Quote Originally Posted by Witton Park View Post
I haven't seen that either Evenepoel or his director have acknowledged such genius, more that it was assumed by followers of the sport and pundits.
Have they come out with such an admission?
I rarely read the cycling media, as it doesn't say much that I can't deduce from watching the highlights. The people in the cars are often ex riders, and some of them are very good tactically. The facts are: Evenepoel changed his objectives mid-way through the race, and he finished up with the best Vuelta, and the most amount of coverage, outside the top three. Compare that to the invisible man, Thomas.

Quote Originally Posted by Witton Park View Post
I do see it as a likely conclusion and the doubt I have is about when he started to ship time, it was on the Aubisque which isn't the toughest climb and was only 50km in. It also seemed incredible that Almeida took such a big hit as well without LJ even trying that hard and their other main rider Soler also had a below par day.
I've ridden the Aubisque from the same side used in this year's Vuelta twice; once on my own, and once in a group of ex-racing cyclists. I narrowly lost the sprint at the top by half a wheel to a former international rider. I can tell you that a bad day on that is going to lose a lot of time.

I was first to the top of the Tourmalet, also riding it in the same direction as this year's Vuelta, and over three minutes clear. I found it easier, as it suited me better.

To say the Aubisque "isn't the toughest climb" is doing it a dis-service. It's classified as an Esp climb, which is the toughest category there is. In running terms it's probably a bit like running up Snowdon. What you have to remember is that they'd already climbed a 3rd category climb, and had a 1st category and then an Esp category climb to finish on. This probably makes the stage compare to something a bit like the Peris horseshoe.

A mountainous stage with multiple big climbs is not that dissimilar, in terms of effort and overall tactics, to a fell race with multiple climbs. You can't win it on the first climb, but you can lose it