Rate Vuelta 2012

[Jason_Mercier]

Florecita and other people rate better the Giro D'Italia than the TDF. Of course in Italia we saw exhibitions most of the days, attacks from far at 3 kms to go like the Scarponi's move, groups of 20 guys in the top of the ascents... Climbers fighting with the time triallists for recover the lost time in the ITT'S What a Grand Tour. Nice winner, Ryder Hesjedal, two victories ins his career, no doubt he is the next Pantani. One minute ahead Purito. Wow, insane. So people here is blind or post for angry other guys or i dont understand anything.

 

[The Hitch]

8 out of 10 because even though there were lots of down sides, every 2nd day was worth watching and provided fun and excitement.

 

[jens_attacks]

best grand tour of the year no doubt

9/10

too bad we didn't have la hoz live

if i remember correctly i gave tour 7 or 8
tour had by far the best mountain stages.toussuire,luchon and peyragudes were great.

giro...again if i remember,it was a 3 or 4
a huge,huge fail this year.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

8/10

This is what cycling should be like.

Of course. An sport of 15 minutes by day.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

i'm not sure it was better than the tour, so i'd have to say 1 or 2.

+1000.....

 

[iZnoGouD]

If someone gives less than 10 to this Vuelta then they would have to rate Tour and Giro with a 0

 

[jsem94]

I voted 9. Even though race design was... well, questionable... and could have turned out to make a boring race, Contador made sure this race was good and enjoyable... even though the unipublic way of short steep finishing climbs isn't always the best way to go, it worked out well this time. And the scenery of most stages beats blasting through a desert with wide roads.

The riders made the race this time, and I mean Contador made this race. Without him, it would've been JRod and Purito attacking with 500m to go on every stage.

 

[the asian]

Of course. An sport of 15 minutes by day.

Are you a Sky fan because of the 2 Colombians riding for them or are you a Englishman masquerading as a Colombian.
Otherwise, I can't really understand your love of the Tour and Wiggins

 

[Arnout]

Well we got Fuente Dé, supposedly a very good stage (only 1 of 2 stages I didn't see any images of yet though...). Other than that, very lacklustre.

3/10.

To compare: Tour this year 7/10, Giro 5/10.

 

[Põhja Konn]

The poll is about a race itself, not parcours its ridden on - so gave it a 9.

I was even thinking about giving it a whole 10 out of 10, but then remembered Giro 2010. This Vuelta has not been on quite the same level of awesomeness as that Giro was, so 9/10 it is.

 

[Descender]

Decent.

Reason? Contador.

 

[Jason_Mercier]

Are you a Sky fan because of the 2 Colombians riding for them or are you a Englishman masquerading as a Colombian.
Otherwise, I can't really understand your love of the Tour and Wiggins

I hate sky and i am spanish. Also i dont like the colombians for any in special.
Simply i dont underrate Wiggins and Sky First because they have dominated the TDF as they have wanted. Second because two of the bests six or seven climbers of the peloton couldnt put them in problems in the mountain. Third because Wiggins have made one of the best seasons of the history of cycling. Criterium, Romandie, Dauphine, Tour, ITT O. Fourth because i think they have a m. advantage. And i have reasons to think about it: The improve of Bradley in an arc of a year, the best Rogers of his career (said by him) a Porte superstrong in the high mountain, the change of a good rider into a total GT rider as known as Froome... About the TDF. I saw stages of a high level and of nice cycling (not only youtube cycling) Porrentruy, La Toussuire, Belles Filles, the ITT of Besançon... and good stages like the day of Grand Colombiere, or the day of the lost of time of the climbers in a flat stage. The Pyrenées were bad but the rest of the race i think was good. Better by far than the Giro and in a same level of this Vuelta. A Vuelta where we havent seen anything until the last five kilometres of the stages except in Fuente Dé and Valdezcaray thanks for a "chute". Other thing is that Contador put emotion in the race but this dont make the Vuelta a GT of 10 .

 

[armchairclimber]

Some great stages... loony uphill gradients in the last few kilometres but tellingly, it wa the sneaky Fuente De that was the defining stage. Love Fuente De (Spanish TV...take note...if the finishing location is THAT spectacular, show the bloody thing). LOve Cobadonga.

