Daniel Martinez still backing Primoz Roglic to win the 2024 Vuelta a Espana: "There are still the hardest stages"
Cycling
In the seventh stage of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, Daniel Martínez crossed the finish line in 44th position, in a secondary group that came 17 seconds behind the race leader. In the general classification, the Colombian Red Bull - BORA -hansgrohe rider is now 9:44 behind, although he is less than 5 minutes behind his team's leader Primoz Roglic.
After crossing the finish line, the 28-year-old Colombian climber was taking a cold water bath to loosen up his muscles. In an interview for the TVE microphones, he explained why he was doing that and talked about the team's tactics both during stage 7, during the race as a whole and how they can cut into Ben O'Connor's 4:45 lead in at the top of the general classification standings.
"Yes, on days like today that are too hot, it's best to come here to recover to lower the body temperature a bit in these bathtubs," he said, getting into the water. "Let's just say the intention has been to be there, move the chips around a bit and do the best I can today," he said of Red Bull - BORA's idea on stage 7. "I don't know, there are still the hardest stages left so well, we'll see," he finished talking about the chances of taking time off the red jersey.
Although Dani was second in the last Giro d'Italia, being the first of the mortals after an absolutely huge and inhuman Tadej Pogacar, it seems that in La Vuelta the goal is to be Roglic's luxury gregario and he will not fight for the overall. Even his BORA teammates Aleksandr Vlasov and Florian Lipowitz are better placed than him. The Russian is 13th at 5:51 and just over 1 minute behind the Slovenian, while the German is 8th at 5:35 and 50 seconds behind his leader.
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024