2019 Vuelta Espana

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Great effort by Iturria last night on the breakaway. Went for it and just held on. Breakaway group thought they were going to claw him back, and probably should have, but nope.

Easy day for the peloton, finishing 18+ mins back, didn’t break a sweat.
 

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Finished stage 13. Running out of words for Pogacar, just incredible what he’s doing here.

Roglic will win the tour, little doubt in my mind. He’s not losing anything on these climbs, in fact he’s gaining.

López the big loser, thought he’d be up for that stage but didn’t fire a shot. Didn’t have anything at all on that final climb, he’s just about cooked, probably even for the podium with Pogacar seemingly growing in strength and confidence every stage.
 
Drummond said:
Finished stage 13. Running out of words for Pogacar, just incredible what he’s doing here.

Roglic will win the tour, little doubt in my mind. He’s not losing anything on these climbs, in fact he’s gaining.

López the big loser, thought he’d be up for that stage but didn’t fire a shot. Didn’t have anything at all on that final climb, he’s just about cooked, probably even for the podium with Pogacar seemingly growing in strength and confidence every stage.
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Looking more & more like a Roglic, Pogacar, Valverde podium - which is remarkable given that Valverde is 39 years old!
 
Vader said:
Looking more & more like a Roglic, Pogacar, Valverde podium - which is remarkable given that Valverde is 39 years old!
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Agreed, that’d be my pick too. Valverde seems more solid than López and Quintana. Things were going okay for López until that crash on the gravel on stage 9, hopefully he can find his legs but on the climbs he’s lacking that explosiveness.
 
Orange Agent said:
Christ these roads are bad, potholes, 20%+ cement sections, and a 39 yo dropping everybody bar Roglic. Been a sensational race.
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In the Tour, the local government re-surfaces the road as soon as they hear that the Tour is headed their way. In the Vuelta, the riders cop what everyone else lives with 365 days of the year.
 
Been playing catch up for a bit now, just finished stage 16. Nice to see Lopez find his legs again with an attack on the final climb. Thought Roglic was done but a few minutes later he manages to join López and Pogacar. Still, a glimmer of hope that the podium and the positions might not be set in stone.
 
Stage 17...wow. That was unexpected. And so, so quick. Quintana in the breakaway, gaining over 5 minutes on the GC guys. Propels himself to 2nd. Roglic having no teammates for the majority of the race. Astana having to lead the ‘peloton’ in order not to let the gap between Lopez and Quintana get too big.

What a bizarre stage, so good seeing things spice up after a few days where it looked like the tour was petering out.
 
Drummond said:
Stage 17...wow. That was unexpected. And so, so quick. Quintana in the breakaway, gaining over 5 minutes on the GC guys. Propels himself to 2nd. Roglic having no teammates for the majority of the race. Astana having to lead the ‘peloton’ in order not to let the gap between Lopez and Quintana get too big.

What a bizarre stage, so good seeing things spice up after a few days where it looked like the tour was petering out.
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Roglic is clearly the strongest rider, but Astana clearly have the strongest team.

Quintana needed to make up time last night, because he's lost time on every mountain finish since the 2nd. That was partly due to him catching a cold - and also partly because he's just not good enough.
 

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Stage 18...super by Lopez. Gusty stuff, threw everything into it. Gained a minute on Pogacar and Quintana. Back in white.

Higuita such a good ride, another young Columbian star. As per usual I’m a stage behind but the last few stages have been terrific once more.
 
Seems Movistar pissed off a lot of people on Stage 19

Tonight's stage looks to be a pretty good final mountain stage - 6 categorized climbs and a summit finish. Hopefully it leads to some attacking racing, especially by MA Lopez and Pogacar who could still potentially end up on the podium (and have the white jersey to fight for between themselves)
 
Thought it was bold going early in those conditions, the wind on the second last climb looked horrendous. 20yo just insane that he can do this in the 3rd week of his first GT. Big week for the future of the sport, MVP's detruction of the Tour of Britain was also quite entertaining.
 
Think that Roglic has the skill set to one day win the TDF - Hope UAE are patient with Pogacar - Give him a similar race program to this year and make the Vuelta his key objective.
 
Pogacar is just unreal. So calm, composed, tactically spot on, and to think he’s only 20. Keen to follow his progress over the years.

Movistar...puzzling decisions to the very end. Quintana losing 3rd and happy to see it. Feel sorry for Lopez in all of this, flight so hard, often led the attacks, but had nothing left. Wonder what his plans for 2020 will be.
 
Well congrats to all members of the podium. Roglic too good, just too strong, survived every challenge and really, had it sewn up entering week 3.

Valverde amazing achievement to finish 2nd at 39 years of age. He was solid as a rock.

And Pogacar, incredible race from him. First GT, and a podium, and it’s the way he attacked and fought on the climbs that’ll stick with me.

Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of that.
 
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