Gran Premio Miguel Indurain.

[The Hitch]

Top race. This Saturday. Highly ranked by UCI now so points up for grabs.

And Colombia es passion are in.

Maybe a chance for some lesser known rider to get their moment of glory.

Not that the race is short on top riders.

Samu , Basso, Fuji, Duarte, The Schleck Brothers, Joaquim Rodriguez (c), Kolobnev, Daniel Martin,

Startlist

Hopefully tsf will help us out with the streams as usual.

Official prediction. Kolobnev makes it consecutive years for Katusha.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

maybe Samu or F. Schleck ftw. ?

 

[hrotha]

As far as I know there's not going to be any live TV. Not even ETB. Curses.

 

[Ryaguas]

mmmmmm ok... I'll go with:

Duarte
Soler or Beñat
Atapuma

 

[Ferminal]

How steep is the finish?

 

[jens_attacks]

ohh pais vasco is coming.good times...
i go with basso,duarte or frank schleck for the win.

 

[Mellow Velo]

As far as I know there's not going to be any live TV. Not even ETB. Curses.

Nah, Etb canned it last year along with the Klasika, next weekend.
Both were good races with more than decent fields.
Recession was the excuse.

 

[greenedge]

hopefully lesser known riders like fuglsang, Perget and Kiryienka. out of them most likely fuglsang with a strong team or kiryienka off criterium international perfomance

 

[theyoungest]

2010 result:

1 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 4:52:40
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:06
3 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Transitions 0:00:08
4 Alesander Kolobnev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:10
5 Ruben Perez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:12
6 Beñat Intxausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:14
7 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
8 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Ag2R-La Mondiale
9 Juan Jose Oroz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
10 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:00:18

An amazing result for neo pro Michel Kreder... and also the last decent result he had.

 

[Christian]

It would be nice to see Kolobnev try something here! I can't remember seeing him much this year, did he have a result yet?

@The Hitch: I didn't know you were surfing the web for blogs from Andy fanboys (girls?). Even I didn't know that one. I'm starting to like you more and more

A little side note: Ben Gastauer won't be at GP Miggy or Pais Vasco (even though he is supposed to be preparing for his first GT in May), instead the very competent DS's at AG2R have decided to change his schedule on short notice (for the 17th time this season) and put him in such high profile 1 day races as Route d'Adélie de Vitré and Flèche d'Emeraude. In the Catalunya thread someone asked why we have seen so little of him since he turned pro, well here is your answer. You would think being on one of the smallest WorldTour teams would get you into some decent races, but no. So far Eneco Tour (not at all his profile) and Catalunya are the only WorldTour stageraces he's done. In light of this you can only congratulate Tejay Van Garderen (a rival of Gastauer's in U23 racing) on signing with HTC!

The AG2R line up is now:

* David LE LAY
* Dimitri CHAMPION
* John GADRET
* Mathieu PERGET
* Matteo MONTAGUTI
* Mikael CHEREL
* Rinaldo NOCENTINI

 

[boomcie]

mmmmmm ok... I'll go with:

Duarte
Soler or Beñat
Atapuma

I'll also go with Soler.


April fools!

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

it sucks for cycling that recession kicks in so hard in spain I doubt we will see any spanish races this year including castilla leon and asturias that used to be live.

 

[Ryaguas]

Soler not coming to the GP... WTF... well Beñat it is...

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I read that he will do pais vasco though

 

[Ryaguas]

I read that he will do pais vasco though

ye but this GP could be a good warm up facing PV next week:::

 

[icefire]

I was wondering how long was this: 179.3 km

 

[Libertine Seguros]

As far as I know there's not going to be any live TV. Not even ETB. Curses.

Well, the race isn't in País Vasco to be fair (though Primavera is), though a cursory glance at the place names should be enough to tell you that this is clearly a Basque part of Navarre (which has a mixed population, the subject of much discussion and argument).

 

[hrotha]

Well, the race isn't in País Vasco to be fair (though Primavera is), though a cursory glance at the place names should be enough to tell you that this is clearly a Basque part of Navarre (which has a mixed population, the subject of much discussion and argument).

I know, I know, I spend my summers at the second sprint especial.
Anyway, as far as ETB is concerned, this race *is* in the Basque Country. In the past there was no need or possibility for them to show this race because TVE did it, but now that TVE isn't getting involved I kind of hoped ETB would come to the rescue. Alas.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Well, yes, but ETB also know the difference between País Vasco the official part of Spain, and Euskal Herria the historic Basque lands. Hence why they show Nafarroa, Le Pays-Basque Français and parts of Cantabria and La Rioja on their weather forecasts, but in a slightly different colour to País Vasco itself.

It could be like that problem that they have in Britain with a channel owning some rights but not using them; TVE may still have the rights to the race but no intent to show it, so ETB may have their hands tied anyway; maybe ETB themselves simply do not want to or cannot afford to cover it, having already ploughed resources into showing Euskal Herriko Itzulia (which is screened on ETB1 and yet also available online). I suppose the local following of the sport may merit a highlights package or a brief report, but the international interest isn't enough to merit putting it online via ETB-SAT.

ETB-SAT is broadcasting the Athletic match tomorrow afternoon. I suspect that comes with a bigger audience than the GP Big Mig, sadly.

 

[taiwan]

Find it a bit confusing the way Valverde's results from that season have been erased. Makes it that bit harder to remember how races played out.

 

[xmoonx]

Look like a great race with lots of talent to be sure!
1-Alexandr Kolobnev
2-Igor Anton
3-Danny Martin
4-Jakob Fuglsang
5-Ryder Hesjetal
6-Ivan Basso
7-Frank Schleck
8-Andy Schleck
9-Samuel Sanchez
10-Amets Txurruka

PS- I am reading this-
"ETB SAT EUSKADI (canal TDT)
Resumen de la clásica a las 21:00 horas".
,so I assume its a tape delay and on closer inspection it appears only showing 45 minutes worth.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

ETB SAT, however, has the following:

20:58 TELEBERRI
Informativo de fin de semana presentado por Estibaliz Ruiz de Azua e Igor Siguero.

And then nothing until 21:45.

ETB SAT is the one that can be watched online. ETB SAT EUSKADI cannot; hence all the fuss about trying to watch Strade Bianche, which was also broadcast on ETB SAT EUSKADI.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

it was?? because I have that channel etb euskadi on my satelite I think?

 

[craig1985]

How many breakaway attempts for Amets Txurruka? I predict 45. And one day, he will succeed.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

it was?? because I have that channel etb euskadi on my satelite I think?

Only in highlights form.