Rate the 2012 Vuelta a España route

[The Hitch]

http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/ciclismo/gala-presentacion-vuelta-ciclista-espana-2012/1291785/

I just knew you would come up with the goods. Cheers.

 

[The Hitch]

The video from 2011 Vuelta is just ****ing awesome.

So much nostalgia buzzing through my body, such beautiful scenery.

The Liqui downhill and the Valdapenas de Jaen, San Lorenzo de Escortial finishes were just epic.

And Pena Cabarga was something else.

Though the voiceover kind of sucks.

 

[greenedge]

I meant to click 6 but my cat scrolled it up to 8.
I think the race shall be exciting with Contador ( if he rides ), Anton, Cobo, JROD dominating on the mountains. However Froome would still be in contention because he can climb and will not have to work for Wiggins.

The stages are too short though and there are no descents.
I want the Shlecks to come here ( sry Monfort )

 

[The Hitch]

I meant to click 6 but my cat scrolled it up to 8.
I think the race shall be exciting with Contador ( if he rides ), Anton, Cobo, JROD dominating on the mountains. However Froome would still be in contention because he can climb and will not have to work for Wiggins.

The stages are too short though and there are no descents.
I want the Shlecks to come here ( sry Monfort )

Schlecks have made clear this race isnt worth their time.

Contador would be interesting (assuming he somehow gets let off and rides the Tour) because he should be tired after Le Tour.

Froome, I wish there was an extra tt in it for him, though he can still rip on Anton and and co in the 40k one.

If Cobo is serious about doing the Tour lets hope hes smart enough to do it just for a stage and be able to reach a peak for La vuelta.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

The stages are too short though and there are no descents.
I want the Shlecks to come here ( sry Monfort )

The Schlecks will probably race it as Worlds prep. Frank implied that he would do so.

 

[Arnout]

The most interesting question is of course: will it be a year of hyping Anton for victory and then see him fail in the first moutain stage again?

For me, the first part will most certainly be true

 

[The Hitch]

Hang on, Does stage 1 ttt finish in the bull fighting stadium?

 

[The Hitch]

http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/ciclismo/gala-presentacion-vuelta-ciclista-espana-2012/1291785/

Big Mig is such a gent. One of the greats together with Fausto, Cannibal and Le Blaireau.

Also Menchov is there assesing the stages.

Cool mention of Cuesta by Guillien.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

not great, but like kwibus said it will probably entertain us none the less.

 

[luckyboy]

I gave it 7/10

Good:
Stage 6- Jaca (Should be good, mixing up the first week.)
Stage 14- Ancares (Multiple climbs, different to Vuelta's usual one climb at the end thing.)
Stage 16- Cuitu Negru (See above.)
Stage 20- Bola Del Mundo (See above, also nice space between this and stage 16.)

Ok:
Stage 1- Pamplona TTT (Can't complain, will create some not-too-big gaps, gives us a chance to see all the teams.)
Stage 3- Eibar (A bit of a challenge early on, create some gaps. Probably not as good as Libertine Seguros' plan though.)
Stage 8- Andorra (Final climb looks quite steep, boring before the end and won't make too many gaps but we need a MTF in the first 10 days.)
Stage 11- Pontevedra ITT (Good enough for what it is.)
Stage 12- Dumbría (Looks mostly boring but not every day can be exciting, finale should be comparatively interesting at least.)

Could Do Without:
Stage 4- Estacion de Valdezcarray (Not going to change anything, may as well be a hilly stage.)
Stage 15- Lagos De Covadonga (Downhill finish between the two MTFs instead.)
Stage 17- Fuente Dé (Pretty pointless climb, hilly fun stage instead.)


