Vuelta 2018 Stage 2:Marbella – Caminito del Rey 163.5 km - 26th August 2018

MPFGLB

This stage seems wide open

Could the red jersey change hands ...I think so




2pm live on Eurosport

De Gendt in a break away what a surprise

MPFGLB

Nico confirming that BMC are riding for Teuns today...with him hoping he can get a good result too and be in the mix

Not seeing the ad free feed again today on the player

Thud

Caja Rural bike is nice



Looks better in the sun

Boscoirl

Deleted User wrote: »

Not seeing the ad free feed again today on the player

Same here

cunavalos

Spoiler alert from Tour de L'Avenir but as there is no scheduled coverage should be ok to post here

Eddie Dunbar finished second on the final stage after a sprint from reduced group to move up to 8th overall in the final GC. A solid outing for Eddie and hopefully form holds up for the upcoming Tour of Britain. The Irish team must also be fairly happy with the race overall

https://twitter.com/tourdelavenir/status/1033689487145095169

neris

Fup off Carlton with your constant mention of the weather.

Sal Butamol

Sagan really struggling

dastardly00

8 km remaining.

Fingers crossed for Dan

Sal Butamol

Nibali at the tail end of the peleton? Looks like he crashed.

neris

Great finish

Decuc500

Absolute joke. 38 years old. Not a great advert for this race.

MPFGLB

NIcolas Roche best of BMC ...gap to 8" group cost him 7" seconds

cunavalos

Hadn't spotted Dan losing contact during coverage but disappointed to see him losing a further 1.15 today. Nico finished just behind front group at 15 seconds

I thought that was Dan sat there with the others at the end clearly now it was Aru.

neris

https://twitter.com/katushacycling/status/1033747182560653312?s=19

Eamonnator

I'm guessing Richie Porte is out of contention!

MPFGLB

Eamonnator wrote: »

I'm guessing Richie Porte is out of contention!

Sure is along with all of BMC except one

So is Nibali and possibly Zakarin

cunavalos

Seems stomach issues are fairly widespread throughout the peloton,
Lars Boom only had 4 seconds to spare from the time limit after stopping en route to use the facilities in a spectators campervan
https://twitter.com/selubraza84/status/1033710705856471041

dastardly00

Well done to Nico considering the rest of the team are gone to sh1te!

Quotes From the Finish Line:

Nicolas Roche:

“I was feeling ok today after the time trial yesterday. I think with my lack of racing in the past weeks, I was missing something in the final 500m. I was in a good position but I didn’t have the kick I needed. I’m a little bit disappointed that I couldn’t accelerate but I think I will ride myself into the race. 15 few seconds lost today is not a big deal.”

Rohan Dennis:

“At the start, I didn’t feel too bad and we were riding pretty solidly. Of course, it wasn’t easy but I was feeling comfortable with the pace and I thought maybe my legs would be better than I thought. But, about two hours in, I really started to suffer and even sitting on the wheel I wasn’t feeling great. I lasted for as long as possible and I was planning on trying to help at the end if I was needed but I just had nothing left in the tank.”

“I think the wind played a big part in today’s stage and the roads were never straight or flowing so, you never got to sit in the peloton. You were always chasing or in single file going around a corner. The altitude gain wasn’t that bad but I think the terrain was the real difficulty today.”

Richie Porte:

“When asked what happened and if I’m disappointed, the answer was no. I never said coming into this race that I was after the GC. The team said we would take it day by day as it’s not been a good run in from me. If you crash out of the Tour de France, you’re not straight back on your bike. Yesterday was a great day for the team and we had Rohan in the red jersey today which was great but for me personally, I knew I wasn’t going to have a great day today from the get-go. It was a tough stage for everyone I think and when you see guys lighting it up like the Spanish guys did, it’s never going to be easy. They definitely made the race hard today but we have to keep looking forward though and will see what happens as the race develops.”

MPFGLB

Nicolas Roche also spent today at the front on the chase and fetching bottles....maybe if he didn't he wouldnt have lost 15 seconds at the end ... just saying

dastardly00

MPFGLB wrote: »

Nicolas Roche also spent today at the front on the chase and fetching bottles....maybe if he didn't he wouldnt have lost 15 seconds at the end ... just saying

Hopefully he will get full support from the team now?

MPFGLB

dastardly00 wrote: »

Hopefully he will get full support from the team now?

Well today they rode for Teuns ...and he lost almost 3 minutes ..so maybe heat not good for him

Also protected Dennis & Porte and they lost >13 minutes

Nico is their only GC rider ..they will have to support him now and see how it goes ...and put guys in break for stage wins

Dennis will stay till next TT and Porte might not last til first rest day I think

Imagine most of the other riders are happy to be free esp de Marchi , Bookwalter , Rosskopf for the break

Nico wont have much support but it beats fetching bottles I suppose ...

MPFGLB

Confirmed here that Nico is the leader

https://twitter.com/Cyclingnewsfeed/status/1033818643816214530

cunavalos

MPFGLB wrote: »

Confirmed here that Nico is the leader

Reading that fully and there is nothing to suggest (other than the headline) Nico will have full support from the team it merely states that he is BMC's highest place GC rider.

I wouldn't be surprised to see BMC go for individual stage wins rather than go all out for an outside bet of a top 10 finish on GC with Nico

Where does the challenge to Sky come from? I'd love to see Quintana pull off a move like he did in 2016 with Contador, thats up there with my favorite moments of any race in the last number of years. Kelderman will do what he always does and ride for a spot on the podium. Uran? Likely the same. Aru looked better today than he has all year but don't see him doing much.

And none of those guys are take time from Sky in a TT.

MPFGLB

cunavalos wrote: »

Reading that fully and there is nothing to suggest (other than the headline) Nico will have full support from the team it merely states that he is BMC's highest place GC rider.

I wouldn't be surprised to see BMC go for individual stage wins rather than go all out for an outside bet of a top 10 finish on GC with Nico

They are not mutually exclusive ...a team can only get 2/3 riders in a break at a time ..BMC are not going to win a sprint stage ..or against GC contenders on MTF or Kwaito/Valverde on a hill sprint so breakways is their only option

But can do both stages and support Nico

He is going for GC


But he wont have a full team support as I pointed out above because of Porte,Dennis , etc

retalivity

Kwiato should not be contesting high mountain stages...but then agin, sky, so...

Pinot anybody??

MPFGLB

Deleted User wrote: »

Where does the challenge to Sky come from? I'd love to see Quintana pull off a move like he did in 2016 with Contador, thats up there with my favorite moments of any race in the last number of years. Kelderman will do what he always does and ride for a spot on the podium. Uran? Likely the same. Aru looked better today than he has all year but don't see him doing much.

And none of those guys are take time from Sky in a TT.

I think Quintana will win this Vuelta because he is always better in 2nd GT and he seems to be going good ...also no Froome or Contador

Lotto NLJ look like a podium for me

Macy0161

I think Nico will be protected rather than full on GC support you might see with other teams. And that's more BMC's style anyway to be fair, and I don't think there's legitimate expectations of a podium anyway.

Regarding Sky, I don't think anyone needs to consider a Formigal style attack at this stage. There's so much climbing to come, and sky have no one proven in this race (and Kwiatkowski first time doing two grand tours in a year), I think it would be premature. Yesterday was a "flat" stage according to the Vuelta!