Pre La Vuelta-thread

[glassmoon]

Would love to see Nibs to win Vuelta and WCH but his recovery is still... If not him, I'll root for Landani. Porte/Uran will be strong but they wont get through the whole race *hit-free imho.

 

[del1962]

Re: Re:

S. Yates vs. Porte vs. Quintana

Quintana has just done the tour with a bad crash, not the best preparation

Same with Porte and Uran.

Porte and Uran missed the harder mountain stages, and their crashes are longer from the Vuelta start, although they may be worse, I just think the crash will hamper Quintana we will see

 

[Lequack]

Doesn't look like a very strong field of GC, perhaps Froome and G could sweep in to take the two podium places.

Otherwise Kruijswik in current form might also crush it. He will have Bennet as co-leader it seems, I wonder if they will be as dynamic as the Kruijswik/Roglic duo was. Could be interesting.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Doesn't look like a very strong field of GC, perhaps Froome and G could sweep in to take the two podium places.

Otherwise Kruijswik in current form might also crush it. He will have Bennet as co-leader it seems, I wonder if they will be as dynamic as the Kruijswik/Roglic duo was. Could be interesting.

Kruijswijk will go, but he'll go in just to see how it goes and won't go for GC at all costs. Really if Simon Yates has Giro shape I see him winning this pretty easily.

 

[Lequack]

Re: Re:

Doesn't look like a very strong field of GC, perhaps Froome and G could sweep in to take the two podium places.

Otherwise Kruijswik in current form might also crush it. He will have Bennet as co-leader it seems, I wonder if they will be as dynamic as the Kruijswik/Roglic duo was. Could be interesting.

Kruijswijk will go, but he'll go in just to see how it goes and won't go for GC at all costs. Really if Simon Yates has Giro shape I see him winning this pretty easily.

There is also Pinot, he got sick in the Giro but was on good form. Not on par with Yates though.

But I can also see Sky pulling something out of the hat, It's not like them to just send some scouts to the GT with no real ambitions. Until now they've usually had Froome in the Vuelta.

 

[Põhja Konn]

In the Giro, Yates' mediocre recovery bas badly exposed though. Having said that, Vuelta usually has a different nature as a race, so the recovery won't likely be tested to an extent it was at this years Giro.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm not sure how you can differentiate between average recovery and going into the race in too good a shape.

 

[Lexman]

nobody mentions MAL as a possibility to win or at least podium?

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

nobody mentions MAL as a possibility to win or at least podium?

No official Poll has been made yet. I do think some people will vote for him.

 

[Lequack]

What's good about the Vuelta, no boring flat stages, straight into the action with a ITT and then hilly stages. After so many sprinters leaving the Tour this year I'm guessing next year it will be an even easier router for them.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

I predict we will see the most star-studded Vuelta in many years, because of how the Innsbruck World Championship route is.

Every single Worlds contender knows, that the Vuelta is the perfect preparation, so most of the ones who only did 1 GT this year, will be wanting to go.

However a great deal of them, will be riding as super domestiques/stage hunters.

It's going to be a weird and interesting Vuelta, with a lot more moving pieces than we are used to.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

De Plus would be riding as well i read some time ago on his facebook page. I don't know if he'll be domestique or if he can go for his own classification.

 

[Valv.Piti]

De Plus would be riding as well i read some time ago on his facebook page. I don't know if he'll be domestique or if he can go for his own classification.

Surely not GC, they have Enric Mas. De Plus will probably just domestique for him a bit and stagehunt on a few occasions I'd imagine.

 

[Leinster]

De Plus would be riding as well i read some time ago on his facebook page. I don't know if he'll be domestique or if he can go for his own classification.

Surely not GC, they have Enric Mas. De Plus will probably just domestique for him a bit and stagehunt on a few occasions I'd imagine.

Mas, De Plus, and Schachmann will all ride as a 3-pronged attack. And at least one of them will finish higher in gc than any Movistar rider.

 

[Beobachter]

De Plus would be riding as well i read some time ago on his facebook page. I don't know if he'll be domestique or if he can go for his own classification.

Surely not GC, they have Enric Mas. De Plus will probably just domestique for him a bit and stagehunt on a few occasions I'd imagine.

Mas, De Plus, and Schachmann will all ride as a 3-pronged attack. And at least one of them will finish higher in gc than any Movistar rider.

It is more than highly unlikely Schachmann would do the Vuelta, one GT/year is enough for him for now. And anyway, the Vuelta was not compatible with the Deutschland Tour that Schachmann is supposed to race (and probably as the QuickStep leader)

 

[Blanco]

De Plus would be riding as well i read some time ago on his facebook page. I don't know if he'll be domestique or if he can go for his own classification.

Surely not GC, they have Enric Mas. De Plus will probably just domestique for him a bit and stagehunt on a few occasions I'd imagine.

Mas, De Plus, and Schachmann will all ride as a 3-pronged attack. And at least one of them will finish higher in gc than any Movistar rider.

I would say at least three Movistar riders will finish higher in GC than any QS rider. They will win more stages too...

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

nobody mentions MAL as a possibility to win or at least podium?

I don't think the average Vuelta route is particularly suited to him.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

De Plus would be riding as well i read some time ago on his facebook page. I don't know if he'll be domestique or if he can go for his own classification.

