Haven't watched a stage live yet because of it sadly. Just as this, I already knew who won so seeing Robert out in front and knowing he wouldn't make it just made me even sadder.
Sad to see Jay Vine crashing and out of the race. But he did great with 2 stage wins. Earning that polka dot jersey is just icing on the cake. Hope he comeback stronger.
heartbreak for Gesink! What a ride. (Update - I was hoping Remco gave him the win - considering how Primoz crashed out as a symbolic gift to Jumbo) but can’t really blame him to try to put more time into Mas with a key stage tomorrow!
@@nonwatcher If two guys from different teams catch a breakaway rider, then how can they go for only 2nd when they want to beat each other and they're much stronger and fresher than Gesink?
is it just me or Mas wanted to let Gesink win ? but then Remco attacked and Mas had to follow. Remco lost my respect on that stage what a goober he is.
Mas might have attacked a lot, but it's not just about the legs, but the brains too. And he didn't use his enough. Every attack he made came from the front of the group and right in front of Evenepoel. He gave every chance for Remco to react, get on his wheel right away, use his slipstream and not allow him to get a gap. He never tried to attack from the middle of the group and get past Remco with speed. He never tried to counter Evenepoel's attack neither, the two ways he could've gotten a gap.
Yeah remco is a lot snappier than mas so attacking just in front of remco is really not ideal. But also Attacking from deeper means eating more wind and having to spend more just to get past remco. Thats also not ideal. But i think Overall his tactic of start stopping would have worked if the climb was a little bit steeper.
@@felixwagner3152 Mas had no chance of dropping Remco when attacking from in front of him, yet that's all he did and never tried anything else. Attacks between reasonably evenly matched riders have much more chance to be successful when they attack from behind and going past with a speed difference. Sometimes they even deliberately leave a little gap to accelerate into for even more speed difference. If you have to eat wind for 1 more second for a chance to get a gap vs attack from the front with much less chance for gaps, which one would you choose? Why only the latter over and over again and never the first? The climb wasn't a little bit steeper. It is what it is and Mas had to work with that. Stopping and starting didn't work. When Evenepoel turned the tables and surprised him by attacking without Mas being on his wheel, Mas has had to work so much harder to catch him than Evenepoel had at any one of Mas' predictable and telegraphed attempts.
@@felixwagner3152 I think he Mas should ahve just saved his energy for the last day and the most mountainous stage. If he's going to do it, it has to be then and I don't think it will be before.
Amazing back and forth action among the top riders in the last 10k. It is really interesting to see who wins the stage. The top ten are all very competitive - in terms of stage race ability. It is really fascinating to see them all fight for each day. On another subject, Of course, I am gutted that Primoz is out. But he gets so within himself when he is generating his incredible power numbers - that I think he loses situational awareness. i.e. crashes. He was going to be on great form, and in a serious position to take the GC. If he can get his anti-crash awareness tuned in and not be such a straight on hammerhead, he will mature into a real champion. Like his directeur sportif said when they were scouting him - "his engine is like a Porsche."
yes indeed a great mountain stage win for evenepoel, to be wearing the red jersey to would make it extra special and show his dominance over the peleton, he maybe more relaxed now roglic has pulled out due to injury.
It certainly was interesting seeing the tactics on those two climbs of the same peak at the end but quite meh since it was only 5% which meant Remco was never really tested.
I think remco was really close to breaking tbh. He had that pain face and there was a small gap once. The gradients where just to low so that sitting in the wheel can help you recover very well.
it's over barring disaster. there's only one stage where Mas can make up time on him, stage 20, but it's not hard enough to create a 2 minute+ gap, especially since it flattens out at the end. Last mountain is 10KM at 7% and then 6.5KM of flat. That will take the "sting" out of any gaps. Remco would be have to be going backward to lose 2 mins on that kinda profile.
Was so sad to see Robert Gesink just miss the stage win because Astana wanted to gift wrap the stage for Remco by pacing the stage until MALopez drops.
i didnt see any AC-update in Mas. he tried, kudos for that. but the only time he got a few meters on Remco he stopped. and then he gifted Remco the stage. poor Gesink.
He might be slightly above bernal and slightly under healthy roglic now. He might be a giro winner next year if he fully commits it seems week 2 he paced to be fresher in week 3.
This Vuelta route is a bit boring without the Angliru, Covadonga, Pyrénées or Andorra. This final week seems tame compared to Vuelta's in the past. I think a stage with 2 HC climbs could have put some pressure on Remco but he's riding great and you ride the course you're given. Sucks that Jay Vine crashed out.
