UKC

To save things getting messy on the Giro thread, lets have Vuelta chat on here.

Great first day for Roglic & Carapaz.  I haven't seen the footage, but it's surprising that Domoulin lost 51s.  Froome 11 minutes down.

Looking forward to watching some of the ITV highlights with Miller and Ned, i'm following the Giro on Quest, but the commentary and analysis is dire.

Froomes stuffed. He's got no chance now and I can see him withdrawing shortly. Good day for Mccarthy though.

I can’t warm to McCarthy. Roglic looked strong. 

It was an explosive first stage!

Very sad to see Froome like that. The poor bugger has a dedicated camera motorcycle.

Does this mark the end of the golden years of (nominally) British grand tour cycling?

Tom Pidcock might disagree with you, and Tao is still in touch in the Giro.

Froome is definitely yesterdays man though

As might Fred Wright (Bahrain McLaren) - riding his first grand tour!

There are no E-bike grand tours.  

Despite this year's blip, I'd imagine the Yates might also disagree with you !

It was a question rather than a statement!!!

Do you mean Hugh Carthy? Not McCarthy

jumping the gun a bit there. sure he has a bright future ahead of him, but given his cyclocross and mtb prowess, i expect his early endeavors will be directed towards the spring classics rather than grand tours

Yes, Hugh Carthy. 

Although David Millar pretty upbeat about Froome - a measured ride rather than "blowing up", and on an upwards trajectory for next years TdF!

The Yates brothers

Tao Geoghan Hart 

Hugh Carthy

Tom Pidock 

Ben Swift

James Knox

Plenty of life in the old dog yet.

The fairy dust sprinkled, diamond encrusted, solid platinum era of British grand tour cycling is over. It is no longer unusual when a non-Brit wins the Tour. Prior to Sky , British domination was inconceivable. 

Compared to pre-Sky, now is a still golden era. But it is not the fairy dust sprinkled, diamond encrusted, solid platinum ear we got used to.

Edit: I'll leave "solid platinum ear" as a nice typo.

What a difference 3 days makes...

Spot on.

Rain jackets again determine the results!

You forgot to mention Geraint, who seemed on fine form until he suffered a broken pelvis. 

I was referring to the younger riders only with reference to the future of British Road cycling. 

And Carthy up to second overall after blasting his way up the final hill of the day. He looks very strong and definitely a contender for a podium place. 

It was a jacket removal (or trying to get it on, I forget which) that did for Froome last year as well. 

Did you watch yesterday's highlights ? Looked like well brutal racing.

He did also win the under 23 world mountain bike championship as well as the baby Giro.

2 brutal stages coming up this weekend. Less than 60 seconds separating the top 3 but Roglic looks unstoppable at the moment.  BTW,  what did Sam Bennett expect? Not once but twice he shoulder barged the rider on his outside and could have caused a very nasty high speed crash.

Interesting listening to the pundits on that Sam Bennett incident.  David Millar summarised it well by saying that it was pretty normal in sprints, but since it was seen they hadn't any choice but to demote him. 

Roglic looks like the strongest man there with the strongest support cast.  These two stages are difficult,  though.  Times tied for the second grand tour running which is great to see.

Anyone currently on Eurosport Player? There's no commentary. (15:43)

Mind you with Kirby and Kelly that's sometimes not a bad thing.

E

Great result for Roglic on Friday, very smart tactics - came out of nowhere to take stage and the GC jersey.

Waiting for highlights (Saturday).

Well, the Angliru wiped out dodgy UCI decision about who should be in red. 

Great stage and great result for Hugh Carthy.

Roglic still the favourite, good in time trials (please God, no repeat of the Tour de France, that would be too cruel).

Brutal!

Over the moon for Carthy. I remember him riding the Ventoux when he was about 11 with his dad.

Awesome.

E

Is it Rob Hatch or Carlton Kirby doing the Eurosport commentary?  I can't actually tell them apart and whoever it is (or perhaps both) they seem to just talk absolute non-stop drivel. I'm about ready to put my foot through the telly.

Kelly isn't exactly great but paired with someone who isn't a gibbering fool he might do ok. 

What a stage....I really was breathing hard just watching them on the Angliru!! Awesome finish from Carthy!!

I love those crazy slow escapes from the GC group where somebody flogs their guts out to get 20m ahead. And the helicopter shots showing the best in the world going at walking pace so 20m is a good few seconds.

Angliru is a fantastic climb.

They’re completely different! I like Rob Hatch, andCarlton Kirby is small doses. He’s good with Matt Stephens.  

I watched the whole stage yesterday....Kirby was so irritating I very nearly turned off. His meanderings and ponderings on life are dreadful and nonsense.....I know filling air time must be very hard but he really was unbearable yesterday!!!

He can get on my tits some days; others I quite like him. 

Agree with this. He's a buffoon.

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/get-rid-of-carlton-kirby

Sounds like there's a silver lining to having to stay up past my bedtime to watch on ITV4

It goes onto the ITV Hub earlier, it was there 8.30pm today.

Hugh Carthy - GC contender! 

This week the strength in depth of JVM will be protecting Roglic but mountain stage to come (Saturday?).

It's a shame that the TT distanced so many GC challengers.   JV only have mark maybe two other riders from here on in.  With the team they have they should see this through. 

Congratulations to Roglic but I'm not a fan to be honest and I think Carapaz missed a trick on Saturday by not attacking earlier. Once Sepp Kuss was done Roglic quickly fell back and Carapaz put 20 seconds into him. A big shout out to Carthy who had a superb Vuelta and hopefully he can move onto bigger and better things next year.

I quite like Roglic, he definitely tries to animate things and to win Liege Baston Liege was outstanding.

I've not watched the highlights, but generally it seems counter productive to attack until you think your opponent has been put in difficulty these days.  Presumably Roglic would measure his final efforts rather than go into the red jumping after the attack.

Good showing from Carthy as you say.  On the quiet I think Michael Woods support helped him a lot.

Probably the most engaged by the Vuelta in years. I'm loving the return to real racing and the reduced influence of mega teams. All these talented young riders are really animating things.

It looked, in the highlights, like Carapaz was going considerably quicker than Roglic for those last kms, and I was surprised it was only 20 seconds. I suppose that's to Roglic's credit, not panicking and riding at a pace he could sustain within the margin he had

Movistar riding for him probably helped a bit too!

Four stage wins for Roglic - he's a full on racer. Very hard to beat in GC because he can also gauge his effort to keep GC when someone does beat him on a stage.

Carthy's win on Angliru was great.

Three Grand Tours all raced despite Covid, far better than expected.