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One in a Billion | Rise to the Summit
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 13-05-2017 10:29
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Great win and nice GC standing, too! |
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 13-05-2017 10:35
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4191
Joined: 13-09-2015
PCM$: 300.00
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The first one of a (hopefully) very long list. Congrats on your first WT win
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 13-05-2017 10:43
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World Champion
Posts: 11397
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1120.00
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It's been a while in the making   Congrats on the stage win and a good race! Now for that big Vuelta I know you're capable of What's the route like, asides from typically Vuelta-y
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 13-05-2017 12:51
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11684
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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@Ian: Thanks 
@Aquarius: That's the plan  . Thanks!
@Jandal: Thanks and yes, it's taken a while! Coming to the Vuelta route, starts off with an TTT and there are two ITTs, one after the first rest day and then the last stage. The first week is a mixture of flat and hills with one uphill finish. Week 2 is transitional besides the ITT. Week three starts and ends with MTFs with all but one stage having climbs. So yes, quite Vuelta-y but with slightly more ITT Kms.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 16-05-2017 09:33
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11684
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Leader of Lotto Soudal in my first Vuelta! Sweet!!
The team Lotto sent to this race wasn't the strongest but with Polanc, Vliegen and Wallays, the climbing support was decent. The field wasn't particularly strong, with a depleted Froome following on from the Vuelta and Tejay van Garderen and Ilnur Zakarin among leading contenders.
Spoiler A lot of highlights to cover for this race, so there will be four editions of Vuelta reports instead of the usual three for Grand Tours.
Stage 1 was the TTT and we were not among the favourites to challenge at the top. However, we didn't do too badly, finishing 33 seconds down on stage winners Tinkoff. Dan Martin, touted for a high finish, wore the first Maillot Rojo for 2019.
Stage 2 was flat ad Kittel won the sprint.
Stage 3
The first climbs of the race saw the first action. However, it was just opening salvos as the break failed to stay away. The end of the stage saw some attacks, with three riders getting a 9 second gap to the larger peloton behind. Froome won the stage and took the lead in the GC. I finished 8th on the stage.
Stage 4
I stayed in the pack till the break was caught. I attacked on top of the second climb with Ulissi and built up a minute's lead. I attacked again on the final downhill with 10 km left as Ulissi was swept up by the peloton. I was caught with 3 km to go. Sagan won the stage and took the GC lead. I finished in the pack.
Stage 5 was a hilly transitional stage. Wallays joined the break for us. Midway through the stage I suffered a big fall but luckily there were no lasting impact. A big chunk of riders went down with me. The pack was mostly back together before we set out in pursuit of the break. The latter were caught. Kwiatkowski launched a late attack off the front of the peloton to win the stage with a 20 second gap. He also took the lead in the GC.
| 1 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Team Cannondale - Garmin | 16h09'00 | | 2 | Peter Sagan | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 3 | | 3 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | + 6 | | 4 | Daniel Martin | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 13 | | 5 | Ilnur Zakarin | Tinkoff-Saxo | s.t. | | 6 | Diego Ulissi | Tinkoff-Saxo | s.t. | | 7 | Anastasio Ania | Tinkoff-Saxo | s.t. | | 8 | Alexis Vuillermoz | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 19 | | 9 | Wout Poels | Astana Pro Team | + 25 | | 10 | Tim Wellens | ESPN | + 27 |
Tinkoff-Saxo with five riders in the top 10 following on from their TTT win on Stage 1.
Four lead changes in five stages! Is that a sign of things to come? Will the rest of the GT be this unpredictable as well? Stay tuned to find out...
Edited by AbhishekLFC on 16-05-2017 12:13
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 16-05-2017 12:52
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11684
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Stage 6
I rode with the peloton throughout the stage. We caught the break before the climb to the finish started. There were a few attack attempts but the gro1up was too big at the bottom of the climb. I finally attacked out of the group with two kilometres to go. Some of the favourites countered and I finished in a small group taking 9th place on the stage. Froome won and took the lead in the GC again. I moved up to 10th in the GC!
Stage 7 was flat. Boonen and Polanc fell early on but both recovered. Polanc's day would turn out worse as he fell again late in the stage and could not get back to the peloton. The stage was decided by a reduced bunch sprint.
