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

[cineteq]

Valverde is not riding: http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=60499

The living legend Madrazo is the replacement!

 

[jens_attacks]

juanjo will win this bike race. it's his time now

 

[Bavarianrider]

Well Porte won't be beatable if he keeps his shape.
Hope Tony can do a Top 10 GC finish again.

 

[trevim]

Wow. Contador's team is ridiculous

91. CONTADOR Alberto
92. ANKER SORENSEN Chris
93. HERNáNDEZ Jesús
94. ROGERS Michael
95. ROCHE Nicolas
96. ZAUGG Oliver
97. KREUZIGER Roman
98. MOREIRA PAULINHO Sergio Miguel

Those are pretty much all his potential teammates for the climbs in the tour. I guess basque will be a good test.

It will be ridiculous to see Contador alone every time he'll need a team mate.

 

[trevim]

Purito is skipping this race, he'll rest a bit, then Teide before The Ardennes.

Wow Teide is a thing now. I wish I could afford a trip there

 

[Ruudz0r]

Last years time trial was really technical, will it also be so technical this year?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

But wasn't Porte good in stages like that? Take that stage in the giro that Evans won.

Besides what did you think porte was gonna do in paris-nice? I'm assuming you didn't think he was gonna be this dominant. Sky can really surprise you, even now

Porte has a good race at San Sebastián in his palmarès, but really the strade bianche stage of the Giro back then (where he was nearly 2 minutes down, by the way) is no more appropriate for predicting how he will do on the climbs of País Vasco than a long, gradual climb like Lure is.

Mende, perhaps, but he wasn't trying for GC when he raced that in 2010. He was in the group a minute back in the Klasika Amorebieta then too. 8th in the Vejle stage of the Danmark Rundt is promising, but that until the final circuit is far flatter than any País Vasco stage is even capable of being owing to the geography of the region. The top 10 in San Sebastián is the best indicator we have of Porte's capabilities in a race like this. We simply don't know that much about what he's capable of, as the one time he's tried it was 2011 when he was a) domestiquing, and b) not at the same level he is now. Some of the Vuelta stages last year might be of value, however he was fatigued from the Tour and working for Froome. The win on Malhão certainly promises much for this type of parcours, however the rest of the stage there isn't as hard as most Euskal Herriko Itzulia stages, and also it's in February so form is hard to gauge.

What Porte is capable of doing in País Vasco is a bit of a crapshoot. There are not very many representative results that we can point to because not only are there few races like País Vasco, but Porte has both improved no end as a rider, and also not often had the chance to ride for himself in this type of race before. We've seen that the Sky train is good at controlling a consistent, driving mountain, but these jagged climbs that change gradient all the time and aren't long but are endlessly tagged onto one another and get over 20% are somewhat harder to maintain the same level of control on, because it's very hard to get into a rhythm.

Nothing Sky do would surprise me anymore, but climbing Olaberria or Ixua is very, very different from climbing Montagne de la Lure so as to make the climbing performances on the latter not totally irrelevant, but not truly representative.

juanjo will win this bike race. it's his time now

Movistar will likely support Intxausti here now.

 

[the asian]

Valverde is not riding: http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=60499

Benat might be a good bet for Movistar team leader Ah LS has mentioned that.

A lot of the GC guys are competing. Should be a good race.
Would love to see a all Spanish trio of Bertie, Benat & Samu on the podium.

 

[Miburo]

Ok more one time i'll think Sky can't dominate this.

11. PORTE Richie
12. BOSWELL Ian
13. DOMBROWSKI Joe
14. EDMONDSON Joshua
15. HENAO Sergio Luis
16. KIRYIENKA Vasil
17. TIERNAN-LOCKE Jonathan
18. ZANDIO Xabier

I don't know half of these guys but i bet that will change

Henao is superdom, vasil will prob go crazy, no idea what to expect of zandio and Tiernan-Locke? 'insert jokes'

Not so strong, especially compared to saxo. They came with their AAA+ Team (well if in form of course)

91. CONTADOR Alberto
92. ANKER SORENSEN Chris
93. HERNáNDEZ Jesús
94. ROGERS Michael
95. ROCHE Nicolas
96. ZAUGG Oliver
97. KREUZIGER Roman
98. MOREIRA PAULINHO Sergio Miguel

If Sky can dominate Saxo bank in this race i'll get a Porte avatar untill the tour. I'm already regretting this btw

This race is obviously harder to control than T-A especially stage 5.

Valverde isn't racing so it should be Porte vs Contador. Just imagine if i said that a year ago

Anyway I think Contador needs at least 25 seconds on Porte for the ITT. A few years ago Contador would destroy anyone on this kinda ITT. Maybe he can still do it but then again you've Porte.

I hope Libertine is right and Porte won't be so great at that climb on stage 5 that but i honestly doubt that. Wiggins was on par with Evans on planche des belles filles. Who would have thought that?

Porte was btw better in hilly stages than mountain stages and now with his form...

I don't think Saxo tactics will work like with kreuziger for example. It's always for Contador although if everyone thinks that, then maybe . That might be very interesting on stage 5.

