Rate the Vuelta a España 2017

[gregrowlerson]

8. Chaves was much better than expected early, which raised the possibility of him challenging for the win. Then even as he faded we had Nibali circling with his usual solid form. And Contador quickly became an X-factor after his struggles on stage 3.

The race looked to be pretty much over by the second rest day, however Froome not dominating his rivals in the time trial kept hope alive, which translated into full blown hype after stage 17 (which was one of the best stages of the season, or at least finishers).

The event was at least reasonably interesting from stage 3 to 20, and you can't usually say that about a GT. And it had Contador. The second strongest rider in the race, and in many other ways the victor.

 

[Carols]

8 but only because Alberto livened up the last 2 weeks almost daily and finished like a Glorious Hero. Mas and Mal added something also . Without those three it was Bot fest bore score of 4.

 

[TMP402]

If this was who the Vuelta thought would be the main contenders, they were a bit off (apart from the main two):

 

[lenric]

7/10.

While the route was good (instead of the turd the TDF was and the unbalanced Giro), there was no emotion regarding the first place.
Really liked Contador's performance. Without him, this GT would have been incredibly boring.

Also, it was good to see Betancur in the best form (GT-wise, at least) since his Giro breakout and what can we say about MAL? What a guy.

As a portuguese man, I must write some words about Rui Costa: wtf? Ignoring all the bs that guy says every single day regarding his form, it's getting increasingly nauseating hearing portuguese comentators hyping the crap out of him when he clearly has been overvalued by both his fans and his team.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

If this was who the Vuelta thought would be the main contenders, they were a bit off (apart from the main two):

I hate those pictures, let the race decides who contend for it, not the organizer.

 

[Pennino]

6,5 maybe.
In a slightly more normal GT a GC contender, let alone the best climber in the world, this aggressive and on this good form the last two weeks would've got at least a second place.

Sky train in fact is not only good for Froome, but much worse: for everyone else who just aims as high as possible.

What a farce.

 

[Mozart92]

7, entertaining for sure but not a close competition like the GIro has been.

 

[dercuforever]

I rate it 8.

Almost every stage was interesting (mainly due to Contador's agressivity), and this was made possible by good stage design.
The GC wasn't fixed until the end.

What was good :

- stage design : 6,10,12 and 19 were very good, and could have been even more epic if Sky wasn't so strong.
- Contador attacks : It's been a long time since we saw Contador that good in a GT and it was very entertaining to see it one last time. His attacks caused a situation in which Froome fell twice (fortunatly without big damage) and lost a bit of time to other GC competitors, they made Sky and exposed Froome only bad day.
- Zakarin get something at the end.
- Nibali showed he could still match Froome on long climbs.
- Breakaways succeded and there was some good fights for the victory : Majka vs Bala / Denifl vs the world
- Lopez showed he can be an incredible climber.

What was disapointing :

- No one could compete Trentin for sprints.
- Sky team is very strong. Other teams yet to find a solution to counter this.
moscon particularly was very impressive.
- Few dared to take any risky bet, except Nibali, Contador and Lopez. It was less annoying that in the TDF, but still, an attack far from the summit, to test Sky and Froome. It almost feel like they are relying on Froome having a very bad day or a DNF to win.
- Contador performance in stage 3. (but that enabled him to be crazy agressive for the rest of the Vuelta so, not bad for spectacle after all).


Overall I will have very good memories from this Vuelta, which was unexpected with the absence of Valverde.

Best moments for me :
Froome and Contador Dauphine2014 like :
http://video.eurosport.es/ciclismo/vuelta-a-espana/2017/la-vuelta-2017-el-precioso-mano-a-mano-que-froome-y-contador-regalaron-en-xorret-de-cati_vid998958/video.shtml
Contador better than everyone on Los Machuchos
Contador Angliru win and last day in Madrid.
Froome fighting for Green jersey

 

[rick james]

Easily a 10, just for the fan boys losing their minds at the Sky train and having a new villain in Moscon....its like they've never seen the guy riding a bike before

 

[Escarabajo]

It is between a 7 and 8. The problem for me was the fight for GC. There was never one.

I love that they minimize the sprints a lot. Giro and Tour should do the same.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

If this was who the Vuelta thought would be the main contenders, they were a bit off (apart from the main two):

Using 3 riders from the same team for this picture was a stupid idea in the first place. How likely is it they will all have a big impact on the race. Anyway, yeah it's funny how the favorites changed over the race. Just compare who was in the first group of gc contenders on stage 3 and who ended up in the top ten of the gc.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Re:

Easily a 10, just for the fan boys losing their minds at the Sky train and having a new villain in Moscon....its like they've never seen the guy riding a bike before

who's fanboy? you think i have never seen moscon ride?? i have seen him ride since he was just a teen, scratch that i have seen him ride since he was just as big as the smallest mice you could ever see, mr rick james.

 

[Põhja Konn]

6. Quite a lot of good racing, but most of that was inconsequential towards the red jersey fight. When one guy is leading the race from stage 3 until the end and has at least 3-4 teammates left at the business end of every stage regardless of how tough those stages have been, the 6 out of 10 means that the rest of the race outside the fight for red must have been pretty damn good.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I voted for a six...because of moscon's

Zam my man... where have you been

Hiding from cops. how are you coping with velascos retirement?

I'm alright Zam.. feels a bit surreal still

Easily a 10, just for the fan boys losing their minds at the Sky train and having a new villain in Moscon....its like they've never seen the guy riding a bike before

who's fanboy? you think i have never seen moscon ride?? i have seen him ride since he was just a teen, scratch that i have seen him ride since he was just as big as the smallest mice you could ever see, mr rick james.

 

[skippo12]

Re:

6,5 maybe.
In a slightly more normal GT a GC contender, let alone the best climber in the world, this aggressive and on this good form the last two weeks would've got at least a second place.

Sky train in fact is not only good for Froome, but much worse: for everyone else who just aims as high as possible.

What a farce.

This...guys that know they won`t have a chance to win but can finish top 5 will simply finish the Sky train. Kelderman was the most obvious example this year and Zakarin did the same for most of the stages.Without Sky Contador easily finishes on the podium.
Even crazier are the riders that battle for a top 10. Meintjes was a joke and before dropping in the GC both Yates as well. For pure climbers this development is horrible because most of the time their opponents won`t crack and finish without losing a lot of time.
I imagine 10 years ago Kelderman and Zakarin would have tried to follow Contador on Angliru only to blow up and lose 2-3 minutes.

 

[Pennino]

Re: Re:

6,5 maybe.
In a slightly more normal GT a GC contender, let alone the best climber in the world, this aggressive and on this good form the last two weeks would've got at least a second place.

Sky train in fact is not only good for Froome, but much worse: for everyone else who just aims as high as possible.

What a farce.

This...guys that know they won`t have a chance to win but can finish top 5 will simply finish the Sky train. Kelderman was the most obvious example this year and Zakarin did the same for most of the stages.Without Sky Contador easily finishes on the podium.
Even crazier are the riders that battle for a top 10. Meintjes was a joke and before dropping in the GC both Yates as well. For pure climbers this development is horrible because most of the time their opponents won`t crack and finish without losing a lot of time.
I imagine 10 years ago Kelderman and Zakarin would have tried to follow Contador on Angliru only to blow up and lose 2-3 minutes.

Indeed. Horrible direction of development. But it's also fault of the ridiculous 11 speed cassettes and the 34 or 36 chainring.