Vuelta; Stage 17 (Sep 5): Santander - Fuente Dé;*contains unmasked spoilers*

dastardly00

Stage 17 (Sep 5): Santander - Fuente Dé
Distance: 177km
Highest point: 1,088m
Category: Lumpy

"The second rest day will have been much needed after three summit finishes and this stage should provide a steady entry to the Vuelta’s final phase. Although Fuente Dé is the fourth summit finale in succession, it is far more straightforward than those that have preceded it and comes at the end of a much less intimidating stage. It heads into the Cantabrian mountains behind Santander and over two lower category climbs on the approach to the final ascent. Fuente Dé averages little more than 3 per cent, which should ensure that the overall contenders sit back and let breakaway riders fight over today’s honours between them."

Although it's only a Cat 2 summit finish today, there should be another epic duel between Rodriguez and Contador. There are only 28 seconds separating the top two, and the availability of time bonuses means that this is another important stage!

Stage profile:


Live coverage on Eurosport2 from 3pm.
Highlights on Eurosport2 at 7.45pm, Eurosport1 at 11.30pm, and on ITV4 at 7pm.
Stage betting: Rodriguez 7/2; Contador 9/2; Valverde 15/2.

ednwireland

j-rod

cant see past him really

manwithaplan

If Saxo let the breakaway get too far up the road, there's no time bonuses available for Bertie. If they keep them under wraps, J Rod will probably do him again in the finish, although there might be a bigger bunch involved today with the 'gentler' final hill.

dastardly00

Are the time bonuses 20, 12 and 8 seconds for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively?

Lusk Doyle

ednwireland wrote: »

j-rod

cant see past him really

You must be really really small then! Contador must have a hankering for some steak after the previous three stages! A right spanking handed out by purito on each of them. Great tv.

C3PO

Lusk Doyle wrote: »

Great tv.

The Tour has looked seriously pedestrian in comparison!

manwithaplan

dastardly00 wrote: »

Are the time bonuses 20, 12 and 8 seconds for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively?

No - 12, 8 and 4. I think it may have been 20, 12 and 8 last year.

TheBlaaMan

I've been on holiday in the area (Picos de Europa) and it is a beautiful area with fantastic roads. There should be some really great heli footage from the stage end, if not before - the cable car up Fuente De is a bit of a white-knuckle ride! Really looking forward to todays stage, after yesterdays cold-turkey!

ROK ON

As an aside, CyclingNews reported that Contador has been using a 28 sprocket for most of tue race. For Mondays Queen stage he used a 32 sprocket on the steep parts.
Running SRAM wi fli.

downwiththatsor

ROK ON wrote: »

As an aside, CyclingNews reported that Contador has been using a 28 sprocket for most of tue race. For Mondays Queen stage he used a 32 sprocket on the steep parts.
Running SRAM wi fli.

I wonder what number of teeth his small chain ring on the front was then? a 34?

ROK ON

53/39 in front according to SRAM
Apparently he is one of only a handful of riders with the Red wifli.
It is mentioned he likes to use 53/28 for climbing.

on_the_nickel

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

I've been on holiday in the area (Picos de Europa) and it is a beautiful area with fantastic roads. There should be some really great heli footage from the stage end, if not before - the cable car up Fuente De is a bit of a white-knuckle ride! Really looking forward to todays stage, after yesterdays cold-turkey!

Did the same myself a few years back, spent the whole week wishing I'd brought the bike! But I did have 11-month old twins at the time and my wife would've pushed me off that cable car if I had.

The drive from Potes to Santander is spectacular in parts, not sure if that road along the ravine is part of the stage?

TheBlaaMan

on_the_nickel wrote: »

The drive from Potes to Santander is spectacular in parts, not sure if that road along the ravine is part of the stage?

Unfortunately not ! It would be spectacular, though TV signals etc would be seriously compromised in the gorge. The route into Potes comes over the mountains from the south East and then swings sharply left towards Fuente De.

n-dawg

Could Roche go on the attack today? The easier (compared to the last few days) gradients probably suit him more while also getting rid of the sprinters... Froome might also be a good bet. I think it very much depends on how much they have left in the tank after an insane 2nd week.

