2016 Vuelta a España, Info & Discussion

[Red Rick]

Re:

The countdown to the vuelta can begin.

The tour its greatest stage design was riden terribly but what would you expect with movistar as your only hope.

Just like nibali saved the giro, contador will save the vuelta.

I think it looked better than it was really. Placement in the race was crap, first GC was from the easy side, and then the Lacets, while looking awesome, just wasn't that hard, while surrounded by flat before and after.

 

[Valv.Piti]

The Lacets was hard enough if people wanted to go all out IMO, it was 8-9% over 7 km at the end of a hard day

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

Have you ever seen the tour skip the Pyrenees? The Alps? In Spain we have the Cantabrian block and the Pyrenees in the north, and Sierra Nevada in the south. In Sierra Nevada we have one of the most amazing climbs in Europe, perfectly suited for a stage finish but of course the organizers have no balls to include it. My point is that the south has some worthy stuff too and deserves some love. Too much love for the north lately, Guillen must be fan of Jon Snow.

Absolutely agree. It doesn't have to necessarily be a loop around the country, but all the cycling fans in Spain, and there are plenty, should have the opportunity to go roadside, be within driving distance. I understand that regions may be missed every other year or so, but the route has to be fair to the fans, who also happen to be the taxpayers.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Have you ever seen the tour skip the Pyrenees? The Alps? In Spain we have the Cantabrian block and the Pyrenees in the north, and Sierra Nevada in the south. In Sierra Nevada we have one of the most amazing climbs in Europe, perfectly suited for a stage finish but of course the organizers have no balls to include it. My point is that the south has some worthy stuff too and deserves some love. Too much love for the north lately, Guillen must be fan of Jon Snow.

Sure, the south has some good cycling areas as well, but Spain has high mountains in nearly every community; it's impossible to cover them all in every edition and not really comparable to France in that respect. Last year's route had seven stages in Andalucia and didn't go at all to Galicia or Navarra and barely touched the Basque Country; these are the cycling heartlands of the country but I didn't see a massive outcry about missing them out.

2014 was even more concentrated than this year: seven stages in Andalucia, five in Galicia, two in La Mancha, two in Asturias, two in Cantabria, and one each in La Rioja, Navarra and Aragon. Nothing in Valencia, Catalonia, Madrid or Basque Country. It's absolutely normal for the Vuelta to miss out vast swathes of the country, and almost impossible to cover it all in each edition.

 

[Praying Mantis]

A CN forums exclusive, la Vuelta profiles overview. I decided to include a little indicator for the Vueltas calling card, the MTF.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

A CN forums exclusive, la Vuelta profiles overview. I decided to include a little indicator for the Vueltas calling card, the MTF.

Looking goooood

After Quintana sucking the D and the Sky train killing all action, looking forward to watching Lopez, Chaves and Conta now

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re:

A CN forums exclusive, la Vuelta profiles overview. I decided to include a little indicator for the Vueltas calling card, the MTF.

Extremely nice.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

A CN forums exclusive, la Vuelta profiles overview. I decided to include a little indicator for the Vueltas calling card, the MTF.

Looking goooood

After Quintana sucking the D and the Sky train killing all action, looking forward to watching Lopez, Chaves and Conta now

Froome and his other doms will wipe the floor with them....he has hardly used any energy at the Tour so he will be rearing to go at the Vuelta

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re: Re:

A CN forums exclusive, la Vuelta profiles overview. I decided to include a little indicator for the Vueltas calling card, the MTF.

Looking goooood

After Quintana sucking the D and the Sky train killing all action, looking forward to watching Lopez, Chaves and Conta now

Froome and his other doms will wipe the floor with them....he has hardly used any energy at the Tour so he will be rearing to go at the Vuelta

He has used more energy compared to riders who are not in Tour de France so it is not going to be that easy for Froome. He will have hard time against fresh riders and I really doubt if he can win it.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

A CN forums exclusive, la Vuelta profiles overview. I decided to include a little indicator for the Vueltas calling card, the MTF.

Looking goooood

After Quintana sucking the D and the Sky train killing all action, looking forward to watching Lopez, Chaves and Conta now

Froome and his other doms will wipe the floor with them....he has hardly used any energy at the Tour so he will be rearing to go at the Vuelta

He has used more energy compared to riders who are not in Tour de France so it is not going to be that easy for Froome. He will have hard time against fresh riders and I really doubt if he can win it.

