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Roberto Velásquez: The Story of A Legend |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-10-2012 11:02
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Tour de France Champion
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Don't worry, he'll come around  |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-10-2012 11:15
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Tour de France Champion
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Vuelta à España 2012 - Stage 8
Any true cycling fan will remember this day. A somewhat historic day, looking back on it: the first clash between Contador and Velásquez.
In the final small descent, right before the final climb, Sanchez was ahead, with shattered groups chasing him.
He got caught, and heading towards the finish were Contador and Roberto Velásquez, side by side!
He won his first Vuelta stage there. His first GT victory, and it tasted sweet.
I'm just so incredibly happy. The past few days have been a bit less, but yesterday's flat stage really straightened me out again. I had the legs that got me the Colombian title, and the confidence to use them. I was quite nervous when I saw it was me and Contador, he's such a great rider. I'm very glad I won. It was a nice sprint, I think he, too, enjoyed it. Tough, hard, fast, I really think he enjoyed it! [...] Tomorrow we finish in Barcelona and I will definitely try again then, the finish is a bit uphill and there's a small hill before the finish. Let's turn this Vuelta upside down!
Result
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 4h27'58 | IanButler | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | + 8 | | | 3 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 51 | | | 4 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 2'02 | | | 5 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | | 6 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | s.t. | | | 7 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 2'36 | | | 8 | Igor Anton | Euskaltel Euskadi | s.t. | | | 9 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre-ISD | s.t. | | | 10 | Hubert Dupont | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | | 11 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | s.t. | | | 12 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin-Barracuda | s.t. | | | 13 | Steven Kruijswijk | Rabobank Cycling Team | + 3'01 | | | 14 | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ-BigMat | + 3'09 | |
GC
| 1 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | 28h52'02 | | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | + 28 | | | 3 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | + 1'52 | IanButler | | 4 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 2'40 | | | 5 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 3'26 | | | 6 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin-Barracuda | + 4'07 | | | 7 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 4'29 | | | 8 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 4'42 | | | 9 | Hubert Dupont | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 5'17 | | | 10 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 5'46 | |
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| TimoCycling |
Posted on 10-10-2012 11:23
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Sprinter
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Wow nice man! He sure did come around! Onto the GC win? |
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| Alphabet |
Posted on 10-10-2012 11:23
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Junior Rider
Posts: 44
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Beating Contador 
I hope Roberto holds onto his podium spot! |
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 10-10-2012 11:32
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Team Leader
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Great race by Roberto. First GT win.
Can we see his stats?
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| Wild Dog |
Posted on 10-10-2012 12:59
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Domestique
Posts: 425
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Excellent win for Roberto. Looking good for the rest of the race!  |
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| kqyt |
Posted on 10-10-2012 13:24
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Neo-Pro
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awsome win, but can you put his stats up here, so I can see them
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| sutty68 |
Posted on 10-10-2012 13:38
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 34654
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Contador who!!! Come on Roberto you can win this thing |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 10-10-2012 14:48
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Classics Specialist
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Good win!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 15:27
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-10-2012 15:47
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
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TimoCycling: I think he can start thinking about the GC, yeah
Alphabet: Thanks
Jakstar22: Thanks, man. (answer to your stat question below with answer to kqyt)
Wild Dog: Thanks!
kqyt: Like I said before, he doesn't have real stats. I adjust him all the time, depending on his situation. His MO stat, for example, has been 76, but at one time it was even 81. Hope you understand I can PM you his current stats, though (the one he just won with)
sutty68: He'll definitely try everything to do so!
dienblad: Thank you |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-10-2012 15:48
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
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Vuelta à España 2012 - Stage 9/10
Stage 9
Classified as flat, this is tricky for a true sprinter. The hill near the end is potentially a stage win-killer. For Roberto, this was a chance at double glory.
The race ended in Barcelona, so a victory here would just be incredible for a young rider's palmares.
Team Colombia had been informed that they would not be able to get a promotion to WT a few days before the Vuelta started. They had been a bit down but Roberto's win boosted up morale again. They re-payed him by showing complete confidence in his abilities.
Riding through Barcelona, Roberto said this about it later:
It was impressive. The bigger the town got, the more I thought: I can't fail in front of all these people!
To everyone's surprise, there were no attacks up the hill. Samual Sanchez led the peloton and picked up the KoM points. Roberto chose his wheel for the descent.
But Sanchez had no intentions on breaking away. Clearly, Roberto did!
And he was unchained, free, he rode like crazy. No one able to reel him in. It was double glory for young Roberto Velásquez. A victory in the Vuelta, with a finish near the Olympic Stadium, in Barcelona. What a prestigious win!
It's very unfortunate, but his interview of that day seemed to have been lost in time. We can only guess he was extremely happy, and his coach was, too.
