Yeah, unless Remco blows up later in the race I have to say that he seems the real deal this year. Wasn’t expecting Mas still to be in contention … nor Rodriguez to be the best placed Ineos rider.
I’m all aboard the Remco hype train 
I have been since the Jnr World Champs road race in 2018. I’m an OG member.
In fact, if you haven’t seen this race it’s an absolute must watch.
Start at 1:34:35, there’s a big crash, the narrative begins from there…
If you understand anything about road racing, you’ll realize just how truly insane this performance is. There’s some incredible talent in this race, that you’ll know from the World Tour. Quinn Simmons, Biniam Girmay, Ben Tulett etc
Get into it… Get on the train…
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Remco is clearly in the driver’s seat and set to gain more time today (or at least lose very little to Rog).
But there is a long way to go and he is still an unknown quantity for GT’s….and a suspect team to support him.
All 3 GT’s have not gone to script this year, which has been awesome. Fingers crossed for an exciting last 2 weeks.
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Alliphilippe putting in some monster work at the front too.
Week 2 update:
small aero man go fast on bike
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Remco firmly in control now….and the profile works in his favor with only 1 HC climb.
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I’m not so sure they’re happy now. It was an interesting tactic but I fear it may have backfired.
It’s RE form that is the issue, not really offloading the jersey - as Roglic said yesterday Remco is on another level at the moment. Would Primoz be as good without the tour crash/loss of training - who knows? Currently the big issue is losing Kuss and Affini, although Remco has lost Serry. I imagine the JV views is that in his current position if Remco cracks like he has in every GC he has done then Roglic wins. If he doesn’t then there is nothing they can do and the Belguim will be a deserved winner.
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At this point Remcos biggest rival is Covid-19.
Yates out with a positive.
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He wasn’t on the bike until 2 weeks before the race so that undoubtedly is affecting him. This is far from peak Roglic form. That said, I don’t think peak Roglic automatically beats Remco in this race but it would have been really interesting to see.
You’re technically right that he’s cracked in every previous 3-week GC he’s done but it’s a sample size of one. We can say that his 3 week form is unproven, but the 3rd week of this race is a lot easier than other recent grand tours so there’s not many opportunities for others to exploit even if his form does diminish in the 3rd week.
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And now Sivakov….fook.
It’s not over yet. With Alaphilippe going out yesterday and Remco hitting the pavement today, the chances of things going bad for the red jersey seem to have increase substantially. I hope Remco holds on, but it’s going to be a lot tougher now than it looked after the ITT.
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Remco’s biggest adversary right now is COVID, not another rider…sure, he could still fall apart (he is still young and technically never finished a GT before), but no one around him looks strong enough to challenge him. The course profile absolutely is in his favor as well, with only one HC climb on the whole route.
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Hopefully we don’t see any more Covid departures from this race. This weekend has the toughest stages, so timing is about as bad as it could be for picking up road rash. If it affects his sleep/recovery, the gaps could tighten up. I wouldn’t count out Primoz even though he doesn’t look on top form. Mas is riding well. Ineos have the strongest team remaining and a clear leader now through attrition, although I think they likely are targeting a podium right now.
Remco is still the clear favorite, but clearly things have not gone ideally the last 2 days and we don’t know what the next 3 days will bring, much less the final week. I agree the course fits him very well.
Juan Ayuso has tested positive for Covid but will continue to race today.
So that is the challenge the UCI (and other bodies) now face…Ayuso may feel OK and be positive, but does anyone know if he is contagious? If so, he could pass it to others who may not fare as well as him.
I don’t know the answer to this question…I can see both sides of this argument. But Long COVID should be a real concern for professional athletes.
Based on how this went at the TdF I think it is based on viral load. My understanding (happy to be corrected) is that the UCI has set a threshold and when the viral load is below that threshold the person is not deemed at risk of transmitting the disease and can continue to race
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It seems nuts to me that an elite rider would risk their long term health.
I get that Ayuso is ranked high on GC and that’s it’s his first Vuelta. Additionally, he’s Spanish, so leaving would be a very hard decision. Still, he’s 19. He’s just a teenager. Someone should be looking out for his long term health.
My understanding is the risk with covid is cardiac issues going forward. Particularly, if training is not reduced, both in volume and intensity. Competing in a grand tour seems like it could be considered not reducing training…
I hope the team is not pushing.
Personally, I feel Ineos are doing it the right way. Positive. Leave. Rest.
It may seem overly cautious to those that had a mild covid experience, but a professional cyclist is ‘somewhat’ cardiac dependent. Caution, till hard data tells us different seems logical.
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The race is exploding today. Great entertainment.
2022 turning into one of the best years ever or grand tours.
(edit add)
Brilliant stage win
Looks like the race is back on for GC
Awesome stage. GC battle seems back.