Dream on ....with a fresh team I would not bet against him

I hope I am wrong but don't think so...afterall he is coming into form just now according to himself

 

[TomLPC]

Re: Re:

A CN forums exclusive, la Vuelta profiles overview. I decided to include a little indicator for the Vueltas calling card, the MTF.

Looking goooood

After Quintana sucking the D and the Sky train killing all action, looking forward to watching Lopez, Chaves and Conta now

Froome and his other doms will wipe the floor with them....he has hardly used any energy at the Tour so he will be rearing to go at the Vuelta

He has used more energy compared to riders who are not in Tour de France so it is not going to be that easy for Froome. He will have hard time against fresh riders and I really doubt if he can win it.

Hopefully, Froome is usually more entertaining in the Vuelta, I don't feel as guilty liking him. Surely though they will try and finish him off working together early on this time instead of watching him rise from the dead.

 

[Miburo]

"The not using energy in the tour so he can win the vuelta" is such big nonsense.

Froome didn't use any energy in the tour of 2012, that was way easier than this tour but he *** the bed in the vuelta.

In all fairness Froome did the olympics that year, this year...oh wait

 

[damian13ster]

I dont see how Froome can do anything at the Vuelta. I think he is fully capable of doing the double, but not with Rio in between.

Dont see how you can have 3 peaks within pretty much 5 weeks

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

I dont see how Froome can do anything at the Vuelta. I think he is fully capable of doing the double, but not with Rio in between.

Dont see how you can have 3 peaks within pretty much 5 weeks

Tell that to Valverde

 

[HelloDolly]

Re:

"The not using energy in the tour so he can win the vuelta" is such big nonsense.

Froome didn't use any energy in the tour of 2012, that was way easier than this tour but he **** the bed in the vuelta.

In all fairness Froome did the olympics that year, this year...oh wait

Who said that was the plan??...it was to come into form this week , for Tour . Olympics & Vuleta ...but he has used very little energy at this Tour as the competetion is not there . In 2012 he was a dom and didn't have the support of the team he has at this Tour

He is also targetting the Vuelta ...sorry you don't like it but as he is in the form of his life I think he will be hard to beat. He is not going to Spain to make up the numbers...he doesn't have to...SKY have alot of potential leaders

Just saying

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re: Re:

"The not using energy in the tour so he can win the vuelta" is such big nonsense.

Froome didn't use any energy in the tour of 2012, that was way easier than this tour but he **** the bed in the vuelta.

In all fairness Froome did the olympics that year, this year...oh wait

Who said that was the plan??...it was to come into form this week , for Tour . Olympics & Vuleta ...but he has used very little energy at this Tour as the competetion is not there . In 2012 he was a dom and didn't have the support of the team he has at this Tour

He is also targetting the Vuelta ...sorry you don't like it but as he is in the form of his life I think he will be hard to beat. He is not going to Spain to make up the numbers...he doesn't have to...SKY have alot of potential leaders

Just saying

I don't belive that he has spent very little energy in the Tour because 3500km over 3 weeks is going to have an effect and it doesn't matter if you are a GC rider or a domestique (even domestiques suffer from consecutive grand tours).

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

I dont see how Froome can do anything at the Vuelta. I think he is fully capable of doing the double, but not with Rio in between.

Dont see how you can have 3 peaks within pretty much 5 weeks

Tell that to Valverde

But froome isnt Valverde, froome is froome and he isn't the kind of rider who has one peak after another like Valverde. Moreover it's nonsense that he is in the shape of his life. In 2013 he was way stronger and this year the competition in the tour is almost as bad as in 2014.

 

[HelloDolly]

Froome himself said he was in the from of his like....I am hardly making this up

 

[tretiak]

Re: Re:

"The not using energy in the tour so he can win the vuelta" is such big nonsense.

Froome didn't use any energy in the tour of 2012, that was way easier than this tour but he **** the bed in the vuelta.

In all fairness Froome did the olympics that year, this year...oh wait

Who said that was the plan??...it was to come into form this week , for Tour . Olympics & Vuleta ...but he has used very little energy at this Tour as the competetion is not there . In 2012 he was a dom and didn't have the support of the team he has at this Tour

He is also targetting the Vuelta ...sorry you don't like it but as he is in the form of his life I think he will be hard to beat. He is not going to Spain to make up the numbers...he doesn't have to...SKY have alot of potential leaders

Just saying

I don't belive that he has spent very little energy in the Tour because 3500km over 3 weeks is going to have an effect and it doesn't matter if you are a GC rider or a domestique (even domestiques suffer from consecutive grand tours).