Screw that contador has gone on the attack

retalivity

hello hello alberto, what are you up to?

thebourke

is contador leading the race now?

dastardly00

ROK ON wrote: »

53/39 in front according to SRAM
Apparently he is one of only a handful of riders with the Red wifli.
It is mentioned he likes to use 53/28 for climbing.

I think Eurosport mentioned the other day that Laurens Ten Dam was using a compact chain ring for the first time ever. It just shows how tough Mondays stage was.

dastardly00

thebourke wrote: »

is contador leading the race now?

From Cyclingnews:

"According to the latest time check, Contador is overall leader on the road. He has 45 seconds in hand on the Rodriguez group..."

Sarz91

1:12 back to Rodriguez.

n-dawg

off he goes... 22km to go

death1234567

god this is ssssoooo much better than the tour...

Sarz91

Tiralongo doing some work for Contador. Payback time?

dastardly00

Fair play to Bertie. None of this 'wait until 2km before the summit and then decide to attack' bulls**t

dastardly00

Sarz91 wrote: »

Tiralongo doing some work for Contador. Payback time?

yeah definitely

Sarz91

How did this happen? I only just tuned in.

thebourke

how did they let Contador get away so early?

RobFowl

Piece of pie for the first poster to make a tedious steak joke......

C3PO

What a race!

retalivity

well done tiralongo...its great to see this cross-team friendship & teamwork at work in a race.

Nico: Take note!!

Sarz91

Was going to try and look for idead for my final year project. Not happening today.

happygoose

contaminated steak jokes aren't funny. never were.

Sarz91

Tiralongo's contract up for renewal anytime soon? I know it's pay back for the Giro last year but if Contador is wearing red tonight I'd buy him up.

stevemac

Tiralongo getting bottles from the Saxo car

velo.2010

Watching the stream. Harmon is making a f**k up of this. Of course he won't admit it, he never does when he's wrong. Graphic is easy to understand.

edit, oh and GO ON Alberto!!

death1234567

Sarz91 wrote: »

Was going to try and look for idead for my final year project. Not happening today.

Do it on the tactics and athletic ability of professional cyclists. Two birds, stone.

on_the_nickel

Can sort of see how Movistar/Katusha might have let him go, but how did Froome and Sky let the split happen?

retalivity

velo.2010 wrote: »

Watching the stream. Harmon is making a f**k up of this. Of course he won't admit it, he never does when he's wrong. Graphic is easy to understand.

edit, oh and GO ON Alberto!!

Yeah, its not that difficult to see whats going on. And if the eurosport live ticker knows whats happening, how does he not??

MPFG

got to love Berie !

Sarz91

velo.2010 wrote: »

Watching the stream. Harmon is making a f**k up of this. Of course he won't admit it, he never does when he's wrong. Graphic is easy to understand.

Exactly. I don't see how hard it is to read what's put in front of you and relay that to the viewer as opposed to saying nothing other than "this is really confusing."

retalivity

valverde taking off from rodriguez nopw too???

dastardly00

Bertie could end up being a few minutes ahead of Rodriguez today! :eek:

thebourke

is j Rod suffering today?

Sarz91

Great ride from Tiralongo.

retalivity

that is a huge psychological killer for j-rod...contadors teammate sitting on his wheel as he struggles up a hill!!!

thebourke

i wonder how wiggins would have got on in this years vuelta....

retalivity

thebourke wrote: »

i wonder how wiggins would have got on in this years vuelta....

He'd have been annihilated by the steep climbs & lack of TT's

thebourke

like Froome....J Rod has cracked.....i can't believe all this is happening one one of the so called easy stages..........

Funkyzeit

Wow...Didn't expect today's stage to be crucial. At what point did Bertie get away from JRod/Valv group?

RobFowl

thebourke wrote: »

i wonder how wiggins would have got on in this years vuelta....

He certainly wouldn't be attacking like this. Love him or hate him (and believe in him or not) Bertie certainly knows how to race aggressively...

Sarz91

The whole "rest day messes with some people" is never more evident than right now.

GetWithIt

Indeed, Bertie always seems to come back stronger after a rest day.