Sprints: (Not many complaints about the number of sprint stages. Could've done with moving one between the 4 MTFs though. La Lastrilla could've been an ITT too.)
Stage 2- Viana
Stage 5- Logroño
Stage 7- Alcañiz
Stage 9- Barcelona (uphill)
Stage 10- Sanxenxo
Stage 13- Ferrol
Stage 18- Valladolid
Stage 19- La Lastrilla
Stage 21- Madrid

Personally, I see the best route (tinkering with this route) as..
1. TTT
2. Flat, sprint finish
3. Hilly, hill finish
4. Hilly, hill finish
5. Flat, sprint finish
6. Hilly, tough hill finish- Jaca
7. Hilly/mid-mountain, downhill finish
8. MTF- Andorra
9. Flat, tough sprint finish- Barcelona
10. Flat, sprint finish
11. ITT, hilly 40km
12. Flat, hill finish- Dumbría
13. Flat, sprint finish
14. MTF- Ancares
15. Mountain, downhill finish
16. MTF- Cuitu Negru
17. Hilly, downhill finish
18. Flat, sprint finish
19. MTF- Bola Del Mundo
20. ITT, flat 40km
21. Flat, sprint finish- Madrid

 

[roundabout]

Would be great to see Libertine and a few of the other regulars from the Race Design thread seeing how much they can improve on this route, with the limitation of using the same start and finish towns that have paid for the privilege on this route?

Make the stage in Logroño a TT.

Climb the Rabassa in Andorra instead of Comella.

Make a proper hilly stage to Eibar without the finish at the sanctuary. (not sure who stipulated the finish in Arrate so this change might not meet your criteria).

Add a climb or 2 on the stage to Ezaro to stretch the field out before the last climb.

Ideally, make Ancares a pass on stage 14 but again I have no idea who is paying/interested to have a finish at the summit of Ancares.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Make the stage in Logroño a TT.

Climb the Rabassa in Andorra instead of Comella.

Make a proper hilly stage to Eibar without the finish at the sanctuary. (not sure who stipulated the finish in Arrate so this change might not meet your criteria).

Add a climb or 2 on the stage to Ezaro to stretch the field out before the last climb.

Ideally, make Ancares a pass on stage 14 but again I have no idea who is paying/interested to have a finish at the summit of Ancares.

Appears to be the Galician government for Ancares, so has to be an MTF really. I don't mind the Arrate finish but it's a bit overdone (País Vasco is using it too), there's so much more that the Basque Country has to offer that isn't being used... it's almost impressive how they've managed to get such a flat lead-in to Arrate.

 

[roundabout]

I don't mind Arrate as well. But within the criteria set it's probably the only uphill finish that can be eliminated in theory. Or not if it's directly stated that the finish must be there.

Ok, I suppose there's Jaca where the good people of Unipublic themselves wanted an uphill finish, so that's the easiest one to remove in theory, even if that stage is ok.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Why is the race only in the north of Spain this year?

Anyway, I gave it a 5 for a few reasons:

- There is a TTT. Strongly dislike.
- Too many 'one climb mountain/hill top finishes'.
- ITT is really good but only 40km's of ITT'ing is not so good.
- Stage 14 seems to be the 1st decent mountain stage of the race
- Stage 16 looks to be good fun.
- Too many boring/nothing stages
- Bola del Mundo does save the race some what.

After my review I actually think this route deserves a 3 or 4.

 

[craig1985]

Why is the race only in the north of Spain this year?

Anyway, I gave it a 5 for a few reasons:

- There is a TTT. Strongly dislike.
- Too many 'one climb mountain/hill top finishes'.
- ITT is really good but only 40km's of ITT'ing is not so good.
- Stage 14 seems to be the 1st decent mountain stage of the race
- Stage 16 looks to be good fun.
- Too many boring/nothing stages
- Bola del Mundo does save the race some what.

After my review I actually think this route deserves a 3 or 4.

I'm probably going to go with money being the deciding factor. I gave it five although I don't like the idea that doesn't go south of Madrid and the idea that it doesn't have many multi climb stages to make it more selective, but I'll reserve judgement until it's faced. Is the Barcelona finish the same as the one from the '09 Tour.

 

[luckyboy]

Is the Barcelona finish the same as the one from the '09 Tour.

Yeah, it goes up into Parc Montjuic and finishes next to the Olympic Stadium

 

[cineteq]

Why is the race only in the north of Spain this year?

Because the South is too ugly

 

[Señor_Contador]

I gave it a 10. This is the best Vuelta route I've seen in a while. I think it still has room for improvement but... It's awesome!

I like the Vuelta because it's unpredictable. It doesn't have as many incredibly long and steep mountain passes as the Giro but it doesn't have to (I've always thought of the Giro more like a mix between rock climbing and cycling), and it doesn't attract as much attention as the Tour, but you know what? It's a fu**** awesome race. Who needs Andy "Whiny-a$$-biatch" Shleck or Cadel Evans when you have Nibali, Froome, Cobo, et cetera.

