Ian Butler wrote:
Well, it's the Vuelta, lots of uphill finishes. Curious to see the startlist!
Well, that'll be posted tuesday or probably wednesday. So be patient!
Spoiler
GC: Weak field, with COntador and Gesink as the 2 favourites, and further riders as Wiggins, Cobo, De Gendt, Taaramäe.
Sprinters: Except Kittel, Farrar and Guardini, all are present, so besides Sagan it is Cavendish, Greipel, Boasson Hagen, Rojas, Bos, Feillu, Gavazzi, Keukeleire, Goss and Haussler. Not bad?!
Gesink will win this easily in front of Contador.AC had too much race days in his legs.Gesink is much fresher.Wiggins,Cobo,De Gendt and Taaramae aren't very good climbers.In sprints will be probably Kittel but I think he can't win more than 3 stages.Good luck!
Edited by romaniangoat on 09-04-2013 08:30
romaniangoat wrote:
Gesink will win this easily in front of Contador.AC had too much race days in his legs.Gesink is much fresher.Wiggins,Cobo,De Gendt and Taaramae aren't very good climbers.In sprints will be probably Kittel but I think he can't win more than 3 stages.Good luck!
Hope so for Gesink. But the sprints: Kittel won't win, as he doesn't participate.
romaniangoat wrote:
Gesink will win this easily in front of Contador.AC had too much race days in his legs.Gesink is much fresher.Wiggins,Cobo,De Gendt and Taaramae aren't very good climbers.In sprints will be probably Kittel but I think he can't win more than 3 stages.Good luck!
Hope so for Gesink. But the sprints: Kittel won't win, as he doesn't participate.
It should be nice if he wins while not participating! Edited by MrUfo87 on 09-04-2013 16:25
romaniangoat wrote:
Gesink will win this easily in front of Contador.AC had too much race days in his legs.Gesink is much fresher.Wiggins,Cobo,De Gendt and Taaramae aren't very good climbers.In sprints will be probably Kittel but I think he can't win more than 3 stages.Good luck!
Hope so for Gesink. But the sprints: Kittel won't win, as he doesn't participate.
My sorry...In this case Cav probably is the favorite for the massive sprint.
romaniangoat wrote:
Gesink will win this easily in front of Contador.AC had too much race days in his legs.Gesink is much fresher.Wiggins,Cobo,De Gendt and Taaramae aren't very good climbers.In sprints will be probably Kittel but I think he can't win more than 3 stages.Good luck!
Hope so for Gesink. But the sprints: Kittel won't win, as he doesn't participate.
It should be nice if he wins while not participating!
The 2008-winner of this Vuelta was close in the Tour de France with a week in the maillot jaune, but had to settle with the 3rd place after the hunger knock at the Mont Ventoux. So make sure Alberto Contador is fully focussed and comitted to take revenge and win in his homeland. And with domestiques as Barredo, Siutsou, Astarloza, Plaza and Rui Costa, he probably has the strongest supporting team. One week thing: already 60 race days in the pocket.
Robert Gesink
Dutch Robert Gesink has won the Vuelta in 2011, and is back in the hunt for a 2nd GC-win. He took it easy the last weeks after winning his first ever Tour de France, so he has lesser racedays than Contador. Question is if his team isn't too weak, with only Vanendert and De Maar to help him in the mountains.
Juan José Cobo
Juan José Cobo as a 3-star favourite to win the Vuelta??? Well, he rides in his homeland, he is in great shape (remember his win in the Tour de l'Ain?) and has a strong team behind him (Valverde, Herrada, Gerrans, Gilbert, Wiggins). But he has to take the role of team leader immediately in the first mountain stage, or he'll be pushed in a role as domestique. And can he has to form in the last week, considering his amount of racedays?
And this is the reason Thomas De Gendt left his former Monster Energy-team after 3 seasons: the chance to be a team leader in a GT! Well, with the absence of Nibali, Froome and Cunego, De Gendt is the guy to do it for Radio Shack, but with riders as Rubiano, Silin and Vandevelde to help him in the mountains, it'll be a hard nut to crack.
Rein Taaramäe
Estonian Rein Taaramäe is getting closer and closer to a GT-podium. This year's Giro, he managed to finish in 4th place behind Nibali, Scarponi and Kelderman. Can he become the first Estonian to finish in the top 3 in Madrid?
Bradley Wiggins
34-year-old Bradley Wiggins is called a shadow-leader by his Dexia-team for this Vuelta. It all depends on his form in the first week if he can hang on with JJ Cobo, and then crush him in the TTT, to let the team work for him. At least he is one of the freshest riders, with only 43 racedays in the legs.
Without Igor Antón participating, Beñat Intxausti is the hope for the Basque cycling fans to win this Vuelta. Well, they'll prbably be satisfied with him winning 1 of the 2 stages in Basque country Intxausti is a good climber and time trialist, and that combination can bring him in the top 5.
Bauke Mollema
Bauke Mollema seems to have a talent the last few years to loose time early in a GT (due to crashes, echelons or whatever) and makes a comeback into the top 10 again. Last Giro, he took home a 6th place, so he has the level to compete for the top 5.
