Vuelta 2012: Stage Profiles and Analysis

[Hugo Koblet]

Uh, what does it mean when it says that the TTT doesnt count on the final GC?

 

[Forunculo]

Uh, what does it mean when it says that the TTT doesnt count on the final GC?

Bad translation. The true meaning is no important gaps

 

[CasperVg]

Uh, what does it mean when it says that the TTT doesnt count on the final GC?

On the official stage description in English it says

"This sixteen-kilometre stage, which will not affect the overall classification, gives the teams the opportunity to present themselves to the general public and their fans."

I'm hoping this is some kind of mistranslation (hoping they actually mean it won't influence the GC too much because of it's short length), because otherwise the TTT will really just be nothing more than a team presentation and the entire Vuelta will be a joke because of lack of TT kms.

Another thing is the late starting hour of that stage. Start will be around 6:45PM and finish around 8:30 PM

 

[Arnout]

I wanted to edit this post in one of the first posts, but not yet possible due to too many characters. Will do so once the final startlist is known, then it should be possible (just too many characters).

Provisional startlist:

Possible GC in bold, sprinters in italics. Entirely open to debate.

AG2R LA MONDIALE (FRA)

1 - ROCHE Nicolas (IRL)
2 - BELLETTI Manuel (ITA)
3 - BOUET Maxime (FRA)
4 - GADRET John (FRA)
5 - GEORGES Sylvain (FRA)
6 - KADRI Blel (FRA)
7 - MONDORY Lloyd (FRA)
8 - NOCENTINI Rinaldo (ITA)
9 - RIBLON Christophe (FRA)
R1 - GASTAUER Ben (LUX)
R2 - CHEREL Mikael (FRA)
R3 - LEMARCHAND Romain (FRA)
R4 - PERGET Mathieu (FRA)

ANDALUCIA (ESP)
1 - PALOMARES VILLAPLANA Adrian (ESP)
2 - RAMIREZ ABEJA Javier (ESP)
3 - ROSENDO PRADO Jesus (ESP)
4 - CESAR VELOSO Gustavo (ESP)
5 - TORIBIO ALCOLEA Jose Vicente (ESP)
6 - LOBATO DEL VALLE Juan Jose (ESP)
7 - CABELLO BAENA Antonio (ESP)
8 - CHACON Javier (ESP)
9 - RUIZ PINTO Eloy (ESP)
R1 - LECHUGA RODRIGUEZ Pablo (ESP)
R2 - SIMON CASULLERAS Jordi (ESP)
R3 - CANO Jose Luis (ESP)
R4 - CARRASCO GARCIA Sergio (ESP)

ASTANA PRO TEAM (KAZ)
1 - KREUZIGER Roman (CZE)
2 - KESSIAKOFF Fredrik Carl Wilhelm (SWE)
3 - DYACHENKO Alexsandr (KAZ)
4 - BAZAYEV Assan (KAZ)
5 - GASPAROTTO Enrico (ITA) (on uphill finishes)
6 - SEELDRAEYERS Kevin (BEL)
7 - SILIN Egor (RUS)
8 - TIRALONGO Paolo (ITA)
9 - ZEITS Andrey (KAZ)
R1 - RENEV Sergey (KAZ)
R2 - PETROV Evgeny (RUS)
R3 - IGLINSKIY Maxim (KAZ)
R4 - KASHECHKIN Andrey (KAZ)

BMC RACING TEAM (USA)
1 - BALLAN Alessandro (ITA)
2 - BOOKWALTER Brent (USA)
3 - CUMMINGS Stephen (GBR)
4 - EIJSSEN Yannick (BEL)
5 - GILBERT Philippe (BEL) (on uphill finishes)
6 - LODEWYCK Klaas (BEL)
7 - MOINARD Amaël (FRA)
8 - MORABITO Steve (SUI)
9 - SANTAMBROGIO Mauro (ITA)
R1 - PINOTTI Marco (ITA)
R2 - HUSHOVD Thor (NOR)
R3 - WYSS Danilo (SUI)
R4 - BLYTHE Adam (GBR)

