Ranking this year's GTs

[Libertine Seguros]

The Vuelta just about pips the Giro to second place, but both GTs were very disappointing this year.

 

[profff]

I beg your pardon, but it was on the only and most difficult stages, that VDB2 and Nibali REALLY failed...So your hypothesis that tougher stages would have made things differently doesn't fly with me.

In the easier mountain stages they finished quite well actually.

probably you are right about nibali and vdb2, but nibali showed a condition worst than last year for all the season ( actually he did not win any race this year and was less brilliant even in the giro, where he made podium like last year) and vdb2 comes back from a punctured lung and some fractures.

maybe i used the wrong samples,considering nibali's and vdb2's conditions and given the fact that they are not (yet) contador or basso..., but i keep the point: i wanted to outline that vuelta is becoming more similar to a 15 days race than to a true gt, mainly because of the choice of the road.
don't you agree with that?

GT cycling is not about a single effort ( a garage ramp at the end of the stage, purito style)less than half an hour. normally winners are requested to make more than a single effort at least half an hour long ( a long climb) than after a period of recovery (downhill and /or a flat part) another long maximum peal effort ( another long climb). that capacity of quick recover and giving again a long effort is typical of great GT riders and peculiar to this kind of engine.
it is not requested in any other sport, to my knowledge.
giving a single maximum effort, like in a short and steep finish it is a different affair and it is a kind performance commonly requested in many other sports.

there are athletes that are good at both these kind of races.
in my mind, cobo and froome still have two show that they can be that good on a more traditional GT road.
i really hope that they will be able to do that next year.

 

[Duartista]

probably you are right about nibali and vdb2, but nibali showed a condition worst than last year for all the season ( actually he did not win any race this year and was less brilliant even in the giro, where he made podium like last year) and vdb2 comes back from a punctured lung and some fractures.

maybe i used the wrong samples,considering nibali's and vdb2's conditions and given the fact that they are not (yet) contador or basso..., but i keep the point: i wanted to outline that vuelta is becoming more similar to a 15 days race than to a true gt, mainly because of the choice of the road.
don't you agree with that?

GT cycling is not about a single effort ( a garage ramp at the end of the stage, purito style)less than half an hour. normally winners are requested to make more than a single effort at least half an hour long ( a long climb) than after a period of recovery (downhill and /or a flat part) another long maximum peal effort ( another long climb). that capacity of quick recover and giving again a long effort is typical of great GT riders and peculiar to this kind of engine.
it is not requested in any other sport, to my knowledge.
giving a single maximum effort, like in a short and steep finish it is a different affair and it is a kind performance commonly requested in many other sports.

there are athletes that are good at both these kind of races.
in my mind, cobo and froome still have two show that they can be that good on a more traditional GT road.
i really hope that they will be able to do that next year.

Intxausti reckons that the Vuelta had 4000 more metres of climbing than the Giro (https://twitter.com/#!/benatintxausti)- and you had a number of riders finishing more than 5 hours down, which hasn't happened since the 1950s. Perhaps the small gaps at the top were more down to the riders than the route - i.e. a lack of really top climbers in form.

 

[movingtarget]

Tour then Vuelta and Giro. Contador killed off the Giro early in the race but a great route. Vuelta needed better stages towards the end of the third week but the top three riders made it a good race anyway. Two great stages on the Angliru and the stage duel later between Cobo and Froome. Also good stage that Rodriguez won. Tour was set up by the performances of Evans, Schleck and Voeckler and Hushovd. Too many crashes but the first week stages were not easy and still more interesting than I thought they would be. Last three stages were great as was the stage to Gap and Hushovd's wins. All in all a good year for grand tours. Dauphine, Tirreno and TOC were also good.