With just one race left for PT teams, a good time to set up Vuelta a Espana Discussion, As the route was revealed by MGUCI pre-season, famous Spain explorer and cycling expert jandal made an in dept analysis of the route, you can find it here.
Vuelta a Espana
PT Grand Tour : 11/5 - 31/5, 21 stages total 3157 km
Profiles:
Welcome to the 2019 edition of Vuelta a España, the first Vuelta a España took place in 1935 at the time 14 stages starting and finishing in Madrid. From 2007 onwards the race came under the MG umbrella, making this year’s race edition 13th.
All winners under MG: (*) participates in 2019
2018: Silvio Herklotz (Team Puma - SAP)
2017: Andy Schleck (Vesuvio – Accumalux)
2016: Robert Gesink (eBuddy)
2015: Aleksandr Pluchkin (Metinvest-Dacia) (*)
2014: Jose Alarcon (Simply Red Bull)
2013: Justo Tenorio (Santander) (*)
2012: Angel Madrazo (Santander)
2011: Alejandro Valverde (Cafe de Colombia)
2010: Andy Schleck (Domina Vacanze)
2009: Francisco Mancebo (Eurosport)
2008: Alexandre Vinokourov (Carlsberg)
2007: Francisco Mancebo (Saunier Duval)
As seen from the list, only two rider have won on two occasions, Andy Schleck (10,17) and Francisco Mancebo (07,09). Two riders can attempt to do this in 2019, 2015 winner Aleksandr Pluchkin and 2013 winner Justo Tenorio, the two riders both with a fair chance and funny as it may seem both now riding in PCT.
Favorites/Teams
24 teams will attend with a total of 191 riders.
Aker – MOT in my opinion bring the strongest squad, not only the on paper strongest riders Rein Taaramäe with his second to none climbing and absolutely top end Time Trail but also with a great lieutenant Fredrik Strand Galta in his own right a rider who could aim for a top 10, if he was a team leader. With support from Sindre Skjostad Lunke, Serghei Tvetcov and Lorents Ola Aasvold a very frightening setup.
Rein Taaramäe won the tour last season, so there is no need to dig deeper to conclude that he is a superstar and got all it takes to win here.
Team Popo4Ever p/b Nemiroff 2nd in my book, Aleksandr Pluchkin although not exactly as strong on all parameters as Taaramäe, very close and could easily win very important stages having the best day of the two. Also his team support very good with lieutenant Mark Padun, supported by Zouzou Andriafenomananiaina and Volodymyr Dzhus.
As we already know Aleksandr Pluchkin have won this race before and there is no reason his team would not aim for a 2nd victory here, despite the fact that Taaramäe have the best odds.
Justo Tenorio and Timofey Kritskiy the duo most likely to aim for the last podium, they almost have the same skillset with Tenorio having the edge over Kritskiy with a om paper better ability to survive a long race. Never the less my money is on Team Tinkoff, based on the fact that we will come with a useful although limited support from lieutenant Novikov where as Desigual will have to rely on Barta or Minguez Ayala, riders that may find it hard to stay with the leader when the race gets tougher.
As mentioned Justo Tenorio have won this race before so no reason to doubt his personal strength. Timofey Kritskiy came 5th in 2018 so need to improve some to aim for a podium.
After those four riders there is a gap down to the next group, if we look at the ability to climb those many hard climbs we are passing here and we must expect that they are not very likely to podium, at least in theory.
Farfetch Pro Cycling’s Mattia Cattaneo maybe with the best shot at top 5 or better. Not only with very good recovery and resistance but also fine option in the long ITT we are facing. He also got a fine lieutenant in Carthy, but that said the rest of the squad is way below par and could often lose contact, turning the lieutenant into a water carrier too early. Mattia Cattaneo is not a puncher and may struggle on the short hilly climbs.
Isostar – LimeBike’s Martijn Keizer has a very strong time trail, in case he is able to reduce time losses in the mountains he is an outsider for a top result. Like Cattaneo Mattia Cattaneo may struggle on the short hilly climbs and he won’t fancy the longest stages. Mediocre support from lieutenant Gilanipoor and the rest of the squad.
