La Vuelta Stage 7: Camargo to Cistierna (190km)

mewso

Interesting stage today. Expect Trek to put some pressure on towards the end of this big climb to see if they can drop the other sprinters. A test for Sam too. I wouldn't expect him to still be in the Peleton if said pressure occurs but can he get back on once they are over the top? Mads will be the favourite but yet again Fred Wright is in the break and who would begrudge him a win? He may have chosen the wrong stage to try though as Trek seem to be all in for this one. Otherwise it looks like Bike Exchange are riding for Groves so he must fancy his chances of getting up this climb too. So break, reduced sprint or all back together by the end?

Larry Warbasse was predicting Sam for today on the cycling podcast. Sam looking better than Chris froome at the minute.

eagle eye

I'm surprised that nobody is talking about the likes of Nibali and Higuita who can put on a pace on the climb and are serious going downhill.

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119525210#Comment_119525210

Its not a steep enough downhill, and is 70k long, will be a reduced sprint from the break/peloton who werent dropped

mewso

I suppose it depends on the downhill gradient and how technical it is.

De Bhál

no sign of Sam Bennett at the back there anyway. Still a while to go up this climb though...fingers crossed he hangs in there

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119525270#Comment_119525270

He's nicely nestled in the middle of the pack

dastardly00

Less than 4 km to go until the summit and Sam is still safely in the middle of the peloton. All is going very well.

eagle eye

It'll be great if Sam gets over the top in the peloton. He'll have plenty of time to recover then.

mewso

This could backfire badly on Mads.

De Bhál

damn, slipping off the back now with a km to go, hopefully won't burn up too much energy getting back in

retalivity

Should be OK, plenty of time to get back in

dastardly00

Given that Trek will pretty much have nobody to drive the peloton after they reach the summit, hopefully the tempo will slow down and Sam will get back in.

mewso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119525389#Comment_119525389

and the break will win :)

breezy1985

Is Sam literally the only rider dropped?

That's what the live ticker says

De Bhál

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119525423#Comment_119525423

nah, in the last shot there was about 7 there with him, looked like 2 Bora teammates and a few other teams

eagle eye

No, loads dropped but they'll get back on, very close to the back of the peloton now. He can sit at the back for a long time, there no danger of anything happening up front. He'll hopefully have a full train come the finish.

dastardly00

The Vuelta tracker has Sam back in with the peloton

The views down in this valley are unreal.

De Bhál

Sam well within the peloton now.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119525489#Comment_119525489

Yeah, it's on my bucket list to do a Giro, Tour and Vuelta journey, by car not cycling!

I plan to start that in four years time and do one per year.

dastardly00

Points available for the intermediate sprint: 20-17-15-13-11-10 points

Five riders in the breakaway, so one rider from the peloton will get 10 points.

If Pedersen gets those 10 points, he goes into virtual green jersey

EDIT: The info regarding the intermediate points was from inrng.com and seems to be incorrect. The points available were 20-17-15-13-10, so the breakaway took all of them.

neris

water levels on that lake a while back look very low

De Bhál

Bora chasing the break now so Sam must be confident he can do it

happytramp

They're cutting it close. Reckon the break holds on.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119525601#Comment_119525601

Not making huge in roads into it yet though

dastardly00

Well if the peloton don't catch them, I hope Fred Wright wins!

retalivity

They're going to start looking at each other and be caught in the last 200m aren't they?

De Bhál

my heart rates going up...break looks good, unfortunately

CramCycle

Peloton aIf the timing is correct it is hard to see them being caught at this stage

De Bhál

well done Sam, won the bunch sprint