Vuelta 2012: Stage Profiles and Analysis

[Arnout]

Of course

 

[3wheeler]

Nice Strong "Sky" Team... Froome all nicely Battle Hardened.. Hope youve been training hard Mr Cobo.

 

[ferryman]

Nice one Arnout I will be dipping in and out of this for sure when the race starts.

 

[Miburo]

Movistar, katusha and Sky have an insanely strong team. Besides Sky they have a stronger team than they had in the tour.

Btw Katusha will be awesome cause they will always ride to take back the brake-away so that purito can try and take boni-sec if he wins the mountain stage.

So much more awesome that the big guys try and win the mountain stage.

 

[The Hitch]

He won't be allowed in break anyway as race leader.

Hmm so you think there could be a laquilla scenario in asturias. Would be interesting to see contador having to chase down a huge anton lead in the gc. Wouldnt i imagine be too dissimilar from Armstrong vs Voeckler 2004.

Well that's the point of The Hitch. Last year Anton lost a lot of time once they reached the Basque country so he was allowed to get into the break and won the stage with an impressive ride.
Now it's the first week so he they won't let him go.

Precisely

 

[Arnout]

Hmm so you think there could be a laquilla scenario in asturias. Would be interesting to see contador having to chase down a huge anton lead in the gc. Wouldnt i imagine be too dissimilar from Armstrong vs Voeckler 2004.

Don't be ignorant You know I'm right, Anton will gain (a lot of) time on everyone in the mountains. Only Quintana will stay close. But then Anton will crash in the last flat stage to finish 4th.

You heard it here first.

Anyway, I won't be able to defend him next week, vacation! (Hopefully) going to climb the Passo San Marco, among others. Wish me luck

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Antón's customary crashing out of the race always comes on the penultimate weekend, descending from the penultimate climb of a big MTF stage. Therefore I pin his accident down as coming on the descent of Folgueira de Aigas before the Ancares MTF. I originally suggested Cobertoria, but I think that's just too late in the race for him.

 

[The Hitch]

Don't be ignorant You know I'm right, Anton will gain (a lot of) time on everyone in the mountains. Only Quintana will stay close. But then Anton will crash in the last flat stage to finish 4th.

You heard it here first.

Anyway, I won't be able to defend him next week, vacation! (Hopefully) going to climb the Passo San Marco, among others. Wish me luck

This vacation seems suspiciously similar to the annual vacation Ryo Hazuki seems to take right before the queen stage of the giro

 

[Arnout]

I'll be back before the real racing starts though

 

[Señor_Contador]

If Antón does not know how to properly descend from a climb in the TdF he's going to have to a hell of a time descending from the Galician climbs. Imagine the Crostis without the barriers and the nice pavement...



This is where future TdF winners are made folks.

Take notes.

 

[Señor_Contador]

Sounds good to me. Now let's hope it will happen as well.
Echelons are always fantastic to watch imo.

For starters you can check the following: http://www2.meteogalicia.es/NovoXeollador/xeohoxeN.asp. Check the Lira/Carnota weather station before the race.

From personal experience I can tell you that the weather outside of the rias (water inlets) is different from the outside so... the riders will be fighting 25-30º temperatures and 0 wind until they get to Lira, just around the Monte Louro bend, and the Atlantic is going to throw a big F*** YOU! at them: Winds will, all of a sudden, gust up to 25-45 mph (on a normal day) and temperatures will be around 20º. If at all. Considering this is Spain after all, and that most Vueltas are ridden around 30-35º temperatures, it is going to be a relief to some people.

Good luck to all.

 

[iZnoGouD]

Antón's customary crashing out of the race always comes on the penultimate weekend, descending from the penultimate climb of a big MTF stage. Therefore I pin his accident down as coming on the descent of Folgueira de Aigas before the Ancares MTF. I originally suggested Cobertoria, but I think that's just too late in the race for him.

yo libertino i know you're expert on this and i dont feel like going over all stage maps
i want to watch a stage live, that is not too far from Vila Real, which one should i choose? i want to see some action!

thks

 

[TourLeTour]

Will anyone be watching the whole thing live from the roadside?

 

[CasperVg]

Bad decision imo. He should really ride a GT.

Good news for the Thomas Dekker fans, he just confirmed on Twitter that he will be riding the Vuelta after all (probably because of the drop-outs that are leaving Garmin next season?)

Onderweg naar San Sebastian. Mooie koers. Toch mijn koffer wat voller gestopt voor de Ronde van Spanje die zaterdag begint. @lavuelta

and then a little later:

Even voor de duidelijkheid. Ik ga starten zaterdag in de ronde van spanje.. Joepie..

 

[jens_attacks]

that's great news
but i hope he will at least try to get a stage win

 

[cineteq]

Movistar
Juanjo Cobo
Alejandro Valverde
Beñat Intxausti
Nairo Quintana
Javi Moreno
Jonathan Castroviejo
Pablo Lastras
Imanol Erviti
José Joaquín Rojas

Katusha
Joaquim Rodríguez
Dani Moreno
Denis Menchov
Xavi Florencio
Alberto Losada,
Ángel Vicioso
Pavel Brutt
Mihail Ignatyev
Gatis Smukulis

 

[Miburo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRGH02FshbM

Nice trailer of the vuelta.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

that's great news
but i hope he will at least try to get a stage win

yeah..bit weird though. It says in the article on his own website that his form last week turned out to be good enough...but he didn't ride races last week. So they must have done a test...because he also mentions Adrie van Diemen (garmin trainer).

I expect nothing though. He hasn't been good since Bayern Rundfahrt (where he was 13th).

 

[PedalCastro]

JJ Rojas to win a couple of sprints? If he's in form

 

[The Hitch]

Old news but for those who care, this is the official song of this years Vuelta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lGU3AJ2qF4

I prefer last year and 2006 was the high point, but i think the idea is very good, especially since its not a meaningless official song (like olympics) but actually gets played at the race all the time and also on tv at the start before the race etc.

Well thats how it has been last few years anyway.

 

[roundabout]

JJ Rojas to win a couple of sprints? If he's in form

You think he can reach his year's quota in 3 weeks?

 

[DominicDecoco]

Old news but for those who care, this is the official song of this years Vuelta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lGU3AJ2qF4

I prefer last year and 2006 was the high point, but i think the idea is very good, especially since its not a meaningless official song (like olympics) but actually gets played at the race all the time and also on tv at the start before the race etc.

Well thats how it has been last few years anyway.

I'm sadly disappointed it wasn't this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ejs_IRcfGM

 

[The Hitch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRGH02FshbM

Nice trailer of the vuelta.

lol at how everyone gets a gt stage and Gesink gets TDS

 

[happytramp]

Does anybody know if there's an official programme magazine like the one's for the Giro and the tour? I became fairly dependent on them.

 

[Miburo]

lol at how everyone gets a gt stage and Gesink gets TDS

They had to give him something lol