Big win for Tenorio! Congratulations, mre! This gives us a very open Vuelta, at least for now, which is very cool and interesting.

The next mountain stage could very well be the Queen stage, which obviously means a great daily form is key. Galta really needs that looking at where he sits now, as a top 5 is close, but nothing he has shown far has been impressive. We need that to change if we're going to have a good race here

I have to second that. Unfortunately Gesink continues to second GC too.

Cool to see Reis finding his foot well inside the top10. Last year he took a beating from his Shikai at the ToA while this time he looks solid to win the duel between the 2.

Congrats on the win Mre! It's also cool to see PCT dominating this

And thanks for all the reports so far Nemo!

You're right he's in a good position already, but I'm not completely optimistic yet. I know that feeling already as he also took a beating from Shikai (and some 78 climbers) in the Giro.

Still a rather long ITT later on, where random daily form will play a huge role imo.

Mediocre time trial for Kritskiy but a podium place is still within reach.

That's huge for Tenorio. This might become a tense Vuelta!

There have been 39 riders in winning breaks in the last handful of stages.

Among those 39, not a single Puma rider.

It somewhat made sense in the Giro, but we have a third tier climber and seven random domestiques in this lineup.

Imagine losing the green jersey to Will Smith

Great to see Skujins in the attack for once. Would have loved to see him more aggressive in the finale - ideally with an attack over the last climb but 4th is alright (in isolation) - Gotta take what i can get on a stage like that.


Next stage will be absolutely crucial in the fight for the KoM jersey and I hope we'll be present in that fight. Ideally with as many riders as possible. With the first climb starting right from the go, random luck with the positioning will be crucial but ideally both Tvetcov and Vosekalns and/or some of the climbing support will join the break.

Weird that Smit was allowed into that group again.

VdP the perfect choice and was strong as well... Just for some reason sprinter far too early.... Young rider mistake.

*Sigh*

Stupidity again. Yeah, let's put this Smit guy into the leading position again..

Good to see us in those breaks though. Tom David finally worth something, but this sprint was heart breaking. I really thought he would do it after the second to last picture.

What the... PCM doing PCM things again

let's hope Novak wakes up tomorrow

We continue to race passive this Vuelta, which is frustrating seeing the moment has come where the breakaways seem to succeed more often than not. Congratulations again, SN!

A key stage coming up for Galta. Race defining, I suspect, seeing how difficult the profile looks.

What a legendary figure this Willie Smit guy is turning out to be. Bodes well with his real-life persona. Leaving a quote of his own for you guys to reflect:



Congrats SN.

And once again thanks for all your reports Nemo!

I showed up to this race with a bunch of nobodies, but it's been quite nice to see the team actually embracing the tactic: attack, attack, attack!

Good win by Rosch, followed by several top positions. Good enough for a bad team.

Got to say that with this squad it's probably expected we are struggling here but Bellis arguably should have bagged a few better results already and we haven't joined as many breaks as I would have liked really. With the mountains coming up and Kennaugh already far off GC wise, I hope he can join the breaks and compete for the KOM and some stages.

Fingers crossed for the next stage