, I accept that France also has its fair share of semi-industrial wastelands!
I'm enjoying the snakes and ladders going on from 2nd to 20th place. It's a lot more unpredictable than the Tour, which is good. I think there are about five more mountaintop finishes so anything can happen. I'd agree that the filming isn't quite up there with the Tour though. Seems like they have trouble getting a camera on the red jersey group at crucial times.
Nice descent.
Oooh Froome crash!
And he's down again?!
Contador's attack looking a bit more dangerous now. If he's only a minute down at the end of the day then that's going to be a pretty remarkable turn around.
bertie senses blood
nibali aint going to sit up and I was wrong 🙂
Well this stage just got a bit interesting
Not sure what happened to Froome there. Looks like the first issue was a mechanical, then did he crash on a dodgy line on a hairpin trying to get around a team car?
Poor Tomasz isn't getting much air time for his stage win!
nibali aint going to sit up and I was wrong
Luckily for Nibali he can legitimately push on with Contador up the road.
why should nibbley sit up ? and lose time to contrador !
work they didn't want to do!
Bit of squabbling over work in that Nibali group and Froome slowly reeling them back in.
Froome 20 seconds or so back on Nibali on the line, could have been a fair bit worse considering the size of the group and what Contador was doing.
Damn, I'm going to have to watch the highlights now and I've spoilered myself!
Well I'm going to miss Bertie even if no-one else does.
Just watched the catchup on eurosport - was that naughty from the team car (Katusha?) squeezin froome or just bad luck/poor observation ?
Just watched the catchup on eurosport - was that naughty from the team car (Katusha?) squeezin froome or just bad luck/poor observation ?
Bad luck.
The team car stopped, Froome was already panicking, the road was slippy and he wasn't used to the replacement bike - if the tyre pressures were different or the tyres were brand new it'll have affected handling.
He's not a "lucky" rider is he? Same with Geraint Thomas, can pretty much guarantee he'll **** it all up spectacularly with a big crash. And Sky seem to be more prone to fairly basic mechanicals than most other teams.
Interview now on ITV4 highlights.
Went down on left hander, recovered, needed bike change, went down on next right hander.
I just think they use shit tyres.
At least a policeman didn't push someone in front of him
What a pity he didnt break something important, like a collar bone!
My recording of the highlights manage to blip out at the explanation point near the end, where the neutral service bike had to come to a halt rather too suddenly.
What happened there then? Looked like the guy in the bright green top fell (was pushed) right in front of the bike!
Well I'm going to miss Bertie even if no-one else does.
Me too.
What happened there then? Looked like the guy in the bright green top fell (was pushed) right in front of the bike!
A policeman pushed him
A policeman pushed him
WHAT?
Seriously?
What happened there then? Looked like the guy in the bright green top fell (was pushed) right in front of the bike!
Idiots were running round in the road.
A policeman violently shoved one of them, intending to get him off the road and out of the way but he got clipped by the Neutral Service bike which stalled and went down.
Police, the moto crew and spectators managed to get it upright again at just the point that the Froome/Nibali group went by (before Froome had his crash).
There are some ****ing idiot spectators his year, there really are.
Just found some footage of it. http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/vuelta-a-espana/watch-neutral-service-motorbike-crashes-vuelta-espana-spectator-falls-across-road-348653
And, while looking for it, found this as well
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/vuelta-a-espana/katusha-alpecin-rider-pushed-kicked-fan-vuelta-espana-348700
There's a nasty atmosphere somehow. The AquaBlue arson included.
There's a lot of police around and they're not taking any shit. Today isn't the first time in this Vuelta that fans have been physically restrained or pushed by police.
Maybe tensions are still high over Barcelona and Cambrils.
Maybe that's it, CL.
😯 Belkov
Didn't look random really, either - Is it because I iz Russian ??
Well I take it back, that was a corker of a stage.
Not sure why the group would be expected to hang about for Froome when he crashes. It's not like he needed a dump or anything.
Good to see Nibali telling Daniel Friebe off for daring to suggest as much.
no tyre warmers on road bikes 😉
A perfect example of a cold tyre crash. Nothing to do with the Katusha car.
Yeah, I generally like Daniel Friebe, and I can understand that it's been a bit of a talking point all year, but that was a bit of a daft question in this situation.
I like the sportsmanlike idea that if one of the main contenders suffers from bad luck (e.g. outside interference from moto or car, puncture, squitty bum) when everyone's cruising along together then it's bad form to see that and then attack as a consequence. Everyone seems to agree, though, that once the race is actually on, bad luck is bad luck and part of the race. Sometimes the distinction is not clear, but not here.
For Nibali and co to have waited for Froome in this case would have been just batty. I don't think that they should have done so even if nobody was ahead (since it seems Froome just crashed of his own accord), but with Contador up the road and not much of the stage ahead it would have been insane.
