Rate the Vuelta

[Afrank]

Everything's done and dusted in the Vuelta. So how do you rate it?


IMO, this years Vuelta was pretty bad and suffered terribly due to lack of good parcours. Quintana crashing out didn't help either. We had the GC contenders, but once Contador was in red, there wasn't a doubt in my mind he would easily keep it until the end.

I give it a 5, it just didn't excite me this year.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

5.

Not a great route, and Quintana out early destroyed much for me

 

[Arredondo]

6.

Some good intense finales, and a great winner.

The abandon of Quintana and a not 100% Purito were downsides for me. Just as te fact we didn't saw a 'Fuente De' stage.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Gave it a six, the same as the Giro.
I feel very generous.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

3.

Maybe I'd have voted a bit higher if I hadn't just finished watching that crap final stage.

 

[Liquigas]

A 4 from me, stupid route combined with Quintana abandon and Horner non start ruined it.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

4 a horrible route and little excitement for the GC. A few finales were fun to watch during the last couple of km, but that's not enough to earn it more than 4.

 

[Pentacycle]

There were no stages that will be remembered in a few years, unlike we had in the Giro with Quintana's coupe.
If Quintana hadn't crashed out we could have seen a similar move from Movistar, but it wasn't to be.

Upside was that the we saw some kind of duel, although it was clear who climbed best.
It was nice that Contador won and he deserved it completely, but he's done better in the past in terms of spectacle.

5.

 

[hrotha]

I gave it a 3. The fact that there was at least some uncertainty, no matter how faint, going into the final mountain stage, and that it happened to be the only halfway decent mountain stage (with Sky setting up a decent pace for some kilometers and Purito attacking from a reasonable distance), save it from getting a 2 or worse.

Terrible parcours, extremely conservative racing, and the certainty that this is where cycling is headed.

 

[Arredondo]

I gave it a 3. The fact that there was at least some uncertainty, no matter how faint, going into the final mountain stage, and that it happened to be the only halfway decent mountain stage (with Sky setting up a decent pace for some kilometers and Purito attacking from a reasonable distance), save it from getting a 2 or worse.

Terrible parcours, extremely conservative racing, and the certainty that this is where cycling is headed.

Drama isn't a strange word to you, right?

 

[Roude Leiw]

Gave it a 7, found Degenkolbs fight for Green exciting. GC battle was very meh, but i took interest in following the young guns:

- Aru >> great confirmation of a huge potential
-Barguil >> 2nd GT, finishes in top 10 of GC, worked for Degenkolb in the final week and attacked a bit, so that was nice

and the not so young gun with Dan Martin who did a nice effort, did not think that he had such a performance in him over a 3 week race and a basically sh!tty season so far

Additionally some great sceneries were found which were nice to look at.

 

[Hayabusa]

I went with a 6 as the route was poor, would have been lower but for the interesting fight in the GC.

 

[HappyLoser]

Definitely 7...

+ Contador winning 8th GT
+ Aru grabbing stages and 5th GC
+ Hansen and Niemiec winning
+ Froome showing he's got balls

- Columbian failing in GC (Quintana, Uran)
- Gesink abandoning
- Degenkolb total domination
- too short second ITT

 

[pablohidalgo7]

6 and I feel very generous.

 

[Jancouver]

5 for me ... only because Contador & Froome made the race somewhat interesting otherwise it would be total failure. Unfortunately the fields are way better at the Tour and even at the Giro so this is something of second grade quality race.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Gave it 9. Actually considered 10...

Good things?
+ Contador's comeback to winning GT's again
+ Froome as the underdog - he earned a lot of respect as the underdog
+ Valverde shutting up some of his critics
+ The route! They created a tough route, even without using the Pyrenees or L' Angliru, Peña Cabarga, Bola del Mundo or Cuitu Negru
+ Aru showing he's not a 1-hit-wonder with back-to-back-wins and 5th
+ The Froome-Contador man vs man scenes FINALLY unfolded
+ Degenkolb taking 4 wins
+ LuLu Sanchez taking the mountains classification
+ Relatively more exciting GC-action than the Tour and Giro
+ Sammy Sanchez and Gesink displayed their best performances of the year

Bad things?
- Quintana crashing - not terrible for the race but still a small let-down
- Philip Deignan and Peter Kennaugh (self explanatory)
- JRod not quite at 2012 level
- Gesink abandoning

 

[Red Rick]

Gave it a 7, and before you call me insane, I didn't watch the final stage

 

[ILovecycling]

Gave it 9. Actually considered 10...