CAJA RURAL (ESP)
1 - CARDOSO Manuel Antonio Leal (POR)
2 - GALDOS ALONSO Aitor (ESP)
3 - ARAMENDIA LORENTE Javier Francisco (ESP)
4 - BROCO Hernani (POR)
5 - PIEDRA PEREZ Antonio (ESP)
6 - GARCIA Marcos (ESP)
7 - DE LA FUENTE RASILLA David (ESP)
8 - CARDOSO Andre Fernando S. Martins (POR)
9 - ANDONOV PETROV Danail (BUL)
R1 - FERRARI Fabricio (URU)
R2 - DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David (ESP)
R3 - MOYANO Enzo (ARG)
R4 - BRAVO OIARBIDE Garikoitz (ESP)

COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE (FRA)
1 - BAGOT Yohan (FRA)
2 - BARLE Florent (FRA)
3 - BUFFAZ Mickaël (FRA)
4 - DUQUE Leonardo Fabio (COL)
5 - GARCIA ECHEGUIBEL Egoitz (ESP)
6 - MATE MARDONES Luis Angel (ESP)
7 - MOLARD Rudy (FRA)
8 - MONCOUTIE David (FRA)
9 - SIJMENS Nico (BEL)
R1 - VALENTIN Tristan (FRA)
R2 - VOGONDY Nicolas (FRA)
R3 - LABBE Arnaud (FRA)
R4 - MONIER Damien (FRA)

EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI (ESP)
1 - ANTON HERNANDEZ Igor (ESP)
2 - CAZAUX Pierre (FRA)
3 - SICARD Romain (FRA)
4 - MINGUEZ AYALA Miguel (ESP)
5 - VELASCO MURILLO Ivan (ESP)
6 - TXURRUKA Amets (ESP)
7 - VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI Gorka (ESP)
8 - LANDA MEANA Mikel (ESP)
9 - OROZ UGALDE Juan Jose (ESP)
R1 - GARCIA AMBROA Ricardo (ESP)
R2 - ASTARLOZA CHAURREAU Mikel (ESP)
R3 - PEREZ LEZAUN Alan (ESP)
R4 - PEREZ MORENO Ruben (ESP)

FDJ-BIG MAT (FRA)
1 - JEANNESSON Arnold (FRA)
2 - BONNET William (FRA)
3 - BOUCHER David (FRA)
4 - BOUHANNI Nacer (FRA)
5 - COURTEILLE Arnaud (FRA)
6 - SOUPE Geoffrey (FRA)
7 - PAURIOL Rémi (FRA)
8 - ROLLIN Dominique (CAN)
9 - VAUGRENARD Benoît (FRA)
R1 - RASCH Gabriel (NOR)
R2 - FEDRIGO Pierrick (FRA)
R3 - GERARD Arnaud (FRA)
R4 - GESLIN Anthony (FRA)

GARMIN-SHARP (USA)
1 - DEKKER Thomas (NED)
2 - FERNANDEZ Koldo (ESP)
3 - FISCHER Murilo Antonio (BRA)
4 - LE MEVEL Christophe (FRA)
5 - PETERSON Thomas (USA)
6 - ROSSELER Sébastien (BEL)
7 - TALANSKY Andrew (USA)
8 - VANMARCKE Sep (BEL)
9 - VAN SUMMEREN Johan (BEL)
R1 - KREDER Raymond (NED)
R2 - KREDER Michel (NED) (on uphill finishes)
R3 - WEGMANN Fabian (GER)
R4 - MAASKANT Martijn (NED)

