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Vuelta 2024 discussion

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I'm so confused, are dinosaurs sponsoring? Cycling is so weird sometimes
Soudal sells some glue that is strong as a t-rex

1658314824235.jpg
 
Looks like some strong riders are starting early. Maybe they hope for less wind.

Wind looks to be consistent. Windy gives a 30 kph crosswind - but it's not coming from the sea so they may be decently sheltered.
 
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Looks like a tough Vuelta to call as hard to know condition of some guys.

Roglic is the best here but not great prep with just coming off a crash. UAE have probably the next best two options with Almeida and Yates (and I'd even love to see what Del Toro could do if let ride for himself). Then you start getting down to a list of guys with bad GC seasons (Mas, CRod, Kuss, Cian), guys who likely are domestiques (Arensman, Martinez) or guys who are too inconsistent to trust (Landa, Ciccone, O'Connor, Carapaz).

For stages then, there's no sprinters here bad WVA, Groves, Coquard and Strong so who knows how that goes. You'd imagine WVA should be the best but he's been nowhere close to his best lately. You'd be like grand on the 3ish clear spring stages but lack of teams to work to pull back a break could be a killer. If WVA was on form, you'd be looking at half the stages as options for him
 
Looks like some strong riders are starting early. Maybe they hope for less wind.

Another evening finish—but not so late they’ll finish in the dark!
Late start means I don’t even have to get up early to watch 🙂
 
Looks like a tough Vuelta to call as hard to know condition of some guys.

Roglic is the best here but not great prep with just coming off a crash. UAE have probably the next best two options with Almeida and Yates (and I'd even love to see what Del Toro could do if let ride for himself). Then you start getting down to a list of guys with bad GC seasons (Mas, CRod, Kuss, Cian), guys who likely are domestiques (Arensman, Martinez) or guys who are too inconsistent to trust (Landa, Ciccone, O'Connor, Carapaz).

For stages then, there's no sprinters here bad WVA, Groves, Coquard and Strong so who knows how that goes. You'd imagine WVA should be the best but he's been nowhere close to his best lately. You'd be like grand on the 3ish clear spring stages but lack of teams to work to pull back a break could be a killer. If WVA was on form, you'd be looking at half the stages as options for him
He should be favored for tomorrow given his excellent Olympic TT, no?
 
I often think it: the Tour has all the prestige, the Giro has (potentially) the route to die for, but for racing uncertainty, the Vuelta has the beating of both of both of them.. This year perhaps more that ever.
Giro has the potential to be great depending on what legendary passes they use and how they use it (clearly the best geography of the 3 IMO) and a very average field as of late with lots of weather related problems which put a damper on things, Tour is the Tour and has recently been the best GT as well with great battles and pretty good routes (especially 2022 stands out as the best route, maybe ever, in the race), while the Vuelta has the uncertainty, a great field on average and a route which differentiates a lot to the two more tradtional GTs with with lots of MTFs spreadout through the race and close to nothing for the sprinters. On average that makes for a better race.

In terms of watchability, its quite clear. Tour is on top, but the Vuelta is not that far of while the Giro is slumping massively.
1. Tour de France
2. Vuelta a Espana

3. Giro d' Italia

In terms of prestige, right now, I think the Vuelta is making a bid to become number 2 as well. I already consider it the second most prestigious GT due to the field which mostly comes down to the calender since there's almost nothing left for stage racers after Tour de France, but I realize that most people are probably still stuck in their ways. For me its quite obvious though that in terms of prestige and how hard it is to win, the Vuelta is 2nd.

Prestige:
1. Tour de France

2. Vuelta
3. Giro d' Italia
 
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