Vuelta a Espana
Discussion
S10GTA said:
Nibali must be favourite. Nice to see Ten Damn is riding too, worth keeping an eye on his Strava stuff.
I like ten Dam's frank and honest opinion of his rides ... the recent 's
t legs, st weather, crash and moral went deeper' was refreshing to see and reminded me that we're all human. 
Funny enough it was two days before I did a 100m Sportive with 10,200ft elevation and had the same thoughts running through my head!Anyway, back to Vuelta, my Mrs is going to be so pissed off for the next 3 weeks as ITV takes an hour of my life every night.
I read an interesting article quitong Alberto Salazar (Mo Farah's coach) who said that it takes an athlete about two months to fully recover from a top level competition marathon so using similar logic, I'd be surprised to see too many of the veterans of the 2013 tour feature too heavily and the likes of Sammy Sanchez and Scarponi to have a good ride.
11 summit finishes....hopefully won't turn into a yawn fest like much of last year's.
The Spanish do like to set up a race for their own don't they? They need to be careful as the 2 biggest names (Nibs & Purito) are only using it as prep for the Worlds. Any more extreme and they will risk losing their place as the 3rd Grand Tour. Already much prefer the Eneco for decent racing.
The Spanish do like to set up a race for their own don't they? They need to be careful as the 2 biggest names (Nibs & Purito) are only using it as prep for the Worlds. Any more extreme and they will risk losing their place as the 3rd Grand Tour. Already much prefer the Eneco for decent racing.
Gren said:
11 summit finishes....hopefully won't turn into a yawn fest like much of last year's.
The Spanish do like to set up a race for their own don't they? They need to be careful as the 2 biggest names (Nibs & Purito) are only using it as prep for the Worlds. Any more extreme and they will risk losing their place as the 3rd Grand Tour. Already much prefer the Eneco for decent racing.
Last years race was superb and went right to the wire. Epic battle between the Spaniards too. The Spanish do like to set up a race for their own don't they? They need to be careful as the 2 biggest names (Nibs & Purito) are only using it as prep for the Worlds. Any more extreme and they will risk losing their place as the 3rd Grand Tour. Already much prefer the Eneco for decent racing.
You must have been watching something else!
Gren said:
11 summit finishes....hopefully won't turn into a yawn fest like much of last year's.
The Spanish do like to set up a race for their own don't they? They need to be careful as the 2 biggest names (Nibs & Purito) are only using it as prep for the Worlds. Any more extreme and they will risk losing their place as the 3rd Grand Tour. Already much prefer the Eneco for decent racing.
What are you on about? Have you confused 2012 Vuelta with the 2012 TDF?The Spanish do like to set up a race for their own don't they? They need to be careful as the 2 biggest names (Nibs & Purito) are only using it as prep for the Worlds. Any more extreme and they will risk losing their place as the 3rd Grand Tour. Already much prefer the Eneco for decent racing.
I'd rather see variety. Some mountain top finishes, some descent finishes, some sprints etc. 11 (out of 18 or so non-tt stages) is not balanced and tips the advantage heavily in favour of those with the ability to sprint those last couple of hundred metres. It cuts down the field of potential winners and for me because of that becomes less interesting.
The last few metres of each stage are exciting but the GC competition becomes a little stale.
The last few metres of each stage are exciting but the GC competition becomes a little stale.
I would rather see a tour that reflects the particular nature of the host country. Spain is a country of sharp climbs and hot, often windy plains, so IMO its only right that their grand tour reflects that.
I'd rather have a race that evokes the geography of the individual country rather than leaning towards a more 'standard' GT format.
I'd rather have a race that evokes the geography of the individual country rather than leaning towards a more 'standard' GT format.
Superb result for Astana that. I thought Radioshack had done enough to get into red but Astana has smashed their time.
Certainly got off to a colorful start the Vuelta, some very impressive average speeds were posted. Perfect start for Nibali in that he put a little time over his rivals!!
Certainly got off to a colorful start the Vuelta, some very impressive average speeds were posted. Perfect start for Nibali in that he put a little time over his rivals!!
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff