Weds 2nd Sept: Vuelta 2015 stage 11: Andorra la Vella – Cortals d’Encamp 138km

D3PO

This is setup as a stage for the ages.

I really hope Nico can have a good one but the falls, weather and rest day all bad signs for Nico going by the past and he could lose heaps of time God only knows what will happen today. The weather, it being after a rest day and the sheer profile of the parcours really means were stepping into the unknown. Im going to calal it now the top 10 in the GC will be separated by at least 8 mins after today.

My gut says Purito puts in a ride that helps secure his first ever GC Win in a GT. My head says Froome takes the Sky rest day advantage and puts the Vuelta to bed.

MPFGLB

Nico doesn't sound too optimistic in the Indo

Pain in the shoulder when he stands on the pedals is a bad sign as he stands on the pedals alot going up hill.....never managed to pick up the SKY sitting down high cadence stuff...such a pity as he was going very well

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/nicolas-roche-this-next-stage-has-the-potential-to-be-the-hardest-ive-ever-ridden-31496204.html


Maybe Nieve could be the best of the SKY bunch today

kal7

Just looked at profile, thought I was going to have busy day, won't complain now.

C'mon Nico. Hope Dan recovering well, gutted for him.

pelevin

Peterx wrote: »

The marginal gains didn't accrue yesterday - from Nico's diary in the Irish Independent

"After about an hour of bobbing around in the wind, however, the pilot informed us that we were flying towards ...... Reus Airport, near Salou. Here we waited for about 40 minutes as the team cars made a detour to collect us and complete the journey, which took another three hours.
We didn't arrive at our hotel until quarter past midnight"

That's my first laugh of the day anyway!

MPFGLB

Brailsford praises Nico ability but says the crashes have really knocked him back

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/the-cyclingnews-podcast-exclusive-interview-with-team-skys-dave-brailsford/

pelevin

You'd imagine by the sound of how brutal today is, Nico could be doing well so just to still be in the race by the day's end.

Steve SilverMint

I'm looking forward to watching some serious drama unfolding in the Pyrenees today.The 6 climbs make this stage an absolute monster, no chance for the riders to even recover on this route.

I thought the Vuelta was the most enjoyable of the tours last year and it's been a great watch again so far this year.

Zzippy

3,000m climbing... on a rest day. Jesus!

Koobcam

According to cycling news, Froome had this to say about today's stage: “Andorra will be the toughest Grand Tour stage I’ve ever done”. So, a hard day then...

Darkglasses

I think it's a bit too much tbh. I don't think any GC riders will want to have a real go at this, too much to lose potentially. I think we'd see better racing if the first 2/3 climbs and 45km were scrubbed off.

letape

There's too much being made of this. It's only 138km!

I'll be working from home myself though to see what happens!

Zzippy

What time approx will they be hitting the last 2 climbs? Might take off early myself...

Inquitus

letape wrote: »

There's too much being made of this. It's only 138km!

I'll be working from home myself though to see what happens!

Well when the riders say its the toughest stage they have ever seen then you have to think its pretty tough, Dan martin reckoned its 5500m+ of climbing, Froome and Nico have stated its the hardest stage they'll have ridden.

Sometimes though when a stage is too hard the peloton go on strike until the penultimate or even final climb so we will have to see. Personally I think they need to get rid of Dumoulin before the final climb to put enough time into him that he won't be able to pull it back in the TT.

ThisRegard

Inquitus wrote: »

Sometimes though when a stage is too hard the peloton go on strike until the penultimate or even final climb so we will have to see.

Exactly, I mentioned previously that we've seen this before.

neilthefunkeone

Eurosport looks to be showing the alot of the stage. Guide shows live vuelta from 12:30 until 17:00.

neris

slightly off topic but sean kelly is the guest on this weeks telegraph cycling podcast talking about this years vuelta so far and the vueltas of his day. eurosport have him well trained in name dropping the channel aswell

letape

Inquitus wrote: »

Well when the riders say its the toughest stage they have ever seen then you have to think its pretty tough, Dan martin reckoned its 5500m+ of climbing, Froome and Nico have stated its the hardest stage they'll have ridden.

Sometimes though when a stage is too hard the peloton go on strike until the penultimate or even final climb so we will have to see. Personally I think they need to get rid of Dumoulin before the final climb to put enough time into him that he won't be able to pull it back in the TT.

I was being sarcastic! But I agree there is a strong likelihood that very little will happen until the last climb or perhaps the penultimate descent. We have seen a number of queen stages that didn't live up to expectations, with riders concerned what they might lose.

In 2013, Nico and Saxo-Tinkoff attacked early on a tough stage and made back the time he had lost the previous day (IIRC). He was far enough back from any chance of the podium to be allowed do that.

With the GC so tight (Dani Moreno - 13th @ 2.26), it is difficult to see someone being allowed get away today. Astana and Movistar might try and send some of their riders away on the earlier climbs to assist their leaders later on.

2smiggy

I agree with others that said it is probably too tough a stage. I have it recording at home. I was going to head home at lunch time and take a half day, but I think that they might take it easy enough till the last climb as a bit of a protest. Perhaps they have just put in 1 or 2 too many tough climbs.

godtabh

i'm in meetings from 2 onwards. poxy work

gordongekko

pelevin wrote: »

You'd imagine by the sound of how brutal today is, Nico could be doing well so just to still be in the race by the day's end.

Soft enough stage sure half of it is downhill 😛

dastardly00

neilthefunkeone wrote: »

Eurosport looks to be showing the alot of the stage. Guide shows live vuelta from 12:30 until 17:00.

The peloton are due to depart the neutralised zone at 12.30 pm so we should pretty much have live coverage of all the stage

RobFowl

Bonkers route but should be awesome

pelevin

gordongekko wrote: »

Soft enough stage sure half of it is downhill ��

If he could skip some of the uphill bits, he'll be laughing.

pelevin

Is this some kind of record here for posting activity on a gt stage before it's even started?

godtabh

live now

Darkglasses

Has Schleck been dropped yet?

RobFowl

godtabh wrote: »

live now

Starting on a climb which hits 14% .....

godtabh

Lads on the footpath there. There are going to be calls to Joe later.

neris

riding on the footpath. its a disgrace joe

godtabh

a break straight away