The Vuelta thread 2024

Tumbling down the rankings already! Probably two out from crashing –

And once again Quest **** it up and we get some crappy programme about antiques instead of the highlights. They must run that channel on an absolute shoestring.

Tried to watch the highlights yesterday on discovery and all I got was the end of lombardia and Chinese granfondo. I get the impression discovery spent all their money buying the rights and presenters and have no production budget left

McNulty should get a special jersey to recognise the dodgiest moustache in the peloton. Doesn’t he have any friends to tell him how it looks?

I think he’s challenging Victor for that honour. Who dyes wins.

Tried to watch the highlights yesterday on discovery and all I got was the end of lombardia

Yeah same here, although I think it might have been because I was trying to watch them before they were broadcast on Disco+, the schedule had TDFF on 21.00-22.00, then half an hour of TDFF breakaway, then the vuelta highlights weren’t on until 22.30.

I remembered that the stage was a likely sprint so just fast-forwarded the live broadcast to 10km to go.

Tried to watch the highlights yesterday on discovery….

Early on  Sunday I noticed that the live broadcast on Eurosport wasn’t set to record, so checked why. According to the schedule, they were showing a review of speedboat racing from 9.30am until 9.30pm, with nothing else to be broadcast. The other Eurosport channel was showing a normal mix, so I recorded 12 hours of speedboat racing and got it right – the Vuelta was there. Eurosport have always been crap for schedule changes, and missing out crucial parts of the race, but recently they seem particularly flaky.

Loved seeing him win today but hate that bloody celebration, someone needs to tell him how stupid it looks 😀

The GC boys will  get to play today, we’re into Spain proper with a stage featuring a Cat 2 climb, a Cat 1, a Cat 3 with bonus secondsm and a Cat 1 finish. Quilte looking forward to it, shame I’m in a bloody meeting all day

that bloody celebration

Yeah, he needs to sell it on to Pog or somebody like that; it doesn’t really suit a bunch sprint, even just on safety grounds

that bloody celebration

Just worked it out , ever the corporate whore, “Red Bull gives you wings.” ?

Just worked it out , ever the corporate whore, “Red Bull gives you wings.” ?

Aaah – makes sense 🙂

Still – that’s my hero you’re talking about, so button it, right?

Looking forward to the mountains now. It’s assumed that Sepp Kuss will take the lead, but I’m not so sure …

I’d love to see Thomas De Gendt have one more breakaway before La Vuelta ends. Victor is a cheeky monkey, adorable.

Would not rule Kuss out but that is a pretty big assumption given the likes of Roglic and Almeida have 30s on him

I reckon Wva could hang on in red if he is allowed to

I think UAE are going to hammer everyone but its going to be the usual case of the main contenders and a sprint for the line

It’s assumed that Sepp Kuss will take the lead, but I’m not so sure …

I think at the end of today’s stage the red jumper will be on Almeida. Or Yates. Or Roglic. But not Kuss.

Cracking ride by Rogla – powered up that brutal climb and his usual sprint. Van Eetvelt (sp?) will be feeling the burn for a long time!

That looked almost as hard as today’s 5 minute climb into Lyme Park.

Also a cracking ride by  Mikel Landa.

Lennert Van Eetvelt  did a Lindsay Jacobellis style celebration (celebrating too early), school boy error. Great rider though.

Rolling start, flat finish – guaranteed sprint day. Wout has one win and has given up the red, but still wears the green – with only a narrow lead over Kaden Groves. SPRINT FINISH. I’m in the office so I think tonight will be a night to use the “timeline markers” on Discovery+ to skip to attacks / crashes / the last 20km

Eetvelt should have gone wider on the final bend. And not celebrated. The Roglic-Almeida-Landa triumvirate should start to bring in the points now. I had no expectations for Kuss, and Yates will be the super domestique again. Rolling rest day in the heat today, I think.

Riccitello looked good, I should have picked him

Rui Costa out after a slow speed crash into Owain Doull, who lost his grip on a small innocuous road bump. Almost 40C today. Top 50 places unchanged 😀

Tomorrow starts at the local Carrefour in Jerez. Somewhere I’ve been a few times as Son2 spent two years training in Jerez, then it’s lumpy and a final climb to the finish… Breakaway day for Victor! (maybe) https://www.lavuelta.es/en/stage-6

Breakaway day for Victor! (maybe)

It would be nice to see Victor and Thomas out there together. But how would they decide who wins?

Nobody expected that

Boom!

Some red faces on Bora and other “favourite “ teams !!

Roglic at 4:51, Almeida at 4:59. That’s a serious gap!!

Hadn’t really been paying attention to the vuelta while I’ve been recovering emotionally from the TdFF. Popped it on for a casual look today, and as people on the internet might say I am now fully LOCKED IN.

I for one am absolutely gobsmacked they let Ben that far up the road. Normally at the end of a big effort like that you see fatigue towards the end, certainly on an uphill finish, but he just kept pulling out further. A great effort.

A proper mistake given the nature of his win in the 2021 TdF

That’s going to make an interesting race even more interesting

LOVING IT! What a great day, suddenly it’s made this race so much more interesting

I’ve been finding it hard to get into the Vuelta this year, and the first day I don’t watch it, this happens!

It certainly changes the dynamics a bit.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a big gap. Apparently Adam Yates had a crash and came in a good few minutes after the main peloton. Very exciting race.

As was mentioned by the commentators, Matt White from Jayco ALULa must be rubbing his hands with glee signing Ben O’Connor.

A proper mistake given the nature of his win in the 2021 TdF

Not mention his results this year.

1st Vuelta Ciclista a la Region de Murcia

2nd UAE Tour with a win on Jebel Jais

5th Tirreno Adriatico

2nd Tour of the Alps

4th Giro d’Italia

One of the issue with watching via “timeline marker” catchup on Discovery+ is that while you do see important action that gets covered and the live coverage from 20km to go (or whereever you skip to) you don’t know about other things that happen but only get mentioened in passing. I’ve learned today that Rigoberto Uran crashed on Stage 6 yesterday and had to withdraw, meaning this was his final race

https://www.cyclingstage.com/vuelta-2024/vuelta-2024-withdrawals/

Little Kenny Elissonde also withdrew in the stage, no idea why as yet. I did see both DvB and Rui Costa’s crashes

Today is a rolling stage with a pokey little Cat 2 towards the back end.

the only KOM climb of the day goes by the name of Alto del 14%, which refers to the steepest ramp of the climb. The average gradient of the 8.4 kilometres long drag sits at 5.3%. A rolling section leads to the downhill before the last 12 kilometres are entirely flat.

https://www.cyclingstage.com/vuelta-2024-route/stage-7-spain-2024/

Looks like any sprinter who can climb will be in with a shout, so WvA has to be favourite surely?

https://www.cyclingstage.com/vuelta-2024-favourites/stage-7-contenders-spain-2024/

Wout – what a rider and what a gentleman!!

Wout – what a rider and what a gentleman!!

Pure class

Jumbo are such a close knit team.

Jumbo are such a close knit team.

Well compared to last year when they had 2 of their riders attacking their own red jersey they could only of got better ?