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53rd Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco - 1-6 April 2013

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LaFlorecita

LaFlorecita

May 15, 2011
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617
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La Vuelta al País Vasco presenta un recorrido con 32 puertos

A very mountainous edition with 32 categorized climbs and each stage an attacker could succeed - very exciting!

We start with a 156.5km stage with the top of a 2nd cat climb just 7 km from the finish

Vuelta-Ciclista-al-Pais-Vasco-Stage-1-1363982519.png


As far as I can see just 1 km of flat, maybe Samu can do something here?

The second stage looks like the easiest of the race, this could be a bunch sprint

Vuelta-Ciclista-al-Pais-Vasco-Stage-2-1363982536.png


The first MTF! A 2nd cat climb, not very steep but should cause some time differences between the GC contenders

Vuelta-Ciclista-al-Pais-Vasco-Stage-3-1363982640.png


Another MTF, last year Samuel Sanchez was the strongest on this climb for third time in three years, can he continue his winning streak? In La Vuelta 2012 this climb also featured, Alejandro Valverde beat Joaquim Rodriguez in a sprint, while the latter wasn't paying attention since he thought he had the win in the bag already.

Vuelta-Ciclista-al-Pais-Vasco-Stage-4-1363982702.png


http://velorooms.com/index.php/topic,2038.0.html
 
LaFlorecita

LaFlorecita

May 15, 2011
45,171
617
24,680
Stage 5, another potentially very exciting stage, up and down the whole day. The leader and his team must pay attention otherwise they could lose the jersey just before the final TT

Vuelta-Ciclista-al-Pais-Vasco-Stage-5-1363982780.png


The final TT, 24 km and slightly hilly. Tony Martin will be hard to beat, but Riche Porte will give him a hard battle. Tejay van Garderen and Jonathan Castroviejo will most likely also feature.

Vuelta-Ciclista-al-Pais-Vasco-Stage-6-ITT-1363982837.png


And then, finally, the winner of the 53rd Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco can be crowned!

startlist

My prediction for top 5

1 Porte
2 Valverde
3 Contador
4 Van Garderen
5 Sanchez

http://velorooms.com/index.php/topic,2038.0.html
 
pdluz7

pdluz7

Sep 17, 2012
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
1. Porte
2. A Sky rider
3. Contador
4. Valverde
5. TGBM
Click to expand...

Sanchez grows in "home" race. Discard him . He seems to have lost his former glory.
 
LaFlorecita

LaFlorecita

May 15, 2011
45,171
617
24,680
roundabout said:
Trapagaran has a nasty finish. A real wall in the last few hundred meters.

And the final TT is more than slightly hilly.
Click to expand...

___________________________ flat

_______/\__/\________/\_____ slightly hilly
..................................../\
___/\__/\_/\_____/\__/....\____ hilly
.................................../\
............../\................../...\
___/\__/....\__/\____/.......\__/\ mountainous


;)
 
Libertine Seguros

Libertine Seguros

Feb 20, 2010
32,224
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The Alto de Olaberria should wreck a few hopes. Stage 5 looks like being the best of the race, a bit reminiscent of the excellent (and sad) 2010 stage where Purito won going solo the penultimate time over the Alto de Aia, with Valverde, Horner and Sánchez behind, and Amets Txurruka completely destroyed the mountains classification only to fall on some oil on the penultimate descent when out in front and break his collarbone, nearly being hit a couple of minutes later when Robert Gesink fell on the exact same spot.

Either way, on paper this is approximately 853 times better than last year's, owing to a course that actually reasonably approximates a Tour of the Basque Country.
 
Jelantik

Jelantik

Jul 19, 2010
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Dekker_Tifosi said:
1. Porte
2. A Sky rider
3. Contador
4. Valverde
5. TGBM
Click to expand...

why is Porte? I still don't see Porte can handle Bertie when he attacks. But if Froome is coming, then maybe. The last day is also mountain TT and that's not berti's weakness.
 
roundabout

roundabout

Jun 7, 2010
19,196
3,091
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LaFlorecita said:
___________________________ flat

_______/\__/\________/\_____ slightly hilly
..................................../\
___/\__/\_/\_____/\__/....\____ hilly
.................................../\
............../\................../...\
___/\__/....\__/\____/.......\__/\ mountainous


;)
Click to expand...

Probably around 500 meters of climbing in the last TT. And that's in 24kms. So I stand by what I wrote about it being more than slightly hilly.
 
H

hayzer114

Dec 13, 2012
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This will be the first real test for Saxo Bank as Contador is riding with alot of the guys who will be there or thereabouts come the Tour and the new signings will be expected to work for him. I think it will tell us alot about the team and how they will potentially shape up. I am interested to see how they fair in the mountains, will they form a train like sky or will they send a few up the road. Paulinho and Hernandez have been there and done it with Contador so i assume they will pull him along and provide shelter and Rogers will act as a pace setter at the front. I would like to see Kreuziger and Roche get some freedom and be allowed to attack when the situation necessitates also/
 
The Hitch

The Hitch

Jun 14, 2010
34,930
60
22,580
Miburo said:
No Porte will defeat him.
Click to expand...

I dont think so. These are more hills than long mountains, which are a slightly different ball game. Not just riding a tempo the whole time.

We saw in Oman Froome flew away from Contador on the mountain, but barely won a sprint on the hill stage.

Then in Tirreno, Froome flew away from everyone on the mountain, but Contador beat him by a couple of seconds on both hilly stages.

Thats aside from the fact that Porte, as insanely good as he has become, isnt quite as good as Froome. I think Contador should still just about be better than Porte.
 
Miburo

Miburo

Jul 29, 2012
11,703
4
0
The Hitch said:
I dont think so. These are more hills than long mountains, which are a slightly different ball game. Not just riding a tempo the whole time.

We saw in Oman Froome flew away from Contador on the mountain, but barely won a sprint on the hill stage.

Then in Tirreno, Froome flew away from everyone on the mountain, but Contador beat him by a couple of seconds on both hilly stages.

Thats aside from the fact that Porte, as insanely good as he has become, isnt quite as good as Froome. I think Contador should still just about be better than Porte.
Click to expand...

Porte didn't came close to Contador's record on montagne but there was headwind and obviously Contador isn't at that level. I'm really not sure if Contador is above Porte right now.

Of course Contador is the better climber overall (well for now:eek:) but Porte is in real great shape.

Besides the only reason why Contador took time on Froome on that first hilly stage was because he was sucking his wheel in the last 2 km. And he only gained boni sec, gap wasn't big enough for actual seconds.
 
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