SPAR - Siam Cement’s Stefan Denifl sits quite low on my list, considering that he is a better pure climber that Cattaneo and Keizer, if he can make the best if his pure climbing skills that may be unjustified but with clear lack of TT, limited resistance and acceleration, I just don’t see him as a direct contender for top 5, lieutenant Brändle and the squad not the strongest either.
Bennelong – Mitchelton comes with Jack Haig, his strongest skill to place him as 8th on my list is quite a strong ITT, something that most of the favorites beneath him will not possess. His climbing is not perfect but should be good enough to limit time losses in most situations, it will be crucial for him to have a great day in the long ITT, if he want to get into top 10 or better.
Will mention Aegon – Lavazza a little earlier than their team leader would normally justify, the reason is that they comes not with a single leader but a trio, Velits, Olivier and Keinath, none of those one their own strong enough to suggest a top 10 result, but no matter if the unit to help one leader or ride their own Vuelta a Espana one by one, they should have the option to deliver a nice combined points haul. That said I have no idea how they will do that without stepping on each other’s toes, will be fun for the outsider to watch. With also Koep and van der Hugenhaben quite an interesting squad.
We got another three teams who will have riders realistically aiming at top 10 or better.
Repsol – Netflix with Merhawi Kudus, Roson and Pedrero as main helpers. Moser – Sygic with Warren Barguil, got a relative strong support from Vysna and Kolar. Air France – KLM with Nairo Quintana with Salinas as support. All those are top climbers with Warren Barguil being the unpaper weaker but to compensate he should get stronger at the end of a long race like this. The trio’s main disadvantage is lack of ITT skill.
Then to the large “outsider” group.
T-Mobile with Georg Preidler and Mai as support, with one major issue being a complete lack of ITT, he will have to be very aggressive in the mountains, as he will likely drop after every ITT.
Gazelle with Denys Karnulin, having quite strong support in Sosnitskiy, Vervaeke and Kruijswijk. EA Vesuvio with Alex Kirsch, Godoy and Kuss as support. Festina – OAKA with Francesco Bongiorno, a homogeny but relative weak squad with Vuillermoz as strongest helper. Evonik – ELKO with Miguel Angel Lopez with Sakalou as main support. Generali with Pierre Latour and Carpenter. Grieg – Maersk with Sigurd Nesset and Iturria. Fablok - Bank BGZ with Martin Hacecky and Pawel Poljanski. Indosat Ooredoo – ANZ with Gregory Brenes, Russom and Warchol as support. Team Puma – SAP with Yuriy Vasyliv, Stüssi, Bevin. eBuddy with Gianluca Brambilla basically without support. All those teams with more or less similar possibilities to aim for a top 15-20 and with a perfect ride maybe a little higher.
Finally we got Podium Ambition, coming to the Vuelta with a squad without GC ambitions, notably the average age just 24.5 years, clearly here to gain experience and hope for some breakaway activity from Vliegen, Altur or Novardianto
Now to some lists of the different terrain favorites:
Pure Mountain Stages: Taaramäe and Pluchkin with Kritskiy, Denifl and Tenorio as outsiders.
Rider
Mo
Ac
Rs
Rc
St
Do
Rider
Mo
Ac
Rs
Rc
St
Do
Taaramäe
85
76
80
79
79
70
Brenes
79
70
80
70
73
65
Pluchkin
85
74
78
79
78
66
Keinath
79
70
76
76
77
63
Tenorio
84
67
76
79
78
68
Bongiorno
79
69
77
77
77
65
Kritskiy
84
67
76
78
78
62
Carthy
79
69
75
76
75
65
Denifl
84
65
71
76
75
64
Kirsch
79
67
73
75
75
62
Cattaneo
82
70
80
80
76
64
Brambilla
79
63
73
76
75
70
Kudus
82
70
77
79
79
67
Lopez
78
76
73
73
74
70
Quintana
82
66
76
76
77
61
Sosnitskiy
78
73
77
68
73
77
Barguil
81
75
77
82
77
76
Padun
78
73
73
74
71
70
Keizer
81
73
79
79
75
61
Karnulin
78
70
75
77
76
73
Galta
81
66
79
77
78
70
Nesset
78
69
76
74
77
68
Velits
81
65
71
71
72
62
Lunke
78
64
74
78
76
69
Haig
80
73
75
78
76
67
Hacecky
77
75
76
76
71
67
Olivier
80
71
80
77
76
71
Latour
77
73
76
78
78
73
Preidler
80
69
77
76
71
81
Godoy
77
73
75
75
74
68
Semi Mountain Stages:
Even on the harder hill profiles Taaramäe top favourite, with Lopez and Preidler most likely podium candidates.
