Uh... Just so I'm clear here; Ricco & Piepoli's former teammate, who couldn't finish the five major races he started this year, who then quit training just came back from nowhere and tore the legs off everyone...on one of the hardest grand tours in memory...?

Sure.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/09/news/cobos-long-strange-trip-to-vuelta-lead_191090

yeah. Uh. Yeah. Hard to get into...

Anyway, the finish today was HILARIOUS! Uh, we didn't read the finish script...oh wait, it wasn't marked in the race bible and also wasn't marked ON THE ROAD! So Pro! You gotta believe a lot of the riders when they complain about professional cycling being "gangsta" and totally ghetto. As in: shit being thrown together and not on the up-and-up (tv revenues, etc). So amateur and lame. At least no one ended up pulling a Craig Lewis and getting killed by furniture.

dave and sean both said that it was in the race bible

they also had a hilariously-rude riff on d. benatti in "italian" accents, all "mama mia! why i-a always get-a second or-a third?!?"

stay classy, british isles

Huh, during the eurosport feed they said riders complained it wasn't. Oh well.

Funny you mention that Jules. The first thing I thought when Cobo made up huge amounts of time on one day in the tough mountains then made up loads more the next day was that it was a bit dodgy. Let's be honest, Geox are a shit team. Sastre is nothing like he was in 2008 or even 2009 which wasn't a great season. Menchov is still classy, I think he'd about 8th or something in the Vuelta. But, the other guy, who has raced nothing all year goes to hammer the field which is pretty strong (Wiggins and apparently this stellar find Froome, Nibali, VD Broek, Scarponi-who since retired).

Go Spanish cycling!! Wooo. The world takes one step forwards and Spanish cycling takes two steps back for everyone.

While I wouldn't exactly be surprised if Cobo peed positive for something in the future, I also tend to think that if we are to believe that the guy has mental issues, with the combination of the insanely steep finishing climb (that effectively eliminates the usefulness of well-drilled teamwork) can add up to what appears to be an unexpectedly good finish.

Coming into cross season, I think about Jonathan Page and how inconsistent he is and how I think a lot of that has to do with his mental fitness. One week he's fighting for a spot in the first group, the next he's in the middle of the pack.

Cobo is clearly just "well rested"

SPOILER::::::::>






Froome!!! Watch the eurosport recast from today for some awesome homer announcing from Dave. It was classic. Kinda like when he went nuts after Wiggins crashed out of the tour. Just happier!

"What do you think of the number of extraterrestrial Cobo yesterday in the Angliru?
Jean-François Bernard: I thought again Pantani in Alpe d'Huez ... (Durkeebridge)
This demonstration makes me neither hot nor cold. Even left me completely perplexed. I do not believe at all in his sincerity. We do not know where it comes from, and especially when he returns. Apart from the Tour of Burgos (early August, ie) where he finished third overall, it did not exist until then! In the Angliru, no one could follow him. Or just as you specify, Pantani could have. Even a Contador in top shape. No, really, it's a little big ...

Froome to Mengoni

Cobo would be more their style.

By the way...Chris Horner, holy crap. Is the old man going to win the Vuelta?

Marc Bertucco said:

By the way...Chris Horner, holy crap. Is the old man going to win the Vuelta?

Very impressive.  I'm a little confused about the reporting which said Horner attacked at 4km to go but when I watched it he basically left at 4.7km to go... small potatoes except that extra 700 meters was probably like five minutes of racing at those pitches...

I trust that was an ironic impressive.

I have no idea if Froome is doped or not, but considering he is in his peak years, has trained and raced at a consistently high level for a two seasons and is backed by a team with huge resources his success is not totally unexpected.

Compared with ...

A 42 year old, who has hardly raced all season and wasn't great last year either, who is on a team fraught with management fighting and so little money that they are only just going to meet their Worldtour race commitment.

One of these is highly suspicious, and it isn't Froome.

I think they're both suspicious, although frankly it's amazing to me that no dirt has surfaced on Horner; it's not like he exhibits the clout or the guile to keep secrets hidden... and it is hard to believe he has access to the "best-of" dope...

Time will tell.

ian ellis said:

I have no idea if Froome is doped or not, but considering he is in his peak years, has trained and raced at a consistently high level for a two seasons and is backed by a team with huge resources his success is not totally unexpected.

If Froome is clean his success is absolutely unexpected. What precedent is there for it?

I think there are a number of rumors out there (such as he is supposedly Rider 15 in the USADA doc), but nothing substantial.

ian ellis said:

I think there are a number of rumors out there (such as he is supposedly Rider 15 in the USADA doc), but nothing substantial.

Yeah, but who does it benefit to keep his secrets for him?

Horner is certainly worthy of suspicion.  I even have my doubts about his claimed knee injury.  

Stupid question that could be answered by a simple Internet search but I'd rather bug you guys.

When's the last time someone won the worlds ITT and RR in the same year? Mercxxyxyxckk? Cancellara is looking impressive after today.

At the (modern) elite level it's never been done. This only goes back to the early 90's since before that there was no ITT world champs (instead events like the Chrono des Nations and teh Baracchi Trophy were a kind of unofficial whos-who of TT folk).

Anyway ...  the closest was Olano who won the RR and took silver in the TT in 1995.

HOWEVER .... Evgeni Petrov did the double at U23 level in 2000. and I was actually astounded to see that he is still racing at the top level today for Saxo-Tinkoff.

SPOILER ...

I jest of course. The fact that Tyler Farrar did NOT win the sprint today is not a spoiler.

In fact if I had read that he had in fact won I would have naturally assumed that there had been a complete failure of space-time continuum and that the Vuelta was now back to it's original slot in April and that today was in fact the 1st of said month.

(Fortunately that is not the case as April is a dreadful month when the harsh reality that laying on couch watching re-runs of Hill St Blues and eating British chocolate as my winter training regime has left me ill-prepared for the racing season.)

I digress however and the question I need to pose is : Is this the end for Tyler Farrar in the WorldTour ? He's been appalling for a few seasons now and his one big stage win in the TdF 3 or 4 years ago is really attributable to everyone else falling off in the last corner while Thor Hushovd piloted him to the line.

I mean the top tier sprinters (Cavendish and the German ones) are in a league of their own, while the second tier sprinters (the Italian ones) are also far far ahead of Tyler.

Do you think he could return to the domestic scene ?

Yeah, he's won what, one race in the last two years?  He seems to be getting worse.  It's been mentioned in a few places that he's "too nice".  I dunno, it might be that after the death of WW, he could have some sort of fright issues.  Pro Tour sprints put the Fear into me just watching.  The last 5K today was absolutely terrifying.  Road furniture, crazy turns, roundabouts, lots of quickly narrowing chutes, fast as hell.... It was almost like the designer wanted a crash. 

He does seem very out of his element as a dedicated sprinter.  He is still young though, and has had more than his share of adversity, which as we know is usually good fuel for fighting...

Someone's ears are burning:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/09/news/farrar-frustrated-with-vuelta-sprints-after-striking-out-in-tarragona_301700

The real problem is he doesn't tweet.

Oops.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tyler-farrar-yet-to-find-a-contract-for-2014

Go America!

^ Sagan is looking a little wide in the middle...

estrogen is to blame.

Perhaps this one is more telegraphic — effortlessly riding away from Nibali:

Boom!

Is that Nibali he's passing?

The old redneck hold em off tomorrow? Nibbles said he's down 20 watts since the giro. Sounds like too many muffin rides. We should recruit him.