Result
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 4h37'30 | IanButler | | 2 | Daniele Bennati | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 19 | | | 3 | José Joaquin Rojas Gil | Movistar Team | s.t. | | | 4 | Simon Gerrans | Orica-GreenEDGE | s.t. | | | 5 | Heinrich Haussler | Team Garmin-Barracuda | s.t. | | | 6 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | s.t. | | | 7 | Damiano Cunego | Lampre-ISD | s.t. | | | 8 | David De la Fuente | Caja Rural | s.t. | | | 9 | Enrico Gasparotto | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | | 10 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | |
GC
| 1 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | 33h29'51 | | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | + 28 | | | 3 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | + 1'13 | IanButler | | 4 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 2'40 | | | 5 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 3'26 | | | 6 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin-Barracuda | + 4'07 | | | 7 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 4'29 | | | 8 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 4'42 | | | 9 | Hubert Dupont | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 5'17 | | | 10 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 5'46 | |
Roberto Velásquez wore the Point Shirt the next day.
Stage 10
A sprint. Roberto lost his Points Jersey to Greipel.
| 1 | André Greipel | Lotto Belisol | 3h21'49 | | | 2 | Yauheni Hutarovich | FDJ-BigMat | s.t. | | | 3 | Robert Hunter | Team Garmin-Barracuda | s.t. | | | 4 | Theo Bos | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | | 5 | Daniele Bennati | Radioshack Nissan Trek | s.t. | | | 6 | José Joaquin Rojas Gil | Movistar Team | s.t. | | | 7 | Heinrich Haussler | Team Garmin-Barracuda | s.t. | | | 8 | Manuel Cardoso | Caja Rural | s.t. | | | 9 | Tom Leezer | Rabobank Cycling Team | s.t. | | | 10 | Gerald Ciolek | Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team | s.t. | |
Next chapter in our story about the legend Roberto Velásquez, his first important time trial. How much time would he lose? Would he be able to minimize the damage, with the hill in the time trial? |
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| Daggen |
Posted on 10-10-2012 16:12
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Sprinter
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Really nice story so far! Really nice and new concept of it. |
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| francopell |
Posted on 10-10-2012 16:23
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Domestique
Posts: 652
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Roberto is insane! Some great stuff from him so far, let's hope he can take a GT podium or even the win  |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-10-2012 16:23
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
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Daggen: Thanks, man! It's good to hear you like it!
francopell: Let's hope so, indeed Thanks
Edited by Ian Butler on 10-10-2012 16:25
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-10-2012 16:38
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
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Vuelta à España 2012 - Stage 11
Roberto, the team, his coach, the world did not know what to expect of this day. Roberto had trained a bit on TT bikes, but he was just not the man for it. However, he did have the advantage of the hill and the descent, where he would definitely take back some lost time!
It seemed as if Roberto had won the hearts of the Spaniards, as the cameras were on him much more than before. He would remain their adopted child for his entire career. Spain would never cease to love him.
At the first checkpoint he had lost 46" to Contador already.
He gave full effort on the hill. It's hard to tell seeing the images, but I've you've seen it on the television as I did, you knew he was dying, really dying. You could see him being pale white, sweating like crazy, but what a speed going up that mountain!
Suddenly he held the best provisional time. When Contador crossed the second checkpoint, he had an 8" deficit on Roberto, who was downhilling very fast now.
However, the flat final did not do him justice. He lost some time, but was on a provisional second place, much more than he expected! Only 5" behind Wiggins.
But Contador swept away all competition and finished nearly a full minute ahead of Roberto.
Result
| 1 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | 59'03 | | | 2 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 50 | | | 3 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | + 55 | IanButler | | 4 | Geraint Thomas | Sky Pro Cycling | + 1'18 | | | 5 | Juan Pablo Suarez | Colombia Coldeportes | + 1'30 | IanButler | | 6 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 1'51 | | | 7 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 1'52 | | | 8 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 1'53 | | | 9 | Sérvulo Barrero | Colombia Coldeportes | + 1'58 | IanButler | | 10 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 2'14 | |
GC
| 1 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | 37h51'11 | | | 2 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 1'23 | | | 3 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | + 1'40 | IanButler | | 4 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 3'02 | | | 5 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 4'51 | | | 6 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 6'28 | | | 7 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 6'55 | | | 8 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin-Barracuda | + 7'01 | | | 9 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 7'10 | | | 10 | Janez Brajkovic | Astana Pro Team | + 8'14 | |
Points
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 91 | IanButler | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | 89 | | | 3 | André Greipel | Lotto Belisol | 80 | | | 4 | Yauheni Hutarovich | FDJ-BigMat | 70 | | | 5 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | 65 | |
KoM
| 1 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | 36 | | | 2 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | 30 | | | 3 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | 27 | | | 4 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 27 | IanButler | | 5 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | 25 | |
We do have an interview of that day, luckily!
Reporter: Roberto Velásquez, congratulations, this must be your dream coming true, you are fighting with the greatest of this sport!
Roberto Velásquez: It is, it really is. I never expected this.
