La Vuelta a España, September 9, Stage 17: Burgos - Burgos (ITT) 39 km *SPOILERS*

Melodeon

Date: Wednesday 9th September
Type: Individual Time Trial (Flat)
Distance: 39Km
Start/Finish: Burgos/Burgos


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The General Classification after Stage 16:



Preview (© cyclingnews.com):

The Vuelta's only individual time trial will play its part in the fight for the red jersey

The Vuelta’s only individual time trial will favour those who specialise in riding against the clock but also the strongest riders near the top of the leaderboard.

Configured in a figure of eight, it’s essentially flat, although there’s a steady rise from the start up to the Castillo. From there it’ll be a case of who can turn the biggest gear the fastest, with contenders for the upcoming World Time Trial Championship sure to be favoured, assuming they haven’t slunk away given the lack of favourable terrain up to this point.

There shouldn’t be much between the red jersey contenders but there’s the chance one of them might suffer a disastrous day as Joaquim Rodríguez did at Peñafiel in 2010.

LIVE TV:
British Eurosport - 3.00pm
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HIGHLIGHTS:
ITV4 - 7:00pm
Eurosport 2 - 7:30pm
TG4 - 8:00pm

Pudsy33

I hope Purito can hang on in there. Remember his Pais Vasco TT from early this season, that was a fantastuc performan. That said, if Dumoulin could go into red again it would be absolutely incredible. People seem to be discount Majka aswell, he can do a decent TT.

Inquitus

Lotto Jumbo will help Dumoulin if he secures Red tomorrow, they have no mountain goats but will do what they can to help a Dutch victory.

MPFGLB

Inquitus wrote: »

Lotto Jumbo will help Dumoulin if he secures Red tomorrow, they have no mountain goats but will do what they can to help a Dutch victory.

How is that any differnt to Lotto giving Dumpulin a wheel ? It is a team helping soemone not in their team .... :rolleyes:

Lusk_Doyle

MPFGLB wrote: »

How is that any differnt to Lotto giving Dumpulin a wheel ? It is a team helping soemone not in their team .... :rolleyes:

So different. A team riding on the front is not against the rules. Giving wheels is. Simple. There was a fella on here before, MPFG I think his name was. He understood things like this!

Beasty

MPFGLB wrote: »

How is that any differnt to Lotto giving Dumpulin a wheel ? It is a team helping soemone not in their team .... :rolleyes:

It is presumably against the rules, but pretty difficult to prove in a race situation (unless there is more than circumstantial evidence available)

happytramp

I doubt too many in Ireland were concerned about it when Millar and Co took care of Roche after his own team turned against in the 87 Giro.

Carawaystick

Melodeon wrote: »

Preview (© cyclingnews.com):The Vuelta's only individual time trial will play its part in the fight for the red jersey

I presume this is as opposed to the only ttt which had absolutely nothing to do woth the red jersey...

pelevin

In that famous incident with that Richie Porte fella, OGE were both giving him a wheel AND riding hard to tow him into the finish! They were a very confused team.

check_six

Looking at the route at first I thought the figure of 8 crossed over itself! I was imagining a distracted teenager halfheartedly waving a flag to warn one leg of the route to give way to the other. Or perhaps a wee ramp to hop over the guys coming from the other direction.

Subpopulus

Just as interestingly, who's going to win the stage? Obviously Dumoulin is the favourite, but is there any other top-level time triallers inn the peloton who might give him a run for his money?

pelevin

Well for instance Kiryenka who won the Giro TT is there but as far as my limited knowledge goes, given the same conditions such as wind & rain, given his form this year Dumoulin should be a superior class to the rest.

MPFGLB

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

So different. A team riding on the front is not against the rules. Giving wheels is. Simple. There was a fella on here before, MPFG I think his name was. He understood things like this!

Oi...MPFG was totally unhinged and hadn't a clue :pac:

As for it being difficult to prove ...did Lotto Jumbo not just say it to the world...a tape recorder round their bus should do it.....Matt Rendal could tog out in yellow

As for the win today ...maybe Kiryenka

dastardly00

Subpopulus wrote: »

Just as interestingly, who's going to win the stage? Obviously Dumoulin is the favourite, but is there any other top-level time triallers inn the peloton who might give him a run for his money?

Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) is a good TT-er and is capable of winning the stage, but he might be told to conserve energy for the upcoming stages.

dastardly00

The first rider has rolled down the ramp, stage underway!

ThisRegard

Am I the only one to sit down last night and watch 15 minutes of yesterdays highlight show on Eurosport thinking this all looks very familiar before realising there was no racing yesterday ?

lennymc

the only one who admitted it anyway.

Taxuser1

Dumoulin should win but there were bits of suspect TT form after his Swiss win - a TT he "only" beat Majka by 1 minute 20 or so. He was soundly beaten in his own Nationals and his TdF prologue was way off. Some put that down to nerves but I've got a sneaking suspicion he'd dropped so much weight, his own TT power had waned a bit. Obviously he's riding really well in the mountains but having ridden hard for 2 weeks now against someone like Kiriyienka who has this as his target and who has some savage bits of TT form this year, Dumoulin might not have it all his own way. still the fav though

I hope Majka does something to enhance his podium chances. I'm on him at massive prices for Top 3 in the Overall.