KATUSHA TEAM (RUS)
1 - RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin (ESP)
2 - BRUTT Pavel (RUS)
3 - FLORENCIO CABRE Xavier (ESP)
4 - IGNATENKO Petr (RUS)
5 - LOSADA ALGUACIL Alberto (ESP)
6 - MENCHOV Denis (RUS)
7 - MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel (ESP)
8 - SMUKULIS Gatis (LAT)
9 - VICIOSO ARCOS Angel (ESP)
R1 - CARUSO Giampaolo (ITA)
R2 - ISAICHEV Vladimir (RUS)
R3 - IGNATYEV Mikhail (RUS)
R4 - PAOLINI Luca (ITA)

LAMPRE - ISD (ITA)
1 - ANACONA GOMEZ Winner (COL)
2 - CUNEGO Damiano (ITA)
3 - CIMOLAI Davide (ITA)
4 - KOSTYUK Denys (UKR)
5 - KVACHUK Oleksandr (UKR)
6 - NIEMIEC Przemyslaw (POL)
7 - MARZANO Marco (ITA)
8 - POSSONI Morris (ITA)
9 - VIGANO Davide (ITA)
R1 - LLOYD Matthew (AUS)
R2 - BUTS Vitaliy (UKR)
R3 - KRIVTSOV Dmytro (UKR)
R4 - GRAZIATO Massimo (ITA)

LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE (ITA)
1 - CAPECCHI Eros (ITA)
2 - DA DALTO Mauro (ITA)
3 - DALL'ANTONIA Tiziano (ITA)
4 - MARANGONI Alan (ITA)
5 - PATERSKI Maciej (POL)
6 - RATTO Daniele (ITA)
7 - SALERNO Cristiano (ITA)
8 - SARMIENTO TUNARROSA Cayetano José (COL)
9 - VIVIANI Elia (ITA)
R1 - AGNOLI Valerio (ITA)
R2 - BODNAR Maciej (POL)
R3 - OSS Daniel (ITA)
R4 - SABATINI Fabio (ITA)

LOTTO BELISOL TEAM (BEL)
1 - DE CLERCQ Bart (BEL)
2 - DEBUSSCHERE Jens (BEL)
3 - HANSEN Adam (AUS)
4 - MEERSMAN Gianni (BEL)
5 - REYNES MIMO Vicente (ESP)
6 - VAN DE WALLE Jurgen (BEL)
7 - VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen (BEL)
8 - VAN LEIJEN Joost (NED)
9 - WILLEMS Frederik (BEL)
R1 - DE HAES Kenny (BEL)
R2 - DOCKX Gert (BEL)
R3 - KAISEN Olivier (BEL)
R4 - NEYENS Maarten (BEL)

MOVISTAR TEAM (ESP)
1 - COBO ACEBO Juan Jose (ESP)
2 - CASTROVIEJO NICOLAS JONATHAN (ESP)
3 - INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA Benat (ESP)
4 - KIRYIENKA Vasili (BLR)
5 - LASTRAS GARCIA Pablo (ESP)
6 - MORENO BAZAN Javier (ESP)
7 - QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander (COL)
8 - ROJAS GIL Jose Joaquin (ESP)
9 - VENTOSO ALBERDI Francisco José (ESP)
R1 - VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro (ESP)
R2 - ARROYO DURAN David (ESP)
R3 - BRUSEGHIN Marzio (ITA)
R4 - LOPEZ GARCIA David (ESP)

OMEGA PHARMA-QUICKSTEP (BEL)
1 - CATALDO Dario (ITA)
2 - DEVENYNS Dries (BEL)
3 - DE WEERT Kevin (BEL)
4 - PAUWELS Serge (BEL)
5 - PINEAU Jérôme (FRA)
6 - RABON Frantisek (CZE)
7 - STEEGMANS Gert (BEL)
8 - STYBAR Zdenek (CZE)
9 - VANDEWALLE Kristof (BEL)
R1 - MARTIN Tony (GER)
R2 - BOONEN Tom (BEL)
R3 - KEISSE Iljo (BEL)
R4 - VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume (BEL)