Come'n if he does not succeed by cycling or running , can always other forces help him crush the field :twisted:

 

[mjreck]

Re: Re:

I have to say I am ashamed of "our" race this year. Should be renamed to Vuelta a Galicia. Countless 1-climb-2kms-20% stages, one only real Mountain stage, and its in France. Come on. When Cavendish first said the Vuelta had become stupid I was angry, now I can see he was probably right.

Not sure why there are so many complaints about the route not covering enough of Spain. It goes through 9 of the 15 mainland communities as well as France. Last year only went through 11 communities. I don't think anyone is going to miss the lack of stages in La Mancha or Extremadura anyway, and Andalucia/Murcia have hosted about 30 stages in the last five years, so no shame having a break from there either.

You are okay with it because it has a fair amount of stages in Valencia i guess. I am ashamed, everyone I know is ashamed, you too should be ashamed.

I don't really see what there is to be ashamed about. The Tour de France this year misses out the entire north-east - the cycling heartland and about 40% of the country. It's kind of normal for GT's to be focused on specific regions each edition. Especially the north in Spain, which has by far the best terrain for cycle racing and also by far the most suitable climate for racing in August and early September. And it's the most populated and has the biggest cycling regions so you get loads of fans on the road - rather than riding through the empty plains of La Mancha or Extremadura.

My one complaint is that I'd love to see them go to the islands more, particularly Tenerife and Gran Canaria; I guess it's difficult logisitcally, but they have such a different character of climbs to most of the mainland.

Have you ever seen the tour skip the Pyrenees? The Alps? In Spain we have the Cantabrian block and the Pyrenees in the north, and Sierra Nevada in the south. In Sierra Nevada we have one of the most amazing climbs in Europe, perfectly suited for a stage finish but of course the organizers have no balls to include it. My point is that the south has some worthy stuff too and deserves some love. Too much love for the north lately, Guillen must be fan of Jon Snow.

I'm guessing it comes down to two things.
First, in late August, the heat can still be up in the 40s mid-afternoon in the South and interior of Spain, which possibly isn't very conducive towards great racing, or attracting as many big names to the Vuelta as possible.

Secondly (and probably more pertinent), the north is in a better situation economically speaking, so possibly alot of Comarcas and town councils who are in the red simply can't afford to finance a start/finish of a stage in the southern regions.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I think Froome will be good. Based on the Vuelta 2015, he seemed to slowly get in the race before his DNF in Andorra. I would have been surprised if he didn't win that race not for his crash considering how it all panned out.

However, I am obviously aware that Contador is a different animal than Aru, especially in La Vuelta. But considering he specifically has programmed that this year, I expect a better Froome than what we saw on the first 9-10 stages in Vuelta 2015. And I think its enough to win if Contador isn't completely on his A-game. 60/40, in Contador's favour, between those 2, but don't underestimate the Colombian newcomers.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

I think Froome will be good. Based on the Vuelta 2015, he seemed to slowly get in the race before his DNF in Andorra. I would have been surprised if he didn't win that race not for his crash considering how it all panned out.

However, I am obviously aware that Contador is a different animal than Aru, especially in La Vuelta. But considering he specifically has programmed that this year, I expect a better Froome than what we saw on the first 9-10 stages in Vuelta 2015. And I think its enough to win if Contador isn't completely on his A-game. 60/40, in Contador's favour, between those 2, but don't underestimate the Colombian newcomers.

Froome has zero chances against contador. Contador is a beast in vuelta and giro. He is missing something in le tour. Maybe a bit of luck and a better team

 

[Miburo]

Froome in the form of his life? yea sure...xD

This talk comes up all the time, when someone wins a GT. He'll never be close as good as he was in the previous one. Not in these days.

And Froome is facing the best GT rider of this century who is fresh. Good luck with that.

Contador wasn't breathing in the giro of 2011, yet his form was clearly worse in the tour otherwise he would have won that with 10 min

 

[bajbar]

The times Porte and Froome did yesterday on Finhaut Emmoson are practically the same to those that Contador did in 2014. So Froome is not in "best form of his life". Contador in 2014 Dauphine(!) would have matched Froome yesterday. In his Tour 2014 form he would absolutely annihalate everyone. So if Bertie is in 2014 Vuelta shape Froome will not be able to do anything. If not.. I would rather not think about that...

 

[Valv.Piti]

You guys are incredible. 'No chance', 'Contador will annihilate Froome'... how many times have we heard that song?