La Vuelta Espana stage 7- Lliria – Cuenca 207km

Daroxtar

A deceptively tough, long day in the saddle. Despite only having 3 cat3 climbs, there are still 2700m of climbing. Combined with the heat and attrition from yesterdays high pace, this could well be a stage that will see plenty of suffering. Probably one for the sprinters but with the final climb cresting less than 15km from the end, that could be the spot for a breakaway to launch for the finish line.

The climbs are
Puerto La Montalbana – 8km at 4.4%

Alto de Sta. Cruz de Moya – 8.7km at 4%

Alto del Castillo – 2km at 7.3%
This last climb contains some cobbled sections so that will pose it's own challenge.

Odds for the stage are
Matteo Trentin 10/3
Julian Alaphillippe 8/1
Juan Jose Lobato 8/1
Edward Theuns 8/1
Luis Leon Sanchez 12/1
Sacha Modolo 16/1

Apologies for not painting a fresco of the route profile but I was too busy trying to create a 3D model of the stage from biodegradable materials and ended up being caught for time so I just had to copy and paste some other site's stuff

neris

Daroxtar wrote: »

A deceptively tough, long day in the saddle. Despite only having 3 cat3 climbs, there are still 2700m of climbing. Combined with the heat and attrition from yesterdays high pace, this could well be a stage that will see plenty of suffering. Probably one for the sprinters but with the final climb cresting less than 15km from the end, that could be the spot for a breakaway to launch for the finish line.

The climbs are
Puerto La Montalbana – 8km at 4.4%

Alto de Sta. Cruz de Moya – 8.7km at 4%

Alto del Castillo – 2km at 7.3%
This last climb contains some cobbled sections so that will pose it's own challenge.

Odds for the stage are
Matteo Trentin 10/3
Julian Alaphillippe 8/1
Juan Jose Lobato 8/1
Edward Theuns 8/1
Luis Leon Sanchez 12/1
Sacha Modolo 16/1

Apologies for not painting a fresco of the route profile but I was too busy trying to create a 3D model of the stage from biodegradable materials and ended up being caught for time so I just had to copy and paste some other site's stuff

If you'd been watching bosco you'd have a model of the stage made out of bog roll tube, crepe paper and washing up bottles done ages ago

Daroxtar

neris wrote: »

If you'd been watching bosco you'd have a model of the stage made out of bog roll tube, crepe paper and washing up bottles done ages ago

I still have impure thoughts about Mary Fitzgerald

neris

if a footballer ended up with this much blood on his face he,d have rolled out of the stadium and into the next city by now with his dramatics

MPFGLB

C'mon Nico


http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/roche-its-important-for-me-to-prove-i-can-still-ride-for-gc/

Inquitus

Biggest danger in the break is at just shy of 9 minutes. Gap to the 14 man break is currently 6.5 minutes. Personally I can't see Sky doing any more than the minimum required to protect the Red Jersey so if the "Sprint" teams want this one they are going to have to do the work. De Gendt is in the break, if it sticks he's my pick for this one. 107km to go at time of writing.

MPFGLB

Finale might be too hard for sprinters

Quickstep are the ones who need to chase as Allaphillipe, Jungels, maybe Trentin have the best chance on thsi finish

Inquitus

MPFGLB wrote: »

Finale might be too hard for sprinters

Quickstep are the ones who need to chase as Allaphillipe, Jungels, maybe Trentin have the best chance on thsi finish

Aye I put "Sprint" in the inverted's as realistically in this Vuelta the likes of Trentin and Allaphilippe are as Sprinty as it gets

Quickstep don't have anyone in the break though today and don't seem to be into chasing.

The final Climb is 2km at 7.4% on very narrow roads with some cobbled sections, its also only a short plateau of 3.5km and then a very tricky narrow, twisty, 8.4km descent to the finish, so we could well get some GC action there. It's a much better spot for Bertie to attack than yesterdays climb which was far too far from the finish realistically speaking. Maybe Nico can make a few seconds and get in Red, that would be a great way to start the weekend!

retalivity

Aquablue team leader warbasse and kudus who came second yday are out after a crash

thekooman

neris wrote: »

if a footballer ended up with this much blood on his face he,d have rolled out of the stadium and into the next city by now with his dramatics

thats a great pic. in a hard man kind of way.

Peterx

He's out of the saddle in that hard man pic with a broken ankle too.

EC1000

Peterx wrote: »

He's out of the saddle in that hard man pic with a broken ankle too.

You'd think they'd have given him a replacement helmet after the crash?

pelevin

Any sign of them?

Daroxtar

14 man breakaway held a gap of about 8 minutes for most of the day. Matej Mohoric of UAE broke clear of the group on the descent of the last climb and held off Thomas De Gent, Pawel Poljanski and Jose Rojas to win his first GT stage.
No change in the GC and withdrawals from Kudus of Dimension Data, Van Genchten of Cofidis and Aqua Blues Larry Warbasse with a broken wrist after a crash.

Keeks

That makes 4 of the dimension Data team that have retired....