Oh yeah Sami of course. He showed a lot of progression in the tirreno stage that Sagan won. He might decide who wins pais basque and we know who he'll pick.

Are the descent finishes dangerous? That would provide some great racing. Contador and sami, just like in the tour '11

I don't think sami can win this though.

 

[will10]

Kiryienka, Porte and Henao will still probably be among the top 8 climbers here. Still I think Sky will do well to strangle the life out of Pais Vasco, often such a good race, can't wait.

 

[jens_attacks]

i hope JTL can already do some damage here, he looked like a beast on criterium but he doesn't have the stamina yet...probably only on the ardennes..anyway JTL,kiry and sergio are super helpers for richie
saxo have to step up. at the moment i don't have too much faith in them,only in alberto alone

 

[Miburo]

Kiryienka, Porte and Henao will still probably be among the top 8 climbers here. Still I think Sky will do well to strangle the life out of Pais Vasco, often such a good race, can't wait.

Why is it that this doesn't sound ridiculous???

Sky will make it entertaining either way. Stage 6 of T-A entertaining or CI stage 3 entertaining? That's the question

 

[jens_attacks]

Kiryienka, Porte and Henao will still probably be among the top 8 climbers here. Still I think Sky will do well to strangle the life out of Pais Vasco, often such a good race, can't wait.

yes but if they do it in criterium international style ,people shouldn't whine. spectacular racing is good. dauphine 2012 style not so good
pais vasco will be a great show there is no doubt.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

For the record, I'm not saying Porte can't or won't survive stage 5. I'm saying that we don't have enough of a representative sample of his results on this kind of parcours to say what he will or won't do, and also know that País Vasco is typically one of the toughest races of the year to control.

 

[jaylew]

Nice recipe. Start with places 2-6 from CI (Porte, TJVG, Mollema, Peraud, Talansky) and 1-2 from Bartali (Ulissi, Cunego).

Throw in an old guy (Horner) 2 guys trying to find their way back (Schleck, Rujano), a couple of carrots (Sanchez, Anton), a champion and his top doms(Contador), a Colombian (Henao), and a Belgian (VDB2).

Add an interesting parcours, a hilly TT, and stir. Yum.

 

[Kokoso]

Indeed, though several of them are not in super form atm. Zaugg is stil recovering after an injuri, Rogers is maybe at 90%, Roche doesnt seem super at the moment either, CAS is still building his form and might also be at 85-90%. Kreuziger was good in TA tho and might be the last dude at AC's side.

So what percent you'd give Kreuziger? Just for a record, he had like 3 racing days and was ill before T - A.
I think here he could be in some kind of good form at last, helping Alberto and get to top ten simultaneously. He's good enough to do both.

 

[stefrees]

Do we know for sure Porte is leader? I thought Henao was down to have a crack at this?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Do we know for sure Porte is leader? I thought Henao was down to have a crack at this?

Porte is currently at a much higher level than what Henao will ever be. And Porte is getting ambitious. Can't see Porte working for Henao at this time, but we will see.

 

[jens_attacks]

henao will lose a lot of time in that itt. for richie, it's a perfect route
if he has the same form as in paris nice and crit int.,he's a big favourite

 

[cineteq]

Porte is currently at a much higher level than what Henao will ever be. And Porte is getting ambitious. Can't see Porte working for Henao at this time, but we will see.

I'm tented to post a poll Henao vs. Porte: Who was the better U23 talent? Take a wild guess who'd win it?

 

[stefrees]

I'm tented to post a poll Henao vs. Porte: Who was the better U23 talent? Take a wild guess who'd win it?

I think henao deserves a chance to lead the team , is a great talent

 

[jens_attacks]

I'm tented to post a poll Henao vs. Porte: Who was the better U23 talent? Take a wild guess who'd win it?

richie was and is a real talent. i saw it from the moment i've seen him on monte grappa. he was all chubby but he had that determination to torture himself,could see in his eyes. and that is what is needed the most if you want to be the top rider,forget the vo2max and junior results. i said back in 2010 and 2011 that richie porte will win grand tours but i guess you know well that he left triathlon at 21 or something so apples and oranges

henao is great and could stay with the best on all the climbs in pais vasco but at the itt he will still lose. richie was always a better time trialist than sergio, that you can't deny.

i'm eager to see them in action

 

[Afrank]

I think henao deserves a chance to lead the team , is a great talent

He'll get his chance at the Vuelta.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

He'll get his chance at the Vuelta.

Good chance, unless Froome or Porte crashes out of the Tour early.

Wiggins seems to indicate he may go for the triple this season. Not sure if he is serious.

 

[gooner]

He'll get his chance at the Vuelta.

What if Froome doesn't win the Tour? All of a sudden he may fancy another crack at the Vuelta. I don't think his leadership is a certainty just yet if this scenario was to arise. He will probably leave anyway as his contract is up at the end of the year.

Just can't see him putting up with another season doing domestique work for the likes of Froome at T-A and Wiggins at Catalonia with his role in the major races being marginalised with the shackles on.