Sucks that now two rightful jersey winners(Bennett and Vine) have had to abandon, Carapaz has at least proven he’s in elite climbing form with his two wins, but Bennett smoked everyone, shame he can’t wear green in madrid(and shame vine can’t at least defend it to Madrid)
I don't know about that. Remco was suffering a bit the last 1,5km but was far more explosive at the end. And before (I think at like 5 or 6 km before the finish) Mas really needed Verona to bring him back cause he was suffering then.. I think they are just above the rest together
here's my question: quickstep were not there controlling today. should astana have let the gap go out much further, so that at some point it could even have been dangerous for remco? with no one chasing and leaving it up to quickstep and possibly even remco completely on his own, maybe they could have tired him out a bit more?
highest ranked rider in first group was on 26minutes or so. When they would get 10-12minutes, they would probably stop riding and start pokering + in the extreme case where they have 20minutes or so, the teams with lesser climbers would for sure start to pace to not get into time limit problems is my take
I think Felix meant to let the gap grow after the Almeida attack. Dangerous game to play, all other teams need to collaborate against QS. Movistar would never let it happen.
In the final week riders and teams start to protect their top 10 GC positions which can be frustrating to watch as it usually helps the leader of the race a lot.
With all due respect, that makes absolutely 0 sense. No one was in the breakaway that could've reasonably endangered Remco. Astana's best rider was López with 5:33 down. When Almeida attacked, that directly threatened López who had only 1:20 and Rodríguez who had 1:30 advantage over him, not Evenepoel who had 7 minutes. Astana and Ineos had reason to close that gap, they had nothing to gain from Almeida overtaking their riders. None of them have any chance of winning the race. Best they can do is fight for positions and maybe get onto the podium.
@@MarvinWestmaas You didn't even try as you yourself stated above :) Bit rich don't you think? Sure you can sad about Rogla dropping out, but today was probably 2nd or 3rd best stage of the race so far.
Merckx is the goat and earns all respects, but... He has been so silent on evenepoel these last couple of weeks, in contrast of the fact he has always been very (very) critical about him when he failed... I don't like that, even if it is easy to hate this brat.
@@phil40870 Merckx was 22 when he won his first Grand Tour, the Giro in 1968. He had won 2 Giri and 2 Tours by the time he was 25, not to mention 4 of the 5 Momuments and the World Championship.
Do you know how you end a sentence with a "period"? You'd be easier to understand if you did that when you speak. You don't write run-on sentences do you? Don't speak that way either.
Just an idea for the 3km rule: maybe you make an 750, 500m rule so that the sprinters can sprint on their own without GC guys interrupting everything. Also the risk for those contenders is lower with crashing out, because they aren't in the bunch. With 750 or 500 m to go there isn't much influencing time anymore, so I think if there is a crash and someone from GC is in there, it's ok to not lose time anymore.
Ah yes so instead of sprint trains and GC trains shouldering and elbowing each other from 10 to 3km you now extend this to 750 or 500m what could go wrong
That is even worse, way too late. Either you keep it as is, or even extend it. However I'd add that a rider if not injured needs to maintain a decent pace to the finish after the incident. For example make them do a minimum of like 80% of the speed of the group they were in, else getting downgraded to a group that matched their speed taking into account that 80% rule. So if the rider in question does 40km/h, but his original group did 60km/h averaged, the rider would be downgraded to a group doing average 50km/h or less , since 50km/h*80%=40km/h. To maintain in the original group the rider in this situation would have to go faster than 48km/h averaged. Since it would be difficult for riders to know the speed of the original group, they'd just go full anyway after the incident. Such a rule would prevent affected riders from just casually strolling in and already would take away something many people don't like.
@@MDP1702 You don't ride as fast in the peloton or alone by yourself. Basicly, this rule is made to avoid too much people in front of the race in last km of flat stages. Which makes sense, less people means less chance for big, dangerous, crashes. So all riders that do not fight for the stage win can just seat back and relax for the last km, they just get drafted to the line. Your rules would make a rider to put an effort, while 80% of the riders in the group he was, did more or less 0 effort.
@@simeonpolet1307 *You don't ride as fast in the peloton or alone by yourself.* Which is why I am talking about a % of the speed of the original group and not the same speed, what % it has to be, would have to be researched. In the end it is mainly so riders essentially don't just straddle to the finish like is the case now, not unless the original group straddled themselves.
@@MDP1702 that would mean that if you have a technical issue you would have to produce an effort and if you don't, you could rest, which is unfair. What is 3km on 150-200km, especially on flat road ?
Stopped watching it no real characters now roglic has left. Disgusted about the 3km rule, cheated, mass should be in the lead now, was looking forward to tdf next year if all the best, rog vini tada and evni but not any more