2004 La Vuelta a Espana

Roadrash Dunc

Gossip from the rest day included this interesting spat between Tyler and USPS :

There were reportedly some weird vibes going on between Phonak's Tyler Hamilton and his former teammates of USPS-Berry Floor on Monday's Stage 10 to Xorret de Catí. While Roberto Heras and Alejandro Valverde gained some time on Vuelta a España front runner Floyd Landis on the Cat. 1 Alto Xorret de Catí, the determined American maintained his golden tunic of leadership by just nine seconds over Valverde. But on that steep, final ascent, Hamilton began yelling at USPS rider Triki Beltran to ride harder, which astonished the Spanish rider, who trying to maintain his tempo on the difficult climb.

When Hamilton descended Alto Xorret de Catí post-stage, he stopped to chat to USPS director Dirk Demol, who was surprised to hear the Phonak leader saying that he thought that the Postal squad should have ridden harder to support Floyd on Stage 10. Reached on rest day number one in Agua Dulce, team director Johan Bruyneel told Cyclingnews, "Dirk told me after the stage what Tyler said to him and I was very surprised. I'm really not happy with these comments from Tyler because we all know that our team has been supporting Floyd one hundred percent at the Vuelta a España. Everybody, without exception. Tyler is out of line...sure he can have his opinion on anything, but he should keep it to himself."

Bruyneel explained further that, "Floyd has told me and Dirk and the team how he's been really satisfied about the support we've given him at the Vuelta; from the Team Time Trial and every other stage, especially after Stage 10 on Monday. We've been defending the race win with everything we have. We want to win the Vuelta and it's disappointing to me that a rider of Tyler's stature expresses himself this way... perhaps he should make sure his team is OK first."


I noticed Tyler riding with Floyd , maybe he has a point - afterall Landis is leaving to goto Phonak and Beltran is the local boy only a few seconds back.

Roadrash Dunc

Hamilton over 13 mins down with still the last cat1 climb to go.Probably going to lose another 20 mins today.

Bad tour for him even with that ITT win.

I'd tell him to disband if i was his Director Sportiff and concentrate on the Worlds.But its not in his nature.

Frihed89

I don't get it. Can someone explain this. Herras has a terrible TDF in the mountains and yet looks as strong as an ox in Spain. Cunego looked unbeatable In Italy and now in Spain, he just can't keep up. There are some constants, good and bad. The good: Sastre and Mancebo. The bad: Hamilton and Beloki. Why does the top performance of these mountain+GC riders vary so much from race to race?

Perro Loco

Probably not a straightfoward answer here- Different races at different times of year with differing levels of fitness. Giro was probably not the highest level of competition (IMHO) and Cunego targeted it. The TDF clearly has the highest level of competition and intensity-everybody targets it (rarely does someone ride it just to get in shape for the worlds-see veulta or othe rraces).
The tour also contains increaesd number and length of flat stages raced at a high pace- this tends to weaken the slightly built climbers.

sopas

Why is it too hard to understand for you? The fact that riders are only strong in one specific time in the season is not new. Armstrong would most probably be out of the podium had he decided to participate in the Spanish Vuelta too. The last riders who won 2 grand tours on the same year were Pantani in 1998 and Indurain in 1993, 1994. It is almost impossible to be in top form all the year.

Virenque

He probably had some stomach problems too because medicines he took because pains in his wrist!

gntlmn

Heras did have a terrible Tour de France, but remember, he pulled out early and did not finish. Instead, while so many other riders went to the Olympics, like Tyler Hamilton and company, Heras focused his entire training on the Vuelta. He has had a good stretch now since when he quit TdF and the start of the tour, and it's not unusual for him to be in top form in the Vuelta. In fact, that's what he does every year. I admit I did have my doubts about Heras this year due to his poor TdF showing, but you have to hand it to the guy. He finally got his act back together again in his home country where pride runs deep for him.

gntlmn

Take a look at the GC after stage 12, a brutal stage with an hors category ending after already 2 cat 1 climbs:

