Vuelta; Stage 3 (Aug 20th): Faustino V-Arrate; *warning: contains unmasked spoilers*

dastardly00

I haven't seen a stage specific thread for today, and the stage today definitely deserves one. It's only stage 3 of the Vuelta, but the riders almost have a mountain top finish to deal with (the last 2 km are flat-ish). There should be a nice shake-up in the standings after today.

Stage profile:

dooverylittle

For me this is exactly the kind of stage roche should be competitive on.
I think it is to early in the race for a break away to be given much time.
So the last climb will probably be contended by the GC guys.
On a mountain top finish roche can do well but not win, but with 2 km to the finish after the summit it maybe a sprint from a small group of 6-10.
Good luck nico!

dastardly00

3.5km left. About 15 left in the main bunch. Nico is still in there and doing well. Bertie is looking very impressive. Gadret, Cobo, Menchov have all been dropped.

thebourke

contador looks very strong already..............this is not good news for the other teams!

retalivity

Froome is lucky that was only a 5-6k climb...he looked knackered

Chips Lovell

Roche 11 th on stage and 11th overall

happytramp

Looking good for Roche. Seems to be carrying his tour form into the early part of the Vuelta. Lets hope he can keep it up.

dastardly00

Fantastic finish and a great ride by Nico. For a lot of that last climb he was looking the best behind Contador, Froome, Rodriguez and Valverde.
Some of the other favourites lost a lot of time: Juan Jose Cobo and Maxime Monfort lost 0:50; Damiano Cunego lost 1:28; Denis Menchov lost 1:52; Thomas De Gendt lost 2:07; Jurgen Van Den Broeck lost 3:23.

dastardly00

Stage result:
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar 3:49:37
2 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha
3 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling
4 Alberto Contador (Esp) Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank
5 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha @ 0:00:06
6 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank
7 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
8 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar
9 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin - Sharp
10 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R-La Mondiale

Overall standings:
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar 8:46:56
2 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar @ 00:18
3 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha @ 00:19
4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling @ 00:20
5 Alberto Contador (Esp) Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank @ 00:24
6 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank @ 00:28
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank @ 00:28
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Sky Procycling @ 00:30
9 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha @ 00:33
10 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi @ 00:46
11 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R-La Mondiale @ 00:52

Darkglasses

Deadly stage today! Nico should be well pleased with himself, hope the climb didn't take too much out of him. Contador looked in top form, Froomey a little worn out.

AG2R

Roche can never just get the top 10 :pac:

ednwireland

froome looks knackered at the end of that

dooverylittle

I think roches form maybe better then the tour. That kind of agressive climbing really doesnt suit him, to stick with it today is a sign is form is very good.
Tomorrow is a big day for him.
If he really is going for stages and not GC then he should give up alot of time tomorrow.
Difficult decision for AG2R, Gadret did not look like a GC rider today.
It really proves the UCI points system is flawed, Points should be shared between the team and rider.

AG2R

tbh Gadret has never struck me as a GC rider

luapenak

Great to see Contador back and dishing out the pain. This Vuelta is going to make for great viewing

dooverylittle

AG2R wrote: »

tbh Gadret has never struck me as a GC rider

I dont like him either, but he was 3rd in the Giro last year!

Chips Lovell

Yep. Podium at the Giro is better than Roche has managed. So when he's on form he's a GC man, especially on a lumpy parcours. But I think he's only got one grand tour in him most seasons.

As far as I recall, Roche said Gadret would be their GC man for this one, unless he wasn't going well. On the evidence of today, Roche will be their protected rider.

While Contador looked amazing today, he wasn't able to sustain it. Contrast that with the Giro last year and the first mountain top finish on Etna.

Granted, today was a very different climb and the flat finish didn't help. I think today could have been more of a show of strength. But it certainly animated the stage and provided an early shake up.

funnights74

Bertie is back, jaysus that stage was more fun than the entire tdf put together, contador's stinging attacks blew the field apart, fair dues to froome in particular for digging deep and hanging on but valverde and rodriguez looked good as well. With all the mountain top finishes coming up this vuelta is warming up to be a hell of a race.

AG2R

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

Yep. Podium at the Giro is better than Roche has managed. So when he's on form he's a GC man, especially on a lumpy parcours. But I think he's only got one grand tour in him most seasons.

As far as I recall, Roche said Gadret would be their GC man for this one, unless he wasn't going well. On the evidence of today, Roche will be their protected rider.

Not until after the first week IMO

They always leave it too late to give him support

manwithaplan

J Rod sat up a fraction too early in the finish. Sounds rightly pissed off here:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-3/results

MrMischief

funnights74 wrote: »

Bertie is back, jaysus that stage was more fun than the entire tdf put together, contador's stinging attacks blew the field apart, fair dues to froome in particular for digging deep and hanging on but valverde and rodriguez looked good as well. With all the mountain top finishes coming up this vuelta is warming up to be a hell of a race.

My thoughts exactly...i was up and down in my seat watching that last night. Certainly beats watching the Sky train!! Sets it up nicely and well done Nico!! He might as well be riding for Saxo already and I'd say he is proving to Saxo and Contador that he can stick the pace over these 3 weeks.

TheBlaaMan

MrMischief wrote: »

My thoughts exactly...i was up and down in my seat watching that last night. Certainly beats watching the Sky train!!

This was the interesting bit IMO. Notice that there was no riding on the power meters at tempo...? Sky looked completely all over the place - compared to their TdF carry on - when Bertie went for it.............like him or loathe him I have to admit that Contador is massive value for money when he's on form.