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Vuelta a Espana - Discussion
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 06-12-2025 22:38
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| ember |
Posted on 20-01-2024 06:56
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Wow! Prasad finding a way 
That makes everything related to the flat stages a success here already. What a start we've had to this Vuelta 
Grabbing green, eventhough probably only for a day, is a nice bonus, and so is Kragh even holding on to red. Didn't see that coming pre stage, but Prasad's win secured Kragh another day  Hopefully Prasad will keep trying on the next stage now that he's in green. Of course we can't expect another podium, but as long as he actively joins the sprint, we can't ask for more.
Thank you for the report, UU! I obviously enjoyed the final few hundred meters a lot, especially seeing the photo just before the finish line, where it felt clear Prasad would overtake Demare and claim the win. For Demare, the timing is frustrating to see, as he once again is far too early out in the wind. |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 20-01-2024 08:14
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And we are back to... Normal? Van Poppel looked to be in a good position but faded hard towards the end to not even catch a top 10 spot.
Congrats, ember!
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| ryant |
Posted on 20-01-2024 20:47
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Decent enough start for us with top 10 placings on every stage - Hansen especially turning out in being our utility sprinter here like what has happened before this season. Hope he for one can continue this run of form in the first week at least.
Morton hopefully stays safe in the first week, the prologue went by ok, don't think he lost out massively vs expectations but he will likely end up as a tier 1b fav on his own and ending up losing out to both Herklotz and Kudus like he did in Liechtenstein - but I'd like to be proven wrong!
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 21-01-2024 01:21
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Crazy to see Prasad taking back to back given he's not a Top 5 sprinter here but congrats to Aker nonetheless!
Thijssen continuing his improvements which is good to see while the rest are staying out of trouble.
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| Eden95 |
Posted on 21-01-2024 03:42
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Congrats ember, what an awesome start to the race. The 22’ sprinting curse continues though.
Indosat - ANZ HQ
"This Schleck sandwich is going to cause serious indigestion for Evans" - Phil Liggett |
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| ember |
Posted on 21-01-2024 06:36
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Oh boy, that's crazy! Winning once made this race a huge success for Prasad. Winning twice, I'm not sure how to describe it. Sensational! Another sprint preparation where he got the perfect position due to the top guns again launching too early.
Three stage wins in the first week is a dream, now we'll take the observer role, I promise, UU, seeing the early text!  At least I can't see us do anything on the rock, nor in the TTT. |
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 21-01-2024 06:53
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Scared of the Peñón de Gibraltar, it looks really steep
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| SotD |
Posted on 21-01-2024 07:31
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This game is seriously Strange… congrats on Prasad getting the AI number 1 :-)
Bouglas another 2 points. He still needs a top 4 to have a realistic shot at moving up the rankings, which seems unlikely.
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 21-01-2024 08:57
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My boy Peak does really well, love to see it. Demare really needs a higher flat leadout.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 21-01-2024 09:39
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Well, you can't say the game is not consistent after that
That was a roller coaster of a sprint from Van Poppel. He looked to be in a good position, then it looked like he was going to fade away again, then he actually started the sprint and looked very fast, but it was a bit too late. At least he already has picked up more points than the entire team did in the Giro so that's a great uplift.
It's Formolo's time to shine in the next stage. He finished 153rd today. So in between that and him leading out Van Poppel in the second stage, I really hope the game doesn't seem him as one of Van Poppel's domestiques and we'll see something stupid like him dropping to wait after our sprinter.
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| knockout |
Posted on 21-01-2024 10:02
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Congrats ember, what a huge season you are having!
With the first hilly stage coming up, I'd like to see us starting to join breaks now. Would be very important to start collecting some KoM points.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Marcovdw |
Posted on 21-01-2024 10:13
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First bad sprint from Hodeg here. He'll have some time to think about that.
Congrats ember!
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| Bikex |
Posted on 21-01-2024 11:18
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Ah man this is so disappointing so far from Hsu. However, it's cool to see my team have a sprint train, not a regular sight. With that in mind, maybe I should've invested into better leadout riders. Although I wouldn't say Hsu's support here is particularly bad. |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 21-01-2024 14:47
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Just gotta laugh at this point. WTF is AKA doing? 
No chance at being competitive for points now and his luck along with Demare and Hsu doesn't seem to be shifting. Wish I could pull him from the race now and spend those race days elsehwere.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 21-01-2024 18:07
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No idea who's gonna stop Aker from winning the PT now, what a performance so far! Congrats ember.
Demare vs Herklotz tomorrow, I hope. With how badly things have gone for Arnaud so far, I nearly want him to win that more than Herklotz! 
Ideally, we get bonus seconds and maybe even a small gap, particularly to Morton with his ACC deficit for a small pre-TTT cushion to maybe get into the lead there.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 21-01-2024 23:34
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First good stage of the race for us. Can't complain. Aranburu was active and did his best to snag a podium there. Went early and used his resistance really well to hold on. Quintana loses some time, but he's pretty bad on the hills, so we just kind of have to roll with that. Build up a good enough buffer to finish 2nd overall after his attack.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 22-01-2024 01:09
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Not the most eventful stage from the favourites but that was to be expected given the profile. Potentially the first of many stage wins for Herklotz although it's very early for him to carry the Leaders jersey through to the end. Kudus providing the competition is good to see!
Wellens 6th and finishing with all the other GC guys is a solid start from him in a stage that doesn't really suit him given he's not that great in the Hills. If he can avoid time loss in such stages and gain in the Mountains then that would be marvellous. Other climbers not losing time is also a bonus.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 22-01-2024 03:08
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Brilliant ride by Herklotz, staying with the early attacks and then just riding too high of a tempo for most to follow and for anyone to go past.
Looking at the GC, it's a good gap on Morton ahead of the TTT, but I actually suspect TGH will be at least joint-favorite to be in the lead after it with the impressive lineup Cedevita has arrived here with.
For points and preferential treatment reasons, I'd like to stay in the jersey, but rightfully there are questions whether it may deplete resources too early in the race.
What is important either way is to increase the slim margin on Kudus if possible, and to ensure Morton doesn't creep up into a position where an unexpected bonus second lottery could turn the tide.
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| ember |
Posted on 22-01-2024 05:57
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Herklotz establishing himself early as the GC leader is perfect for Puma. Kind of expected result, and no surprise to see Herklotz deliver. A bit surprised he didn't gap everyone, to be honest, must be encouraging for Kudus to finish on the same time!
cio93 wrote:
No idea who's gonna stop Aker from winning the PT now, what a performance so far! Congrats ember.
Haha, far too early! Especially after that stage 5, where we clearly decided to use the whole team as Herklotz' (Prasad's) domestiques, doing all the work for you! Hopefully you get to do all the work yourself from now on, assuming Herklotz stays in red |
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| SotD |
Posted on 22-01-2024 06:21
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Brilliant finale :-)
Too bad Carapaz couldn’t quite keep up with the 2nd group. It would have been a good statement. But keeping up with Soulious is also solid on a Stage like this.
Let’s hope this amounts to some freedom for targeting breakaways. I’m not expecting much though, as it does Seem like a bit imod a lottery.
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