Surely not GC, they have Enric Mas. De Plus will probably just domestique for him a bit and stagehunt on a few occasions I'd imagine.

I know Lefevre really believes in De Plus, so i'm not sure he can't go for GC himself, especially since Mas isn't a sure bet either. He 's still only 22 and still finished 24th in last years Giro after working his ass off for the team in the first week. I can easily see him doing better in many GC's than Mas. De Plus already proved he can handle a 3 week workload, Mas hasn't.

 

[Naico]

De Plus would be riding as well i read some time ago on his facebook page. I don't know if he'll be domestique or if he can go for his own classification.

Surely not GC, they have Enric Mas. De Plus will probably just domestique for him a bit and stagehunt on a few occasions I'd imagine.

I know Lefevre really believes in De Plus, so i'm not sure he can't go for GC himself, especially since Mas isn't a sure bet either. He 's still only 22 and still finished 24th in last years Giro after working his *** off for the team in the first week. I can easily see him doing better in many GC's than Mas. De Plus already proved he can handle a 3 week workload, Mas hasn't.

De Plus is leaving the team after this year, so it's no longer a question of believing in him. I think it all depends how the race will play out. Mas BTW has some knee issues after his fall in Wallonie two days ago. Had to let the peloton go yesterday because of the pain. Hopefully it heals up and it won't effect him too badly going forward.

 

[DNP-Old]

Yeah, Mas DNF'ed in Wallonie as well, so I'd hold my horses for now.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

De Plus would be riding as well i read some time ago on his facebook page. I don't know if he'll be domestique or if he can go for his own classification.

Surely not GC, they have Enric Mas. De Plus will probably just domestique for him a bit and stagehunt on a few occasions I'd imagine.

I know Lefevre really believes in De Plus, so i'm not sure he can't go for GC himself, especially since Mas isn't a sure bet either. He 's still only 22 and still finished 24th in last years Giro after working his *** off for the team in the first week. I can easily see him doing better in many GC's than Mas. De Plus already proved he can handle a 3 week workload, Mas hasn't.

De Plus is leaving the team after this year, so it's no longer a question of believing in him. I think it all depends how the race will play out. Mas BTW has some knee issues after his fall in Wallonie two days ago. Had to let the peloton go yesterday because of the pain. Hopefully it heals up and it won't effect him too badly going forward.

Has that been confirmed? I read the "news" in the transfers rumor thread, but i can't find any definitive confirmation. The reasoning would alledgedly be that he "hasn't delivered", which i find laughable at best. He's ridden 1 GT since joining QS, finished 24th (at age 21) and had to work an entire week for Gaviria, before he could focus on his GC. Then he got injured (crash) and was hit by a car while recovering from that crash. Came back with an 8th place in California after 6 month recovery... i honestly don't see what they were expecting of him considering the circumstances. He also finished in front of Lampaert at the WC ITT.

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

nobody mentions MAL as a possibility to win or at least podium?

He has problems on those murito type finishes. He always seem to lose at least 20-30s on those. Will lose time on ITT. Prone to a crash.

Will need to be very strong on the mountain stages.

I think he has a very good chance tho with the others having a few question marks around them and how they will go.

 

[Naico]

De Plus would be riding as well i read some time ago on his facebook page. I don't know if he'll be domestique or if he can go for his own classification.

Surely not GC, they have Enric Mas. De Plus will probably just domestique for him a bit and stagehunt on a few occasions I'd imagine.

I know Lefevre really believes in De Plus, so i'm not sure he can't go for GC himself, especially since Mas isn't a sure bet either. He 's still only 22 and still finished 24th in last years Giro after working his *** off for the team in the first week. I can easily see him doing better in many GC's than Mas. De Plus already proved he can handle a 3 week workload, Mas hasn't.

De Plus is leaving the team after this year, so it's no longer a question of believing in him. I think it all depends how the race will play out. Mas BTW has some knee issues after his fall in Wallonie two days ago. Had to let the peloton go yesterday because of the pain. Hopefully it heals up and it won't effect him too badly going forward.

Has that been confirmed? I read the "news" in the transfers rumor thread, but i can't find any definitive confirmation. The reasoning would alledgedly be that he "hasn't delivered", which i find laughable at best. He's ridden 1 GT since joining QS, finished 24th (at age 21) and had to work an entire week for Gaviria, before he could focus on his GC. Then he got injured (crash) and was hit by a car while recovering from that crash. Came back with an 8th place in California after 6 month recovery... i honestly don't see what they were expecting of him considering the circumstances. He also finished in front of Lampaert at the WC ITT.

Confirmed by Lefevere himself. Like I said, it’s a money thing. QST certainly still have hopes for him. Lotto Jumbo offered more than QST could offer. De Plus didn’t want to wait and moved on.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

I just went to check the route and again making the same mistakes as in previous year.

Stage 2 is featured as flat for the sprinters. You be the judge:

Yeah, love the fact that the stage starts at km 0 with a cat 2 climb - ahh, the Vuelta.

Again proving Valverde's comment from a couple years ago that there is no such thing as a flat stage in a Spanish race, they just like not letting you know about climbs that are in the stage.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Camanito del Rey was where Chaves won a couple of years ago and Dumoulin finished 2nd or 3rd.