L'Angliru on Sunday in the Vuelta

[freeclimb9]

On Sunday, stage 15 of the Vuelta de Espana will finish at the top of the Angliru. So what does a stage race in Spain got to do with climbing? The Angliru has pitches up to 23.6% grade in steepness. That's pretty damn close to climbing, IMO. And this year the ascent comes at the end of a 176 km day. It might prove to be the rare day when some pro riders have to walk their bikes.

The Angliru is also where USPS rider Roberto Heras made his winning move two years ago. This year he's down 1.42 to Oscar Sevilla and 1.41 to Aitor Gonzalez (both of Kelme-Costa Blanca). Roberto has to cut into the lead time.

The baby-faced Sevilla has been riding like an animal, but Heras is in great form, too. And Beloki is still in striking distance at 2.04 back from the leader. The Vuelta has been much more thrilling than the Tour was.

[b-rock]

So true! Go Roberto!

[freeclimb9]

Heras takes the stage! And he takes the jersey.

Incredible athleticism. He was working the steepest part of the Angliru climb (23.6%) by zig-zagging.

[sexual_chocolate]

Was Lance pacing him? It seems as though he owes him one....

[freeclimb9]

Roberto Heras was lead out by Chechu Rubiera and Christian Vande Velde. Rubiera was dropped at about 25km to the finish on the Alto de Cordal which is a climb of 505 m over 5.5 km and is just before the final L'Angliru. Vande Velde supported Heras all the way up to 8km to the finish. Roberto jumped at 6km to go. Essentially, Roberto has been on his own for the difficult climbs. He's been riding incredibly in spite of this. His ride today will be looked at in history as one of the greatest climbs ever. The last climb also was done in a pouring rain that upped the risk of losing traction. There are six more stages to the finish, and nothing is guaranteed at all. Roberto doesn't have a deep team to support him, and after Michael Barry abandoned the Vuelta due to a hard crash, the USPS team is even less. Frankly, Lance Armstrong doesn't have the conditioning at this time of year to be effective support. BTW, one time yellow jersey holder in the year's Tour de France, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, is out of the Vuelta with a broken arm after yesterday's 40 rider pileup that resulted when two motorcycles went down in front of the peleton.

[freeclimb9]

The rate of attrition for this race is currently around 25%. The USPS team is down by 30%, and of the remaining 6 team members, Antonia Cruz is still recovering from a hard crash suffered on an early stage (he's just pulled the stitches from his knee), and Zabriskie and White finished last and third to last in the L'Angliru stage. Maybe they're holding themselves in reserve? It's very unclear if Roberto Heras can be adequately supported to hold onto his gold shirt. Though there are signs of a fracture of goals within the Kelme-Costa Blanca team.

It ain't climbing, but the Vuelta is a brutal race. More tough climbing stages ahead.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

In other cycling news, Dr. Flash Amazing is still trying to sell his mountain bicycle. Make an offer, people! DFA has bills to pay!

 

[ 09-23-2002, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: Dr Flash Amazing ]

[freeclimb9]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dave Schuldt:

Can someone post a link for pictures? BBC sports had results but no pictures- should be some good ones.

---

The usual suspects have links to press and photos:

www.cyclingnews.com

www.velonews.com

www.dailypeloton.com

[freeclimb9]

oh yea, can't forget www.grahamwatson.com

[ILuvAliens]

Lance doesn't have the conditioning. Whatever. Lance isn't even in the race. If he was he would be the team leader.

[freeclimb9]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ILuvAliens:

Lance doesn't have the conditioning. Whatever. Lance isn't even in the race. If he was he would be the team leader.

---

Armstrong rode support this year for George Hincapie in some World Cup events and some one-day classics. They called him the "super domestique".

The Vuelta is a three week race, and it's very difficult to reach peak performance levels several times within a season. At this time of year, Armstrong is not in condition (mental and physical) to withstand three weeks of racing --especially as team leader.

[jon]

Venga Roberto! Venga Venga Venga!

[sexual_chocolate]

In '73, Eddy Merckx won both the Giro D'Italia AND the Vuelta de Espana, but didn't compete in the Tour de France.

 

In '69, '70, '72, and '74, he won both the Giro and the Tour de France (in '73, he didn't race in the Tour). What a bad time to be a cyclist, unless your name was Eddy Merckx.

 

In '72, he set a new 1 hour time trial record, which lasted over a decade.

 

In this age of specialization, his times for stages and such are being topped, but it's highly doubtful that there will ever be a cyclist approaching his domination of the sport.

[Dave_Schuldt]

Can someone post a link for pictures? BBC sports had results but no pictures- should be some good ones.

[ILuvAliens]

quote:

---

Armstrong rode support this year for George Hincapie in some World Cup events and some one-day classics. They called him the "super domestique".

The Vuelta is a three week race, and it's very difficult to reach peak performance levels several times within a season. At this time of year, Armstrong is not in condition (mental and physical) to withstand three weeks of racing --especially as team leader.

---

Lets not forget how hard Roberto rode in the Tour. He finished in a decent place. Beloki the same. Many riders who are still puttin' it down this late in the season. They were talkin about Zabel on TV the other day. One of the only riders to participate in a lot of the big events. I don't see why you single Lace out as one isn't caple of the physical an mental conditioning. Lance is very generous to his mates. Almost seems more personal to me.

[freeclimb9]

quote:

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I don't see why you single Lace out as one isn't caple of the physical an mental conditioning. Lance is very generous to his mates. Almost seems more personal to me.

