Confirmed Vuelta Teams/Pre-Selections

[Dazed and Confused]

Lotto- De Clercq, De Greef, Hansen, Henderson, Reynes, Van de Walle, Van der Sande, Vanendert & Vanendert.

What a huge shock that Hansen's in...

Hansen's performance over the last many consecutive GT's is pretty impressive. He delivers the odd stage win, appears quite visible and helps team mates. Chapeau.

 

[classicomano]

Vacansoleil:

Johnny Hoogerland
Wout Poels
Lieuwe Westra
Thomas De Gendt
Grega Bole
Juan Antonio Flecha
Barry Markus
Tomasz Marczynski
Rafael Valls

 

[Afrank]

I'm liking vacansoleil's team. Hopefully their active and attacking and going in breakaways a lot. Might as well just go in as many breaks as possible with them going away this season.

Glad to see Poels get a spot also, have a feeling he could do well.

 

[qwerty16]

I read the same thing. Majka had the Giro, and Roche gets the Vuelta, with Kreuz going for a stage, being a super dom, and prepping for Worlds. Unless something has changed?

Unless you're a top 5 (and 5 is stretching it) guy there's no reason for being protected by guys who are (almost) equal as good and have them acting as domestiques, which usually are of little help anyway up a final mountain, and sacrifising their own chances for a GC/stage win/side classification.

 

[Parrulo]

When will Roche realize he is not even top 10 material in a GT?

Majka will obviously be the leader and unless he is still feeling the fatigue from the Giro, he will finish minutes ahead of Roche.

 

[Anderis]

When will Roche realize he is not even top 10 material in a GT?

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/9010511-Vuelta-a-Espana-2010

 

[Arredondo]

When will Roche realize he is not even top 10 material in a GT?

Majka will obviously be the leader and unless he is still feeling the fatigue from the Giro, he will finish minutes ahead of Roche.

Majka even did a good Tour of Poland, so he will indeed be much better dan Roche. Even Sörensen is more capable to finish around the top 10.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/9010511-Vuelta-a-Espana-2010

Roche has been a pro for a number of years:

2014 Team Saxobank (WT)
2013 Team Saxo-Tinkoff (WT)
2012 AG2R La Mondiale (WT)
2011 AG2R La Mondiale (WT)
2010 AG2R La Mondiale (WT)
2009 AG2R La Mondiale (WT)
2008 Crédit Agricole
2007 Crédit Agricole
2006 Cofidis (PT)
2005 Cofidis (PT)
2004 Cofidis (PT) (Trainee as from 1/9)

So he delivers a 7th (GC) in the Vuelta beating these guys:

8 SASTRE CANDIL Carlos Cervelo Test Team 52 170 6:08
9 DANIELSON Thomas Team Garmin - Transitions 44 160 6:18
10 SANCHEZ GIL Luis Leon Caisse d'Epargne 38 150 7:44
11 GARCIA DAPENA David Xacobeo-Galicia 32 140 9:39
12 NIEVE ITURALDE Mikel Euskaltel - Euskadi 26 130 11:00
13 KARPETS Vladimir Katusha Team 22 120 13:07

At 29, GT GC results are lacking imo. At some point reality got to play a factor.

 

[classicomano]

And Belkin.

Ten Dam
Mollema
Clement
Sanchez
Garate
Brown
Renshaw
Tanner
Bos

Good chance for Bos to get a GT stage.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

And Belkin.

snipped....

Good chance for Bos to get a GT stage.

Are there any flat stages he can be a factor in?

 

[classicomano]

Very little if I remember correctly, but the competition is dreadful.

 

[Arredondo]

Sanchez definitely for a stage win, wondering how Mollema wil approach this Vuelta.

There are 3/4 flat stages for Bos. In this field a stage win is possible.

 

[Parrulo]

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/9010511-Vuelta-a-Espana-2010

The 2010 Vuelta was a joke, there were 4/5 top riders and one them crashed out.

Besides that was 3 years ago and since then he has only gotten worse.

 

[JRanton]

And Belkin.

Ten Dam
Mollema
Clement
Sanchez
Garate
Brown
Renshaw
Tanner
Bos

Good chance for Bos to get a GT stage.

Is that official? Nothing on Belkin's website.

 

[Pentacycle]

Is that official? Nothing on Belkin's website.

Source is probably Erik Breukink's commentary from the L1 livestream. Not that he works there anymore, but he might be right.

 

[Liquigas]

The 2010 Vuelta was a joke, there were 4/5 top riders and one them crashed out.

Besides that was 3 years ago and since then he has only gotten worse.

Agreed, Velits finishing 3rd when he has never been close to a top 10 placing in a GT except in that Vuelta.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The Orange force from the South:

SANCHEZ Samuel
ANTON Igor
NIEVE Mikel
MARTINEZ Egoi
VERDUGO Gorka
AZANZA Jorge
OROZ Juan José
URTASUN Pablo
LANDA Mikel

 

[Arredondo]

Good squad, the strongest one they can form. I think Sammy's time is over, so i put my hope on Landa and a little bit less on Nieve.

Anton and a GT isn't a good combination though.

 

[JRanton]

Shack:

Fabian Cancellara
Haimar Zubeldia
Chris Horner
Robert Kiserlovski
Matthew Busche
Ben Hermans
Markel Irizar
Yaroslav Popovych
Gregory Rast

http://biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=64982

 

[JRanton]

Vino's men for Spain:

Nibali
Fuglsang
Brajkovic
Tiralongo
Kangert
Iglinskiy
Vanotti
Zeits
Grivko

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Vino's men for Spain:

Nibali
Fuglsang
Brajkovic
Tiralongo
Kangert
Iglinskiy
Vanotti
Zeits
Grivko

On paper a very strong team for Nibali, but how will Brajkovic ride? He's looking for a new contract and needs results/points.

 

[Leonardus]

Strong teams on paper as usual. Nibali certainly has the men to aim for a second GT overall this year, but does he have the ambition? Has actually anyone expressed his ambition to win the Vuelta so far?

 

[Gloin22]

Yes, he wants to win it, but he said he's no superman too

He doesn't know if he will have the form to win it, as Worlds is THE target! But for sure will try.

 

[jens_attacks]

The Orange force from the South:

SANCHEZ Samuel
ANTON Igor
NIEVE Mikel
MARTINEZ Egoi
VERDUGO Gorka
AZANZA Jorge
OROZ Juan José
URTASUN Pablo
LANDA Mikel

one of these last night i had a crazy dream...i was running on the road alongside 3 euskaltel riders. astarloza,samu and igor anton. they made a 1-2-3. i even remember that i explained to a girl that it was better than gewiss fleche wallonne one of the weirdest dreams ever lol...i watch way too much cycling i guess

so astarloza doesn't ride it...my dream is crushed

 

[Dazed and Confused]

one of these last night i had a crazy dream...i was running on the road alongside 3 euskaltel riders. astarloza,samu and igor anton. they made a 1-2-3. i even remember that i explained to a girl that it was better than gewiss fleche wallonne one of the weirdest dreams ever lol...i watch way too much cycling i guess

so astarloza doesn't ride it...my dream is crushed

lol, well it looks like Astarloza could soon be losing more than the spot on the Vuelta team.