- Feb 28, 2009
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Apparently the Vuelta route planner has called tonight a mini Liege-Bastogne-Liege
2021 Vuelta a Espana
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eth-dog
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Well apparently Bardet is simply chasing the stage win and isn't chasing KOM points, letting Michael have it. Both of them are in the break but Majka/Caruso aren't so it's over.
eth-dog
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AG2R and DSM need to put Dewulf and Hamilton on the front resepectively and tell them to drive it
- Nov 17, 2007
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Just joined the stream, good to see Storer, Bardet and Hamilton in the break. Storer grabbed the first points so that's the "share it around" theory gone 
Also Liege-Bastogne-Liege seems to be a drinking game, I've already had a few swigs of tea.
Also Liege-Bastogne-Liege seems to be a drinking game, I've already had a few swigs of tea.
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Good effort for Storer to get back into the lead group.
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MAL missing that move by Yates could be disastrous. Started the day 1:43 in front of Haig, and is currently 2:55 behind and losing ground.
Bernal being stuck in that group with Superman is great for Haig too
Bernal being stuck in that group with Superman is great for Haig too
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eth-dog
Tier 1 WW Player
Yep. He won't podium now. Yates and Haig are pretty much equal in the ITT (Adam much stronger than his brother in this regard), the only times Yates has beaten Haig in it has been when Haig was his domestique that needed to conserve energy but it's always been close.
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Haig's effectively got 3 domestiques working for him. Lopez has one 
eth-dog
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It's done. It'll end up as Roglic-Mas-Haig/YatesHaig's effectively got 3 domestiques working for him. Lopez has one
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That was a great stage. Champoussin came out of nowhere to snag the win and the GC order has been mixed up a fair bit
Gotta feel for Gibbons too after being out in front for so long
Gotta feel for Gibbons too after being out in front for so long
Lopez throws the toys out of the cot, and withdraws...
Bernal crosses the finish line and says he's unaware of the reasons behind Lopez' withdrawal.
Bernal crosses the finish line and says he's unaware of the reasons behind Lopez' withdrawal.
eth-dog
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Bernal loses white to Mader as well. Hard to see Yates bridging a minute to Haig. Will probably finish as it is apart from maybe De La Cruz dropping out of the top 10
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What a stage for Bahrain. GreenEdge should never have let Stephens go, far better DS than White. It looks shocking for MAL but not a lot he could do once Bahrain got a sniff of blood they went for the kill. Still should of finished the race.
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Couple of decent uphill stretches in the TT, will test some tired guys.
I guess the big question is whether or not Roglic can blow his winning margin out to 5+ minutes? It's currently 2:38, so he needs to take 2:22 on Mas to hit the 5 minute mark. I think that's very doable.
eth-dog
Tier 1 WW Player
Mas is decent enough against the clock. It's possible, and I guess Mas won't floor it with the time gap to Haig and Yates.
The interesting one for me is which pair of De La Cruz, Grosschatner and Eiking make the top 10. De La Cruz is terrible against the clock, I wouldn't be surprised if the other two were able to chase him down.
Mas only lost 18 seconds in the 7.1km prologue. Extrapolating that to 33.8km, would give a difference of 85 seconds. Of course, there's a world of difference between a short technical TT at the start of the race, when legs & minds are fresh, and a longer rolling TT at the end of the race, when legs are weary and there's little to be gained or lost.
Either way, I'll watch the highlights tomorrow. No way I'm sitting up, waiting for the coverage to start at 1:50am.
eth-dog
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Agreed. Haig probably stays on the podium anyway so Australia has had a successful GT overall
Very - Haig in 3rd overall, Storer winning KotM. Can't ask for much more than that!
Maybe Bike Exchange not being embarrassingly bad... but I'll take the Haig/Storer results any day of the week.
eth-dog
Tier 1 WW Player
BikeExchange did a lot right. They just didn't win. Matthews finishes top 5 in Green? Not great but if they got one win we'd be talking about a good Tour.
Next year will be the last year they go for GC I think. Hamilton and Yates only have one more year on their contracts. Build your squads around Matthews and Mezgec after that.
Matthews has passed his peak. He turns 31 in 3 weeks, and hasn't won a race in more than 12 months. He finished 2nd in the Points Classification in the Tour, and is currently 6th in the Vuelta Points Classification - but he never looked like winning either.
Yes, things would be different if he'd won a stage in the Vuelta, but he hasn't, and he really hasn't looked like doing so. BEX's Vuelta needs to be marked according to what they actually achieved, and that's 2/3rds of 3/5ths of SFA.
We can't even say that he's the premier rider for the hilly stages any more - Magnus Cort Nielson absolutely pantsed him in this year's Vuelta. MCN beat him both easily and comprehensively. That's before we take into account riders like Matthew Van Der Poel, who are several levels above Matthews.
Is he really the rider you want to be building a squad around, even more so if you're talking 2023 onwards? He's rapidly approaching the point where he becomes the "road captain", rather than the main rider. Don't get me wrong, the "road captain" is an important role (remember Hincapie's role in Cadel's 2011 TDF victory) - but you don't build a team around the "road captain".
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eth-dog
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Who do you build around then? Their GC time is over. They don't have the mountain support riders anymore apart from Nieve. Luka Mezgec isn't as good as Matthews, Dion Smith is too inconsistent, Kaden Groves is young and talented but that's a lot of pressure on him.
Who do you target right now if you're BEX to be "the man" from 2023 onwards? The only sprinter worth their salt coming out of contract next year is Jasper Philipsen. Do you basically give him the Yates money to be the man for two of the Grand tours?
Short answer - I don't know. Maybe they need to start from scratch, or at least look outside the existing team list? Matthews is barely the answer in 2021, he definitely isn't the answer for 2023 and beyond.
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There's now a separate BEX discussion thread, thanks for creating it Eth-dog.