ORICA GREENEDGE (AUS)
1 - CLARKE Simon (AUS)
2 - DAVIS Allan (AUS)
3 - DEAN Julian (NZL)
4 - DOCKER Mitchell (AUS)
5 - MEYER Cameron (AUS)
6 - MEYER Travis (AUS)
7 - SULZBERGER Wesley (AUS)
8 - TEKLEHAYMANOT Daniel (ERI)
9 - WEENING Pieter (NED)
R1 - HOWARD Leigh (AUS)
R2 - MEIER Christian (CAN)
R3 - O'GRADY Stuart (AUS)
R4 - VAITKUS Tomas (LTU)

RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM (NED)
1 - BOOM Lars (NED)
2 - BRESCHEL Matti (DEN)
3 - CLEMENT Stef (NED)
4 - TEN DAM Laurens (NED)
5 - GARATE Juan Manuel (ESP)
6 - GESINK Robert (NED)
7 - MOLLEMA Bauke (NED)
8 - NIERMANN Grischa (GER)
9 - VAN WINDEN Dennis (NED)
R1 - BARREDO LLAMAZALES Carlos (ESP)
R2 - MARTENS Paul (GER)
R3 - SLAGTER Tom Jelte (NED)
R4 - KRUIJSWIJK Steven (NED)

RADIOSHACK-NISSAN (LUX)
1 - BAKELANTS Jan (BEL)
2 - BENNATI Daniele (ITA)
3 - BUSCHE Matthew (USA)
4 - DIDIER Laurent (LUX)
5 - GERDEMANN Linus (GER)
6 - HERMANS Ben (BEL)
7 - IRIZAR ARANBURU Markel (ESP)
8 - MACHADO Tiago (POR)
9 - MONFORT Maxime (BEL)
R1 - NIZZOLO Giacomo (ITA)
R2 - RAST Grégory (SUI)
R3 - ROULSTON Hayden (NZL)
R4 - WAGNER Robert (GER)

SKY PROCYCLING (GBR)
1 - FROOME Christopher (GBR)
2 - FLECHA GIANNONI Juan Antonio (ESP)
3 - HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis (COL)
4 - NORDHAUG Lars Petter (NOR)
5 - PATE Danny (USA)
6 - STANNARD Ian (GBR)
7 - SWIFT Ben (GBR)
8 - URAN URAN Rigoberto (COL)
9 - ZANDIO ECHAIDE Xabier (ESP)
R1 - HUNT Jeremy (GBR)
R2 - LÖVKVIST Thomas (SWE)
R3 - PORTE Richie (AUS)
R4 - PUCCIO Salvatore (ITA)

TEAM ARGOS - SHIMANO (NED)
1 - DEGENKOLB John (GER)
2 - GESCHKE Simon (GER)
3 - FRÖHLINGER Johannes (GER)
4 - GENIEZ Alexandre (FRA)
5 - JI Cheng (CHN)
6 - DAMUSEAU Thomas (FRA)
7 - HUPOND Thierry (FRA)
8 - DUMOULIN Tom (NED)
9 - DE KORT Koen (NED)
R1 - DOI Yukihiro (JPN)
R2 - KLUGE Roger (GER)
R3 - DE BACKER Bert (BEL)
R4 - LUDVIGSSON Tobias (SWE)

TEAM SAXO BANK (DEN)
1 - CONTADOR VELASCO Alberto (ESP)
2 - NOVAL GONZALEZ Benjamin (ESP)
3 - NAVARRO GARCIA Daniel (ESP)
4 - HERNANDEZ BLAZQUEZ Jesus (ESP)
5 - SÖRENSEN Nicki (DEN)
6 - MAJKA Rafal (POL)
7 - PAULINHO Sergio Miguel Moreira (POR)
8 - PIRES Bruno (POR)
9 - TOSATTO Matteo (ITA)
R1 - SÖRENSEN Chris Anker (DEN)
R2 - MORKOV Michael (DEN)
R3 - GUSTOV Volodymir (UKR)
R4 - CHRISTENSEN Mads (DEN)

