Volta a Catalunya - Spoilers

[mididoctors]

Sensible decision to sprint by Remco. No TT this week, so it could come down to bonus seconds.

Good point

 

[mididoctors]

Pidders went to early .... Unlike Saturday when he went too late

 

[wakemalcolm]

Who was on co-comms today? Thought he was half decent.

 

[ColinJ]

Pidders went to early .... Unlike Saturday when he went too late

I think that his mistake at MSR was actually trying to sprint on the right of Pog, close to the barrier, and getting blocked. If he had gone to the left instead I think that he would have won by a few cms instead of losing by that margin.

Spectacular coast road towards the finish today! I was fast forwarding to the end of the stage but stopped doing that to enjoy the last 15 km or so.

 

[rich p]

Who was on co-comms today? Thought he was half decent.

John Mould. He'd be better if he didn't laugh at CK's pathetic jokes😁

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I've seen a bit of chat elsewhere about Danish cycling journalist Emil Axelgaard's infamously in-depth race previews.

Todays stage preview has at least one star for no fewer than 42 riders (out of 161 in the race, so more than 1 in 4) and runs to nearly 5000 words, a reading time of over 15 minutes.

It's a sprint stage. It's longer than I'm going to watch for!

If you want to try it out for yourselves it's here:
https://sport.tv2.dk/cykling/2026-03-23-axelgaards-optakt-til-2-etape-af-catalonien-rundt

 

[mididoctors]

Stage 2

 

[Blazing Saddles]

I've seen a bit of chat elsewhere about Danish cycling journalist Emil Axelgaard's infamously in-depth race previews.

Todays stage preview has at least one star for no fewer than 42 riders (out of 161 in the race, so more than 1 in 4) and runs to nearly 5000 words, a reading time of over 15 minutes.

It's a sprint stage. It's longer than I'm going to watch for!

If you want to try it out for yourselves it's here:
https://sport.tv2.dk/cykling/2026-03-23-axelgaards-optakt-til-2-etape-af-catalonien-rundt

42 riders named as possible stage winners?
That’s almost half as many as Kirby names!

 

[phreak]

That's a stronger field than 2 of the 3 Grand Tours will have this year, I reckon.

Hope Bernal hasn't been to a dodgy dentist (or butcher). He was making such positive noises earlier this year.

TGH riding. It's sad how his career has gone since winning the Giro. Hindley hasn't exactly torn up too many trees, but regularly gets top 10s in 1 week races and was 4th in the Vuelta. Tao is nowhere near that level, sadly.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

TGH riding. It's sad how his career has gone since winning the Giro. Hindley hasn't exactly torn up too many trees, but regularly gets top 10s in 1 week races and was 4th in the Vuelta. Tao is nowhere near that level, sadly.

Pretty harsh on Tao, he's won the Tour of the Alpes, 3rd at Valenciana and 2nd at Tirreno-Adriatico since he won the Giro, and he got absolutely smashed to pieces in the '23 Giro crash. He also had a nasty concussion that kept him out for ages at one point

 

[Dogtrousers]

42 riders named as possible stage winners?
That’s almost half as many as Kirby names!

Worth a cheeky side bet.

 

[mididoctors]

Live 68k. break has 2:47


Nsn control

 

[mididoctors]

Pretty harsh on Tao, he's won the Tour of the Alpes, 3rd at Valenciana and 2nd at Tirreno-Adriatico since he won the Giro, and he got absolutely smashed to pieces in the '23 Giro crash. He also had a nasty concussion that kept him out for ages at one point

He was the strongest rider in the 23 giro

 

[wakemalcolm]

He was the strongest rider in the 23 giro

I thought that too but G had a lead on him from stage 2 onwards.

 

[wakemalcolm]

I thought that too but G had a lead on him from stage 2 onwards.

That's possibly a bit too reductive from me. He was on flying form coming into the race, absolutely beasting the Tour of the Alpes (ahead of Huge Carthy) and came 3rd at T-A.