La Vuelta Stage 1 (Spoilers)

Richard Hillman

Jesus that was tremendous. The big guns came out with their dicks swinging. We have seen the contenders in that bunch. There was absolutely no easing your way into the race.

dastardly00

A good day for Slovenia

Struggling to think of the last time we saw a GC day like that in a tour on day one outside of a time trial

mr spuckler

And another hilly day to come tomorrow with a Cat 1 near the end

velo.2010

Does Roglic dare to hold the jersey all the way to Madrid? It would be some way to exorcise those Tour de France demons if he managed to do it.

Friday until Sam has a go?

Itziger

I hadn't looked at the profile at all and when I turned it on I was wondering if Sam had a a chance today

Maybe not.

Second the sentiments here. Great to see Dan in that form. They dropped a fair few big hitters today.

Coneygree

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Struggling to think of the last time we saw a GC day like that in a tour on day one outside of a time trial

Hard to even remember a non prologue or sprint day 1. 2008 was a rare exception, I'll never forget Valverde's ridiculous sprint to win that day. Very fitting opening to one of the daftest yet entertaining Tours in recent times.

Dodge

Froome lost 11:12 in the end. Pinot was 9:56 down.

Sam Bennett in the biggest group at just over 15 minutes

neris

Dodge wrote: »

Froome lost 11:12 in the end. Pinot was 9:56 down.

Sam Bennett in the biggest group at just over 15 minutes

"So Dan we think that British/Kenyan lad we have signed up for next year will make a great domestique for you"

Dodge

Michael Woods listed by some as a podium challenger. He was 3 minutes behind the Sam group. Dani Martinez lost 4:30. Wout Poels 1:51

First day and loads of lads who thought they would be on the podium are done for GC

retalivity

Why did I think this started on Thursday?? Completely missed it.

wirelessdude01

Dodge wrote: »

Michael Woods listed by some as a podium challenger. He was 3 minutes behind the Sam group. Dani Martinez lost 4:30. Wout Poels 1:51

First day and loads of lads who thought they would be on the podium are done for GC

Woods had an incident with some road furniture and due to how stretched the race was he had to wait for a new bike

Inquitus

Poor Sam!

https://twitter.com/Sammmy_Be/status/1318482053302800384

Richard Hillman

Dan Martin was right up there in the Fleche-Wallonne so he must have been feeling good after the tour. I reckon he started to take it easy in the last week or so of the Tour.

MPFGLB

Tune in to ITV4 at 7pm for their highlights package of LAVuelta

BTW Froome has signed a several million pound deal with Israel Start Up Nation ...no way is he retiring

Inquitus

MPFGLB wrote: »

Tune in to ITV4 at 7pm for their highlights package of LAVuelta

BTW Froome has signed a several million pound deal with Israel Start Up Nation ...no way is he retiring

I thought Froome would have some form for the Vuelta, seems I was wrong, do you think he just doesn't give a toss about Sky at this point, as its either that or he doesn't seem to be recovering from his horror crash, and might never be the same rider again.

MPFGLB

Dan Martin did not do the Worlds or the Irish Championships etc in order to be ready for La Vuelta

Has a good shot of a podium as the parcours really suits him

MPFGLB

Inquitus wrote: »

I thought Froome would have some form for the Vuelta, seems I was wrong, do you think he just doesn't give a toss about Sky at this point, as its either that or he doesn't seem to be recovering from his horror crash, and might never be the same rider again.

I thnik Froome will improve as the race goes on


He has had no racing in 1.5 years almost

And he came back from such a terrible crash

He will get alot better ...He has the determination and strength of character

Dodge

MPFGLB wrote: »

Dan Martin did not do the Worlds or teh Irish Championships etc in order to be ready for La Vuelta

Has a good shot of a podium as the parcours really suits him

He didn’t do those races because of LBL and Flèche Wallonne to be fair

ednwireland

as the itv4 coverage says why dont we always start grand tours on stage 4

ednwireland

ednwireland wrote: »

as the itv4 coverage says why dont we always start grand tours on stage 4

Ha this I wasn't aware of / didn't think of, they didn't amend the route as such did they, so this wasn't a planed GC day on day one at all. It would have been welcome to Spain after 3 days in the flat in the Netherlands suckers!!!!!

Macy0161

Dodge wrote: »

Michael Woods listed by some as a podium challenger. He was 3 minutes behind the Sam group. Dani Martinez lost 4:30. Wout Poels 1:51

Woods crashed. Something that is often overlooked in the whole possible future ISN dynamic is that Woods was supported by Sylvan Adams before he even turned pro.

For the teams sake, I hope they've some performance clauses in the Froome contract. I thought his pre-Vuelta talk of GC was optimistic, but that's still shocking form at this stage of the season. If anything, the disrupted season and being able to focus on training should've helped his recovery.

You'd have to wonder on the logic of Ineos even bringing him, as he can't even offer much as a domestique if he stays at this level. Doesn't look like a cycling decision anyway - letting him ride around spain to find form for his new team next year.

CantGetNoSleep

Macy0161 wrote: »

Woods crashed. Something that is often overlooked in the whole possible future ISN dynamic is that Woods was supported by Sylvan Adams before he even turned pro.

For the teams sake, I hope they've some performance clauses in the Froome contract. I thought his pre-Vuelta talk of GC was optimistic, but that's still shocking form at this stage of the season. If anything, the disrupted season and being able to focus on training should've helped his recovery.

You'd have to wonder on the logic of Ineos even bringing him, as he can't even offer much as a domestique if he stays at this level. Doesn't look like a cycling decision anyway - letting him ride around spain to find form for his new team next year.

Guarantees them a bit of media coverage at least