Good things?
+ Contador's comeback to winning GT's again
+ Froome as the underdog - he earned a lot of respect as the underdog
+ Valverde shutting up some of his critics
+ The route! They created a tough route, even without using the Pyrenees or L' Angliru, Peña Cabarga, Bola del Mundo or Cuitu Negru
+ Aru showing he's not a 1-hit-wonder with back-to-back-wins and 5th
+ The Froome-Contador man vs man scenes FINALLY unfolded
+ Degenkolb taking 4 wins
+ LuLu Sanchez taking the mountains classification
+ Relatively more exciting GC-action than the Tour and Giro
+ Sammy Sanchez and Gesink displayed their best performances of the year

Bad things?
- Quintana crashing - not terrible for the race but still a small let-down
- Philip Deignan and Peter Kennaugh (self explanatory)
- JRod not quite at 2012 level
- Gesink abandoning

small letdown? and how is that not terrible for the race? ohh god...he was the only who could give Berto proper battle

 

[hrotha]

I can't help but notice the reasons people are giving for a high rating are largely "this or that rider I like did well".

 

[Stromeon]

5. Although interesting in parts (read: the last 5km of some stages), mediocrity prevailed.


Positives:
- Lagos de Somiedo stage (to an extent)
- Puerto de Ancares stage - Contador vs Froome etc
- A fairly close GC race
- Degenkolb managing to prevail in the points competition showing that it can be done
- Hint of echelons, although they weren't really significant I suppose
- de Marchi winning a GT stage!
- Niemiec holding off the GC guys on Covadonga
- Froome throughout the race was pretty hilarious (although tbf I have more respect for him now than I did at the start of the race)
- Aru
- Barguil
- Sicard with a Zubeldia-esque 13th place.
- Hansen
- The lulz from the Hesjedal crash-motor theory

Negatives:
- Quintana crashing and abandoning
- The route
- The geographical nonsense that was the first week.
- Javier Guillén's existence
- No Horner to laugh at
- Lack of any noteworthy action or time gaps (apart from the TT) until the final week
- Lagos de Somiedo stage was good, but could have been better if raced more aggresively
- Generally conservative racing
- Race a bit anticlimactic generally, especially considering the hype beforehand
- Valverde and Rodriguez's tactics (not condemning them, just saying it doesn't exactly lighten up the race)
- Stage 1
- The sheer pointlessnes of Stage 12
- The paint-drying simulator that was Stage 21
- Gesink abandoning
- Bouhanni
- Hesjedal winning stage 14

Probably forgotten some things but that's a decent round-up, I feel.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

small letdown? and how is that not terrible for the race? ohh god...he was the only who could give Berto proper battle

If he had shown dominant strength at any point during the 10 first stages, I would have labelled it as terrible But he didn't...

 

[ILovecycling]

I can't help but notice the reasons people are giving for a high rating are largely "this or that rider I like did well".

agree with you,weird...

 

[ILovecycling]

If he had shown dominant strength at any point during the 10 first stages, I would have labelled it as terrible But he didn't...

ohh he was either on the same climbing level as Alberto or better, you can choose , so you are right,not terrible at all

 

[yespatterns]

I have it a 7, but I just like watching bike races with a decent depth of field. Oddly, the TDF parcours was better than the other two. Ah well, boredom till the spring classics now.

 

[ILovecycling]

I have it a 7, but I just like watching bike races with a decent depth of field. Oddly, the TDF parcours was better than the other two. Ah well, boredom till the spring classics now.

mannn, worlds and italian classics and lombardia!