diphthong

picked remi for the stage sixteen win given his decent ability to climb but his tt ability to power away from rivals over dozens of km's over flat, rollers and downhills was the key.
that, plus team dcq being relatively unencumbered by gc or sprint responsibilities on this particular stage. won't be the last time i'll pick him for a similar stage profile.

diphthong

so a slight reshuffling before the last, key stage-seventeen-in the vuelta. team Mucho Allez barely slides into the top spot past MTBRider with
Zizi Pro Cycling Team right there. 104 points is the range between all three of these teams so all three are poised to potentially claim the final red
jersey.

diphthong

stage seventeen...carapaz.

diphthong

can USAZorro pull off the giro/vuelta double in the same year? that would enter the pantheon of greats such as contador, battaglin and some dude named eddy.

slcbob

It's a nail biter in the league. I don't want to curse anyone with a prediction. Three home boys in the top 10% overall. May you all keep advancing.

On the road, I think Carthy grabs the stage and a few seconds on Carapaz, but not enough to move up a step. If TJV has three left in the final kms, so that Roglic is not left solo, maybe Sep Kuss takes a flyer or, more likely (less unlikely), marks a move by Carthy or Carapaz and winds up with the stage.

Caretaker

No waiting for Gaudu.
Roglic shows his fighting spirit, Carapaz attacks again, Carthy proves his form on the big climbs and Dan Martin fights off an attack by Mas to hold 4th and prove he can do a third week in a GT.
Fabulous stage.

eja_ bottecchia

Did Movistar punish Carapaz by helping Roglic on the run to the finish line on Stage 17.

Not sure that Carapaz could have beaten Roglic, BUT I suspect that Movistar decided to drop the hammer on Carapaz as payback for last year’s signing snafu.

what do you think?

canklecat

Chris Horner's analysis of stage 17 speculates it might have been a bit of payback from Movistar, as you noted.

But Horner said it was mostly tactical errors by the team directors that cost Roglic any lead at all. Particularly, misusing Sepp Kuss as a bottle fetcher early in the stage, so Kuss ran out of gas on the final few km's when Carapaz attacked. Instead J-V used Hofstede for the end of the race, making it seem like he was a key player, when -- again, this is Horner's analysis -- it would have made better sense to use Hofstede to carry water earlier in the race and conserve Kuss for the end.

And maybe the team directors figured Carapaz wasn't in the running for any time bonuses so they weren't going to help or hinder him.

GrainBrain

Don't know about specific tactics but didn't Roglic catch Lennard Hofstede at a flatter section? Either way without a team mate there Roglic would've lost it. However I'm impressed by how Roglic won the Vuelta - stage by stage where he picked up those time bonuses. He's really a complete rider.

Hugh Carthy is a friggin revelation!

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MinnMan

I was rooting for Carapaz, but Roglic earned it. Two greats from whom we will see much more in the coming years.

As almost always true, the Vuelta was the most interesting GT.

MinnMan

Also, sort of amazing that despite the clear disarray and disappointments of Ineos this year, they won one GT and podiumed on a second. Most any other team (say, J-V, which also had one win and one podium) would call that a banner year

diphthong

wowzers...team Mucho Allez indeed has USAZorro pulling off the elusive giro/vuelta double! Big congrats on the 2020 back to back gt trophies! You’re gonna need a bigger trophy case to display those. Zizi Pro Cycling Team nabs the silver and second podium step while team MTBrider adds another podium placing to the solid second placing in the giro. Well played by y’all and waay up there in the overall 12k+ participants.

a big thank you to everyone that played the vuelta and throughout this wild & crazy year of fantasy boot camp. september and october were frantic and frenetic. here’s fondly wishing/hoping 2021 finds things restored (even a little bit) back to pre-2020 norms. however it rolls, come springtime, it’ll be time to stretch those fingers and brush up on those obscure riders. hope to see y’all again in 2021. happy hibernation!

MinnMan

I think this may be a pointless request, but some of us don't care at all about the fantasy competitions or to read through the numerous posts about them, but do wish to participate in discussion of the race itself. So it would be better if there were separate threads - one for the fantasy competitors and the other for general discussion. Yes, I thought about just starting a "general discussion - no fantasy" thread, but it seemed as though that would be swimming against the tide.

I dunno. Maybe this doesn't matter to anybody else. I barely bother to read threads like this, even though I'm following the races pretty closely.

2cam16

Great competition,all! That was an exciting final three stages where I lost the lead. lol All good! I'm not much of a fantasy guy but it's always fun playing.
Great short season and hopefully next year pushes through!

USAZorro

Makes sense. Nothing to prevent anyone from creating a general discussion thread absent the fantasy aspect. I'll grant you that during a more normal year, there would likely be more participants, and yes, the TDF gets the lion's share of the attention, but it's been done before. If someone were to start one, I'd check in on it.

USAZorro

One "bike change" away from the triple.

Hoping to see some return to normal (if not in 2021, hopefully in 2022). Things have been turbulent here as well. Broadcast rules and recent (hopefully temporary) job loss have limited my ability to actually watch the Giro and Vuelta. There's a current pool of young talent that exceeds any period ever before. There's also economic pressures that inhibit sponsorship to degrees that haven't been there since WWII. Hopefully, the sport will take a huge step forward as the world overcomes COVID-19.

slcbob

What's the "request"? Open a new thread? Sure, have at it, no need to ask. Stop having fun amongst our little group? No.

This pro cycling forum on this board is a veritable ghost town except for the exchange here. I came to Bike Forums ages ago for tips on commuting. The only reason I'm still here at all is this weird little community turned, dare I say, virtual friends. I value it as is. Usually.

There are tons of other boards with more substantive discussions on races and racing. I hope you get some traction wherever you decide to pitch up, here or perhaps less of an uphill push elsewhere.

slcbob

Well done winner. And all of you losers.

diphthong

definitely maybe.

diphthong

it’s been awesome to watch unfold before us. can’t wait to see a tour with remco, seppuko, mvdp, wout, tgh, carapaz, sivakov, etc, et al. if one of the gt’s were designated as an only 25 and under stage race, i’d drop everything currently to catch every televised minute. thinking that when we look back in a decade, we’ll truly realize how lucky we had it this year and the next few with an embarrassment of young talent.

diphthong

yo...where the virtual benefits at?

diphthong

since this is the second end of year in as many years request, out of respect for MinnMan (i generally find MinnMan’s contributions throughout the forums well thought out and relevant, unlike mine) i’ll look to post separate gt threads for the fantasy and fantasy-free in 2021 and we’ll see how it goes. no guarantee the fantasy manimals won’t escape the fantasy zoo and slobber all over the clean and pristine attempt at caging us/them tho. do not feed the animals.

i starting consolidating the fantasy and gt threads a few years ago when anecdotally observing that (unless it was the tdf), there wasn’t much going on with separated threads. maybe, like the racing, there’s new blood out there mixed with cagey veterans and plenty of questionable results, contested decisions and keyboard directeur sportifs to discuss parliamentary proceedings.

MinnMan...hope you’re healing quickly.

MinnMan

ooga-booga

I got lucky with my crash - no serious injuries.

slcbob

Perish the thought.

slcbob

Hasta la primavera, amigos. Lo espero.

Pandemick like the champions you are.