---

Alien Luv'er,

you're smoking crack with ET, or something. There's a difference between the ability to do something and the actual doing of it. The Man himself said he as in "bad form" and was looking forward to a rest after the SFGP. Would you read that as being ready for a three week stage race?

And what would a robot know about something being "personal"?

[j_b]

quote:

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On Sunday, stage 15 of the Vuelta de Espana will finish at the top of the Angliru.

---

what a climb! the conditions were atrocious and looked downright dangerous (especially with cars on this narrow road). Apparently most of these guys were grumbling about it having nothing to do with bicycle racing. I assume Roberto would disagree but it seems such an extreme event that I am not sure how well it fits in the Vuelta. What's your take?

[freeclimb9]

It was worse in 2000 when the tour cars were front-wheel drive and couldn't make it up the steeper grades. They just spun their tires and overheated the engines. This year, there were a lot of falls on the descent of Alto del Cordal. David Millar went down, then got run over by a car when he began ascending L'Angliru. Though unhurt (miraculously), he rode to the finish line and then quit. For the large income his paid (probably near $250,000/year), you'd think he'd excercise some emotional restraint. He's not the brightest crayon in the box when it comes to marketing himself. His comments after his stage win in the Tour de France cost him who-knows-what in potential endorsement deals. (When asked about being the only Briton in the pro-peloton and about the significance to the UK of his win, he said that he didn't really feel British).

U.S. Postal's sport director Johan Bruyneel said while the stage was difficult, it was fair for everyone. "Everyone knew from one year ago that the Angliru stage was part of this Vuelta. The race makes the course and everyone has to do it."

La Covatilla on Thursday should be another epic climb. Heras was very exposed for part of today's stage when he was without teammates in a pack dominated by Kelme riders. But they chose not to work him. Kelme's tactics have been mystifying lately.

[ILuvAliens]

quote:

---

Alien Luv'er,

you're smoking crack with ET, or something. There's a difference between the ability to do something and the actual doing of it. The Man himself said he as in "bad form" and was looking forward to a rest after the SFGP. Would you read that as being ready for a three week stage race?

And what would a robot know about something being "personal"?

---

No I wouldn't read it as that. But I would guess that you pick your races before or at least early on in the season to prepare yourself. Lance obviously was not going to race in the Vuelta this year. However, I still feel he could have if he wanted to. And refer to last post. Other riders are doing this. Only person smoking crack, is he who say's: "Frankly, Lance Armstrong doesn't have the conditioning at this time of year to be effective support."

[freeclimb9]

Heras is talking smackdown for tomorrow: He says of the Covatilla climb "I expect to come out with an advantage over a minute and a half."

 

Anybody ride cyclocross? The season started in Seattle: http://groups.msn.com/Radsport/seattlemetroseries2002.msnw

[freeclimb9]

Heras damn near does what he said he would. Can he hold his lead through Sunday?

[Attitude]

Interesting that the remaining A&S boys seem to be allied with the Posties. Sounds like they are earning a little extra pocket money since Cipollini quit.

[freeclimb9]

Or maybe the Italians just want to stick it to the Spanish Kelme team and the Spanish-media darling Sevilla? Drama, for sure.

[Attitude]

quote:

---

Originally posted by freeclimb9:

Or maybe the Italians just want to stick it to the Spanish Kelme team and the Spanish-media darling Sevilla? Drama, for sure.

---

From cyclingnews.com:

 

Who was Perdiguero working for?

 

The latest controversy in La Vuelta concerns the actions of the remaining Acqua e Sapone riders, in particular one Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero. The Spanish sprinter is also quite handy on the climbs, as he showed on La Covatilla yesterday and the Puerto de Navalmoral today when he attacked the chasing group in pursuit of Garcia Acosta. He also led home Heras' group for third place in pursuit of Aitor Gonzalez in the streets of Avila.

 

His move on Stage 18, which looked as though he was leading out Heras in preparation for an attack on La Covatilla, provoked a fair bit of controversy and a lot of emails from readers with the question, "Why was Acqua e Sapone working for Heras?"

 

Such things do happen in cycling, where deals are struck on the road. One team will pay another team with no other ambitions to work for them, especially if both teams are weakened or up against very strong opposition. The three remaining Acqua e Sapone certainly had no GC ambitions, as Perdiguero was the best placed at 49th before the stage. US Postal were also weakened, with Chechu Rubiera and Christian Vandevelde the only riders left to help Heras.

 

Another alternative is that Acqua e Sapone were simply working against Kelme, as the team had caused a great deal of suffering in the race with their hard tempo riding. A third option is that Perdiguero wanted to gain the attention of Spanish national selector Francisco Antequera in order to make selection for the Spanish World's team. 11 (of 13) riders were named yesterday, with Perdiguero named as a reserve.

 

The twist is that Martin Perdiguero is a good friend of both Aitor Gonzalez and Roberto Heras. This prompted Kelme director Vicente Belda to comment yesterday that "It is sad that the best friend of Aitor played it this way."

 

Perdiguero explained yesterday's move in his column in Diario AS as follows: "I consider both Heras and Aitor as equal friends. I attacked on La Covatilla to try and win the stage and get rid of both of them. Did I annoy them? Leave me alone! I do not want to enter your war. But I did see that the best Spanish climber was Heras and the most complete rider and the one who is going to win the Vuelta is Gonzalez."

 

Later on he described his ambitions for the coming stages. "Today they gave me the list of the World Championships selection. And as I thought, I was a reserve. As always. That makes life very hard. In the end, only the good ones go. Although I do not lose hope, I have two days left to try to demonstrate that I deserve selection."

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

 

 

[ 09-27-2002, 02:43 PM: Message edited by: Dr Flash Amazing ]