Vuelta a Espana
Comments
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Must admit that I've missed the opening stages. I'll go with another Mareno...Danny Mareno of Movistar.
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I'll take your word for it, Nellie
I'll do a full update tomorrow.
Your man Lopez did take a very bad fall, Runrig and he lost a shed load of time. Better than your other choice of Barguil though - he climbed off early in the stage due to illness
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Update from yesterday:
1st Ruben Fernandez
2nd Alejandra Valverde (Pliers)
3rd Chris Froome (Kennine)
4th Esteban Chaves (TtDA 2)
5th Nairo Quintana (IanH)
9th Daniel Moreno (Nellie)
12th Alberto Contador (TtDA)
90th Tejay Van Garderen (Goldie) - despite the nice smile
124th Miquel Angel Lopex (Runrig) - the kiss of death!
A lumpy, bumpy stage today....and another summit finish!
I just love the Vuelta!
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2, 3,4 & 5 still the same,after today's stage, others have moved about.
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Didn't lose time but dropped another place, while Moreno dropped 3 places.
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Standings then, after Tuesday's stage:
1st Darwin Atapuma
2nd Alejandra Valverde (Pliers)
3rd Chris Froome (Kennine)
4th Esteban Chaves (TtDA 2)
5th Nairo Quintana (IanH)
12th Daniel Moreno (Nellie)
13th Alberto Contador (TtDA)
73rd Miquel Angel Lopez (Runrig) - moved up a good few!
91st Tejay Van Garderen (Goldie)
I thought it strange that Movistar let Fernandez go for the win on Monday (perhaps he just decided himself to go for it?) rather than working for Valverde and Quintana, who were both right up there.
Anyway, he did go for it and got himself in the Red jersey. But did you notice how Movistar spent a lot of time on the front on Tuesday, but made little effort to catch the breakaway? I suspect that they were simply wanting to get rid of the red jersey, so that they didn't have to expend effort defending it for the next week or two, when it wasn't being worn by one of their GC contenders.
Lopez did well to even start, having dislodged several teeth and exposed a nerve, making it painfull to drink water. Imagine that in a footballist?
Anyway, it's back to the flat stuff today (just one cat 3 climb) so a bit of a 'rest' day.
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Standings then, after Tuesday's stage:
73rd Miquel Angel Lopez (Runrig) - moved up a good few!
Lopez did well to even start, having dislodged several teeth and exposed a nerve, making it painfull to drink water. Imagine that in a footballist?
It's what I love about cycling
Proper hard guys, no excuses, no diving.Lopez might be climbing the standings but with that defecit it will be unrealistic to focus on GC. So unlucky that his fall happened without enough km's left to get back on.
I like the Vuelta, without the pressure of the TdF, it makes for a much more interesting race.
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More crashes today, one due to road furniture again!! Steven Kruijswijk sustained a suspected broken collarbone. The second one waas due to a coming together of a couple of riders while trying to get in position for the sprint finish. Caused the Red
Jersey to be over 1 min behind the stage winner, but as it happened within the final 3 km those involved were all give the same time as the winner, so no change at the top.0 -
Standings after Wednesday's stage:
1st Darwin Atapuma
2nd Alejandra Valverde (Pliers)
3rd Chris Froome (Kennine)
4th Nairo Quintana (IanH)
5th Esteban Chaves (TtDA 2)
12th Daniel Moreno (Nellie)
13th Alberto Contador (TtDA)
67th Miquel Angel Lopez (Runrig)
82nd Tejay Van Garderen (Goldie)
Can't understand why Tejay is so far back - I wonder if he's ill?
Yes, a couple of nasty falls yesterday and I'm afraid that it shows a level of carelessness by the organisers.
It has been confirmed that Steven Kruijseijk did break his collarbone and bruised his ribs in the incident involving a removable bollard left in place within the final kilometre (of a sprint stage!) and completely unmarked. The organisers have apologised and said they they 'overlooked' it. No consolation for a rider who's season has now ended prematurely!
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Today's stage is another lumpy, bumpy one with a climb at the very start. Then there are about 4 more climbs (two of which are cat 2) and then a 5km clamber to the finish.
Looks like a day for a Classics rider and one with a fast finish. Another chance for Philippe Gilbert perhaps?
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Great win by Ben Yates, his first GT stage victory. He really pulled that one out of the bag, and moved himself into the top 10 in the standings.
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Top 5 are the same, Mareno now 11th with Contador 12th, TJ is now 101st, and it looks as if M.A.Lopez has withdrawn today.
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Well Lopez retired after falling off again.
I am not going to put Runrig curse on anyone else... But Simon Yates pulled off a great win today could turn out to... No.
The GC teams won't let him go off the front like that again. Puts GreenEdge in a great position with Estoban as well.
