La Vuelta: Stage 18 Trujillo > Alto de Piornal (192 km)

Mefistofelino

Biggie today

Already today, a big crash has caused Jay Vine to abandon. Carlos Rodriguez is also fairly beaten up but is continuing. Pedersen also hit the deck but seems ok

Mefistofelino

Big break of ~ 23 riders up the road. EF have managed to stick four riders in it. Arkea-Samsic have three

retalivity

Snap! Should have refreshed the page before i posted mine.

Vine out after a crash is a big disappointment

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119589178#Comment_119589178

Just shows - if Mads went down hard, Fred Wright could yet win the green jersey

Dodge

The break is about 40 plus. Carapaz the leading rider in it. He’s virtual KOM too

Annoying that there’s no early Tv coverage. We’ve been spoiled

dastardly00

jesus, some of the riders are in bits

dastardly00

More photos here 😟

https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/quentin-pacher-of-france-and-team-groupama-fdj-injuries-news-photo/1421896062

https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/carlos-rodriguez-cano-of-spain-and-team-ineos-grenadiers-news-photo/1421895600

Kaisr Sose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119589178#Comment_119589178

Vine is an incredible find/talent. Hope to see him at the TDF 23. Can't warm to Remco, but he is going to win a lot of races.

Paddigol

Jesus! Rodriguez looks destroyed!

Mefistofelino

The break: EF actually have five riders in there

Breakaway

• Mark Padun, Merhawi Kudus, Hugh Carthy, Julius van den Berg, James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost)
• Elie Gesbert, Dan McLay, Lukasz Owsian, Clément Russo (Arkéa-Samsic)
• Robert Gesink, Sam Oomen, Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma)
• Jasha Sütterlin, Gino Mäder, Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious)
• Jose Manuel Díaz, Jetse Bol, Dani Navarro (Burgos-BH)
• Sergio Higuita, Matteo Fabbro, Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe)
• Richard Carapaz, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers)
• Thibaut Pinot, Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ)
• Marc Soler, Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates)
• Nelson Oliveira, Carlos Verona (Movistar)
• Mikel Iturria, Gotzon Martin (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
• Fausto Masnada (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl)
• Jan Bakelants (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert)
• Dario Cataldo (Trek-Segafredo)
• Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco)
• Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R Citroën)
• Davide Villella (Cofidis)
• Omer Goldstein (Israel-Premier Tech)
• Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan)
• Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
• Raúl García Pierna (Kern Pharma)

neris

See those pics and the theatrics from some soccer players after a mild tap it goes to show who the hard men really are

mewso

I see on PCS one of the sub-teams of UAE has attacked (Almeida and McNulty) and have a minute on the peleton.

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119589539#Comment_119589539

That's only because there is a definite benefit to playing up a foul in football. If they ever introduce a concussion or injury protocol in cycling that allows riders enter an ambulance for an assessment and be deposited further up the road back into the group they crashed out of, 20 minutes later, I guarantee you riders will be amping up their apparent injuries.

Remember that clip from a few years ago of a (CCCC ?) rider caught up in a bunch crash but not the slightest bit affected by it, rolling up to a traffic island and gently tumbling to the ground, pretending to have fallen off his bike?

mewso

Be fascinating if Almeida starts to encroach on Ayuso's position.

He has help now with Oliveira.

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119589690#Comment_119589690

If he can make this stick, he'd certainly be able to jump to 4th place on GC. C-Rod looks like he won't be doing much defending today.

mewso

Looks like Movistar and Astana are going to drag this back.

Dodge

Astana chasing? Very Movistar of them

Mefistofelino

Carapaz to bag a third if that six-man group stays away. Pinot will attack with 5 km to go, get a 90 second lead and then be attacked by a flock of Griffon Vultures.

mewso

Fancy Higuita myself but would love to see Pinot do it.

retalivity

Does the movistar guy not realise Mas is not in the group he is pulling??

mewso

Have to shout for Gesink now.

mewso

Ah well

Mefistofelino

Not bad for a lad who, just a couple of days ago, was being accused of faking a puncture because he couldn't stay with the bunch.

retalivity

Think the fact Mas sat behind Gesink for 2-300m allowed Remco to gather himself and sprint for the win, he looked on the limit trying to follow Mas initially

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119590593#Comment_119590593

Mas gonna Mas

griffin100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119590589#Comment_119590589

He obviously had the stronger nutritional products in his pocket today.

Dr. Bre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119589539#Comment_119589539

Not really a great comparison is it . Is UFC a better sport than cycling cos they seem harder ? Not for me it is cos I don’t judge sports on how hard people are .

in relation to todays action fair play Remco! Nearly has it won overall

eagle eye

I've no idea what Almeida was at. It made no sense to me. It was clear the peloton were going to chase him with riders looking to protect their GC position.

Shouldn't he be protecting Ayuso's podium?

He cost Soler a potential stage win too.

I'd imagine there's a lot of riders who went in the break who are not happy with him after that.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119591384#Comment_119591384

Put a soccer player or UFC fighter on a bike and tell them to do twenty miles on a 5% gradient and they won't look like hard men when they quit after 5 at most.

Every sport is different and you don't get to elite level without a ridiculous amount of hard work, discipline and hunger to succeed.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592994#Comment_119592994

That's the goalkeeper right?

Hardly an elite soccer athlete. Can you name an elite soccer athlete who could do it?

Even if you can name one then I'll counter with Andre Greipel who could easily get into an MMA ring and kick ass or Remco who played under age for Belgium at soccer before switching full time to cycling..

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592887#Comment_119592887

Don't think almeida or soler give a toss about ayuso, uae seems to be all in for pog or away you go yourself

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119593495#Comment_119593495

It'd be very foolish of them not to be all in fur Ayuso when Pog is not competing. He's been looked at as the new Spanish star of cycling.

MangleBadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119592994#Comment_119592994

Ben Foster does have a youtube channel called the Cycling Goalkeeper so I think he will be fine. Not sure about footballers but a lot of MMA athletes use cycling for cardio. My main sport is sailing and a lot of sailors are also very good cyclists.

Not that any of this takes away from Rodriguez because that cannot have been a pleasant cycle.