Rider
H
M
A
F
Re
Rc
Sa
Rider
H
M
A
F
Re
Rc
Sa
Taaramäe
78
85
76
75
80
79
79
Vysna
76
77
71
68
75
70
72
Lopez
79
78
76
69
73
73
74
Bongiorno
75
79
69
69
77
77
77
Preidler
78
80
69
68
77
76
71
Velits
74
81
65
70
71
71
72
Tenorio
76
84
67
68
76
79
78
Yates
79
70
80
74
70
73
77
Denifl
76
84
65
70
71
76
75
Haig
74
80
73
72
75
78
76
Pluchkin
75
85
74
74
78
79
78
Padun
75
78
73
67
73
74
71
Kudus
76
82
70
69
77
79
79
Carpenter
76
76
72
67
71
73
72
Kritskiy
75
84
67
75
76
78
78
van der Hugenhaben
77
74
61
70
71
70
72
Olivier
76
80
71
72
80
77
76
Tvetcov
75
77
73
71
71
76
72
Barguil
75
81
75
70
77
82
77
Tratnik
77
73
70
71
75
70
74
Poljanski
77
77
71
66
70
76
70
Sergis
76
75
70
68
73
73
69
Keinath
76
79
70
74
76
76
77
Anuar Aziz
80
67
69
71
71
69
76
Brambilla
76
79
63
72
73
76
75
Carthy
74
79
69
70
75
76
75
Quintana
74
82
66
68
76
76
77
Kirsch
74
79
67
70
73
75
75
Benoot
77
75
71
70
74
74
74
Galta
73
81
66
69
79
77
78
Puncher stage
On the hilly profiles without hard climbs Anuar Aziz top favourite, with Lopez and Yates as most likely podium candidates.
Rider
Hi
Mo
Ac
Rs
Fl
Sp
Rc
Rider
Hi
Mo
Ac
Rs
Fl
Sp
Rc
Anuar Aziz
80
67
69
71
71
66
69
Tenorio
76
84
67
76
68
59
79
Lopez
79
78
76
73
69
65
73
Denifl
76
84
65
71
70
66
76
Yates
79
70
80
70
74
75
73
Kudus
76
82
70
77
69
62
79
Taaramäe
78
85
76
80
75
60
79
Olivier
76
80
71
80
72
64
77
Preidler
78
80
69
77
68
50
76
Keinath
76
79
70
76
74
62
76
Landa
78
69
69
69
65
61
70
Brambilla
76
79
63
73
72
60
76
Gerts
78
66
70
80
77
72
74
Vysna
76
77
71
75
68
53
70
Poljanski
77
77
71
70
66
61
76
Carpenter
76
76
72
71
67
66
73
Benoot
77
75
71
74
70
69
74
Sergis
76
75
70
73
68
58
73
van der Hugenhaben
77
74
61
71
70
65
70
Laas
76
74
76
73
67
67
73
Tratnik
77
73
70
75
71
61
70
Rabottini
76
74
68
73
70
67
68
Edet
77
70
71
69
67
61
65
Vanendert
76
70
69
71
70
54
69
Kump
77
66
80
73
74
81
80
Eiking
76
68
74
73
70
67
70
Sirironnachai
77
66
73
74
71
64
70
Lammertink
76
68
69
73
74
68
74
Turgis
77
65
75
77
72
69
69
Bol
76
68
67
70
75
62
74
Sprinter stage Grosu and Guerao the stand alone favorites on the flat, with Kump, Nizzolo likely to get a podiums and Kemboi, Afewerki, Stepniak and Bertilsson as outsiders.
