Agree with most on here, the Vuelta was nicely set up going into the mountains of Andalucia with 6 guys in contention but the race fell flat on its face. There was no really big battles and a lot of the time lost by the contenders was due to crahses, injuries, mechanicals. Only Gesink or Mosquera tried to attack.
Another dissappointment for me were the performances ot the touted new generation, Fuglsang, Martin, Kessiakoff, they didnt live up tp expectations.
The major plus for me was the victory of Philip Deignan but that is a personal bias. The victories of Roux, Hysjedal, Gusavo Cesar, Moncoutie were also and the performances of Xacebo-Galicia and Vacansoleil(Bozic & Hoogerland).
As for Valverde, he should have been banned as all the Puerto guys should have been but he wasnt so I dont know why he is a bad winner, would Basso have been any better? Valverde has had quite a season, victories in the Vuelta, Dauphine, Burgos, Catalonia, not bad considering he couldnt compete at the Tour.