Vuelta a España 76th La Vuelta ciclista a España 2021 (August 14 - September 5)

[BlueRoads]

Discuss!

Well, with less than one week to go I thought it was time for a thread.

La Vuelta

La Vuelta is one of the leading cycling races in the international calendar. 21 stages, three weeks of competition between August and September, and more than 3,000 km covering the Spanish geography, and from other countries such as Andorra, Belgium, Fran

www.lavuelta.es

Startlist, not complete yet:

Startlist for La Vuelta ciclista a España 2021

Competing teams and riders for La Vuelta ciclista a España 2021. Top competitors are Alejandro Valverde, Primož Roglič and Michael Matthews.

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[titan31]

It's a shame Pogacar and to an extent Remco aren't here. Might still be too early for Remco but with Pogacar, we'd have all of the major GC guys here
As it is, I expect this to come down to Roglic Vs Ineos and maybe Landa if he can avoid crashing.

 

[Pinot's goat]

6 Roglic

5 Bernal, Carapaz

4 Lopez, Landa, Carthy

3 Mas, Vlasov, A.Yates, Bardet

2 Valverde, Ciccone, Padun, Sivakov

1 de la Cruz, Majka, G.Martin Hamilton, Caruso, Kruijswijk, Kuss, Vansevenant, Poels, Chaves, Vanhoucke, Grossschartner, Schachmann, Meintjes, Bouchard, Aru


Hopefully Ineos' 20 leaders don't crash in the first few stages so they can attack a bit more.

 

[Red Rick]

I've looked at the route a few times, and apart from the stages to Covadonga and Gamoniteiro most of the mountain stages aren't super hard, finishes included. Picon Blanco on stage 3 is probably the 3 most important MTFs in the race.

The murito's aren't extremely hard either. Valdepenas, while looking really cool is only super hard for like 200m and the stage 6 one is more of an uphill sprint than a murito.

There's one big stage/climb for tricks and it's this bad boy on stage 14.

Roglic for the win.

 

[KZD]

Is Carapaz confirmed for this race?

 

[ice&fire]

I found the Official Roadbook:

https://storage-aso.lequipe.fr/ASO/cycling_vue/ldr-interactif-2021.pdf

Piece of cr6p! Not a single map of the stages, nor detailed maps of the final kilometres

EDIT: @Netserk found the full roadbook with detailed maps of stage departures and finishes and climb profiles.

https://storage-aso.lequipe.fr/ASO/cycling_vue/la-vuelta-21-libro-de-ruta-interactivo.pdf

 

[topcat]

I've looked at the route a few times, and apart from the stages to Covadonga and Gamoniteiro most of the mountain stages aren't super hard, finishes included. Picon Blanco on stage 3 is probably the 3 most important MTFs in the race.

The murito's aren't extremely hard either. Valdepenas, while looking really cool is only super hard for like 200m and the stage 6 one is more of an uphill sprint than a murito.

There's one big stage/climb for tricks and it's this bad boy on stage 14.

Roglic for the win.

Piss easy route as usual. Muritos should be banned and these are bad ones. Should be perfect for Roglic but I'm expecting some crazy *** to go down.

 

[Sciatic]

Thanks for starting the thread. Looking forward to the Vuelta even more than usual because I had to miss most of the Tour while taking care of my mom. Though it is slightly less juicy with Pogacar pulling out.

 

[southwards]

How much are Fabio Aru's odds? I'd bet $100 on him and, if he wins, I'd buy a new car or something like that.

 

[Netserk]

I found the Official Roadbook:

https://storage-aso.lequipe.fr/ASO/cycling_vue/ldr-interactif-2021.pdf

Piece of cr6p! Not a single map of the stages, nor detailed maps of the final kilometres

So they officially recognise Heras as the winner in 2005.

 

[Tim Cahill]

14 and 18 look good for some carnage, the rest it's one of those bonus second routes, the riders will make it hopefully, there is a huge amount of attacking talent with useless time trials showing up, so hopefully Bahrain or Sky will go nuts. Surprise winner/Cobo option I think, Roglic looked exceptional in the TT but it was a 1 hour ride, wasn't so hot in the RR so maybe it won't be the expected walkover.

 

[hayneplane]

1. Roglic
2. Ineos (leaning towards Carapaz)
3. Padun

 

[ice&fire]

So they officially recognise Heras as the winner in 2005.

Yes. With two asterisks on pg.48

 

[Netserk]

There should be a different pdf with more detail:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1424487703765258245

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1424487703765258245

 

[Bolder]

I voted Roglic but lately I've gotten a sense of dread about him, Olympics TT aside.