BUT...and it's a big BUT. Finishers 1&2 are unrepentant cheats. This massively compromises the race and, consequently, the rating.

 

[Duartista]

I'm not sure it was better than the Tour, so I'd have to say 1 or 2.

Agreed - before Fuente De it seemed as if an average Tour might still end up as the year's best GT. However, that stage was so good that it elevated the Vuelta to a 7 or 8 to 5 or 6 for the Tour. The Giro - 3. Would have been 1 if not for De Gendt.

Jens - I agree that La Toussuire was an excellent stage, but I'm struggling to understand your praise for the TDF's Pyrenean stages. In fact, I think the last time the Pyrenees served up some really memorable racing was in 2007 (unless you count chaingate).

 

[Dutchsmurf]

8/10

Lost the last 2 points for lacking a second tt

A second ITT would have lowered my score from a 9 to a 6. Because a second ITT would have made Contador the easy winner, meaning that great stage wouldn't have happened. The Vuelta worked out this well because it lacked a flat ITT / second ITT.

So as I said, I gave it a 9. I don't rate the parcours, I rate the racing that happens. Could it have been better with a different parcours? Maybe, who knows. Unlike some others here I don't have time to watch 2+ hours of the Vuelta each day. I got excitement in the 30 minutes I did watch almost every time. I can't ask from anything more of the Vuelta.

 

[Telmisartan new]

Vuelta 8/10
Giro 6/10 (for de Gendt and particularly for Rabottini)
Tour 1/10 (insipid snoozefest, the 1 pt is for Pinot)

 

[hfer07]

9/10 because only the perfect 10 belongs to the 2010 Giro

 

[woodenswan]

9
well..
8

Giro - 4
Tour - 1.2

 

[Viking]

I gave it a nine. The contenders started racing immediately instead of eyeing one or two stages late in the race. Contador raced for intermediate bonus seconds in stage 2. Contador, Rodriguez, Valverde, and Froome raced to the finish in stage 3 and they kept racing the whole tour.

The only reason I didn't give it a ten is because the time gaps were a little too big going into stage 20. No one was really going to move in the top 5.

Then again, if Purito had still been in the lead at that point, I might have given it a 10 for the imminent victory

 

[palmerq]

har har funny ratings.. i bet if contador was not winning the average score would be a lot lower... i voted 9 btw... degenkolb won too many sprint stages for it to be 10

 

[Old School]

I voted an 8.

We could have used another time trial, mountainous style.

Better than the Tour de France no doubt. The Giro was sketchy, but OK. La Vuelta was the best stage race of 2012.....thanks to Contador, Purito and Valverde. Would have been even better if Froome wasn't tired, he coulda made this an all time great race.

Oh, I must add, there weren't enough top sprinters to make the sprints more unpredictable. John Dekenkolb was unequalled...needed a Sagan (done enough this year), Greipel (probably tired), Cav (unhappy), Farrar (can't beat his shadow) and a Ferrari (just to **** off Cav )

 

[Forunculo]

Lack of flat ITT and too much brutal gradients for me

I'm glad the race was won on a medium mountain stage

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

8 out of 10 because even though there were lots of down sides, every 2nd day was worth watching and provided fun and excitement.

I think so to.

6.5 / 10 for me.

but tour n giro didnt pass 3, so go figure.

 

[the asian]

Agreed - before Fuente De it seemed as if an average Tour might still end up as the year's best GT. However, that stage was so good that it elevated the Vuelta to a 7 or 8 to 5 or 6 for the Tour. The Giro - 3. Would have been 1 if not for De Gendt.

.

Pretty much this. I think I voted 5 for the Tour. 8 for the Vuelta is reasonable.

 

[jens_attacks]

Jens - I agree that La Toussuire was an excellent stage, but I'm struggling to understand your praise for the TDF's Pyrenean stages. In fact, I think the last time the Pyrenees served up some really memorable racing was in 2007 (unless you count chaingate).

mostly because of voeckler's historical raid and froomey-wiggo relationship.i found them fun to watch