Vuelta a España stage 10: Castro Urdiales to Suances (185km)

mr spuckler

After yesterday's disappointment for Sam Bennett, today might present another opportunity. The bookies seemed to think so but with the last 1.5km @ 5.9% it feels like it could possibly be beyond him. Time will tell!

mr spuckler

Submitted my post without completing the title. Again :mad:

You should still be able to edit it if you go advanced.

Day for the 4 man break today surely with a 11:40 lead.

mr spuckler

Deleted User wrote: »

You should still be able to edit it if you go advanced.

Day for the 4 man break today surely with a 11:40 lead.

Done, thanks Never knew you could do that.

eagle eye

Deleted User wrote:

Day for the 4 man break today surely with a 11:40 lead.

Cut to 8.45 now, still a large lead, I think those two climbs between 60k and 40k to go will tell us if they are going to get caught.

mr spuckler

And 6:30 now, with DQS getting involved in the chase. They must fancy Sam's chances!

eagle eye

mr spuckler wrote:

And 6:30 now, with DQS getting involved in the chase. They must fancy Sam's chances!

It might be more a case of them really wanting it after yesterday. I think it's too tough for him, I don't think you can get a train to control it either.

I think these two climbs between 40km and 60 km could see another breakaway. The road is not flat the be rest of the way and it'll be hard to keep a pace up.

mr spuckler

eagle eye wrote: »

It might be more a case of them really wanting it after yesterday. I think it's too tough for him, I don't think you can get a train to control it either.

I think these two climbs between 40km and 60 km could see another breakaway. The road is not flat the be rest of the way and it'll be hard to keep a pace up.

I think it is aswell and was really surprised to see him as favourite for the stage. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Dodge

It seems they're basing it on Sam winning an uphill finish in Burgos earlier this year but a crash might have helped him there. His best win, IMO, was the win at Imola in the Giro and that was one where all the sprinters faded except him. Perhaps they think he can repeat that. I think he might be a little too tired for that today.

Will be tuning in though

eagle eye

Just off the cuff, I'm a fan of Kirby as a commentator.
Has anybody read Magic Spanner? Is it worth getting?

mr spuckler

Sam being dropped on this climb isn't a good sign!

mr spuckler

mr spuckler wrote: »

Sam being dropped on this climb isn't a good sign!

By his own team too so not his day today clearly.

eagle eye

mr spuckler wrote:

Sam being dropped on this climb isn't a good sign!

Well he hasn't been stopped yet but hard to see him handling the finish ifv he is struggling to hang in here.

Richard Hillman

eagle eye wrote: »

Just off the cuff, I'm a fan of Kirby as a commentator.
Has anybody read Magic Spanner? Is it worth getting?

I actually bought it this week and am half way through it. It's good fun, a lot of musings from his life on the road. I think he adds a lot of dramatic licence to some incidents though

Paddigol

eagle eye wrote: »

Just off the cuff, I'm a fan of Kirby as a commentator.
Has anybody read Magic Spanner? Is it worth getting?

Not exactly a fan of his but don’t mind him, I got a present of the book. An easy read but not exactly riveting or sports book of the year quality. Harmless and easy... like the man himself. A few chuckle worthy stories but I wouldn’t be pushed to buy it myself I have to say.

mr spuckler

There's another ramp in about 10km, 4.6km @3.4%. At least there's a long descent for recovery after that...

dahat

Sam pushes big gears up these ramps, it's odd looking.

mr spuckler

He really looks like he's not on a good day

dahat

I wonder does he even get to the end today....

Richard Hillman

I think DQS are leading at the front to keep a pace that satisfies the field but slow enough to keep Bennett from falling away completely.

If Bora were at the front, they would be driving it to get rid of Bennett completely for the stage.

mr spuckler

CN text updates have another suggestion...

Perhaps Deceunick are riding for Zdenek Stybar or even Andrea Bagioli.

Stybar has won Tour de France stages on similar parcour, while Bagioli finished seventh at the recent La Flèche Brabançonne.

dastardly00

Still no camera shots of Sam yet.

Bambaata

Is it just me or does Sam suffer on the climbs a lot more than he used to, it seems to me that in order to become better at the actual sprint he has worked on things that inevitably have him suffering more to get over ramps that i thought he managed better before, perhaps more muscle mass/heavier etc?

mr spuckler

dastardly00 wrote: »

Still no camera shots of Sam yet.

There he is now near the back with a few team mates nearby.

eagle eye

Bambaata wrote:

Is it just me or does Sam suffer on the climbs a lot more than he used to, it seems to me that in order to become better at the actual sprint he has worked on things that inevitably have him suffering more to get over ramps that i thought he managed better before, perhaps more muscle mass/heavier etc?

He's ridden the tour de France and has had some brutal climbs this week in the Vuelta. It's not surprising that he'd be suffering a bit.

Dodge

Bambaata wrote: »

Is it just me or does Sam suffer on the climbs a lot more than he used to, it seems to me that in order to become better at the actual sprint he has worked on things that inevitably have him suffering more to get over ramps that i thought he managed better before, perhaps more muscle mass/heavier etc?

He was grand in the last week of the Tour and started in the Vuelta great too. Way ahead of the likes of Acerkmann etc. But I'm sure it all catches up on him. He's never done this amount of mountains before (Tour + Giro), especially in such short a timeframe

eagle eye

Richard Hillman wrote:

I actually bought it this week and am half way through it. It's good fun, a lot of musings from his life on the road. I think he adds a lot of dramatic licence to some incidents though

Paddigol wrote:

Not exactly a fan of his but don’t mind him, I got a present of the book. An easy read but not exactly riveting or sports book of the year quality. Harmless and easy... like the man himself. A few chuckle worthy stories but I wouldn’t be pushed to buy it myself I have to say.

Thanks for that guys. Seems like it's an enjoyable read so I think I'll get it as a companion book for more serious reading.

dastardly00

Goodnight Vienna for Sam today

Chivito550

Is it just me or is this Vuelta a bizarre choice for Sam? Of the 18 stages, there's only 3 stages that suit him, with one being at the very end, with all the other days having climbing to some sort of degree. That's a lot of suffering to have to endure for so few opportunities.

This Vuelta is definitely not as balanced as the Tour. Way too much climbing.

Regardless, he got one stage win, so it's a success for him.

Bambaata

I think before the reduced stages there were to be a few more early stages setup for sprinters in Holland where it had been due to start

Chivito550

Bambaata wrote: »

I think before the reduced stages there were to be a few more early stages setup for sprinters in Holland where it had been due to start

Sure, but those stages were already binned before the decision was made for Sam to do this Vuelta.