La Vuelta Espana Stage 17 Villadiego - Los Machucos. Monumento Vaca Pasiega (180.5km)

Mint Sauce

This is obscene!

:eek:

Froome is lucky he has a man left here I think.

neris

cmon Nibali aswell

neris

fcuk off contador 2nd will be good enough for u today

check_six

From the Cyclingnews site: "Froome's eyes are glued to his stem, but his battery seems flat."

:eek::eek:

dastardly00

1 km to go!

robyntmorton

Stefan has this!!

neris

ffs eurospoirt

neris

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

scott1974

Great for Aqua Blue, historic...

neris

even if Nico doesnt win a stage we have a stage win

dastardly00

Hunterbiker

Froome with 1min 16s cushion on Nibs in the GC.

mcgratheoin

Hunterbiker wrote: »

Froome with 1min 16s cushion on Nibs in the GC.

Question now is will other teams have the guts to attack him consistently or will everyone ride to preserve their top 10?

Awesome performance from Denifl - great result for Aquablue - should see them pick up at least one GT next year again.

rtmie

neris wrote: »

rtmie wrote: »

I wonder if the fascination with finding ever more outrageous mountain sections in GTs, esp Vuelta is positive in the long term. They can be spectacular but in ultimately trying to outdo the last one, will we head towards a cycling equivalent of crazy golf?

Also applies to some of the off road surfaces being rumoured for TdF.

I think its better they use roads and surfaces normal people use and try to challenge themselves on. They've gotten rid of a few climbs in the TDF from years ago because the caravan & entourage has gotten to big. Nothing to do with the riders or road surface. These guys are the elite of cyclists with access to the best bikes and equipment and should be well able to cope with tough gradients and surafces.

the routes been talked about for the TDF are already used for pro racing, the tro bro leon race is probably the best known that uses them

Just for me I don't enjoy watching long sections that are basically closed off motorway, but neither do I want it to go to extremes. Haven't seen today's stage, waiting for highlights but from photos it looks like some of it was across what looked like concrete beams laid on the ground. So it is about a happy medium that gives variety of test without making it a lottery of mechanicals. 
WRT proposed TdF Routes I was thinking about some different suggestions I saw that looked pretty much like gravel trails, rather than the To Bro Leon sections, which I know are raced.
Little known fact - that race gets its name from the similarity of the racing surfaces to a well known Swiss confectionery product. (I'll get my coat!)

Hunterbiker

You wonder how much this stage will take out of all of the GC contenders.
Froome has faded before and he came back strongly will he do it again

robyntmorton

I was just thinking that after making the most of everything thrown at them that ABS will be high up the list of wildcard teams picking up interest from the grand tour organisers.

It would be thoroughly deserved too!

Inquitus

Hunterbiker wrote: »

You wonder how much this stage will take out of all of the GC contenders.
Froome has faded before and he came back strongly will he do it again

He's been on a slow downward trend all race, attacking in week 1, defending in week 2 and losing time now in week 3. I think it is touch and go that he can hang on on Angliru based on today.

Hunterbiker

Inquitus wrote: »

He's been on a slow downward trend all race, attacking in week 1, defending in week 2 and losing time now in week 3. I think it is touch and go that he can hang on on Angliru based on today.

Well he attacked on the ITT, you wonder if he realised he would (and his support) would fade on todays finish and put gas into the ITT to bump up his lead.

Was it enough?

velo.2010

Was Froome suffering or was it just for the camera's and he is content to lose 30-40 seconds on Nibali? Hmm, I don't know but if he is tiring then he could lose it on the Angliru. A bit of irony there considering 2011.

You can see why Contador has done so well at the Giro and Vuelta. 10% plus gradients for several kilometres suit his out of the saddle style. He'd be right on Froome's tail on GC if not for the bad day. He could win on the Angliru.

Again, one or two eye opening performances on that last climb.

neris

robyntmorton wrote: »

I was just thinking that after making the most of everything thrown at them that ABS will be high up the list of wildcard teams picking up interest from the grand tour organisers.

It would be thoroughly deserved too!

the downside to aqua blue is they may loose riders to WT teams as their profiles have increased by being in the Vuelta and also they have the American national champion who,ll probably want to get back to world tour

Weepsie

neris wrote: »

the downside to aqua blue is they may loose riders to WT teams as their profiles have increased by being in the Vuelta and also they have the American national champion who,ll probably want to get back to world tour

Mullen and Deignan may very well be available

dastardly00

Nico finished in 22nd place, 2:32 behind the winner and 23 seconds ahead of TvG.

Chaves had a nightmare; 5:52 behind the winner and drops from 9th to 12th in GC.

mcgratheoin

velo.2010 wrote: »

Was Froome suffering or was it just for the camera's and he is content to lose 30-40 seconds on Nibali?

Sky have bluffed before but usually in the opposite way - send a train out to up the pace and pretend that Froome feels really good to deter others from attacking. The way they like to dominate and control things would make it seem unlikely that he'd let a rival go if he could easily stick with them.

Blowfish

dastardly00 wrote: »

Chaves had a nightmare; 5:52 behind the winner and drops from 9th to 12th in GC.

Could be intentional if he's given up on GC and instead wants to be free to take Angliru without being marked.

MPFGLB

Blowfish wrote: »

Could be intentional if he's given up on GC and instead wants to be free to take Angliru without being marked.

Not intentional...he is knackered as seen yesterday

MPFGLB

dastardly00 wrote: »

Nico finished in 22nd place, 2:32 behind the winner and 23 seconds ahead of TvG.

Chaves had a nightmare; 5:52 behind the winner and drops from 9th to 12th in GC.

Hopefully Nico is feeling better Was feeling really bad since Saturday ... but maybe can now rally a bit a go for a stage

dastardly00

Looking at the stage classification, it's like as if a bomb went off in the peloton. Everyone finishing in ones or twos, no big grupetto.

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Vuelta_a_Espana_2017_Stage_17_Los_Machucos_Monumento_V

Lusk_Doyle

neris wrote: »

the downside to aqua blue is they may loose riders to WT teams as their profiles have increased by being in the Vuelta and also they have the American national champion who,ll probably want to get back to world tour

But they will also attract sponsors and new riders too.

MPFGLB

Guess SKY will want to buy S Denifl now....he climbed the last climb today faster than everyone bar 7 riders...Contador, Lopez, Nibali, Zakarin, Kelderman , Majka & Woods