Rate the Vuelta

[Lupi33]

my final thoughts on the Vuelta...

The increased security presence on the mountains this year was noticeable.

After what we saw at the Giro its understandable.

That said, from my lounge room, their crowd management seemed a little heavy handed, unnecessarily so.

Its not a great look for the sport, nor Spanish/EU society to see black clad security literally wrestling with members of the crowd on all the mountain top finishes just because they took one step forward from the side of the road. It looks like fascism to me.

 

[hrotha]

schleck should be ashamed in your presence, you are true whinning all star

I have yet to see anyone refute Descender with arguments.

 

[inri2000]

It was decided on stage 10.

Please stop presenting your opinions as facts, especially since you are a mod and we are not allowed to ignore you.

Thank you in advance.

 

[cineteq]

Gave it a 6.

I have yet to see anyone refute Descender with arguments.

If he perhaps was serious about his comments or even support why he'd given a 0, maybe somebody will take time to refute him. Otherwise the guy's a joke.

 

[hrotha]

Gave it a 6.

If he perhaps was serious about his comments or even support why he'd given a 0, maybe somebody will take time to refute him. Otherwise the guy's a joke.

If only we had had a whole thread dedicated to just that.

 

[movingtarget]

I give it a 7. The Tour and the Giro probably a 6.

 

[Red Rick]

I have yet to see anyone refute Descender with arguments.

So wait, it's a 0 until proven otherwise

 

[ILovecycling]

I have yet to see anyone refute Descender with arguments.

Argument is that he is a troll.Its a nonsense to give it 0. At least for froome revival,contador attack on stage 9,interesting ttt,echelons etc.
there plenty of arguments why give it a 2,3 (or at least 1)

it sounds like you two whinners are refused/fired employees of unipublic or something like that

 

[hrotha]

Again, good job ignoring our arguments, which are right there in that thread I linked to. By the way, I started that thread so that I wouldn't be asked to explain myself every time I dared say what we were seeing wasn't "epic". I guess that's trolling.

 

[No_Balls]

it sounds like you two whinners are refused/fired employees of unipublic or something like that

I doubt "Unipublic" is the real problem in these two cases. "Unipublic" is the justification.

I have yet to see anyone refute Descender with arguments.

You dont need arguments against moaning oneliners.

 

[hrotha]

Why should we repeat ourselves and our arguments every time we want to criticize Unipublic? Like that wouldn't get old and we wouldn't be accused of spamming. Our arguments are right there for you to read and counter. I've linked to them. So far, you guys have preferred to play the troll card because some of us have the audacity to disagree.

Might as well start rolling out the insults myself.

 

[ILovecycling]

Again, good job ignoring our arguments, which are right there in that thread I linked to. By the way, I started that thread so that I wouldn't be asked to explain myself every time I dared say what we were seeing wasn't "epic". I guess that's trolling.

your arguments are not worth of challenge them
this was epic..

this too..

this was mega epic...

Its about riders, not parcours.So I dont see what you are talking about...

 

[hrotha]

K I now feel justified in saying you know nothing about cycling.

By the way, great double standard there. People praising the Vuelta are not asked to provide a lengthy rationale for what is to me a very infuriating view.

 

[veji11]

Gave it a 6. Sure we got so see the favorites battle it out, but to be honest I got a bit bored by the repetition. There was a distinct lack of "unconventional" warfare between the favourites, it all got settled in the ITT and the the repetitive MTFs. Considering the repetititve route, the race was quite good : sprint battle between Degenkolb/Matthews and Bouhanni and some surprising MTFS (Valverde's win), but otherwise I wasn't thrilled.

 

[ggusta]

I gave it an 8, that was being generous because AC won. But there was far more racing going on than in the tour which was just pathetic this year imo.

 

[cineteq]

Again, good job ignoring our arguments, which are right there in that thread I linked to. By the way, I started that thread so that I wouldn't be asked to explain myself every time I dared say what we were seeing wasn't "epic"

As if forum members have all the time in the world to read through that thread. If you guys are serious enough, take the time to at least copy/paste from that thread, instead of posting one liners, or all "I couldn't give it a 0, so I didn't vote" condescending nonsense. I thought you, in particular, were smarter than that.

 

[veji11]

I gave it an 8, that was being generous because AC won. But there was far more racing going on than in the tour which was just pathetic this year imo.

To each his own. Some people want to just see the big names "apparently" dishing it out, even if the route that allows it to happen is **** poor and reduces cycling to a 10minutes explosiveness contest. some people want to see some cycling in all its dimensions. Sure the fact that Nibali wrapped up the tour so early sucked, but seeing The Sheffield stage with all the movement (the Garmins, Rolland, the attacks from favourites, Nibali's winning move, actually better than any of the hilly classics we've had this year !!!), the cobbles stage and the exhaustion look on the rider's faces and Nibali opening up that killer gap on Contador ; Those stages with plenty of action like in Nancy, in Oyonnax, in Nice, to watch Martin's run to Mulhouse, to watch Martin the next day riding like a fricking derny pulling Kwiat and Purito for 100ks before those two gave it their best before being eaten alive by Nibali ; Seeing the AG2R's try a big offensive move in the descent of the Izoard on the way to Risoul to crush Pinot's confidence and distance TVG and others ; seeing Bardet descending like a madman, trying to save his *** on the way to Luchon after blowing on the Port de Balès... Those to me were great cycling moments.