Year after year, no other 3-week cycling event churns out more edge-of-your-sit racing like the Vuelta. I'd like to see anyone here go up the La Pandera when it's 30º out there, riding on its imphamous bumpy pavement and then come back to me and tell me the Gavia is harder to climb than the La Pandera. To my face that is.

 

[the asian]

I gave it a 6. The reasons are similar to others.

Positives
Different type of route to the Giro and the Tour. After a Tour for All rounders, it's appropriate, that they have one or the climbers.

Good Prep for the worlds. There are a couple of Uphill finishes.

Bola Del Mundo & Curito Negru, both can be epic stages, with the potential deciding stage in stage 20 as in 2010.

Negatives
Stages are too short and some stages where the MTF is the only difficulty may end up being boring coz the contenders will not attack till the end.

As mentioned in this thread before, a couple of Downhill finishes after a Climb would have been great.

 

[greenedge]

Schlecks have made clear this race isnt worth their time.

Contador would be interesting (assuming he somehow gets let off and rides the Tour) because he should be tired after Le Tour.

Froome, I wish there was an extra tt in it for him, though he can still rip on Anton and and co in the 40k one.

If Cobo is serious about doing the Tour lets hope hes smart enough to do it just for a stage and be able to reach a peak for La vuelta.

If the Shlecks were made to it would be good. If they are serious for WC prep at least one of them should do it. Everyone who crashes at the TDF does the Vuelta; Wggins and JVDB last year and Frank in 2010.

I do not think Contador will win 2 GT's. There are a host of contenders at the TDF who can challenge. If he wins he shall probably be too tired at the Vuelta. If he does not win the TDF ( he will then win the Vuelta )

I do not know whether that will happen with Cobo though. Movistar should just chase stages at the TDF with Ventoso, Rojas, Arroyo, Cobo and get a placing for Valverde. They can then defend the Vuelta title.

 

[bicing]

My criteria is based on the # opportunities for exciting racing, and I think there will be a lot here, so I rate it highly.

I'd ;love to Purito or Anton win it, they deserve one!

 

[just some guy]

My criteria is based on the # opportunities for exciting racing, and I think there will be a lot here, so I rate it highly.

I'd ;love to Purito or Anton win it, they deserve one!

Yes there will be exciting racing but manly we will see sprint stage /Ardennes type of racing - so break goes peloton brings back group before all hell breaks lose.

so 70 % of the stage will be quite boring - will the finishes make up for it maybe.But seeing 8 FW in a row might get a little much - but I will be watching

 

[Kvinto]

Yes there will be exciting racing but manly we will see sprint stage /Ardennes type of racing - so break goes peloton brings back group before all hell breaks lose.

so 70 % of the stage will be quite boring - will the finishes make up for it maybe.But seeing 8 FW in a row might get a little much - but I will be watching

Maybe you meant Fleche Wallonne type of racing because no way AGR and especially LBL boils down to only a final ascent's action. Your statement is a bit of insult for these races...

 

[the asian]

My criteria is based on the # opportunities for exciting racing, and I think there will be a lot here, so I rate it highly.

I'd ;love to Purito or Anton win it, they deserve one!

40 Km of ITT should be enough to kill off puritos' chances.
If Contador doesn't turn up, I'd really love if Anton wins.

 

[Mellow Velo]

If the Shlecks were made to it would be good. If they are serious for WC prep at least one of them should do it. Everyone who crashes at the TDF does the Vuelta; Wggins and JVDB last year and Frank in 2010.

I do not think Contador will win 2 GT's. There are a host of contenders at the TDF who can challenge. If he wins he shall probably be too tired at the Vuelta. If he does not win the TDF ( he will then win the Vuelta )

I do not know whether that will happen with Cobo though. Movistar should just chase stages at the TDF with Ventoso, Rojas, Arroyo, Cobo and get a placing for Valverde. They can then defend the Vuelta title.

Forget the Schlecks, Evans and BMC's other big names etc riding La Vuelta.
They will all be partaking of the EPIC US Pro Cycling Challenge, soon to be renamed the 5th Grand Tour.(startlists are everything, of course)