Funds lacking for Pais Vasco and San Sebastian

[Fetisoff]

Hmm, so the 2 races almost got cancelled because of lacking 150.000 euros??? WTF??????


Anyway, good to see everything has worked out

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Hmm, so the 2 races almost got cancelled because of lacking 150.000 euros??? WTF??????


Anyway, good to see everything has worked out

Because the amount was small, there was talk of a fan drive, donate a euro to save the race.

But we can breathe again, and issoisso and I can continue to follow the sport.

 

[Fetisoff]

Because the amount was small, there was talk of a fan drive, donate a euro to save the race.

But we can breathe again, and issoisso and I can continue to follow the sport.

Well, that's what I meant.
I mean it's not exactly same thing - I've donated to online sick kid drives which have collected more than that in days. And I'm sure an average cycling fan is not any poorer or stingier than an average Russian.

Still, leaves a bad taste in my mouth knowing that it took that long to find someone to dish out that sort of an amount of money to save to of the most prestigious races out there.

Wow.... just wow, no words...

 

[Froome19]

Because the amount was small, there was talk of a fan drive, donate a euro to save the race.

But we can breathe again, and issoisso and I can continue to follow the sport.

Dont tell me you were going to do a Laflorecita and and hate everything about the sport?
There is so much more for cycling than just one race/rider.
We will stand strong whatever the UCI try to do!!

 

[Zam_Olyas]

One of the better news to hit "this thing of ours"(the hitch).

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Dont tell me you were going to do a Laflorecita and and hate everything about the sport?
There is so much more for cycling than just one race/rider.
We will stand strong whatever the UCI try to do!!

It wasn't about the one race. It was how symbolic it was of everything that is wrong with the sport right now.

 

[Nilsson]

Very good news.

 

[jens_attacks]

i didn't expect it to be honest.awesome news.

 

[Txikia]

Tour of Basque Country 2012:

http://vueltapaisvasco.diariovasco.com/ (with profiles)

Etapa 1: Güeñes - Güeñes (2 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 2: Güeñes - Vitoria-Gasteiz (3 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 3: Vitoria-Gasteiz - Eibar-Arrate (4 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 4: Eibar - Bera-Ibardin (5 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 5: Bera - Oñati (6 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 6: Oñati - Oñati C.R. I (7 de abril de 2012)

What do you think about the route?

 

[mb2612]

As always, looks like an excellent route, should be exciting for almost every day. I wonder if Sagan will go, as plenty of stages suit him.

 

[cineteq]

Tour of Basque Country 2012:

http://vueltapaisvasco.diariovasco.com/ (with profiles)

Etapa 1: Güeñes - Güeñes (2 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 2: Güeñes - Vitoria-Gasteiz (3 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 3: Vitoria-Gasteiz - Eibar-Arrate (4 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 4: Eibar - Bera-Ibardin (5 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 5: Bera - Oñati (6 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 6: Oñati - Oñati C.R. I (7 de abril de 2012)

What do you think about the route?

This is my favorite one-week stage race!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Tour of Basque Country 2012:

http://vueltapaisvasco.diariovasco.com/ (with profiles)

Etapa 1: Güeñes - Güeñes (2 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 2: Güeñes - Vitoria-Gasteiz (3 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 3: Vitoria-Gasteiz - Eibar-Arrate (4 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 4: Eibar - Bera-Ibardin (5 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 5: Bera - Oñati (6 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 6: Oñati - Oñati C.R. I (7 de abril de 2012)

What do you think about the route?

Well, at least the race still exists.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Tour of Basque Country 2012:

http://vueltapaisvasco.diariovasco.com/ (with profiles)

Etapa 1: Güeñes - Güeñes (2 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 2: Güeñes - Vitoria-Gasteiz (3 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 3: Vitoria-Gasteiz - Eibar-Arrate (4 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 4: Eibar - Bera-Ibardin (5 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 5: Bera - Oñati (6 de abril de 2012)
Etapa 6: Oñati - Oñati C.R. I (7 de abril de 2012)

What do you think about the route?

Not a lot.
The ITT looks almost flat by normal standards.
The "intermediate" stage look like large group sprints.
I rate it a generous 4 out of 10.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

Not a lot.
The ITT looks almost flat by normal standards.
The "intermediate" stage look like large group sprints.
I rate it a generous 4 out of 10.

