Vuelta Stage 12 - Salobreña -Peñas Blancas. Estepona 192.7 km

neris

Cat 1 finish today on the Costa del Sol. Forecast is for 30 degrees. 2 non starters and 1 abandon already and stage is only 20km in.

"The finish-line’s accumulated difficulty will be increased. In 2022, the route will be completed by climbing up to the iconic Estepona viewpoint and adding another four kilometres to the climb, that will measure around 20 km, with a total of 1250 metres of slopes."

mewso

Boy Van Poppel and Santiago Buitrago both DNS with Covid. This is another will they or won't they for the break. You would have to favour the break if it's even half decent but I'm sure Remco wants a non-TT stage. It's also time for some of the other GC riders to have a go surely but who? Not Mas, Rodriguez or any of the top 5. Might not be willing to put it on the line just yet (Mas will probably defend all the way hoping for more covid in the Quickstep team). Maybe the likes of Almeida or Geoghegan Hart. Lopez suddenly announced himself in the TT so maybe he is ready for a push.

There is quite the break away today 32 strong with 1:18 currently.

retalivity

A break of 32 away up the road, didn't expect that. Guess the winner will come from that and the peloton will take it easy til the final climb

eagle eye

Kinda like Rein Taramae for this one. It reminds me of the stage he won last year. He's in good form, just has to make the breakaway.

I can't see Vine getting in the breakaway today. I don't think anybody will help him because they know they are wasting their time trying to win a stage with him in the break.

mewso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119553981#Comment_119553981

I'm assuming you mean you can't see Vine winning since he is in the break but considering how stacked it is I agree he isn't the favourite but wouldn't be surprised if he did. Interesting to see how he goes against Carapaz, Kelderman etc.

neris

Remco having a bit of strop because he leaned his bike over a little too far

mewso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119554542#Comment_119554542

What could he possibly have been complaining about? Funny though after all the talk of him having matured (although he does seem to be more mature in his attitude in general).

Mefistofelino

Jesus. Adam's interesting facts about Estepona belongs on the "Accidental Partridge" Twitter.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119554038#Comment_119554038

I hadn't checked before I posted that. I didn't expect a break to get away so early.

I can't believe anybody was happy to have Vine in a breakaway, you are wasting your time trying to win a stage with a finish like this with him in it.

Only Carapaz, Lutsenko,Soler and Kelderman have the pace to get away from him on the less difficult sections and then see if they can stay away which is unlikely.

Macy0161

Interesting discussion on yesterdays Cycling Podcast - one of the riders interviewed says although on the face of it non-symptomatic riders should be allowed to carry on, we don't really know the effects of racing hard with Covid (given the experience of longer affects of people who have had it e.g. Froome).

Mefistofelino

Bora doing a sterling job of pacing Jay Vine up the climb.

I see Pinot still there in the favourites group, surely he should have been up the road today?

Mr. Cats

Anyone know at approx what km’s into stage Remco had his spill?

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119554974#Comment_119554974

It was about 45km to go

Wow the state of the top of this climb after the fires. 😥

retalivity

Would love to see Wilco finally win a race

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555004#Comment_119555004

It was 45km to go for the break, with Remco 10 minutes behind so probably around 52km

retalivity

Lol Soler appears from nowhere again and drops his teammate

mewso

Movistar working at the front up that climb so Mas can...follow Remco.

eagle eye

Remco looks so good, he'll win the Tour next year I think. To do that after a crash is ridiculous.

Great ride from Carapaz, I thought Kelderman was going to be the one.

mewso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555113#Comment_119555113

No doubt he could have a good crack in the Tour but I would prefer to see him give the Giro a go. Not sure if I'd want to be going up against a Pogacar I fully expect to attack the Tour with a vengence.

G1032

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555113#Comment_119555113

The Tour is a different animal. Bigger, faster, more media pressure and exposure, better riders and stronger teams. Sure he's a class rider but going up against Pogacar and Vingegaard is an entirely different matter to what's going on at this Vuelta.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555129#Comment_119555129

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119555272#Comment_119555272

I get what you're saying lads but the way he's riding in the mountains is the most impressive I've ever seen. He's not getting out of his saddle and putting everybody under pressure and dropping them at times.

Add his TT ability and he's unstoppable I think.

I get the Giro thing though. He could do that next year and have the triple crown the year after.

retalivity

He had a stab at the Giro last year didnt he? Didn't fare too well in the cold weather or the gravel stage that they had.

MangleBadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119556540#Comment_119556540

It was also his first race back. Could be a different beast next year.

mewso

It's funny how things work out because I thought Pog might have had a crack at the Giro next year if he had the third Tour in the bag but now I suspect he will be all out for it next year and to hell with the Giro so other than Vingegaard who would want to bother trying to beat him. Hiding to nothing if you ask me but in fairness Remco is genuinely better every year which is amazing really when you think about it. Last year he couldn't sprint uphill with any kind of pace but this year he has added proper acceleration to his armoury. He seems like the kind of guy who next year will be better still. Unlike Pogacar who seemed to be the complete package from the start. I still need to see how he handles multiple attacks from the cream of the GC crop. We haven't seen any proper attack really in this Vuelta mainly because Remco is doing such an intense pace but if Roglic has a very good day he will attack and I will be very curious to see how Remoc fares then.

retalivity

Theres a pretty steep cat1 climb immediately before the sierra nevada finish, jumbo/movistar/ineos/uae need to go balls out there and isolate remco before the 20k climb to 2500m. Hes untested in high mountains, if they crack him there he could lose minutes...

The top 10 could see huge shakeups as well, theres always 1-2 who have bad days and will lose 10+ mins on a stage, whereas guys from high altutde like MAL and Carapaz will gain places.

MyDarkArts

Evenepoel's ability on the bike pales in comparison to his ability to get everyone to refer to him by his first name. Even in the midst of a discussion where all the other riders are referred to by their surname he's still being called Remco.

Initally thought it might just have been a GCN+ / Eurosport thing but it seems to have escaped into the wider discourse.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119557735#Comment_119557735

You can't shorten his second name like you can Rog/Rogla, Vin or Pog. There's no other Remco so it's perfect.

Macy0161

And all the anglophones are saying Evenepoel wrong too anyway!

I think a lot of chicken counting above - there hasn't been any tour or giro-esque long climbs yet, no altitude. I'm reserving judgement until after the weekend. Could be all very Simon Yates 2018 Giro...