Rider
Sp
Ac
Fl
Rs
Rc
St
Rider
Sp
Ac
Fl
Rs
Rc
St
Grosu
83
80
73
70
79
74
Brus
78
78
71
69
78
74
Guerao
83
76
74
64
81
71
Krasnov
78
77
72
67
75
72
Kump
81
80
74
73
80
76
Weber
77
77
73
69
71
74
Nizzolo
80
79
73
67
71
70
Hsu
77
77
73
68
72
74
Kemboi
79
80
78
77
81
74
Kalaba
77
77
72
71
75
70
Afewerki
79
80
73
70
81
77
Eislers
77
74
75
75
72
74
Stepniak
79
79
72
70
75
70
Dzamastagic
76
78
78
72
76
76
Bertilsson
79
77
73
71
76
72
Ackermann
76
78
71
70
78
73
Liepins
78
79
73
68
77
73
Sanikwathi
76
76
70
66
74
68
Martinelli
78
78
71
70
77
73
Yates
75
80
74
70
73
77
There is no flat Time trail in this edition so have to look for more than a tempo riders to find favorites for the three ITT’s, this is my estimate:
The opening stage of Vuelta a Espana 2019 will be the prologue in Málaga, the route is quite undulated with a hill climb, approx. 1.5 km with slopes up to 9.9%, with a total altitude gain of about 130 meters.
Stage 2: Benidorm – Calpe 194.3 km
The stage is quite undulated but the harder climbs come early and we must expect it to be raced as a puncher stage unless the pace is very high from the beginning. The highest summit of the stage is 963 m above sea level and the last KoM approx. 22 km from the finish line. Another possibility is a reduced sprint from a group of punchers favoring the puncher/sprinters due to the fact that we do not have an uphill finish.
Stage 3: Ibi - Alicante 186 km
The stage is mainly flat and although we got two climbs in the 2nd half, we must expect all the top sprinter to survive them, making the most realistic scenario a traditional mass sprint. There is almost 40 mainly downhill km from the last KoM to the finish line. The highest point is 815 m above sea level.
Stage 4: Cullera - El Puig 177.2 km
The stage is mainly flat we got just one relatively easy KoM climbs The Puerto del Oronet. We must again expect all the top sprinter to survive and get mass sprint finish. There is about 45 km from the top of the last KoM to the finish line. The highest point is 507 m above sea level.
Stage 5: L'Eliana - Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre 166.3 km
The stage is the first real challenge for the GC favorites, far from the hardest we will ride in this Vuelta, as there is neither many nor very extreme climbs, but it is hard enough to filter the strongest from the fillers, and maybe also hard enough to see one or two of the better climbers get into serious trouble if having a bad day. Maybe a top rider with late attack taking some time on his closest rivals.
The stage is composed from two main obstacles, the very early and relative gentle but long climb to Puerto de Alcublas, and the much harder summit finish at Sierra de Javalambre to Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre, 1950 m above sea level. On paper the climb is 7.7%, but that is based on the fact that the first 3,5 km is very gentle, and the last 8 km often above 10% with sections above 19%.
The total height difference is 3.617 meters
Stage 6: Mora de Rubielos – Ares del Maestrat 195.3 km
On stage 6 we haven’t got profiles images, but we got this info from the Vuelta officials. May not expect the stage to shake the GC too much, but we might see a few semi-favorites lose time on a bad day, or maybe even minor time losses between the best.
Puerto de Nogueruelas. 9 km at 4.5%
Puerto de Linares: 7.7 km at 5.7%
The Puerto de Culla 4.4 km at 5.8%
Ares del Maestrat (summit finish) 7.9 km at 5%.
The total height difference is 3.256 meters, highest point 1660 meters above sea level.
Stage 7: Onda – Mas de la Costa 183.8 km
The stage is another semi-mountain stage with a relative short punchy final climb, with brutal slopes. We start with a long flat section taking up about 40% of the stage before we hit a series of three KoM climbs cat.3 – cat.2 – cat.3
The cat.2 climb The Salto del Caballo, which is also called Mas del Moro comes up rather late, within the last 30 km, making for quite a hard finish.
The total height difference is 3.040 meters, the altitude at the summit finish 1129 meters
The official profile says the stage start in Reus but that is a mistake, the route start in Valls and finish in Igualada, anyway the profile is otherwise correct.
Today’s stage is if not directly flat, at least not very hard and the organizers regards this as a sprinter friendly stage. Never the less we got a 9.2 km climb at an average 5.8% with summit 20.7 km from the finish line, so it is questionable if this will end in a traditional mass sprint finish. This is the kind of transition stage where “Other rider” might turn out to be the bookmaker favorite.
The total height difference is 2.105 meters, the highest point 802 m above sea level.