Stage 2 might be the only intermediate stage by design, and that hill at the end is what, 9k at 3.5%? Not the Zoncolon, but not a speed bump. Whats wrong with a flat ITT? You didn't like TimeTrialShack getting two it years in a row?

I think its a good mix of stages, that leaves a victory open to many kinds of riders.

EDIT: I did some digging, and stage 2 is a similar finish to a stage in 2006. A break was caught on the run in, and Freire won, but ahead of S Sanchez and Fabian Wegman. There are fewer km left after the top this year, so we'll see. I'd say its a good intermediate stage

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Stage 2 might be the only intermediate stage by design, and that hill at the end is what, 9k at 3.5%? Not the Zoncolon, but not a speed bump. Whats wrong with a flat ITT? You didn't like TimeTrialShack getting two it years in a row?

I think its a good mix of stages, that leaves a victory open to many kinds of riders.

EDIT: I did some digging, and stage 2 is a similar finish to a stage in 2006. A break was caught on the run in, and Freire won, but ahead of S Sanchez and Fabian Wegman. There are fewer km left after the top this year, so we'll see. I'd say its a good intermediate stage

It's the Vuelta al País Vasco, that's what's wrong with a flat ITT. This is the one race in the year where in order to properly represent the terrain of the area there should be a maximum of one potential sprinter's stage.

Of all the summits in the entire region, they choose Ibardin as a final bump? That will be a sprint of 25 men.

Last year's race was comparatively disappointing because it was all down to the TT because apart from J-Rod on stage 1, nobody really managed to create any reasonable gaps on the rest, so all the contenders came in more or less together. This year's looks flatter and easier to do that on. The only thing standing between RadioShack and a third consecutive win is UK Postal. At least Horner animated a pretty exciting race. That was the one where Valverde forced a split on stage 1, and you had the epic Orio stage with two climbs of Aia. Nothing even remotely close to being that selective in this parcours.

And if there's one race in the season that really, REALLY shouldn't come down to "win the TT win the race", it's the Vuelta al País Vasco.

For some stage races this would be a good route. But País Vasco has so many options to be more selective, so much to choose from, that this is proper 2004 Giro-level wasteful.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Why has it become the norm for race organizers to assume that the only way to keep GC interest alive, in a week long stage race, is by having an over long, non-technical ITT for it's final stage?
The only other option it seems, these days, is to have a flat procession or crit and do away with GC ambition altogether.
Paris-Nice resurrected Eze, last week.
Tirreno followed suit and was only rescued by the desire of one rider.
Romandie has become a shadow of it's former self.
Etc, etc, etc.

As LS says, the one race where you expect the hills to dominate and the ITT to be technically challenging, is Pais Vasco.
This year, they seem to have adopted the same, generic approach, that rewards defensive racing.

 

[Aguirre]

I know the stages very well and this year too I will go to see couple stages.
Basically, the route lacks of invention due the current economic crisis that has lead the Itzulia merging with Euskal Bizikleta (Arrate).

So at least three stages are the same that every year, but in different order:

1 Gueñes, 2 Vitoria, 3 Arrate are all the same that every year, only changing the start, and the aproximation.

The innovation of this year is stage 4 to Ibardin, a very used climb in the late 80's and early 90's. A 2 cat. climb with a steep 300 meters (15 %) where we will see Valverde.

Another novelty is the ITT, which is not flat! The profile is not very good.
The first 9 km are very twisty, narrow roads with a climb of 1 km around 10-12%. Then there is a roulant second part for specilists, and at the end another narrow nasty climb. It is ideal for Valverde, Samu, not really for Kloden, Horner. Gesink can do well if he manages to descend quick. I mean, it is a very punchy ITT, very spectacular.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

all those races used to always have an itt on the final day, especially pais vasco. it sucks though in todays anglophone way of cycling as it's all kepe eveyrone together racing until our man can itt away from the rest on the final day. the course is very good though. not as good as last year as I had hoped for more downhil finishes again

 

[greenedge]

I think one of Samu/ Valverde will win this. Horner based on T-A should also go well again.

 

[nvpacchi]

Goikouria is scratched from the first stage.

400 m ascent with ramps up to 20% -- 3 km from the finish -- deemed too steep and narrow. Shame

http://deia.com/2012/03/15/deportes...co-retira-de-su-trazado-la-subida-a-goikouria (spanish)

http://ibanmayoblog.blogspot.com/ (english)