We joke a bit about Padun but I think we'll be seeing him at the sharp end of a lot of stages.

 

[steffr222]

I also suppose Padun to win a stage at least, can even see him in the top 10 at the end - but I think Landa will be Bahrain’s best rider: 1) Roglic, 2) Carapaz or Bernal and 3) Landa

 

[Pantani_lives]

About the course:
*Positive:
**I like the fact that they arrive in Santiago de Compostella. It's like a three week pilgrimage on a bike.
**There are two great MTFs in the third week. Lagos de Covadonga has been done often, but I don't get tired of it. Gamoniteiro is as tough as the Angliru - a bit longer and almost a steep.
*Negative:
**Again no Pyrenees and no climbing time trial.
**Not many stages give a good opportunity for GC riders to attack before the final climb. Perhaps stage 15 or 20?

About the favorites:
*If Roglic wants to be the new Rominger he has to win the Vuelta for a third consecutive time.
*If Bernal wants to be the new Contador he has to win the Giro-Vuelta double.

 

[Froome]

It's a shame Pogacar and to an extent Remco aren't here. Might still be too early for Remco but with Pogacar, we'd have all of the major GC guys here
As it is, I expect this to come down to Roglic Vs Ineos and maybe Landa if he can avoid crashing.

Remco didn't prove until now, that he can be a gt winner. First he need to prove that, and then, he also need to prove that he can beat the best gc guys. It's not right put remco in the same conversation of roglic, pogacar and bernal.

 

[Red Rick]

Piss easy route as usual. Muritos should be banned and these are bad ones. Should be perfect for Roglic but I'm expecting some crazy *** to go down.

It's honestly weird, they made the Covadonga and Gamoniteiru stages harder than ever and all the rest is just really meeeh.

 

[railxmig]

I am absolutely baffled why people are looking at stage 14. That murito is almost 70k out! And before a too serious for long range action, too non-serious for big time gaps MTF. The stage is a Roglic sprint from a 5-10 big group with seconds separating them. Next stage could be more attractive but the climbs in Gredos are just not steep enough barring a VDB/last year Evenpoll exploits. I'm worried Gamoniteiro may be a serious cockblocker. It's (on paper) a harder Angliru. So, i would maybe look closer at stage 20 for a more chaotic racing.

Unlikely for Vuelta, this year there's a lot of flat stages. Wonder how the wind factor will play out. The more wind, the harder it could be for the likes of Carthy, Landa/Padun, Bardet or any of the Colombian youngins.

 

[lenric]

hum valverde will top-10 this bike race

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

Voting for the poll I so wanted to chose Vansevenant, he would be one hell of a winner

But my guess Roglic will win. Padun/Carapaz/Aru/Bernal fighting for the podium spots

Yes, I said Aru

 

[ice&fire]

I am absolutely baffled why people are looking at stage 14. That murito is almost 70k out! And before a too serious for long range action, too non-serious for big time gaps MTF. The stage is a Roglic sprint from a 5-10 big group with seconds separating them. Next stage could be more attractive but the climbs in Gredos are just not steep enough barring a VDB/last year Evenpoll exploits. I'm worried Gamoniteiro may be a serious cockblocker. It's (on paper) a harder Angliru. So, i would maybe look closer at stage 20 for a more chaotic racing.

Unlikely for Vuelta, this year there's a lot of flat stages. Wonder how the wind factor will play out. The more wind, the harder it could be for the likes of Carthy, Landa/Padun, Bardet or any of the Colombian youngins.

That murito in stage 14 can stand comparison to Il Muro di Sormano, so it will surely break the race apart. Then, everything will depend on how riders are spread on the road after the summit because there is not a single km of flat afterwards to ease the chase of those left behind.

Wind can be expected in stages 4 and 5, probably stage 2 also.

 

[Red Rick]

That murito in stage 14 can stand comparison to Il Muro di Sormano, so it will surely break the race apart. Then, everything will depend on how riders are spread on the road after the summit because there is not a single km of flat afterwards to ease the chase of those left behind.

Wind can be expected in stages 4 and 5, probably stage 2 also.

Also at this stage of a Grand Tour (a week before) people are at their most desperate to hype. In reality, anything happening on that stage is very unlikely.

I do note the finish there is one of @Libertine Seguros' 21 unknown Esp climbs La Vuelta should use.


Aaand they gave it a cat 1.

 

[Earns1985]

Roglic, the man to beat here.
Ineos and Bahrain the main challenger teams.

Bernal could become with the age of 24 a winner of all three grand tours.
Was there ever anyone who managed to do this younger?