Stage 9: Andorra la Vella – Cortals d’Encamp 88.2 km
Just like yester there is a mistake in the official profile, the stage does not finish at Coll de la Gallina, that is a mid-stage HC climb, the stage finish at Cortals d’Encamp
This is expected to be one of the hardest stages of this year’s Vuelta, not because it is long and have the most uphill km, quite the opposite, this stage is short and explosive with almost no flat sections and several brutal mountains one after the other.
If you are not between the absolute top climbers you will lose a lot of time today and we must also expect to see race defining gaps between the best riders.
With more than 36 km climbing and a total height difference is 3.431 meters we are climbing at 41.4% of today’s route. The summit finish 2.111 m above sea level.
Stage 10: Bilbao ITT 51.4 km
With the length of the time trail we must expect it to have a huge impact on the general classification with top climbers losing minutes rather than seconds today.
The profile is considered flat, and yes we got a flat finish, but we also got a 4 km climb with slopes at 6-7%, so expect to see that a riders with a good mix of time trail ability and climber / puncher skill will be stronger on this profile than the pure tempo rider.
The hill is about 210 meters up to an altitude of 241.6 meters
Stage 11: Saint-Palais – Urdax 169 km
The route “naming” on the profile is not correct, the stage runs from Saint-Palais in France to the mountain village Urdax in Spanish Pyrenees, some 50 km east of San Sebastián.
The first and hardest of two transition stages before the next GC challenge we will get on stage 13., today is a typical semi-mountain stage with some relative hard climbs spread over the route, but still not hard enough for the GC favorites to be able to attach each other.
A rather easy late uncategorized hill will be a kickoff if a puncher attempts to break free for the stage win, either from the peloton if things are close, or from the breakaway if the pack is taking an extra rest day.
The highest point on the route is 675 meters, finish line at 83 meters altitude.
Total height difference is 3.140 meters
Stage 12: Circuito de Navarra – Bilbao 174.8 km
The second transition stages in a row, today is a flatter profile than yesterday, but even though the profile say “flat” it does not look like a sprinter stage with the three sharp hills close to the finish. It seems more realistic to point towards a strong puncher able to attack on one of the climbs and keep a gap to the finish line, or a smaller group of punchers breaking free.
The highest point on the route is at 889 meters above sea level, finish line 6 meters above sea level. total height difference is 1.994 meters
Stage 13: Bilbao – Alto de los Machucos 164.1 km
Stage 9 to Coll de la Gallina was tough regarding the amount of climbing, but ended with little separation between the best climbers, today we can hope for a different scenario.
We got a longer route with many climbs and what will be a very hard finish, the Alto de los Machucos is just 7.4 km at 8.9% but it is a very uneven climb with sloped above 20%, the short brutal climb could be favoring a punchy climber with a kick, able to get a gap on one of the hardest sectors.
Some riders may worry if they can make it within the time limit, with so much climbing today.
The highest point on the route is at 918 meters above sea level, the total height difference is 4.120 meters.
Stage 14: San Vicente de la Barquera – Oviedo 180.1 km
The last stage of the 2nd week will be another transition stage between the two hard Mountain stages. The profile says “flat” but not many of those Vuelta stage are really flat and this one is also a bit undulated.
If the peloton can and will keep things together, we are in for a sprinter finale favoring the punchy sprinter with the last 3 km uphill at 2.8%. The bookmakers are quite undecided favoring a mix of different rider types from a true sprinter like Grosu over puncher/ sprinter Kump, to pure punchers like Yates, Gerts and even Kritskiy.
Again, there is “other rider” option, as we may well again see a large breakaway and many top teams mostly looking at the GC very willing to take an easy day off, giving it to the breakaway.
The highest point on the route is at 330 meters above sea level, the total height difference is 2.126 meters.
To open the final week we start with a high mountain stage, not the highest nor the longest climbs, but should not underestimate a day like this, not only will we pass three KoM climbs evenly spread out over the route, but we will also have a very tough summit finish at the Santuario del Acebo. The climb is just 8 km but with average gradient of 9.7% it will definitely be able to create some race defining gabs.
Only the best climber will be at the bookmakers list of favorites today.