Reporter: How did your time trial went?
Roberto Velásquez: Well, the wind was in my favor. I focused myself mainly on the climb and the descent, and I don't think I could've done any better, I'm fairly content with today.
Reporter: Many predict you will be a numero uno game player in only a matter of years. What do you say to that?
Roberto Velásquez: I welcome the support. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and we'll see how it turns out.
Reporter: What do you expect from the second part of this Vuelta? With no more time trials and many mountain stages.
Roberto Velásquez: Well, it's pretty obvious, is it not? Now I will attack Contador, and I will not stop until either one of us cracks.
Reporter: Sounds a bit ambitious!
Roberto Velásquez: It is, but then again, why would that be bad thing? I'll give it my all, that's all I'm saying.
Reporter: We're all looking forward to it, good luck!
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| FreitasPCM |
Posted on 10-10-2012 16:58
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Grand Tour Champion
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Roberto's doing amazing so far. He's sure to make the other riders eat his ashes during the next years. |
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| kqyt |
Posted on 10-10-2012 17:26
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Neo-Pro
Posts: 348
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Cobo is in his range now...
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-10-2012 18:46
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
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FreitasPCM: He'll make a lot of riders curse him, that's for sure
kqyt: Why reach for the moon when you can reach for the stars |
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 10-10-2012 18:46
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Vuelta à España 2012 - Stage 12/13
Stage 13
All it takes is one weak moment, one moment he cracks, and I'll be right there, picking up the pieces.
- Roberto Velásquez 19/08/2012 -
An extremely steep finish, perfect for Roberto.
Two teams were working hard all day long, Team Colombia and Saxo Bank.
The breakaway of the day would make it to the finish.
Contador had an off day. He wasn't even at the front. He didn't think he could lose too much time on such a small hill anyway. So Roberto Velásquez let go all boundaries and launched himself impressively. The cycling world collectively held their breath, what a speed. I was lucky to have been able to watch images of that particular race. It was impressive.
Capecchi won the race.
But more importantly, Roberto managed to create one hell of a gap and he finished inside the breakaway group!
Result
| 1 | Eros Capecchi | Liquigas-Cannondale | 4h35'29 | | | 2 | Jussi Veikkanen | FDJ-BigMat | + 8 | | | 3 | David De la Fuente | Caja Rural | s.t. | | | 4 | Maxime Bouet | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | | 5 | Geraint Thomas | Sky Pro Cycling | + 25 | | | 6 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | s.t. | IanButler | | 7 | Robert Hunter | Team Garmin-Barracuda | s.t. | | | 8 | Gianni Meersman | Lotto Belisol | s.t. | | | 9 | Javier Ramirez Abeja | Andalucia | s.t. | | | 10 | Matthew Lloyd | Lampre-ISD | + 52 | | | (...) | | 26 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 1'51 | | 27 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | s.t. | | (...) | | 34 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 2'27 | | (...) | | 63 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. |
Stage 14
A breakaway.
| 1 | Luca Paolini | Katusha Team | 3h33'55 | | | 2 | Rinaldo Nocentini | Ag2r La Mondiale | s.t. | | | 3 | Lars Ytting Bak | Lotto Belisol | s.t. | | | 4 | Javier Ramirez Abeja | Andalucia | s.t. | | | 5 | Chris Anker Sørensen | Team Saxo Bank | s.t. | | | 6 | Hernâni Brôco | Caja Rural | s.t. | | | 7 | Damien Gaudin | Team Europcar | + 4'24 | | | 8 | Alexandre Vinokourov | Astana Pro Team | s.t. | | | 9 | José Joaquin Rojas Gil | Movistar Team | + 6'23 | | | 10 | Heinrich Haussler | Team Garmin-Barracuda | s.t. | |
General Classification
| 1 | Roberto Velásquez | Colombia Coldeportes | 42h28'45 | IanButler | | 2 | Alberto Contador | Team Saxo Bank | + 22 | | | 3 | Juan José Cobo Acebo | Movistar Team | + 49 | | | 4 | Bradley Wiggins | Sky Pro Cycling | + 2'48 | | | 5 | Chris Froome | Sky Pro Cycling | + 5'13 | | | 6 | Joaquin Rodriguez | Katusha Team | + 5'50 | | | 7 | Samuel Sánchez | Euskaltel Euskadi | + 6'14 | | | 8 | Daniel Martin | Team Garmin-Barracuda | + 6'16 | | | 9 | Jakob Fuglsang | Radioshack Nissan Trek | + 7'32 | | | 10 | Thibaut Pinot | FDJ-BigMat | + 8'20 | |
His first Leader's Jersey of the many in the Vuelta.
But would he be able to hold it all the way to Madrid in his first professional year, or did Contador still outsmarted him with his experience? Many of you will already know, but those who still don't, stay tuned! |
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| francopell |
Posted on 10-10-2012 18:52
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Domestique
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Oooh this is exciting! |
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