Stage 8 was completely flat. Boeckmans finished 9th for us.
Stage 9 saw more climbing. Wallays was in the break for us. I was dropped by the group of the leaders on the second climb. I found myself in front of Miguel Angel Lopez, who was leading the U25 category. I could not get back to the leaders and finished in the second group, in 12th place. I took the lead in the U25 category. Vuillermoz won the stage and took the lead in the GC, the sixth lead change so far.
Stage 10
I rode the ITT wearing the White jersey and started 10th from the end.
(That's me with Alaphilippe getting ready in the staring gate)
I was 1st through the first two time-checks and finished 2nd by just a second. When all riders had finished, I ended up 4th, 26 seconds off the best time. I moved up to 9th in the GC.
| 1 | Tejay Van Garderen | Stella Artois | 46'21 | | 2 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 16 | | 3 | Ion Izagirre | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 25 | | 4 | Abhishek Sinha | Lotto Soudal | + 27 | | 5 | Tobias Ludvigsson | Stella Artois | + 44 |
I struggled on Stage 11, maybe an effect of the effort that I had put in the ITT. I was dropped by the leaders, finished 12th on the stage and fell to 11th in the GC. Kwiatkowski won the stage and reclaimed the GC lead. Vuillermoz had a disastrous stage and fell to 5th in the GC.
| 1 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Team Cannondale - Garmin | 37h19'14 | | 2 | Daniel Martin | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 28 | | 3 | Ilnur Zakarin | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 52 | | 4 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | + 1'42 | | 5 | Alexis Vuillermoz | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 2'16 | | 6 | Roman Kreuziger | Astana Pro Team | + 3'32 | | 7 | Tejay Van Garderen | Stella Artois | + 4'14 | | 8 | Wout Poels | Astana Pro Team | + 4'18 | | 9 | Julian Alaphilippe | Stella Artois | + 8'00 | | 10 | Tim Wellens | ESPN | + 8'58 |
I was tied with Wellens on time but was below him on count-back. More important stages coming up...
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 03-12-2024 17:56
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| Tamijo |
Posted on 16-05-2017 19:36
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Team Leader
Posts: 7406
Joined: 14-07-2015
PCM$: 599.00
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A fine Vuelta so far, very nice ITT, looks bright for a future GT champ
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| Ripley |
Posted on 17-05-2017 08:20
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3341
Joined: 25-11-2014
PCM$: 300.00
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While I had higher hopes for you but admittedly a lot of strong riders turned up, more than I'd have expected. |
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| Raziz |
Posted on 17-05-2017 09:33
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Domestique
Posts: 552
Joined: 22-12-2016
PCM$: 200.00
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A solid start at the Vuelta and hoping for more performances throughout the race. |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 17-05-2017 12:43
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11684
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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@Tamijo: One step at a time. But good TT skills will definitely be essential to challenge in GTs in the future.
@Ripley: I know you were hoping for a podium and I was aiming to get close to that, but I've not been to keep pace with the best. Mostly I've finished in the second group on the tough climbs. Need to try to hold on to the front group.
@Raziz: Yes, a major improvement from the Giro. Let's see what the rest of the stages have in store...
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 19-05-2017 02:36
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11684
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Stage 12 was flat. Vliegen was in the break but they didn't survive. Boeckmans finished 9th.
Stage 13 wasn't very eventful but I did gain some time at the top of the U25 standings. I finished 7th in the reduced bunch sprint.
Stage 14 saw Wallays join the break. He was dropped but two from the break survived to win the stage. Wallays paced me up the last climb. I finished 10th on the stage and moved up to 11th in the GC.
Stage 15
Vliegen had a hard fall at the start but recovered. The break was caught before the end. A reduced bunch contested the sprint to the finished. I went shoulder to shoulder and beat Poels at the line to claim 9th place. I moved up to 9th in the GC!
