[Dr Watson]

Hi to everybody. Best race of the year coming up. 

Topic

[11waterloo]

Wacky Races is a perfect

Wacky Races is a perfect description!! 

[MinardiM189]

Carapaz is probably the best

Carapaz is probably the best ‘racer’ out there and the team are set up to race like that, they do things differently.

Yates could quite easily drop out of GC again on stage 13 along with others.

The next 3 stages will see other riders moving back up GC from the break.

Sort of like ‘Wacky Races’.

 

[11waterloo]

I’m telling myself just to

I’m telling myself just to relax regarding the game and enjoy a really competitive Grand Tour. It is shaping up brilliantly. Does anyone believe Adam Yates saying he isn’t interested in the GC? Is Carapaz for real? He came second on the stage after chasing down the breakaway and then having a good shot at Yates. Only the points jersey seems settled currently. 

[MinardiM189]

Oh God !! And I thought it

Oh God !! And I thought it was a disasterous stage for me.

UAE say Tiberi had heat stroke and DNF.

Riders should be taught to recognize the symptoms, heat stroke can be very dangerous if you carry on when you are overheating.

I thought O’Connor would struggle with the heat but it looked like he coped with it better than most, Roglic looked as though he was struggling.

[11waterloo]

No my finest move taking out

No my finest move taking out O’Connor today & bringing Tiberi in (and using 2 transfers to enable it)……panic transfers because everyone else seemed to have Tiberi. My gut feeling that he is inconsistent was proved right. Oh well, cracking stage non the less.

[11waterloo]

At least we know what the UAE

At least we know what the UAE plan is now! Shaping up to be an exciting stage.

[MinardiM189]

Yates, Vine & Soler in the

Yates, Vine & Soler in the break, they could get Yates back in GC contention & win the stage.

Decathlon handing the red jersey to Gaudu at a rival French team !!

Although very early days in this stage yet.

[11waterloo]

UAE do need to get their

UAE do need to get their priorities sorted quickly – GC  or stages. I suspect the latter. I bet they wish they hadn’t excluded Ayuso now! 

[MinardiM189]

When he doesn’t crash he

When he doesn’t crash he usually wins.

I think the team are riding more protectively of him in this race and keeping him much nearer the front all the time and surrounding him.

I see Almeida is a DNS. Hopefully UAE try something to get a rider back up in GC contention.

[11waterloo]

It has definitely become a

It has definitely become a very interesting race – and Roglic hasn’t had his customary falling off yet! 

[MinardiM189]

Soler and Vine were way down

Soler and Vine were way down today, it could be that several UAE riders are ill.

Soler is certainly in my thoughts for the next few stages, maybe even tomorrow but if there is a risk of illness through the team…….

 

[11waterloo]

Covid they are saying. UAE

Covid they are saying. UAE need a plan C urgently. Soler in every break? 

[MinardiM189]

I like Tiberi, he has

I like Tiberi, he has consistently improved over the last couple of years.

I didn’t pick him for my purist because he has had very bad days early in races and then has to play catch up. But this time it looks like he had his bad day in Vuelta a Burgos.

It will be interesting to see what UAE do now. Del Toro is their top rider on GC 1 minute off the top 10, with Sivakov 30 seconds further back.

I guess Almeida was ill today.

 

[11waterloo]

I’m not falling for these

I’m not falling for these mind games…. I think you have actually scored a couple more than me ?! I agree with you about O’Connor. He was looking good near the end so he would probably have been better riding more conservatively rather than exploding and losing a lot of lot of time very quickly. Tiberi is an odd one for me. In my head he isn’t a GC rider but this season he keeps proving me wrong! 

[MinardiM189]

I think you may be taking the

I think you may be taking the lead after this stage, despite O’Connor.

Choosing Almeida was a disaster for me. Zero points and another transfer wasted when I take him out for tomorrow.

Schmid did too much work early in the stage and faded, Tejada most combative for me.

O’Connor quite possibly out of the top ten by the finish of tomorrows stage. Today he made the same mistake he made in the Giro – trying to follow a faster rider and going into the red.

[Author]

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