The highest point on the route is 1390 meters,
Total height difference is 3.814 meters
Max slope 17.2%
Stage 16: Pravia – Alto de la Cubilla 152.7 km
The 2nd mountain stage in a row, and this one very tough with first 2 relatively small cat 3. starters both just 4 - 6 km, after those a 10 km false flat at 1-3 % directly follow by the 11.9 km ascent up to Puerto de Marabio a very uneven climb at 6.3%, with an almost 3km mid-section above 10%.
The downhill finish with 57 km km left, and we slowly start a 2nd undulated false flat reaching the foot of Alto de la Cobertoria with 48 km left. 8.1 km at 8.9% again with section at double digits.
After a very steep 7 km downhill we start climbing again, at first just leg testing but getting tougher and tougher and the official final start after about 5 km, 27.7 km at 4.8%, at first just 3% but after another 5 km the real fun begins with very uneven sections sometimes up to 10% sometimes almost flat, but most of the time from 5 to 7%.
This is only a stage for the very best climbers and there is almost no limit to how much time you can lose, if you have an off day.
The highest point on the route is 1700 meters,
Total height difference is 4.398 meters
Max slope 17.0%
Stage 17: Aranda de Duero – Guadalajara 200.3 km
Today a single flat between a lot of mountain stages, the route is still a bit undulated but should be a good option for the sprinter teams if they can avoid a larger breakaway getting to much time. Grado del Pico (or Alto de Carrascosa) cat 3., uneven 7.9 km at 3.7% comes quite early and should not have any impact on the result. The only obstacle in the final is the uncategorized hill up to the points sprint at Jadraque with 37 km left.
The highest point on the route is 1418 meters,
Total height difference is 1.938 meters
Max slope 9.6%
Stage 18: Colmenar Viejo - Becerril de la Sierra 178.6 km
A challenging mountain stage, with four quite similar climbs of 10-11 km each with average slopes at 5.5 - 6.5%. The only thing that separates this from a top challenge is the fact that we finish after a long downhill, making it less tempting to attack if you belong to the best placed riders in GC, but we may easily see early and/or late attacks from riders sitting a little further down the leaderboard, and who knows if one of the podium candidates will play this all in ? against the odds.
The highest point on the route is at 1871 meters
Total height difference is 3.871 meters
Max slope 17.9%
Stage 19: Monasterio de Veruela – Borja ITT 34.5 km
The climb in this ITT is 5 km, mainly with slopes around 6%, after that the next 29 km is basically downhill. Hard to say exactly how the climbing v tempo ration will be but I guess not far from 50-50.
Max slope 6.9%
Max altitude 1055m
Total height difference is 470 meters
Stage 20: Arenas de San Pedro – Plataforma de Gredos 186.4 km
A very heavy mountain stage, to set the final scores.
The highest point on the route is 1919 meters,
Total height difference is 4.758 meters
Max slope 20.0%
Stage 21: Fuenlabrada – Madrid
The highest point on the route is 714 meters,
Total height difference is 1.590 meters
Max slope 10.6%
Probably the wrong GT to send such strong climbers, while the Giro Startlist surely would have seen me doing a lot better with them.
Anyway. One of them hopefully fights for the top10 spots or just after with the others making a top15-25.
Also team rankings and in especially stage performances are wanted here as having three of those, surely should help in the 3rd week mountains in the fight for KoM and stage wins.
Van der Poel might participate in 1-2 sprints but not necessarily planned or expected.
Taaramae, Pluchkin, Tenorio for the win/podium. Let`s see who does it the best.
It's not gonna be a really high scoring GT for us at all. It's mostly my 2nd-3rd stringers here, with Latour here to lead the team to either a Zubeldi-esque top 30 or to an eventful fight for the KoM jersey.
Break wins are gonna be key to a solid GT here for us, Latour, Carpenter, Sequera, even Krizek have a perfect stat combo for that, plus I'm not gonna be too bothered if PCM 18's random sprints somehow work to our advantage.
