La Vuelta-Stage 19 ITT 37KM

neris

37Km...... 3 minutes 37 seconds...... and Quintana has said he expects to loose seconds to Froome not minutes.. Race over then if that happens??

Battle for 3rd could be interesting aswell only 5 seconds seperating the forever happy smiling Chaves and Contador ....... If Chaves looses that 5 seconds chances are he,ll still be smiling

At last, an ITT. Way too short but okay. The route is perhaps a bit harder in reality than it looks on the profile.

The climb to Benitatxell is the hardest part of the course and has around 800m @ 7-8% in the middle. The rest is false flat. Though I wouldn't expect too much of what looks like a technical section around La Fustera. The whole route is mostly on pretty big roads.

Weather
Attention to the weather. The wind could be pretty strong (4 beaufort), blowing from the sea. Max temp 30°C.

Top-10 GC
1. QUINTANA Nairo 7 MOVISTAR TEAM 74h 30' 03''
2. FROOME Christopher 21 TEAM SKY 74h 33' 40'' + 03' 37''
3. CHAVES Johan Esteban 51 ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE 74h 34' 00'' + 03' 57''
4. CONTADOR Alberto 11 TINKOFF 74h 34' 05'' + 04' 02''
5. YATES Simon 59 ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE 74h 36' 06'' + 06' 03''
6. TALANSKY Andrew 141 CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM 74h 37' 37'' + 07' 34''
7. SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel 37 BMC RACING TEAM 74h 38' 15'' + 08' 12''
8. FORMOLO Davide 145 CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM 74h 38' 16'' + 08' 13''
9. SCARPONI Michele 61 ASTANA PRO TEAM 74h 38' 31'' + 08' 28''
10. DE LA CRUZ David 133 ETIXX - QUICK STEP 74h 38' 55'' + 08' 52''

Inquitus

I think the race is over Froome needs to take 2.5 minutes or more tomorrow to have any chance of clawing back the other minute on Saturdays stage and his form doesn't look good enough to put a minute into Quintana on an MTF at the moment. Being caught napping the other day has in all likelyhood cost him the Tour + Vuelta double.

neris

another inflatable arch collapse and nearly taking a Katusha rider out of it.

Inquitus

Sounds hard.

"It’s a very hard course, lots of headwind, lots of up and down, technical, and you have to keep your concentration," Lampaert tells Eurosport from the hotseat.

check_six

They're all on the road by now. All will be revealed in the next forty minutes or so.

retalivity

Bertie only 3s back at first time check

DominoDub

Froome pushing hard

retalivity

DominoDub wrote: »

Froome pushing hard

Hes gonna catch chaves already in a few k

velo.2010

I thought it would be quite close between Frome and Contador for today, but it looks like Froome could put at least 2 minutes into everyone unless he went too hard at the start.

oflahero

Kirby commentary gold:

[Heli shot of church spire in red-roofed old town]
"A temple of prayer. A crucible of hope! And surely... surely the same in the mind of Nairo Quintana."

retalivity

There are no time bonifications for winning a tt stage, correct?

godtabh

Quintana is leaking time. Will be 2 by the end

dahat

Team Sky must be sick at the time lost the other day.

neris

sammy sanchez looks bolloxed and mucky

godtabh

2 minutes for froome now.

godtabh

The countback starts

neris

they use to say the Colombians couldnt descend, well now they cant TT

Burial.

What the f*ck just happened

godtabh

What could have been for Sky if they hadnt of fallen asleep the other day

godtabh

2'16''

pelevin

Obviously a super tt by Froome but I'm finding the reactions a bit odd. This form what I remember a week or so ago is what people were saying Quintana would likely roughly lose to Froome - 2 to 2 & half minutes - that he'd need that kind of a lead. And that's what happened. It's hardly a shock & Quintana has still over a minute lead, which obviously sets tomorrow up hugely. Quintana would have liked to lose less but as said, this is what people expected only a short time ago.

Lusk_Doyle

neris wrote: »

they use to say the Colombians couldnt descend, well now they cant TT

Remember Quintana having a mega crash not too long ago while descending during a TT?

neris

pelevin wrote: »

Obviously a super tt by Froome but I'm finding the reactions a bit odd. This form what I remember a week or so ago is what people were saying Quintana would likely roughly lose to Froome - 2 to 2 & half minutes. And that's what happened. It's hardly a shock & Quintana has still over a minute lead, which obviously sets tomorrow up hugely. Quintana would have liked to lose less but as said, this is what people expected only a short time ago.

quintana was saying last night he was only expecting to loose seconds and not minutes

Lusk_Doyle

neris wrote: »

quintana was saying last night he was only expecting to loose seconds and not minutes

As my auld lad used to say to me "Don't confuse your capabilities with your ambitions."

pelevin

neris wrote: »

quintana was saying last night he was only expecting to loose seconds and not minutes

Yes but I'm saying that seems to have become the new notion - that he'd lose less than a minute. But I remember before Sunday's stage the consensus was Froome was in the strongest position as he'd probably take this kind of time in teh tt. Which is what's happened.

velo.2010

Well, I guessed right... at least 2 minutes into the GC guys. Interestingly, Froome has now won more GT stages than Contador (even including the 2 stages he was stripped of).