VACANSOLEIL-DCM PRO CYCLING TEAM (NED)
1 - DE GENDT Thomas (BEL)
2 - HOOGERLAND Johnny (NED)
3 - LAGUTIN Sergey (UZB)
4 - LIGTHART Pim (NED)
5 - LINDEMAN Bertjan (NED)
6 - MOL Wouter (NED)
7 - RUIJGH Rob (NED)
8 - VALLS Rafael (ESP)
9 - VEUCHELEN Frederik (BEL)
r1 - KEIZER Martijn (NED)
R2 - LAMMERTINK Maurits (NED)
R3 - MARCZYNSKI Tomasz (POL)
R4 - NOVIKOV Nikita (RUS)

 

[Armchair cyclist]

On the official stage description in English it says

"This sixteen-kilometre stage, which will not affect the overall classification, gives the teams the opportunity to present themselves to the general public and their fans."

I'm hoping this is some kind of mistranslation (hoping they actually mean it won't influence the GC too much because of it's short length), because otherwise the TTT will really just be nothing more than a team presentation and the entire Vuelta will be a joke because of lack of TT kms.

Another thing is the late starting hour of that stage. Start will be around 6:45PM and finish around 8:30 PM

Not a bad translation: the Spanish has the same apparent contradiction between not throwing up differences and the following sentence(unquoted by Casper) "Los últimos kilómetros, muy técnicos, requerirán de la máxima atención de todos los participantes./ The last few kilometres are highly technical and will demand the full focus of all the riders."

I think the bit about not affecting GC is prediction rather than description of the rules: if it weren't there would be no need for the riders to focus on any of it.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Oh, ok. Of course that makes sense now.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Keep an eye out for de Weert. He'll probably finish top 15-20, but you'll be hard pushed to spot him once in the race.

And if we're bolding the likes of Talansky and Landa, then we really ought to be bolding Cardoso and maybe even Broco too at Caja Rural, since the more experienced Portuguese have put out results that would be more indicative of GT potential; Landa's win on Lagunas de Neila and podium at the GP Big Mig are impressive, but I think it's too soon for him as a GC rider; Talansky's espoir results are very promising on climbs, but the 2012 Tour de Romandie is really no indicator of GC potential on a route like this. Cardoso has experience at being the strongest climber in an 11-day race in sweltering heat, which is likely to be more useful as a guide for this Vuelta, and also he's a few years older so likely to be closer to his peak. He's also liable to go into the breaks to pick up climbs, and some of those breaks may be allowed to go the distance. He has a habit of going for GPM classifications.

I don't necessarily think he's better than Talansky or will do better, but think if we're drawing attention to those guys we ought to draw attention to him too.

 

[pastronef]

GARMIN-SHARP (USA)
5 - PETERSON Thomas (USA)
7 - TALANSKY Andrew (USA)

let's see what these two can in the mountains (and talansky in the TT too)

 

[jsem94]

That startlist looks cracking. Menchov probably looking to sneak like in last years Vuelta too and end up top 6.

 

[42x16ss]

I can't wait for the Henao/Nordhaug double act to resume. Those two working together in the Giro and Ardennes was good to watch. Two exciting young riders there.

 

[Montanus]

Should be an "easy" one for Froome and Sky. Dominate the TTT to gain some time on Contador, then Froome will take a minute on Contador on the long ITT. Sky to push a hard and steady pace in the mountains dropping all of Condators domestiques and isolating him, thereby making him work harder - getting him more fatigued the longer Vuleta goes. Sure Contador might drop Froome in the end of some steep mountain finishes but the time gaps will be smal and not enough to take overall.