Stage 16
The good performances of the second week were undone on this hard climbing stage. I was dropped by the leaders on the thrid climb. I somehow managed to catch up before the fourth. I was dropped again on the climb to the finish, with 10 km to go at that point. I lost seven and a half minutes, moving down to 11th in the GC and to 2nd place in the U25s, trailing by 45 seconds to Miguel Angel Lopez. Dan Martin took the lead in the GC after a bad stage from Kwiatkowski.
| 1 | Daniel Martin | Tinkoff-Saxo | 62h23'10 | | 2 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | + 1'37 | | 3 | Alexis Vuillermoz | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 1'44 | | 4 | Tejay Van Garderen | Stella Artois | + 3'48 | | 5 | Ilnur Zakarin | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 4'15 | | 6 | Wout Poels | Astana Pro Team | + 5'38 | | 7 | Roman Kreuziger | Astana Pro Team | + 8'30 | | 8 | Julian Alaphilippe | Stella Artois | + 11'47 | | 9 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 13'11 | | 10 | Miguel Angel Lopez | Stella Artois | + 16'17 | | 11 | Abhishek Sinha | Lotto Soudal | + 17'02 |
With just 5 stages to go and the top 10 in sight, how far up the table will I be able to go? And can I take back the U25 jersey? Those questions will be answered in the next post.
Edited by AbhishekLFC on 20-05-2017 06:05
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 20-05-2017 06:43
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11684
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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Stage 17 was for the sprinters and Sagan won.
Stage 18
Not a very difficult stage, but the the climbs at the end was something I was targeting. I stayed with the lead group all the way to the top. The climb wasn't long enough for anyone to get time into the others. I finished 5th in the reduced bunch sprint!
Stage 19
Higher climbs on this stage. The break stayed away till the after the second climb. I attacked on that climb and caught up to the break. At this point, we had 30 seconds over the peloton. At the top, with 16 km to go, there were five of us. Soon, more riders attacked out of the peloton while some of the break were dropped. With 10 km to go, I was a part of a 10 man lead group. We would decide the stage amongst ourselves. Sagan, once again, was the best sprinter of the lot. I finished 8th and moved up to 10th in the GC. I retook the lead in the U25s standings.
Stage 20
Four mountain passes and an MTF awaited us in the last road stage. Polanc got into the break. The peloton was torn apart in the first climb itself, with just 26 riders getting over the top together. The size of the group doubled as reached the first intermediate sprint. I ran out of helpers on the second climb. I negotiated that and the next climb with the lead group behind the peloton. I was dropped on the fourth climb as the break came into view. I didn't let it phase me and chased hard, with Miguel Angel Lopez in tow. Soon, we started catching and dropping the riders who had dropped us, and the occasional remnant of the break. I dropped Lopez eventually, cementing my hold on the white jersey. I caught and dropped everyone besides Froome, Dan Martin and van Garderen on the climb to the finish. I dropped van Garderen too in the final half kilometre to finish an incredible 3rd on this hard stage. My first podium in a Grand Tour! I think this is the best stage I have ever ridden as a pro cyclist! The result put Froome back into the Red Jersey. I moved up to 8th in the GC.
| 1 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | 4h20'38 | | 2 | Daniel Martin | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 2'41 | | 3 | Abhishek Sinha | Lotto Soudal | s.t. | | 4 | Tejay Van Garderen | Stella Artois | + 3'00 | | 5 | Stefano Pirazzi | ESPN | + 4'08 |
Stage 21 was the second ITT. I wasn't at my best here after the gruelling ride on the previous stage. I managed to finish a decent 23rd, 41 seconds down on stage winner Taylor Phinney. I held on to 8th in the GC and 1st in the U25s!