Kanstantsin Siutsou
He is the luxury domestique of Alberto Contador, so he has to do some work for him. But nevertheless, the Belarusian is one of the better riders that starts in this Vuelta, so at least a top 10 should be doable.
After the horrible Tour de France for sprinters (only 1 mass sprint, and most of them already having to leave the Tour after finishing outside the timelimit in the Pyrénées), the Vuelta is stacked with world class sprinters!
Mark Cavendish
The Manx Missile is still the fastest man on the bike, but isn't showing off in the GT's the last few years. WIth at least 5 expected mass sprints, this is his chance for revenge.
André Greipel
Believe it or not, but André Greipel hasn't won a single race in 2014.... But with JJJ Haedo and Sulzberger to help him, he probably has the best lead out train, so no excuses for the gorilla!
Edvald Boasson Hagen
Winner of 4 stages in the Giro, Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen is now looking to win in Spain. But with 68 race days in the legs and without s sprint train, it will be a difficult task for him.
EBH has to battle it out with Matthew Goss who'll become the main sprinter in the Dexia-team. This looks to be a difficult task for him.
José Joaquín Rojas
Spains best sprinter José Joaquín Rojas has got 74 racedays in the legs. But the number 2 of the points ranking in the Tour de France has the home advantage.
Peter Sagan
Peter Sagan is one of the freshest sprinters to start here, with only 43 racedays so far this season. But he'll focus on the stages in the 2nd and 3rd week of the Vuelta, as his form is relatively low.
Dutch Theo Bos has to battle with Romain Feillu who'll become the main sprinter of the Omega Pharma-team. Theoratically, he's the fastest of the 2, but never count out Feillu.
Gerald Ciolek
Only 24 racedays, and it is the middle of August?? WHat has Gerald Ciolek been doing this year? He should be good enough for some top 5's, and maybe better.
Heinrich Haussler
Heinrich Haussler isn't the fastest sprinter here, but showed in the Tour de Pologne with 2 stage wins that he is in a great form. Never count him out, especially when the terrain gets hilly!
Okay, the polkadot jersey will probably go to Contador or Gesink, but it's still worth to mention these climbers that can aim for this prestiguous jersey.
The Astana-boys Kiserlovski and Nieve are some of the main candidates for the KOTM-jersey, together with Caja Rurals Javier Moreno.
Eros Capecchi is one of the few Italian riders present here. Juan Mauricio Soler is thankful that the organisation gave his team Colombia es Pasión a wildcard, and wants to thank them buy fighting for the KOTM-ranking. Irish Daniel Martin can be a top 10-candidate, but also fight for the KOTM-points.
What goes for Soler, also goes for Amets Txurukka and his Andalucía team. The old fox Joaquím Rodríguez will go for one of his last tricks, and finally Richie Porte, well, either he finishes in the GC-top 5 or he'll disappoint.
The Vuelta ciclista a España 2014 kicks off with a TTT in the streets of Benidorm. The weather is great along the Costa Brava!
The first team to start the Vuelta is Euskaltel - Euskadi. And under the leadership of Beñat Intxausti, the team sets a good time of 20'30.
Team Sky starts without a rider with GC-ambitions, but always rides a good TTT. They are faster than Euskaltel, setting the new best time at 20'17.
Sony-Ericsson, with Andreas Klöden, Rein Taaramäe and the mighty Danny Pate as the best timetrialists sets the 3rd time so far, '16 behind Sky.
Richie Porte, Lars Boom, George Hincapie.. with these riders in the team, Saxo Bank - Sunguard must be able to ride a fast TTT. And they do so, beating the best time so far set by Team Sky by 2 seconds! New time to beat: 20'15.
The stage we have feared the most. Okay, Gesink, Westra, and Sagan are good time trialists, but the form isn't good enough to compete for the win. Well, 22nd and dead last at the split time, and a final 18th place for Petronas - Monster Energy, 1'03 behind the winners, is for sure a weak start!
Times at first checkpoint after 7km:
1. Dexia 9'50; 2. Movistar +'11; 3. Rabobank +'12; 4. Caja Rural +'15; 5. Sky +'15; 22. Petronas - Monster Energy +'42.
Dexia was the pre-race favourite to win the TTT. Especially Cobo, Boasson Hagen and Wiggins pull their team mates to the fastest time so far, 19'54. Will this be enough for the win, so Juan José Cobo, as the first rider to have crossed the finish line, will be the first leader in the Vuelta?
Then a big surprise: wild card-team Caja Rural sets the 2nd time so far, '18 behind Dexis and faster than Saxo, Sky etc!!!
Alberto Contador is leading the Movistar Team to a very good 2nd place, '10 behind Dexia. This means that Contador leads Gesink in the GC by already '53!
The last team to finish is Radio Shack - Nisan. Thomas De Gendt and colleagues finish in 6th place at '30.
Dexia
Movistar Team
Saxo Bank SunGard
Sky ProCycling
Radio Shack - Nissan
Red Bull - Cervélo
Pro Team Astana
Rabobank Cycling Team
BMC Racing Team
Colombia es Pasión - Café de Colombia
Katusha Team
Qantas Airways
Lampre - Alitalia
Team Europcar
Garmin - Barracuda
Edvald Boasson Hagen
