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Vuelta a Espana Discussion Thread
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| dave92 |
Posted on 27-05-2013 19:30
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Tremendous preview.
For me, this race is about limiting our losses to the other teams in contention at the top of the team rankings. Pearl have Machado who i believe is the favorite, and Uran should be very strong for Milka while Valverde and Schleck seem good bets for top 10's and stage wins.
If Denifl could edge his way into the top 10 it would have to be considered a success, while Goss will be eyeing the flat stages and hoping things come together for a number of sprint finishes. My hope is that this approach can yield enough points to avoid slipping back in the rankings before Phinney and Van Garderen get back on the road. The Tour will be where we really fall back though.
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| SotD |
Posted on 27-05-2013 19:47
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tsmoha wrote:
Yet another awesome GT-preview! Well done, Count!
Also thanks to Simply Red Bull for bringing both Bennett and Bobridge here. Will be a great experience for them and also makes it quite an easy choice who to cheer for!
Milka also has made it onto my PT-favorites, plus they brought kiwi-champ Gough. Would love to see him in some breaks.
As for the overall, i'm cheering for Festina. Good luck!
Thanks mate 
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 27-05-2013 22:22
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Outstanding preview there Count, great job.
I'm inclined to perceive this as a Tenorio vs Contador fight for the golden/red/whatever the colour is nowadays jersey. Schleck vs Machado for the last podium place but it is a very hard GT to predict with the decisive stages being so heterogeneously spread between MO, HIL and TT.
As for my team I'm very excited to be here. It's an honour and a great opportunity, but we can't hope for more than a top15 and maybe some breakaway glory. I just wanted to have brought some of my sprinters (namely Ventoso) but 3 HC races clashing didn't help in that decision.
Good luck to everyone.
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| cio93 |
Posted on 27-05-2013 22:24
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Ventoso would have been outstanding indeed, sad to hear that.
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| p3druh |
Posted on 27-05-2013 22:48
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Great preview CountArach, thoroughly enjoyed that
For me Tenorio has this in the bag in normal conditions. 2nd place for Contador and the 3rd place is up for grabs. Anyone can get it depending on how the race plays out. Nibali, Úran, Ricco, Rujano, Machado and Schleck can all get the last place on the podium. I think people are writing off a 80M/83H rider that has shown he has what it takes to beat anyone a little too soon. Even the underdogs Valverde and Plaza can pull off an upset here.
Heine wrote:
I will root for Machado I think, I would like it if he won
Great, I think I would too 
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 28-05-2013 06:30
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alexkr00 wrote:
Since the Giro didn't go too well, we need victories here, since in the Tour it will be even harder to gain points.
Also, it's time for LLS to pull of a trick and sneak into the final top 10.
Amazing preview, CA!
So you get your needed victory right in the first stage and even the double! 
Congrats to that, i expected Tenorio to grab this one. Many favourites are positioned near the front already, so they can sort out the leaders jersey soon, it will be one of the most important things in the race. If Tenorio snatches the jersey soon, he can become unstopable.
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| Levi4life |
Posted on 28-05-2013 07:05
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I think Eastman prefers the longer efforts
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-12-2025 07:08
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| Smowz |
Posted on 28-05-2013 10:04
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Interesting opening, Posthuma perhaps would have been expected to produce a good showing. Still Tenorio may have expected an early lead there, would have been useful for him going into this hilly stage. Though this TT is not as important as the next one, if Posthuma wins that too and has the jersey going into Sierra Nevada, another Santander advantage disappears.
Top 10 is pretty good going for Bobridge, who just might be able to do something on the hilly stuff, though unlikely with riders like Schleck and Ricco here. A hilly stage like this last year though led to a breakaway win, is that possible this time around?
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| roturn |
Posted on 28-05-2013 10:07
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The Vuelta mountains look to be more selective as in the Giro.
So I am really looking forward for that Tenorio-Contador battle there.
Also Nibali, Valverde, Schleck, Ricco... being here could become another epic race.
I think Tenorio will win it closely over Contador as their team is fully focussed on him.
Great preview and nice opener here.
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| SotD |
Posted on 28-05-2013 10:20
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Great start. I had a secret goal of a stage top 10 here from Contador, but 6th and hardly losing any time to Tenorio, and gaining 10 seconds on Machado was much better than anticipated.
It was really a hard stage since Bernaudeau finished in 46th place. I never really understood just how tough it was. Nice stage and a good start. Now to hope that Guerao can really excel here.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 28-05-2013 11:05
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Avin Wargunnson wrote:
alexkr00 wrote:
Since the Giro didn't go too well, we need victories here, since in the Tour it will be even harder to gain points.
Also, it's time for LLS to pull of a trick and sneak into the final top 10.
Amazing preview, CA!
So you get your needed victory right in the first stage and even the double!
Congrats to that, i expected Tenorio to grab this one. Many favourites are positioned near the front already, so they can sort out the leaders jersey soon, it will be one of the most important things in the race. If Tenorio snatches the jersey soon, he can become unstopable.
Thanks.
I thought Tenorio would take it too even though it was always going to be a close one between him and Posthuma. But LuLu being faster than Tenorio as well... I clearly didn't expect that
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| SportingNonsense |
Posted on 28-05-2013 11:27
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5th for Schleck in a prologue is very nice. Means that a stage win on Stage 2 would also translate into the race lead, so that's got to be the target! (Doubt it will happen though )
And a great report CountArach. I dont like reporting TTs, but you do it very well!
Edited by SportingNonsense on 28-05-2013 11:27
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| ember |
Posted on 28-05-2013 13:18
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Congratulations to Project 1t4i and alexkr00!
With all the favourites up front, stage 2 could be very interesting, eventhough the profile doesn't look really hard. For us it will be all about racing for a screenshot or two
Brilliant report, CountArach. It was a pleasure to read |
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| Roman |
Posted on 28-05-2013 14:11
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Fantastic preview and report from the prologue, CountArach, big thanks!
Decent start for Uran, definetely not bad. Hopefully he can limit his losses in hilly stages in this Vuelta, otherwise this will be quite similar story to Henao's Giro.
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| dave92 |
Posted on 28-05-2013 17:22
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This TT course turned out to be a pretty interesting mix, well done to snag the top 2 places alexkr00. I'm quite socked Denifl managed a top 10 on this stage, hope this bodes well for him going forward.
Quality report, especially for a TT. Looking forward to the scrap for the leader's jersey in stage 2.
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| Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 28-05-2013 18:44
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Nice start for Project 1t4i indeed. It's good to see the fight for the higher places begin right from the start, and it's also pretty good to see Plaza among those. Let's see those hills now.
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| mb2612 |
Posted on 28-05-2013 22:27
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Nice preveiw, and a reasonable first stage, although the leaders jersey would be very helpful. I fear I will twice fail to win a Gt despite being the favourite.
 [url=www.pcmdaily.com/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=33182] Team Santander Media Thread[/url]
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 29-05-2013 13:11
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What a start for Project 1t4i 
If Vanendert would have won, the entire podium would have been ours.
I didn't expect Posthuma to keep the red jersey after this stage, but he did. And with the sprinters losing time he should spend at least 3 extra stages wearing it
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| cio93 |
Posted on 29-05-2013 13:14
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Not that it matters very much, but really bad to have both GC guys lose time already, and what's the point in attacking if you don't get KoM points, Dominik?
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| Spilak23 |
Posted on 29-05-2013 13:16
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Nice win for Caruso. It was cool to see these outsider-punchers fight it out for the win!
Looks very good for Posthuma to win the long TT aswell wearing the leaders jersey.
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