Vuelta Stage 21: Arroyomolinos → Madrid - 118km

neris

This is the end, GT season is over and its time to start figuring out what to do with 3-4 hours of your day when you should be working and not watching cycling on the sly.



The end of tour procession into Madrid today and the green jersey is still up for grabs

Fernando Escartín commentary

Flat. As is normally the case, the last day will serve to crown and receive the Vuelta winner in the Spanish capital. The three weeks of hard work, sacrifice and suffering will be rewarded with a stage that will take the peloton through the heart of Madrid in order to bring the 72nd edition of the Vuelta to a close.

Green jersey
1. FROOME C. SKY 153 pts
2. NIBALI V. TBM 128 pts
3. TRENTIN M. QST 127 pts
4. CONTADOR A. TFS 105 pts
5. KELDERMAN W. SUN 97 pt

When to hear Carlton fawning and crying over Froome & Sky
15:30-20:00
ITV 4 Highlights 22:00

velo.2010

Giro the best GT this year. Always on a knife edge who would win. Bertie made the Vuelta as exciting as it could be. Froome's wheel change and chase back to the lead group was the most dramatic thing in the Tour this year.

neris

https://twitter.com/Digger_forum/status/906546666152611840

MPFGLB

The best was the Giro as it was open and the competetion was intense and unpredictable

I think the Vuelta was too hard ... and thus was counter productive
Also SKY too dominant ....might have been better if more rolling stages they couldn't control

Have a gander at this ....sometimes we ask too much from these young men imo

https://twitter.com/rapha/status/906502474462195712

robyntmorton

Laughing at the guy from Bahrain Merida cycling up to the front of the peloton to deliver a coffee to Froome.

Also, fair play to Conor Dunne for securing the bragging rights of the lantern rouge. I'm sure it's easier said than done.

gordongekko

So today is a historic day. Bertie is retiring and an Irish owned team has completed a grand tour..... Nothing else of note happened.

robyntmorton

Nice touch for Bertie to be allowed to go off the front to take the applause from the crowd himself.

robyntmorton

Kirby cheering for Adam Blythe, though I suspect that's only because it means Froome gets green in that case.

at1withmyself

Great to see Conor leading the peloton

Liking Froome's bike in the red and yellow. Very nice indeed.

rtmie

I try to stay out of the Kirby stuff, but even by his standards he has been appalling on Vuelta.

Inquitus

rtmie wrote: »

I try to stay out of the Kirby stuff, but even by his standards he has been appalling on Vuelta.

Yep I am pretty tolerant to him at this stage, but he was really bad this Vuelta, the ITT stage was the most nauseating of them all.

Daroxtar

Liked seeing Bertie taking the applause alright and have to admit I got a kick out of Froome going for the sprint.
Giro was the best GT this year but there wasn't much in it between itself and the Vuelta. If Dumoulin hadn't taken a dump then he'd have won the Giro at a canter. If Contador hadn't had a bad day in Andorra then the Vuelta could have been incredibly close. As it was, if Nibali had the legs yesterday we could have had a different result. Really enjoyed both of them TBH
Either way, the Tour was dung in comparison.

Gutted for Trentin there

Inquitus

Deleted User wrote: »

Gutted for Trentin there

He got 4 stage wins, its a professional sport and to be fair Froome is only giving the Green jersey the respect it is due by not gifting it to Trentin, and going for the INT and the final Sprint.

velo.2010

Chris Froome - climber, time trialist.... and sprinter!

Inquitus

Inquitus wrote: »

He got 4 stage wins, its a professional sport and to be fair Froome is only giving the Green jersey the respect it is due by not gifting it to Trentin, and going for the INT and the final Sprint.

Eh? I wasn't suggesting he should be gifted it, just disappointed he didn't get it

TheBlaaMan

What happened overnight that dropped Contador to 5th on GC?

He was at 3.11 to Froome overnight and now 3.18, with Kelderman remaining on 3.15 all the time, meaning that Contador is 5th on GC, not 4th as he had been after the result of Stage 20 yesterday? Was that 4th @ 3.11 provisional and subsequently corrected to 3.18 ???

mhiggy09

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

What happened overnight that dropped Contador to 5th on GC?

He was at 3.11 to Froome overnight and now 3.18, with Kelderman remaining on 3.15 all the time, meaning that Contador is 5th on GC, not 4th as he had been after the result of Stage 20 yesterday? Was that 4th @ 3.11 provisional and subsequently corrected to 3.18 ???

Contador lost 7secs to him today in the spirit

TheBlaaMan

mhiggy09 wrote: »

Contador lost 7secs to him today in the spirit

Did he?? Where? - there were only 4 point at the intermediate and Kelderman wasn't in the top 15 at the finish line?? In any case, Kelderman did get any time back on GC, he stayed at 3.15......it was Contador who changed from 3.11 to 3.18.

Here's the official results from the Vuelta website:


Edit, OK, so I see that Kelderman finished in 16th and Contador in 26th today and there was a seven second gap between them. Strange.....
I guess it reinforces his career choice that nothing other then first mattered.......

neris

Kirbys fawning over Froome at the end was sickening

ThisRegard

velo.2010 wrote: »

Chris Froome - climber, time trialist.... and sprinter!

Alpecin must be kicking themselves he's bald.

not sane

Sky are paying of guys who would in there are own right be contenders. "Money Talks" bit dodgy Froome up at the sprint at the end when all rest are f..ked. He looked incredibly fresh.

velo.2010

Looking at Nibali standing on the podium - he's a deceptively tall guy. 5'11 according to Wikipedia.

World's start next week. Thought it was later for some reason. And then that's that for another year. Passes all to quickly nowadays!

Adios Alberto!

Eamonnator

not sane wrote: »

Sky are paying of guys who would in there are own right be contenders. "Money Talks" bit dodgy Froome up at the sprint at the end when all rest are f..ked. He looked incredibly fresh.

Or he wanted 11th place in the sprint more than anybody behind him.

dastardly00

A big thank you to neris, Daroxtar, retalivity and pelevin for doing the stage threads and previews

Lusk_Doyle

Why does Froome think he is the first person to win the tour vuelt double? Does he not know his cycling history at all?

Eamonnator

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Why does Froome think he is the first person to win the tour vuelt double? Does he not know his cycling history at all?

Yeah, I've heard him say that.
Not putting words in his mouth, but Maybe he means the first to do the double, since the Vuelta moved from Spring to Autumn, which is probably more difficult than before the change.

gordongekko

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Why does Froome think he is the first person to win the tour vuelt double? Does he not know his cycling history at all?

It's like soccer it never started until sky got evolved

gordongekko

ThisRegard wrote: »

Alpecin must be kicking themselves he's bald.

Is it not that he's bald because he's not using it?

Lusk_Doyle

I'm fairly certain that I read him say that he knew nothing about cycling history in Europe. I can't think of where I read it but I find that ignorance or lack of interest from someone who is trying to be recognised as one of the grests incredible and somewhat distasteful.