Vuelta a España 2012 (likely to include spoilers)

[Honest John]

What goes around, comes around. They did it to Leipheimer in the Giro, and they knew he had gone down, without any pretence of it being a racing move. Sky played the echelon card, Valverde lost out. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Note that Sky had started their move before Valverde (not to mention a few others) crashed.

[Justin(e)]

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

+1

The guy who cheated the whole of the peleton by blood doping thinks that it was unsportsmanlike to not wait for him.

Oops.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Of course, none of the rest of the peloton were blood doping at the same time...

[rafletcher]

Well he didn't say Contador had been unsportsmanlike 

[GrahamG]

Can you imagine if it had been a French yellow jersey in the TdF?! National outrage!

[Nuncio]

I feel sorry for the Caja Rural rider who sprinted free of the Roche group and came in 4th but thought he'd won.

[spesh]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ex-pros-back-sky-in-valverde-crash-row

Seven out of eight consulted say Sky correct to continue echelon

A survey of former professionals by the Spanish newspaper AS has found that an overwhelming majority say Sky did not behave incorrectly when Alejandro Valverde fell and then the British team continued to drive the echelon they had just started to form seconds before the crash happened on stage 4 of the Vuelta a España.

Here's the best bit - all eight ex-racers are Spanish.

Roger Hammond made the point on the highlights program that whilst there are/were "unwritten" rules, in the past, the enforcement thereof has been reliant on there being a patron in the peloton, a rider accorded sufficient respect and with enough clout (literally, in the case of Hinault) to get nearly 200 others to do his bidding. In the absence of a patron, you're left with the riders trying to work it out for themselves - therefore it may be better, or easier, to do away with the "unwritten" rules and just accept that:

1) It's a bicycle race.
2) Stuff happens.

If you stop racing every time several riders show that their situational awareness or bike handling sucks, you might as well call it NASCAR on two wheels.

[spesh]

I feel sorry for the Caja Rural rider who sprinted free of the Roche group and came in 4th but thought he'd won.

Given he's on a local team given a wild-card entry to the race, 4th is as good as a victory. 

[rafletcher]

I feel sorry for the Caja Rural rider who sprinted free of the Roche group and came in 4th but thought he'd won.

Given he's on a local team given a wild-card entry to the race, 4th is as good as a victory. 

That's what I thought too - any top 10 would be good for them.

[spesh]

Going back to the unwritten rules for a moment, should Chris Froome find himself in the red jersey with several stages to go, let's just hope he's perfected the art of taking a leak without stopping. For Team Sky to be on the wrong end of one "Pissgate" is misfortune, but twice might be construed as being careless.

[David Martin]

It does of course matter where the relevant incident happens. 100km from the finish, sit up and wait. 20km from the finish, not a chance.

[Justin(e)]

I feel sorry for the Caja Rural rider who sprinted free of the Roche group and came in 4th but thought he'd won.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/T9BppVVvhNY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/T9BppVVvhNY&rel=1</a>

cyclingnews described it as one of the great sights in cycling.  Poor kid.

[Honest John]

There's the lack of scenery

I'm guessing that with so many mountain stages and going no further south than Madrid,  there won't be so many stages where they have miles and miles of straight road through little more than flat dusty scrub land. 

Spectacular countryside today!

[citoyen]

Cracking finish today. Totally awesome riding from Uran, Henao and Froome. And an honourable mention to Richie Porte for his earlier efforts too.

Uran is looking good in 4th overall. I'd say there's a distinct possibility of two Sky riders on the Vuelta podium for the second year running.

I thought Froome wasn't going to have enough left after the TdF to be competitive here, but I'm glad to have been proven wrong... so far. Still a long way to go yet, and some very big hills to climb...

d.

[Justin(e)]

What were the time bonuses on the line?

20 first?
15 second?

My arithmetic isn't good enough to work this out, and I don't know where to find the rules.

[Honest John]

What were the time bonuses on the line?

20 first?
15 second?

My arithmetic isn't good enough to work this out, and I don't know where to find the rules.

They explained the time bonuses on ITV4 during one of the early highlights shows but I didn't pay attention TBH.

I've found the details on the Vuelta site (in English). Download the rules here (PDF) - it's Article 10 on p313 (don't worry, there aren't 313 pages).

It's 12, 8 and 4 secs at finishes and 6, 4 and 2 at sprints.

[Domestique]

Omg that looks tough today. Come on Froomedog

[David Martin]

So how much  of a buffer will Rodriguez need over Froome going into the Time Trial? How good is Contador vs Froome? Valverde is fighting hard for the podium, nobody else is within sight. That was some scrap today.

[Honest John]

So how much  of a buffer will Rodriguez need over Froome going into the Time Trial? How good is Contador vs Froome? Valverde is fighting hard for the podium, nobody else is within sight. That was some scrap today.

I'm beginning to think Froome is unlikely to win. He ended up isolated today without the kick to beat Valverde or Rodriguez, and made that mistake with the "trackstand" - mind you, Bertie the Accountant made a mistake too by dropping into the little gears before the finish. Froome needs a good domestique who can stick with him to the finish (preferably a tall one with sideburns born in Gent).

[Fohat]

but he'll beat Valverde and Rodrigeuz by miles in the TT. Contador is the threat.

[ran doner]

When nibali won it jrod was a shambles in the tt. I've not seen anything to suggest he is any better now. But with 5 mountain stages in the last week and the time bonuses, froome might need quite a lead over jrod. It was the time bonuses that cost froome last year. Contador may be a different matter though and ride himself into the third week whereas froome might go over the top if he hasn't already.

[Honest John]

But with 5 mountain stages in the last week and the time bonuses, froome might need quite a lead over jrod. It was the time bonuses that cost froome last year. Contador may be a different matter though and ride himself into the third week whereas froome might go over the top if he hasn't already.

That's the problem. Froome may be a great TTist but margins in the TT may not be great enough for him to stay ahead of the other three.

[Biff]

Froomes opponents found out how to deal with him today - constant vicious attacks. If they let him ride at a steady pace they'll not drop him.

[Domestique]

Looked like the Spanish speakers where working as one team until the last 100mtrs.
Are the other mtn top stages as fierce as that one though?

[Andrew Br]

It seemed to me* that Froome got sucked into the "attack" mindset and paid the price for it.
If he'd continued riding at a steady (threshold ?) speed, maybe he'd have still had enough to compete at the end.
I hope that it's a lesson learned for him.

As for Contador, to lose the stage in the way that he did suggests to me** that he blew up 'cos he'd done too much a little too soon. Perhaps he was trying to put Froome in his place after his (Contador's) earlier humiliations.

My prediction: Froome will ride tempo on the remaining mountain stages and he'll not lose any time on the road (I'm ignoring time bonuses here) and it will be between him and Contador on the time trial.
I'm not sure that either will win overall.

*I'm not an expert.
** No, really, I'm not.