| 1 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | 75h02'21 | | 2 | Daniel Martin | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 2'11 | | 3 | Alexis Vuillermoz | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 6'01 | | 4 | Tejay Van Garderen | Stella Artois | + 8'21 | | 5 | Wout Poels | Astana Pro Team | + 9'23 | | 6 | Roman Kreuziger | Astana Pro Team | + 12'49 | | 7 | Ilnur Zakarin | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 13'11 | | 8 | Abhishek Sinha | Lotto Soudal | + 18'37 | | 9 | Julian Alaphilippe | Stella Artois | + 19'02 | | 10 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 20'50 |
Spoiler | 11 | Miguel Angel Lopez | Stella Artois | + 22'42 | | 12 | Leopold König | Astana Pro Team | + 32'45 | | 13 | Carlos Verona | Team Katusha | + 38'25 | | 14 | Winner Anacona | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | + 39'05 | | 15 | Esteban Chaves | IAM Cycling | + 42'55 | | 16 | Diego Ulissi | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 43'31 | | 17 | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 45'03 | | 18 | Anastasio Ania | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 48'07 | | 19 | Edoardo Zardini | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 53'16 | | 20 | Jonathan Castroviejo | TEAM Cepsa | + 53'32 | | 21 | Tiago Machado | TEAM Pirelli | + 55'01 | | 22 | Peter Sagan | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 55'42 | | 23 | Tim Wellens | ESPN | + 58'37 | | 24 | Alexander Foliforov | MTN-Qhubeka | + 58'39 | | 25 | Diego Rosa | TEAM Cepsa | + 59'36 | | 26 | Stefano Pirazzi | ESPN | + 1h02'22 | | 27 | Lorenzo Rota | Astana Pro Team | + 1h03'59 | | 28 | Francesco Bongiorno | Team Katusha | + 1h04'45 | | 29 | Moreno Moser | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 1h05'39 | | 30 | Ilya Koshevoy | Astana Pro Team | + 1h07'49 | | 31 | Rafael Valls | TEAM Cepsa | + 1h10'25 | | 32 | Jay McCarthy | Team Sky | + 1h12'14 | | 33 | Sébastien Reichenbach | IAM Cycling | + 1h12'28 | | 34 | Mohammed Mat Senan | TEAM Pirelli | + 1h13'29 | | 35 | Romain Sicard | Team Europcar | + 1h13'56 | | 36 | Cameron Meyer | MTN-Qhubeka | + 1h14'41 | | 37 | Evgeny Shalunov | Team Katusha | + 1h24'50 | | 38 | Ion Izagirre | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 1h28'51 | | 39 | Lawson Craddock | ESPN | + 1h29'52 | | 40 | Matteo Rabottini | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 1h36'45 | | 41 | Domenico Pozzovivo | TEAM Pirelli | + 1h37'42 | | 42 | François Bidard | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 1h41'25 | | 43 | José Herrada | TEAM Cepsa | + 1h47'33 | | 44 | Jan Polanc | Lotto Soudal | + 1h47'49 | | 45 | Ian Boswell | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | + 1h48'51 | | 46 | George Preidler | IAM Cycling | + 1h49'13 | | 47 | Matteo Busato | TEAM Pirelli | + 1h50'22 | | 48 | Tanel Kangert | ESPN | + 1h51'45 | | 49 | Carlos Barbero | TEAM Cepsa | + 1h56'18 | | 50 | Beñat Intxausti | TEAM Cepsa | + 1h58'24 | | 51 | Björn Thurau | Team Giant-Alpecin | + 2h06'49 | | 52 | Jarlinson Pantano | Orica-GreenEDGE | + 2h09'04 | | 53 | Juan José Lobato | TEAM Cepsa | + 2h11'29 | | 54 | Michael Matthews | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 2h11'35 | | 55 | Aurélien Paret-Peintre | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 2h13'32 | | 56 | Peter Stetina | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 2h16'31 | | 57 | Muhamad Othman | CCC Sprandi Polkowice | + 2h18'28 | | 58 | Jack Haig | Orica-GreenEDGE | + 2h21'44 | | 59 | Matteo Trentin | Team Sky | + 2h22'38 | | 60 | Luke Durbridge | Team Sky | + 2h22'58 | | 61 | Sven Erik Bystrøm | IAM Cycling | + 2h26'34 | | 62 | Loïc Vliegen | Lotto Soudal | + 2h27'20 | | 63 | Stéphane Rossetto | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 2h29'26 | | 64 | Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier | Team Europcar | + 2h30'08 | | 65 | Alexis Guerin | Team Europcar | + 2h31'48 | | 66 | Marco Canola | Astana Pro Team | + 2h35'45 | | 67 | Patrick Gretsch | TEAM Cepsa | + 2h35'56 | | 68 | Romain Guyot | Team Europcar | + 2h37'50 | | 69 | Fabio Sabatini | TEAM Pirelli | + 2h40'17 | | 70 | Jelle Wallays | Lotto Soudal | + 2h41'08 | | 71 | Luca Chirico | Astana Pro Team | + 2h41'22 | | 72 | Bryan Coquard | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 2h43'47 | | 73 | Salvatore Puccio | Astana Pro Team | + 2h44'43 | | 74 | Quentin Jauregui | Team Europcar | + 2h44'54 | | 75 | Enrico Battaglin | IAM Cycling | + 2h46'00 | | 76 | Bert-Jan Lindeman | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | + 2h46'25 | | 77 | Alexis Gougeard | Astana Pro Team | + 2h49'44 | | 78 | Pim Ligthart | Orica-GreenEDGE | + 2h51'38 | | 79 | Daniel Eaton | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 2h54'07 | | 80 | Marco Haller | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | + 2h56'47 | | 81 | Alessandro Tonelli | TEAM Pirelli | + 2h59'53 | | 82 | Florian Maître | Team Europcar | + 3h02'59 | | 83 | Koen Bouwman | Team Giant-Alpecin | + 3h03'14 | | 84 | Ricardo GarcÃa | Team Sky | + 3h04'49 | | 85 | Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg | MTN-Qhubeka | + 3h05'07 | | 86 | Taylor Phinney | Team Sky | + 3h06'25 | | 87 | Lukas Spengler | ESPN | + 3h11'59 | | 88 | Josh Berry | CCC Sprandi Polkowice | + 3h12'47 | | 89 | Anthony Roux | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 3h13'46 | | 90 | Raymond Kreder | MTN-Qhubeka | + 3h13'47 | | 91 | Jasper Stuyven | Stella Artois | + 3h19'23 | | 92 | Matthew Busche | ESPN | + 3h21'27 | | 93 | Damien Howson | Orica-GreenEDGE | + 3h21'51 | | 94 | Philip Lavery | MTN-Qhubeka | + 3h28'50 | | 95 | Logan Owen | ESPN | + 3h30'09 | | 96 | Boris Vallée | Stella Artois | + 3h32'24 | | 97 | Andrea Fedi | ESPN | + 3h33'18 | | 98 | Elia Viviani | Team Sky | + 3h33'36 | | 99 | Tom Van Asbroeck | Lotto Soudal | + 3h34'53 | | 100 | Moreno Hofland | Team Giant-Alpecin | + 3h37'36 | | 101 | Louis Rohde | IAM Cycling | + 3h39'13 | | 102 | Kevin Reza | Team Europcar | + 3h41'51 | | 103 | Carlos Ribeiro | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 3h42'33 | | 104 | Wesley Kreder | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | + 3h45'58 | | 105 | Francesco Lasca | TEAM Pirelli | + 3h46'36 | | 106 | Rudy Kowalski | CCC Sprandi Polkowice | + 3h47'26 | | 107 | Ryan Mullen | Stella Artois | + 3h48'59 | | 108 | Manuele Boaro | Team Katusha | + 3h49'02 | | 109 | Kris Boeckmans | Lotto Soudal | + 3h49'13 | | 110 | André Greipel | Stella Artois | + 3h52'11 | | 111 | Campbell Flakemore | Orica-GreenEDGE | + 3h55'44 | | 112 | BartÅ‚omiej Matysiak | CCC Sprandi Polkowice | + 3h56'15 | | 113 | Liam Bertazzo | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 3h58'11 | | 114 | Federico Zurlo | Team Katusha | + 4h01'28 | | 115 | Boy Van Poppel | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | + 4h06'25 | | 116 | José JoaquÃn Rojas | Team Katusha | + 4h14'10 | | 117 | Michael Van Staeyen | Lotto Soudal | + 4h19'58 | | 118 | Marcel Kittel | Team Giant-Alpecin | + 4h25'53 | | 119 | Tim Kerkhof | Team LottoNL - Jumbo | + 4h42'26 | | 120 | Tom Boonen | Lotto Soudal | + 5h11'48 |
| 1 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | 192 | | 2 | Michał Kwiatkowski | Team Cannondale - Garmin | 190 | | 3 | Alexis Vuillermoz | Ag2r La Mondiale | 170 | | 4 | Daniel Martin | Tinkoff-Saxo | 167 | | 5 | Peter Sagan | Tinkoff-Saxo | 160 |
| 1 | Rafael Valls | TEAM Cepsa | 57 | | 2 | Stefano Pirazzi | ESPN | 52 | | 3 | Chris Froome | Team Sky | 40 | | 4 | Daniel Martin | Tinkoff-Saxo | 35 | | 5 | Alexis Vuillermoz | Ag2r La Mondiale | 30 |
Young Riders Classification
| 1 | Abhishek Sinha | Lotto Soudal | 75h20'58 | | 2 | Miguel Angel Lopez | Stella Artois | + 4'05 | | 3 | Anastasio Ania | Tinkoff-Saxo | + 29'30 | | 4 | Lorenzo Rota | Astana Pro Team | + 45'22 | | 5 | Aurélien Paret-Peintre | Ag2r La Mondiale | + 1h54'55 |
| 1 | Tinkoff-Saxo | 225h15'21 | | 2 | Stella Artois | + 9'17 | | 3 | Astana Pro Team | + 10'35 | | 4 | Team Cannondale - Garmin | + 1h40'16 | | 5 | TEAM Cepsa | + 1h45'26 |