On the Tour and Giro we had cycling from afar. This was impossible on this Vuelta. Sure we got to see the big names ducking it out on the last (and often only) climb of the day on the way to the finish line.. But offensives like Rolland's on the Giro, like Quintana's Val Martello, like The Izoard AG2R gambit, like Kwiatowski's vosgian adventure. All those things just couldn't happen on the Vuelta.

I respect that for some, seeing the star battling out is in the end the best thing. But to me, If i have to choose I'll rather see cyling in all its dimensions, even if it means that the overall win get's wrapped up sooner. But again, I perfectly respect the different view. There is a real divide in the community on that it seems.

 

[Netserk]

this was epic..
this too..

You've got to be kidding me. A sprint up a short climb is epic? It was very fine and entertaining, but it's far from epic. If you use the word epic about any interesting bike race, the word devalues and ends up empty.

Gardeccia '11 was epic. Fuente Dé as well (especially if we actually saw the whole thing).

 

[ILovecycling]

K I now feel justified in saying you know nothing about cycling.

By the way, great double standard there. People praising the Vuelta are not asked to provide a lengthy rationale for what is to me a very infuriating view.

Ohh ****

 

[ILovecycling]

You've got to be kidding me. A sprint up a short climb is epic? It was very fine and entertaining, but it's far from epic. If you use the word epic about any interesting bike race, the word devalues and ends up empty.

Gardeccia '11 was epic. Fuente Dé as well (especially if we actually saw the whole thing).

for me its not about parcours or how long it takes.more about situation etc
the man who has wonder peak once in a life, fighter (cobo) and a newcomer,zero to hero,who shows first glimpses of good training, fighter ( froome) went mano a mano up the steep climb, fighting,attacking,coming back...yeah I call that epic.

 

[Electress]

for me its not about parcours or how long it takes.more about situation etc
the man who has wonder peak once in a life, fighter (cobo) and a newcomer,zero to hero,who shows first glimpses of good training, fighter ( froome) went mano a mano up the steep climb, fighting,attacking,coming back...yeah I call that epic.

On a purely cycling level, I would agree the Vuelta was a bit limited and I generally do appreciate stages where there is a lot of action and scope for the opportunists and attack and counter attack on the road as outlined by veij11. One of the great things about cycling is the race within the race, and the personal battles on any one stage between man / machine / the course / rivals (whether GT favourites or not) and weather.

But, like ILoveCycling, for me racing is also about narrative, and there was a great - no, epic - narrative to this Vuelta - two favourites and principal rivals coming back from injury; uncertainties about form; the prospect of the Battle Royale we'd been denied earlier in the season. It's easy to say in hindsight 'it was won by Stage 10', but I don't think it's true - it only seems predictable when there hasn't been an upset.

 

[MBotero]

You've got to be kidding me. A sprint up a short climb is epic? It was very fine and entertaining, but it's far from epic. If you use the word epic about any interesting bike race, the word devalues and ends up empty.

Gardeccia '11 was epic. Fuente Dé as well (especially if we actually saw the whole thing).

People can see things pretty different,don't they?For me this little climb was more epic than that Fuente De everybody mention all day long.I still believe this is the most entertaining attack provided by Froome,way better than those infamous attacks from TDF 2013,plus Cobo fighting till the end give it all the drama it needed.

 

[No_Balls]

Why should we repeat ourselves and our arguments every time we want to criticize Unipublic? Like that wouldn't get old and we wouldn't be accused of spamming. Our arguments are right there for you to read and counter. I've linked to them. So far, you guys have preferred to play the troll card because some of us have the audacity to disagree.

Might as well start rolling out the insults myself.

We? Descender has to write 100 posts until he comes up with a reply as lenghty as yours so i wouldnt stretch it to call this "arguments". He is a whinebot. And one wonders if this is needed given the overall sentiments about the route. Its not like you are a rebel minority here.

Me? I dont necesserary disagree with what you guys are saying. I am deadsick of and hates uphill sprints. Still i am quite open-minded and refuse to see the negative possibility about a given stage and tries to look at it in as good light as possible. I do believe that a certain riders panache can change the entire foretold script of a stage although it more often then not proves to be the opposite. Members as "Descender" whines regardless of what has happen on the road or not. The map itself is more important then the race for guys like this.

Although not a fan of uphill sprints and such i do think its intresting with the concept of bonus seconds and trying to keep the overall as close as possible until bigger (the few) mountain stages occurs. In an ideal world this opens up for the possibility of more open and active climbing. This is what often wont work in an era of stronger teams riding like a train and has to change asap although it looks good on paper. Ending with a shorter time trial (although not this short) is also an intresting idea if you want to keep the fight of the overall alive until the end. Inspiration from the 1989 Tour de France cant be dismissed by anyone.

And no i do not think a guy winning with almost 8 minutes are anything close to epic. I do agree that Arenberg was the most epic stage of the year - even if it could be argued that this was thanks to Nibalis balls and the weather. Two major factors for great stages.

 

[murali]

weighted average for the rating so far: 6.58

I think people liked this Vuelta despite having any truly epic stage. a sign of poor quality of GTs nowadays?

 

[ILovecycling]

weighted average for the rating so far: 6.58

I think people liked this Vuelta despite having any truly epic stage. a sign of poor quality of GTs nowadays?

yep, I think so