"PRO" Cycling Discussion

[ave]

What a day today at the Vuelta! Anacona must be satisfied, but only 9" from the leader's jersey... Too bad for him!

Contrary to what used to be the case, when we see the Sky train on the front, it means Froome is not feeling too good.

[dereksmalls]

Will be interesting to see how Froome goes against Contador in the TT and if either one of them will pick up the lead from that stage or not. Lead will change for sure on that stage but to who

[kbbpll]

I know it's how pro racing goes, but has Froome done anything in Vuelta except hide amongst the front and avoid time gaps? Maybe it's how you win a GT in the end, but to me it's boring. Gomez, Quintana, Contador, Valverde offer a lot more excitement.

[jooo]

He's been racing to pick up bonus seconds quite successfully until the last stage. Have you been watching any of the race?

[kbbpll]

I've been watching the "final x km" on eurosport and monitoring the results, so yes and no. I completely agree that strategically it's working well for him, but to me it's yawn. I'll freely admit that I'm only a marginal viewer/follower, but something like Jens going out on his own with 60k to go and losing is infinitely more entertaining than somebody like Froome calculating bonuses and sitting in the team cocoon.

[bfno]

Really poor win by Bouhanni IMHO on stage 8 with that diversion of line in the final 50 m to cut off Mathews who was clearly coming around the side of him and in a good position for the win.

[Antoine]

yes, but unfortunately sprinters are rarely punished for that so they keep doing it.

[Sjoerd]

Wout Poels signs with Sky!

[bikewithnoname]

yes, but unfortunately sprinters are rarely punished for that so they keep doing it.

Cav used to get pinged for this quite often, fairly or not.

Whilst Bouhani seems unable to sprint in a straight line in this Vuleta, Matthews was never goign to get past him yesterday.

[bfno]

Given another 50 meters and some straight line sprinting I recon Matthews would have had him. Maybe thats just my Australian bias though

[micky]

yes, but unfortunately sprinters are rarely punished for that so they keep doing it.

I agree with you, especially when they change their line so much from one side to the other of the road.

[HillRPete]

I know it's how pro racing goes, but has Froome done anything in Vuelta except hide amongst the front and avoid time gaps? Maybe it's how you win a GT in the end, but to me it's boring. Gomez, Quintana, Contador, Valverde offer a lot more excitement.

Ok I am rooting for Froome's opponents, but could not blame anything on him so far in this race -- we're only two mountain top finishes down. In the first one he finished in the same time as the stage winner, and apart from that there's really nothing wrong with keeping your powder dry and look how everyone is going in the first uphill test. The second uphill finish he was dropped. That's all.
Agreed that the other big names have put on the show, though. Great to see Rodriguez going well, and he wasn't even alone in the finish. Quintana impressive also, instigating the chase after Contador. The accountant himself, beyond words. In the moment he sees Froome just slightly strained he dishes out an attack. But not of the tentative and repetitive sort like in his last Vuelta.

We'll see how the TT goes for Froome, my tip would be on Contador and Quintana as the strongest contenders, at the moment. Quintana will find his rhythm and is no stranger to performing strongly in the second half of a GT.

[ave]

>Given another 50 meters and some straight line sprinting I recon Matthews would have had him.
No doubt! As Buhanni was doing 300m in the wind, the Mathews maybe 20meters?

[Pharmstrong]

Bouhani seems unable to sprint in a straight line i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶V̶u̶l̶e̶t̶a̶

I think he and his merry yellow-hatted men are going to cause chaos at next year's tour.

[ultyguy]

http://chrisfroomelookingatstems.tumblr.com/

Priceless!