Eighth in the GC in my second ever Grand Tour. Wearing the White Jersey on the final podium. I cannot describe how good that feels. There were a couple of stages where I lost time, where perhaps I needed to be smarter and cut my losses. I would've been fighting for a top 5 finish then. However, all things considered, I think I rode the race of my life. Stage 20 was a test of my resilience and I think I passed that test. The preparation which went into the Vuelta, starting right after the disappointing Giro has paid dividends. I've been able to repay the team's faith by showing that I can compete with the best. I believe it is only a matter of time before I start beating them. Another round of celebrations are surely awaiting tonight
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| Raziz |
Posted on 20-05-2017 08:00
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Domestique
Posts: 552
Joined: 22-12-2016
PCM$: 200.00
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Ayy, a great progression in the GT and maybe there is more growth to come. |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 20-05-2017 09:19
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World Champion
Posts: 11397
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1120.00
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Amazing Vuelta, the only way is up next season!
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| Ripley |
Posted on 20-05-2017 09:37
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3341
Joined: 25-11-2014
PCM$: 300.00
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Yeah, well done. Considering the opponents 8th is a fine result for such a young rider. |
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 20-05-2017 14:11
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11684
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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@Raziz: Hopefully there's a lot more growth to come!
@Jandal: Sure hope so
@Ripley: Thanks Ripley. Gonna lose the 'young rider' tag in a couple of years, so it'll soon be time to step it up.
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| AbhishekLFC |
Posted on 20-05-2017 19:02
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 11684
Joined: 27-07-2015
PCM$: 1861.50
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The week after the Vuelta was a big one for Lotto Soudal. They announced the signings of Greg van Avermaet and Carlos Betancur, to co-lead our cobble and hilly campaigns, respectively, next year. They were huge signings for us and there was a feel-good factor in the camp.
The week after the Vuelta was one which got me thinking. Just six weeks ago, the team management had said that they would promote me as Lotto's GT candidate. While GVA is not one who'll go after the GT GCs, Betancur would perhaps be interested in pursuing those goals. Considering Meintjes is already a GT leader for us, this perhaps makes me third wheel! Not exactly what I was expecting following the talk I had on the plane to Poland.
Anyway, I decided I just had to dig deep, train harder and put myself higher in the team GT pecking order. There is still two races to go this year and that is a perfect chance to show the management that they didn't need GT reinforcements.
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| Ian Butler |
Posted on 20-05-2017 20:14
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 21854
Joined: 01-05-2012
PCM$: 400.00
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Hopefully he doesn't drop in the pecking order prove yourself! |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 20-05-2017 20:36
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World Champion
Posts: 11397
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1120.00
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You know you're better than Fatancur
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| Aquarius97 |
Posted on 20-05-2017 21:58
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4191
Joined: 13-09-2015
PCM$: 300.00
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Betancur can't be any danger for your GC goals. You only have to drop some burgers in the team's bus before the mountain stages, and everything will be okey
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