I backed Sicard to beat Rossetto and Zoidl to beat Irizar in some matchbets that were as big as 2/1 and 7/4

dastardly00

Taxuser1 wrote: »

Dumoulin should win but there were bits of suspect TT form after his Swiss win - a TT he "only" beat Majka by 1 minute 20 or so. He was soundly beaten in his own Nationals and his TdF prologue was way off. Some put that down to nerves but I've got a sneaking suspicion he'd dropped so much weight, his own TT power had waned a bit. Obviously he's riding really well in the mountains but having ridden hard for 2 weeks now against someone like Kiriyienka who has this as his target and who has some savage bits of TT form this year, Dumoulin might not have it all his own way. still the fav though

Dumoulin was poor in the Dutch TT championships because he was fatigued after his TdS efforts. But that in itself could be an indication that he might not be as good today as we think he will be, as you said yourself in your post.

But he was anything but 'way off' in the TdF prologue
He finished 4th!! Losing out only to Dennis, Martin and Cancellara!! And by less than 8 seconds!
And he gained 1'18 on Purito and 1'15" on Majka.

dastardly00

78 riders have finished so far and Maciej Bodnar (Tinkoff-Saxo) is in first place, and is faster than Kiryienka and Steve Cummings. There is a good chance that he could win the stage now.

Taxuser1

dastardly00 wrote: »

Dumoulin was poor in the Dutch TT championships because he was fatigued after his TdS efforts. But that in itself could be an indication that he might not be as good today as we think he will be, as you said yourself in your post.

But he was anything but 'way off' in the TdF prologue
He finished 4th!! Losing out only to Dennis, Martin and Cancellara!! And by less than 8 seconds!
And he gained 1'18 on Purito and 1'15" on Majka.

"way off" in that he was expected to win - he was 2nd favourite behind Martin that day, backed off the boards. by his own admission he said he wasn't happy with it and 8 seconds in a speciality of his was a little off his best form when he was due a big run.

regardless, in this cast, he should be miles clear, none of them are setting the world alight. Bodnar averaged 48 kmph

pelevin

Is it about 4.30pm onwards our time the top gc guys are out?

dastardly00

pelevin wrote: »

Is it about 4.30pm onwards our time the top gc guys are out?

3.30pm GMT onwards!

pelevin

dastardly00 wrote: »

3.30pm GMT onwards!

Was wondering!

neris

wonder how all unaero that bling on valverde is

D3PO

Great start by Dumoulin looking a class in his own right now and riding his way to the maillet Rojo I suspect.

dastardly00

Aru 44 seconds behind Dumoulin after 13.5 km.
Purito 1'11" behind Dumoulin.

D9Male

Dumoulin smashing them.

Predictably, Valverde is the only GC guy showing any decent time so far. He is one of the few who has produced a decent flat ITT

Biggest positive surprise from the GC guys is Moreno.

I am surprised Tom D is doing so well, given how deep he has had to go in the past few weeks. This guy is the new Indurain!

Andre 3000

Tom Dumoulindurain

pelevin

Rodriguez should know his short legs would cost him in this kind of discipline. Amateurish.

D9Male

Oh my god! Majka looks horrible on an ITT bike! I thought he would be better than this. He will need to attack in the next few days to secure a podium.

pelevin

Magnificent by me main man Valverde.

D9Male

He is a very under-rated ITT guy. He was available at 2.90 to finish ahead of Majka today!

pelevin

Just stay on the bike & it's looking the Vuelta is Dumoulin's.

dastardly00

Dumoulin is almost the virtual leader at the second time check.

Eamonnator

Dumoulin could put himself into a race winning position with this ride.
The hoor is flyin"

D9Male

The wind must have have died down a bit for Quintana to place so highly. He is not a bad time triallist, but for him to finish (likely) top 8, the conditions must have changed.

Bambaata

Eamonnator wrote: »

Dumoulin could put himself into a race winning position with this ride.
The hoor is flyin"

No could, its done

dastardly00

Purito is losing a bucket load to Aru.

dastardly00

Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) loses 2'38 over Tom Dumoulin (Giant - Alpecin) after 27.5 km.
Fabio Aru (Astana)'s time is 54 seconds better than Purito's.

godtabh

why is aru wearing white?

mhiggy09

Tom D. Is putting serious time into the rest. He has it won for me

D3PO

godtabh wrote: »

why is aru wearing white?

hes 2nd in the combination classification (purito leads it) so hes keeping the jersey warm.

dastardly00

Dumoulin has just crossed the finish line. Purito will be along sometime in the next hour :pac:

D9Male

White jersey for combined rider. Rodriguez is the leader, but Aru wears it as Purito wears red. He is 14th in KOM, 2nd in overall competition and 3rd in points classification. That makes him second best rider when they are all combined.

godtabh

Ah I missed Rodriguez getting red. Havent been able to keep up since Sunday.

Eamonnator

Aru is only going to be a couple of seconds off Dumoulin on GC

dastardly00

Dumoulin leads GC from Aru by 2 seconds.

happytramp

Woah. Exciting stuff

D9Male

Holy smoke, Aru is a great man to measure his effort. Fair play to him, he is making this Vuelta interesting.

Bambaata

Gona be a great final few stages! Pretty much downhill finishes the next few days could give some epic and risky descending!