Of course, they don't always know exactly what the reason is for a pause (and it sounds a bit like some of the group tried to hang back for a bit because they were unsure, but then went).
What a pity he didnt break something important, like a collar bone!
And you have a nice day, here's hoping someone is wishing you well in your endeavours also.
Unecessary.
Froome wasn't complaining was he? Not that I heard anyway. And he said he just slipped - no complaints about road surface or cars or spectators.
Case closed.
generally like Daniel Friebe, and I can understand that it's been a bit of a talking point all year, but that was a bit of a daft question in this situation.
I thought his question was fine Nibali could have just said no we didnt discuss it as Bertie was uo the road so we raced, but I think something got list in translation or Nibali was being over defensive. If you watched live you can see Nibali et al having a conflab but that could have just been about who was going to work.
Good to see Nibali telling Daniel Friebe off for daring to suggest as much.
maybe he should have pointed out that Froome didn't wait for Dan Martin in similar circumstances.
Push on Belkov was by a Downs Syndrome kid, whose dad couldn't restrain in time (according to Twitter). Just unlucky in those circumstances.
I thought his question was fine Nibali could have just said no we didnt discuss it as Bertie was uo the road so we raced, but I think something got list in translation or Nibali was being over defensive.
That was how I saw it as well. Nibbles was very quick to snap at him, I felt.
Good to see Nibali telling Daniel Friebe off for daring to suggest as much.
It seemed to me that the question wasn't why did you push on but why did you hesitate before you did. I think Nibali probably misunderstood it as it seems others on here have. The race was already on with Contador up the road so there was no question that anyone would wait and no one expected them to.
peloton has really got the hammer down, still 75km out
De Gendt in the break 🙂
[url= https://i.imgflip.com/1v4a2n.pn g" target="_blank">https://i.imgflip.com/1v4a2n.pn g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://imgflip.com/piemaker ]via Imgflip Pie Chart Maker[/url]
ban chain rings !!!!
have to say the bmc timemachine is the best looking bike in the peloton.
Dimension Data down to 3 riders! 😯 😀
mr blobby, I think there's an error in your chart
should the red bit say "trying to form a break" ?
Froome 7th on today's "flat" sprint finish. Nibbles 6th, Contador 9th!
should the red bit say "trying to form a break" ?
Yes indeed 🙂
Froome 7th on today's "flat" sprint finish. Nibbles 6th, Contador 9th!
Got to be up there, looks like Zakarin and De La Cruz both lost a few seconds with a small split with Wilco up to 4th.
Following on from Bargeuil getting kicked off the Vuelta for not being a team player, the French national selectors have him in their long list but saying their long list is made up of people who work for the team first. Odds are he doesn't make the cut then.
Bertie has put someone on the front to pick the pace up.
Disc brakes in the peloton. It's a miracle no one has died
not letting sky dictate the approach pace has got to be the best play, but probably not as beneficial on a single climb stage. Back in the tdf letting them (sky) amble up the early climbs in stages so they could use the big diesels on the valley roads was pretty poor IMO
******* 'ell that was a ramp and a half 🙂 bit of a softener before the main event!!!
Astana pushing for the stage win and dropping Aru again, they don't give a shit about his chances 😆
Great racing-apart from Aru
Is Froome tiring? Not sure if they gapped him there or he played a very smart game in not reacting knowing he'd close that gap later.
Probably the latter based on the end result?
In his post race comments he said he was holding back for tomorrow. Could just be mind games though!
Is Froome tiring? Not sure if they gapped him there or he played a very smart game in not reacting knowing he'd close that gap later.
I wouldn't read too much into it. He bridged across quite easily once Nieve and Poels dropped off. Looked normal Froome tactics to me. He might have went for the win if he was feeling strong, but I don't think he was struggling. Just keeping it steady and keeping his team mates at hand.
Froome didn't look to be in any bother when he bridged across, but then Nibali looked like he stopped working when Bertie didn't come through and the lull made it easy for Froome. I don't really understand why Nibali would stop to argue and not crack on if he could, he's got more to gain than Bertie, who's not really an immediate threat to him. Does seem one to get involved in petty squabbles and lose sight of the big picture.
another ultimately disappointing day where "who cracked?" is a much bigger topic than "who did something amazing/exciting?" - I'm going off stage racing; think I'm a classics man at heart
I wonder if I watch the same racing as some people at times, really enjoyed the stage!
He's been touted as the next big Colombian rider for a while now (with Bernal the next in line), does seem a lot more rounded than Quintana. Does not please me to see anyone in an Astana jersey winning anything though.
Yates exploding was..... something to see the winner bridged to him soooo easily. The others cannot do anything about Sky and Froome so far.