In the normal world, Froome should just be too fatigued after TdF and the Olympics to be able to challenge Contador. Froome went just as hard as Wiggins in TdF and the Olympics, and it's only 4 weeks from the end of TdF to the start of Vuelta. It shouldn't be possible for Froome to keep the form and be 100% at the Vuelta.

 

[Benedict XVI]

Froome will take a minute on Contador on the long ITT

Lol, somebody's fogetting that Contador won ITT against Cancellara in his best form in 2009.

Why people keep saying Contador might loose in an ITT?

EDIT: Ok, forget it - I took the phrase out of context, my bad.

 

[Kwibus]

Lol, somebody's fogetting that Contador won ITT against Cancellara in his best form in 2009.

Why people keep saying Contador might loose in an ITT?

EDIT: Ok, forget it - I took the phrase out of context, my bad.

It's been mentioned a 100 times by now so I'm not going to reply to these trolls anymore.
They will notice soon enough and it will only be more entertaining to read their comments here if Contador is actually faster than Froome.
Allthough I wouldn't bet my money on that, but normally they should be really close.

 

[Netserk]

Contador will take time on Froome in the ITT. Perhaps he will win it.

EDIT: After taking a closer look at the competition, Froome, Contador and Menchov look like the favourites for the ITT, so I can't see why Contador shouldn't be able to win it.

 

[Leonardus]

Looks like a very unbalanced route but after the boring Giro and Tour this might work. If you can watch the last hour every day you shouldn't miss anything interesting.

I wonder how many contenders now on the start list, except for Contador, will be at in top form for the Vuelta? Just over 2 weeks now before they start is a very short period for anyone who just did the TdF.

 

[JibberJim]

Sky's got a lot of good climbers selected, but they're not tempo climbers, I think you're more likely to see lots of attacks from Sky or selections forced by Contador that end up with half the guys remaining being Sky riders.

 

[icefire]

Sky's got a lot of good climbers selected, but they're not tempo climbers, I think you're more likely to see lots of attacks from Sky or selections forced by Contador that end up with half the guys remaining being Sky riders.

Last time he rode GT with fresh legs when he made a selection, half the guys was just half himself

 

[Euskaltel!]

I can't wait for the Henao/Nordhaug double act to resume. Those two working together in the Giro and Ardennes was good to watch. Two exciting young riders there.

Giro? lol. Nordhaug wasn't there...

 

[will10]

Giro? lol. Nordhaug wasn't there...

Suspect he meant Pais Vasco

 

[LaFlorecita]

Should be an "easy" one for Froome and Sky. Dominate the TTT to gain some time on Contador, then Froome will take a minute on Contador on the long ITT. Sky to push a hard and steady pace in the mountains dropping all of Condators domestiques and isolating him, thereby making him work harder - getting him more fatigued the longer Vuleta goes. Sure Contador might drop Froome in the end of some steep mountain finishes but the time gaps will be smal and not enough to take overall.

In the normal world, Froome should just be too fatigued after TdF and the Olympics to be able to challenge Contador. Froome went just as hard as Wiggins in TdF and the Olympics, and it's only 4 weeks from the end of TdF to the start of Vuelta. It shouldn't be possible for Froome to keep the form and be 100% at the Vuelta.

Lol you are funny

 

[SetonHallPirate]

As I've said many times, it's a very favorable course for Purito, and with Katusha bringing Menchov along (presumably as a domestique for Rodriguez), I wouldn't count him out. Then again, who would have expected the top two steps on the podium to be occupied by Cobo and Froome last year?

 

[Cimber]

Seems like CAS might be on the SBTB Vuelta team.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/no-surgery-needed-for-chris-anker-sorensen
Might as well replace Noval

 

[DominicDecoco]

I could replace Noval.

 

[Cimber]

I could replace Noval.

LOL, but u couldnt replace his effort at the dinner table

 

[Parrulo]

LOL, but u couldnt replace his effort at the dinner table

winner winner chicken dinner!!!!