1 Roberto Heras (Spa) Liberty Seguros 44.50.50
2 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.35
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 0.49
4 Isidro Nozal (Spa) Liberty Seguros 1.12
5 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal Service p/b Berry Floor 2.19
6 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal Service p/b Berry Floor 2.40
7 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 3.16
8 Santiago Perez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 4.22
9 Angel Gomez (Spa) Paternina-Costa De Almeria 5.07
10 David Blanco (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 6.12
11 Carlos Garcia Quesada (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 7.26
12 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Saeco 7.36
13 Luis Perez (Spa) Cofidis, le credit par Telephone 7.51
14 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Nobili Rubinetterie 8.39
15 Francisco José Lara (Spa) Paternina-Costa De Almeria 9.45

Notice there are 12 Spaniards, 2 Italians, and one American in the top 15. That's pretty heavily weighted toward the Spanish climbers now.

Roadrash Dunc

Landis did amazingly well to only lose 2.19 on heras given he got dropped so early.

Ride of the day behind Heras imo.Valverde did well too considering.

gntlmn

Yes, Valverde's effort has got to be seen as heroic, and I think he'll gut it out now to the end. Notice the backup that Heras is getting with Nozal by looking at the Stage results for today:

1º 1 HERAS, Roberto ESP LST 4:19:30
2º 118 PEREZ, Santiago ESP PHO a 34
3º 81 MANCEBO, Francisco ESP IBB a 53
4º 11 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP KEL a 1:27
5º 2 NOZAL, Isidro ESP LST a 1:27
6º 105 GOMEZ, Angel ESP ALM a 1:38
7º 55 PEREZ, Luis ESP COF a 1:38
8º 201 GARZELLI, Stefano ITA VIN a 2:02
9º 42 ARREITUNANDIA, Peio ESP BAQ a 2:17
10º 171 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC a 2:28
11º 192 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP USP a 2:28
12º 106 LARA, Francisco José ESP ALM a 2:28
13º 12 BLANCO, David ESP KEL a 2:35
14º 151 CUNEGO, Damiano ITA SAE a 3:06
15º 194 LANDIS, Floyd a 3:06

Landis must have a number in his head as to how much time he can lose in the mountains to the weaker TT man, Heras. I'd really like to know what that number is, but I don't think Landis is going to say, nor Heras to offer that information either. I think Heras is fighting mightily to put as much time on everyone as he can in the mountains. He's not going to be a time trialer no matter how much better he's climbing now than during the Tour de France.

gntlmn

Actually, I was just looking at some of the routes coming up. Tomorrow is going to be a flat stage, and Saturday is going to be mountainous again followed by a 30 k ITT on Sunday which is not at all flat. In fact, it climbs the whole way, total gain of 1420 m, starting at 680 m and ending at 2100 m. I can't imagine Heras not doing very well in this even though it's a TT because it's so steep. That only leaves one TT, and that's only about 28 km on stage 21. That one's pretty flat. It just doesn't seem like there's enough flat TT to let Landis get back into the game if Heras keeps climbing the way he has been.

I think Heras is going to win this Vuelta.

donhix1

There is no argument on which is the easiest tour. In the Giro, riders get yelled at for attacking and some of the stages barely have a bump on them. Last Giro there was only one time trial.

__________________
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Perro Loco

I am becoming more and more convinced that we will probably not see another double grand tour winner in a single year for some time-unless it is a vuelta-Giro double. Training and testing has become so precise that you can target 100% peak power weight ratio for a short period of time. The effort to get to this level is tremendous and probably not able to hold it for long periods of time. In the past riders raced more frequently and this prevented them from foccusing on a particular block of time. Furthermore, you could'nt test lactate threshhold, heart rate monitors etc...Now everyone does it too some extent.

Roadrash Dunc

Possibly , but i wouldnt be surprised if Lance does it.His aim is at least one Giro anyway.


Landis cant win now , he will lose more tim ein the mountain TT to 1st , 2nd and 3rd. If Valverde stays fit he is still well in contention with a better 'all round' ability.He could pip Heras on the post in Madrid's ITT if he stays in touch on the mountain TT.Mancebo doesnt look like hes given up either.