(Mid Vuelta) Who will win the 2011 Vuelta a Espana?

[Midnightfright]

I've heard he is impotent as well

And he stomps on puppys

 

[LaFlorecita]

I've heard he is impotent as well

Eew.......

 

[LaFlorecita]

And he stomps on puppys

...

 

[cineteq]

Who will be in the podium?
GC
1 COBO, Juan José GEO 59h 57' 16''
2 FROOME, Christopher SKY + 20''
3 WIGGINS, Bradley SKY + 46''
4 MOLLEMA, Bauke RAB + 1' 36''
5 MONFORT, Maxime LEO + 2' 37''
6 MENCHOV, Denis GEO + 3' 01''
7 FUGLSANG, Jakob LEO + 3' 06''
8 NIBALI, Vincenzo LIQ + 3' 27''
9 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen OLO + 3' 58''
10 POELS, Wouter VCD + 4' 13''

 

[luckyboy]

Someone make another poll so we can be right for once

 

[Scirea]

Other (please specify) 1

I'm happy to be that one.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Who will be in the podium?
GC
1 COBO, Juan José GEO 59h 57' 16''
2 FROOME, Christopher SKY + 20''
3 WIGGINS, Bradley SKY + 46''
4 MOLLEMA, Bauke RAB + 1' 36''
5 MONFORT, Maxime LEO + 2' 37''
6 MENCHOV, Denis GEO + 3' 01''
7 FUGLSANG, Jakob LEO + 3' 06''
8 NIBALI, Vincenzo LIQ + 3' 27''
9 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen OLO + 3' 58''
10 POELS, Wouter VCD + 4' 13''

Cobo, Froome, Mollema, in that order.

 

[cineteq]

Other (please specify) I'm happy to be that one.

+10000000000 But was it for Cobo?

 

[Scirea]

+10000000000 But was it for Cobo?

If you go back a little bit you'll see it was actually Cobo. Let's just hope nothing weird will happen to him in the last week.

 

[Forunculo]

Froome and Wiggo are the new schleck brothers, 2 and 3 because of his political tactics

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I guess nobody voted right.

Nibali is the biggest dissapointment though...what is he doing?? Finishing 14th/15th best in mountain stages

 

[JRanton]

Was that Froome descending in third behind the two Leaky guys down Del Cordal? Not sure where Cobo was positioned though. Stage 19 looks like pretty good territory for an ambush and we know how strong Froome is on the flat. Unlikely I know but I'm not giving up hope yet!

How do we rate Mollema's chances of taking third off Wiggins?

 

[Fergoose]

How do we rate Mollema's chances of taking third off Wiggins?

50 seconds gap. Not at all I'm afraid particularly as Mollema has shown his first moments of weakness. Plus Wiggins will be very motivated to open his GT podium account, particularly if he has any suspicion that he might move up a step on it after the race.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Pena Cabarga is again in the steep category. I don't think Mollema excels on long steep slopes. Long medium slope (tdf category).

I don't think Mollema got weaker, but Angliru is not his type of climb, neither is Pena Cabarga. 2km steep is ok, 5/6km not

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I'll go with that too. Cobo attacks with 5-6km to go. Froome goes to the front of what's left of the main bunch. He has to go flat out, balls out, to ensure that Cobo doesn't get more than a 20-25 second advantage. This effort eventually drops Wiggins with 3km to go (and probably everyone else apart from possibly the Pope). Froome finishes the stage 10-15 seconds behind stage winner Cobo with a net time bonus loss of 8 seconds. Christopher ''Vroom Vroom'' Froome wins the Vuelta a Espana by 25-30 seconds and shocks the cycling world.*


*None of the above will actually happen, probably...

Closer than you suspected, but for Poels and the key statistic, the size of the gap

 

[greenedge]

I would laugh if Sky placed 2 riders on the podium and not one of them won. Not that i don't like them but it would be absurd.

We need a 3/4 poll for this.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Pena Cabarga is again in the steep category. I don't think Mollema excels on long steep slopes. Long medium slope (tdf category).

I don't think Mollema got weaker, but Angliru is not his type of climb, neither is Pena Cabarga. 2km steep is ok, 5/6km not

but it isn't too long. Shouldn't that help Bauke?

 

[cineteq]

Take a look of the 1st five....

1 COBO, Juan José GEO 59h 57' 16''
2 FROOME, Christopher SKY + 20''
3 WIGGINS, Bradley SKY + 46''
4 MOLLEMA, Bauke RAB + 1' 36''
5 MONFORT, Maxime LEO + 2' 37''

Having slept over, and now waken up to a weird reality...something has gone terribly wrong with this year's Vuelta

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Take a look of the 1st five....

1 COBO, Juan José GEO 59h 57' 16''
2 FROOME, Christopher SKY + 20''
3 WIGGINS, Bradley SKY + 46''
4 MOLLEMA, Bauke RAB + 1' 36''
5 MONFORT, Maxime LEO + 2' 37''

Having slept over, and now waken up to a weird reality...something has gone terribly wrong with this year's Vuelta

oh yes terrible, a new generation overshadows the old one. *rolls his eyes*

 

[taiwan]

Take a look of the 1st five....

1 COBO, Juan José GEO 59h 57' 16''
2 FROOME, Christopher SKY + 20''
3 WIGGINS, Bradley SKY + 46''
4 MOLLEMA, Bauke RAB + 1' 36''
5 MONFORT, Maxime LEO + 2' 37''

Having slept over, and now waken up to a weird reality...something has gone terribly wrong with this year's Vuelta

True, it's a weird race. I can hardly see any changes coming in the remaining MTF either.

 

[cineteq]

oh yes terrible, a new generation overshadows the old one. *rolls his eyes*

This is the kind of response I expect from a fanboy, so obviously it won't count

 

[theyoungest]

This is the kind of response I expect from a fanboy, so obviously it won't count

What was your reaction when Nibali made the Giro podium, or won the Vuelta? Something has gone terribly wrong because he has never done this before? The rigid conservatism of some cycling fans never ceases to amaze.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

This is the kind of response I expect from a fanboy, so obviously it won't count

Yeah right, and when Nibali won the Vuelta and I said the same about the field as you, I was shouted at with Velits as 3rd and Nicolas effin Roche in the top 10

 

[cineteq]

What was your reaction when Nibali made the Giro podium, or won the Vuelta? Something has gone terribly wrong because he has never done this before? The rigid conservatism of some cycling fans never ceases to amaze.

Your argument is quite weak since Nibali clearly showed progression in his quest for a GT. Now can you make a strong case for the 5 riders leading the Vuelta's GC?

PS: Btw, what's Rigid Conservatism? Do you know the meaning of N/A?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Nibali came from outside top 10 in GC's, to 7th in Tour, to podium

Mollema comes from 12th in Giro to 4th in Vuelta, not weird
Wiggins from 4th in Tour to 3rd in Vuelta, not weird
Cobo has shown he can climb awesomely when in form in 2007/2008, bit weird but not out of nowhere
Monfort has come from just outside top 10 in Vuelta, to top 5, again compared to Nibali's rise for instance not that weird

Leaves Froome, the total anomaly here