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Great win by Ben Yates, his first GT stage victory. He really pulled that one out of the bag, and moved himself into the top 10 in the standings.
Ben?
Maybe Simon or Adam?
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Results after Thursday's stage:
1st Darwin Atapuma
2nd Alejandra Valverde (Pliers)
3rd Chris Froome (Kennine)
4th Nairo Quintana (IanH)
5th Esteban Chaves (TtDA 2)
10th Simon Yates (with the curse of Runrig hovering over him)
11th Daniel Moreno (Nellie)
12th Alberto Contador (TtDA)
101st Tejay Van Garderen (Goldie)
Rtd Miquel Angel Lopez (Runrig)
And guess what today's stage is? Why it's a lumpy, bumpy one again
Three cat3 climbs, but the finish comes 18k after the final climb, so the breakaway (and surely there will be one!) will after to survive a descent and a long, flat 7k run to the finish.0 -
Great win by Ben Yates, his first GT stage victory. He really pulled that one out of the bag, and moved himself into the top 10 in the standings.
Ben?
Maybe Simon or Adam?
Sorry, Ben Yates is some-one I know....and he's not a cyclist!!
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Results after Thursday's stage:
1st Darwin Atapuma
2nd Alejandra Valverde (Pliers)
3rd Chris Froome (Kennine)
4th Nairo Quintana (IanH)
5th Esteban Chaves (TtDA 2)
10th Simon Yates (with the curse of Runrig hovering over him)
11th Daniel Moreno (Nellie)
12th Alberto Contador (TtDA)
101st Tejay Van Garderen (Goldie)
Rtd Miquel Angel Lopez (Runrig)
And guess what today's stage is? Why it's a lumpy, bumpy one again
Three cat3 climbs, but the finish comes 18k after the final climb, so the breakaway (and surely there will be one!) will after to survive a descent and a long, flat 7k run to the finish.Not the sort of breakaway you were expecting I guess Ian. However you were correct in that they would be caught, and that it would end up in a sprint finish. And even that had another surprise winner and a nasty crash just before the finish. It looks possible that Contador might not be able to continue tomorrow, more's the pity. The top positions haven't changed, but Valverde gained 4 seconds for finishing 3rd.
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Yes, yet another bad fall for Alberto.
He was saying that it hurt at the finish and that was a bad sign, to be hurting while still 'hot'.......it usually starts to hurt later.
I know what he means (
) so not it's not promising for him.Poor old Atapuma wasn't getting much support in the red jersey.......the team are looking after the favourites.
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Great win by Ben Yates, his first GT stage victory. He really pulled that one out of the bag, and moved himself into the top 10 in the standings.
Ben?
Maybe Simon or Adam?
Sorry, Ben Yates is some-one I know....and he's not a cyclist!!
I thought that was probably the case!
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Results after Friday's stage:
1st Darwin Atapuma
2nd Alejandra Valverde (Pliers)
3rd Chris Froome (Kennine)
4th Nairo Quintana (IanH)
5th Esteban Chaves (TtDA 2)
10th Simon Yates (with the curse of Runrig hovering over him)
11th Daniel Moreno (Nellie)
12th Alberto Contador (TtDA)
101st Tejay Van Garderen (Goldie)
Rtd Miquel Angel Lopez (Runrig)
All as yesterday.
But I think things will change today.......
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An unusual stage today......165km of near flat and then a wall!
A cat1 climb at the finish, which goes up to 25% in places.
This climb featured in 2014 and the stage was won by Ryder Hesjedal, with Chris Froome taking time from Alberto Contador. Well, Ryder isn't here this year and Alberto might struggle to even start today? Even if he does, is he likely to be in a fit state to defend his position on a climb like this?
Will the Columbians show what they are made of? Will Valverde make his bid for the red jersey?
More importantly, will Pliers win the CT prize?
We will have to wait and see......
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An unusual stage today......165km of near flat and then a wall!
A cat1 climb at the finish, which goes up to 25% in places.
This climb featured in 2014 and the stage was won by Ryder Hesjedal, with Chris Froome taking time from Alberto Contador. Well, Ryder isn't here this year and Alberto might struggle to even start today? Even if he does, is he likely to be in a fit state
to defend his position on a climb like this?Will the Columbians show what they are made of? Will Valverde make his bid for the red jersey?
More importantly, will Pliers win the CT prize?
We will have to wait and see......
I see you've overtaken me today, Ian!
Thought you would
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Another surprise winner, Serguy Lugatin, and Quintana certainly surprised Froome on the final bit of the climb. Now leads the race from Valverde & Froome. Contador had a good day as well beating both Froome & Valverde by 8 secs. I'll leave it up to Ian to publish new list.
Another Brit did well today, Scott Thwaites finishing 7th only 1' 11" behind the winner, & 3'30" in front of Quintana.
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