We brought a similar squad to the Giro and that ended horribly. Can't see this to be any other than a repeat. The Tour can't get here quick enough, as we've got Wellens there for the GC. Here I don't think either Poljanski or Hacecky got what it takes
Rein’s race to lose really (no pressure ). Other than the top 3-4 a very open startlist. Probably our worst squad in GT’s here, but looking at the field Brenes could sneak a top-15 or like Konig, a few breaks. Anuar Aziz has been hopeless as expected, maybe he can perfect his bottle carrying technique here for future races
I was expecting a much stronger field than this, and now Cattaneo is set up to disappoint me even worse than I could imagine
Still with Carthy here to go for the KoM and stage wins, Turgis for the hilly stages and Kemboi looking to do as well as he did in the Giro, this could be a nice race for us. Fantastic preview by the way Tamijo!
Thinking about it, I wonder who will be at the Tour now of the 81+ MO brigade. I have it as:
That's a very surprising startlist. Taaramae could've been an easy win at the Tour with Herklotz and Spilak not there, and Phinney avoids the Phinney tour. In terms of quality the Tour will be the weakest one by far
Also I hate to see Grosu here. The race is made for Kump, we avoid all the big hilly sprinters and then that Romanian guy comes up at least somebody else that has to work here
I really fancy the chances of Keizer to get into the top8, which should be the goal with the expected no-show at Le Tour.
No GC hopes for Brambilla with that startlist, so here's hoping he will go for breakaways and be a bit more successful than Aru was at the Giro.
Taaramae being here definitely opens up another podium spot at the Tour for Dombrowski. The American hasn't been looking spectacularly this season so far, but I'm still hopeful.
At least Grosu looks set for a couple of stage wins here.
To send Taaramae here or to the Tour was a difficult decision, but the chance to collect some big points early in the race made the Vuelta very attractive. Seeing the startlist, the goal must be to get the red jersey in the opening prologue, and to be honest, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to keep it all the way to Madrid, looking at our line up and the opposition.
That has to be the goal now before the race, and we also need to chase stage wins with Taaramae and not see many breakaways run away with them. That was the thinking for bringing such a team here, that it would help Taaramae fight for stage wins instead of top 10 placings on the difficult stages. Seeing how breakaways got a lot of chances in the Giro, I'm not confident we'll manage that, despite the fact that our team should be more than capable looking at their abilities.
Looking at the startlist, Taaramae should have all opportunities in the world to win or podium every mountain stage as long as it's a battle between the GC favourites, and I must say I like the look of his chances on the stages rated hilly as well. It seems like we've got a very good chance to score big with several stage wins and big GC points.
And that really is a critical thing for us here. Considering how the season has been up to this point regarding points scoring, we need a huge race here. It's a lot to ask, but I can't expect less than a top 15 from Galta and top 30s from Lunke and potentially Tvetcov. Hopefully they'll bring home decent GC placings due to good positioning and having key domestique roles for Taaramae as long as possible in the mountains.
Obviously I can't wait for this to get started. Fingers crossed!
Hoped to avoid the better puncheurs by sending lopez here which succeeded. This gives me hope that he might have good odds on the hillier stages. Hoping to get stage wins here and additionally hope that lopez attacks the KoM jersey. My best gt gc should be possible too - lost the count but probably means a top 100 result. Sakalou, Sergis and Egger should fit well as support for him if we can get them together into breaks. Big expectations
Also hoping for my sprinters trio to have an impact in the sprints - particularly in the last week.
Cheering for Taaramae here. Shame its not in the "right jersey"
Probably a mistake to send Kudus here given the startlist. Hopefully this opens up chances for breakaway, which was our demise in Giro, having an underperforming leader together with no serious breakaway attempts because Alarcon was considered a top favourite. Nizzolo as one of the top sprinters is great, though there aren't many chances for him, he should be able to bring some valuable points for us.
For the prologue we have Gonzalez Salas, though i don't have much trust on him at this point, and the long TT is too hard and too late into the race for him to get a big result.
Then a team that basically will have to get in breakaways; Barbero and Mosca should be great ones for the semiflat/hilly ones, and Pedrero, Roson for the mountains.
We really need a big home race seeing the latest rankings, and that Alarcon at Tour, while startlist will be very favorable, with no Taaramae, Spilak or Herklotz, i can't trust him to get into the podium seeing what happened at Giro
Vuelta a Espana 
). Other than the top 3-4 a very open startlist. Probably our worst squad in GT’s here, but looking at the field Brenes could sneak a top-15 or like Konig, a few breaks. Anuar Aziz has been hopeless as expected, maybe he can perfect his bottle carrying technique here for future races 
at least somebody else that has to work here
