Vuelta a Espana
Comments
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I got to thinking......how do people feel about the huge impact that one stage - a time trial of only 37km - can have on the overall race?
Well the race, and also Le Tour, are supposed to give all types of cyclist, climbers, sprinters & time trialists a chance to win a stage. To make a time trial worth having it must be of a reasonable distance, over varied topography. Just at the moment CF is both a great climber & a better TTist than NQ. I wonder, Ian, if you'd have asked the same question if it had been the other way round? As it has turned out NQ is as equally as good a climber than CF & his team were more alert than Sky on one particular day, hence is victory in the race.
Yes I would, Nellie.
TT's haven't always been in the Tour, but they have been included for a long time now. There have been riders in the past who were really good time triallists, but only ok in the mountains (Jaque Anquetil, Miguel Undurain and, dare I say, Bradley Wiggins - although I hesitate to put him in the same sentence as those two greats of cycling).
On the other hand, there have been riders who were exceptional climbers but not known for their TT ability (Lucien Van Impe, Charly Gaul, Andy Schleck) who have won. Well, sort of, in the case of AS.
I agree though that nowadays, to win, a rider has to be a good all-rounder. The Vuelta course this year was superb and I think it's a race that goes from strength to strength. I just hope that they don't add more than one TT stage (and having the TTT as an opener was inspired) and distort the results.
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Brilliant effort by Chaves to snatch a podium place from Contador.
I have to say that Contador is not looking as good in the mountains these days as he used to, but he did have a bad fall early on. He was going to retire after this season, but he's now going to Trek, aparantly.
Great final stage for Quintana as he managed to hold off the full force of Froome.
Really nice to see Froome applaud his rival at the finish - the sign of a true gent and a sportsman.
What a race!
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So, here are the final results, barring accidents in today's procession:
1st Nairo Quintana (IanH)
2nd Chris Froome (Kennine) at +1:23
3rd Esteban Chaves (TtDA 2) +4:08
4th Alberto Contador (TtDA) +4:21
5th Andrew Talansky +7:43
6th Simon Yates +8:33
7th David De La Cruz +11:18
8th Daniel Moreno (Nellie) +13:04
12th Alejandro Valverde (Pliers) +15:57
Rtd Tejay Van Garderen (Goldie)
Rtd Miquel Angel Lopez (Runrig)
That only leaves the presentation of the CT prize then to...........oh, me!
(If you were wondering, it was going to be a coconut, but I couldn't find one so it's a small tin of coconut milk instead. But I'm sure Rochelle will be along shortly with a handful of site night vouchers
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