Vuelta a España 2011

[roundabout]

Curious, did these riders finish those GTs as well? (Cav dropped out of the Giro this year.)

Baffi finished all 3

Poblet finished none

 

[Barrus]

I'm pretty sure this will be the Rabobank squad for the Vuelta:

Mollema
Kruijswijk
Slagter
Breschel
Martens
Barredo
LLSanchez
Freire
Garate

Nice lineup I'd say. Kruijswijk and Mollema for their 2nd GT this year while being below 25. So I have no idea what to expect from them.
The talented Slagter gets to show himself after crashing out of the Giro.

Breschel and Freire get to work on their WC form and are always possible stage winners.

Barredo had really good form during the TdF, but was unlucky not to get into a break. I wonder if he can keep that form for the Vuelta.

Lulu, well it's impossible to predict how he will do. He was invisible this TdF besides the stage he won.

Garate, well... He doesn't have to work for Gesink so we'll see what happens.

You are completely correct Kwibus, or did nu use you as a source

http://www.nu.nl/sport/2585775/raboploeg-met-drie-nederlanders-in-vuelta.html

 

[theyoungest]

Regarding mollema and kruijswijk, at this point I am not sure a whole lot separates them in ability. But Kruijswijk comes off as a confident rider for me, should be even more so after his impressive giro and suisse. Confidence and self-belief is a big thing.

I don't know if you've ever read or watched a Mollema interview, but that guy is the most relaxed person you can imagine. Almost to the point that you'd want him to care a little more A bit like Freire.

So I don't think confidence is a problem.

 

[Kwibus]

You are completely correct Kwibus, or did nu use you as a source

http://www.nu.nl/sport/2585775/raboploeg-met-drie-nederlanders-in-vuelta.html

Well I got it from http://www.wielerflits.nl

 

[Kwibus]

The problem for Kruijswijk this Vuelta is that the mountain stages are in the first 2 weeks and he usually shines in the 3rd week.. based on 2 Giro performances.
And his first week is usually pretty poor. Let's hope he can change that.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I don't know if you've ever read or watched a Mollema interview, but that guy is the most relaxed person you can imagine. Almost to the point that you'd want him to care a little more A bit like Freire.

So I don't think confidence is a problem.

I didn't mean so much in charisma and such. But that's beside the point, I wasn't really comparing him to Mollema, despite the way I structured my post

but on the bike I see a lot of confidence in Kruijswijk, Mollema has this also tho. Like I said I don't see much difference between the two. The age difference isn't too significant, it can be argued that Kruijswijk has possibly progressed in a shorter time frame but then Mollema started riding at a very late age, and had injury/sick problems plague his progress.

Anyway regarding this upcoming vuelta fair to say I don't expect much from Mollema. Obvious reasons.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

The problem for Kruijswijk this Vuelta is that the mountain stages are in the first 2 weeks and he usually shines in the 3rd week.. based on 2 Giro performances.
And his first week is usually pretty poor. Let's hope he can change that.

yeah i was thinking this also. We'll see.
Either way I am sure it will be good experience for him.

 

[theyoungest]

yeah i was thinking this also. We'll see.
Either way I am sure it will be good experience for him.

Luckily he's had an incredibly tough preparation race in the Tour of Denmark

Basically this goes for all contenders: we'll see who's really in it FTW after 4 days. Which is nice, for a change. No speculating for two weeks as to who will crack on the first mountain, like in the Tour.

 

[staubsauger]

if he cracks at stage 4 he could still go for the kom in the second week, with a good chance to win it and maybe even get a stage win...

 

[Tank Engine]

Luckily he's had an incredibly tough preparation race in the Tour of Denmark

Basically this goes for all contenders: we'll see who's really in it FTW after 4 days. Which is nice, for a change. No speculating for two weeks as to who will crack on the first mountain, like in the Tour.

Yes, the flow of the Vuelta is normally very different from the tour. The GC contenders have to be up there all the time. All the same it does seem to be a strange last week. Most of the stages look hard, but maybe not the type of stages that will cause any big time differences. Stage 17 is a hill top finish with a couple of non-major climbs earlier on, so there will be some small differences. In Stage 18 and 19, the climbs might be to too far from the finish to make a difference (although stage 19 might cause some differences).
The finish to Stage 20 looks like it might be on a plateau subject to cross winds, but I don't know the geography of that area. If so, the climbs together with cross winds at the end may cause disruption. If not, the race will probably have been decided by the top of the Angliru (with nearly a week to go), but hey if the tour is won on the Alpe, where is the Vuelta won?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The problem for Kruijswijk this Vuelta is that the mountain stages are in the first 2 weeks and he usually shines in the 3rd week.. based on 2 Giro performances.
And his first week is usually pretty poor. Let's hope he can change that.

3 words:
Tour de Suisse

Did you forget?

 

[icefire]

3 words:
Tour de Suisse

Did you forget?

Kruijswijk did in TdS more or less what Purito in Dauphiné. They both carried on the form from the Giro to a 1-week race.

Now the situation is a bit different.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

So? Isn't the Vuelta 1st week the same?

You carry the form over from your preparation.
Suisse is btw, as you sure know, 2 weeks later than the Giro, so it's not comparable to Rodriguez/Dauphine.

If Kruijswijk starts the Vuelta in good form, in other words, if he had a good preparation, the first week should not be a problem, not even the Sierra Nevada finish.

Also, last year, Kruijswijk did a good Tour of Burgos, where he finished top 10, and that was more than 1.5 month after the Giro.
It's simply bs that Kruijswijk can't do good if he didn't have 2 weeks of racing prior to it...

It IS true however that Kruijswijk recuperates better than others, and therfore has an advantage in the 3rd week.
And since there are already many mountain stages so early, it tires out everyone. And again, Kruijswijk recuperates better. So he still has the same advantage...
It's quite logical.

 

[icefire]

Everyone better warms up and gets ready for the heat in the first week. Sierra Nevada is a steady climb at 6-7%. You never know if it's going to be like the typical Terminillo finish or something closer to Mt Etna this year. Interestingly, Purito and Kruijswijk were together at the finish on the volcano.

 

[roundabout]

Skil

Kittel, Fröhlinger, Geschke, Veelers, Timmer, De Kort, Curvers, Doi, Geniez

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Incidentally, Cavendish will most probably become only the fourth rider in history to win stages in all three GTs in the same year.

And his 5th in a row in total.

 

[Kwibus]

3 words:
Tour de Suisse

Did you forget?

Ehm.. yes I actually did, but in Suisse he took his 3rd week Giro form with him

 

[The Hitch]

He was absolutely dreadful in last year's Tour AND Vuelta time-trials, however he worked on his time-trialing over the winter, and he wasn't horrible at the shorter one in Giro. Only lost 1.5 minutes to contador over 26km

I liked when in the Nevegal tt he took a tt bike for the first 5k and was still down on Nibali at the intermeidate check point. I love J rod but as a tter he is truly awful. 1 minute every 10 km to Tony Martin seems almost a bit generous.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Ehm.. yes I actually did, but in Suisse he took his 3rd week Giro form with him

So he took his 3rd week Giro form with him 2,5 weeks later

Read above. I don't really believe in that crap. It's recuperation that makes him so good in the 3rd week. Because others weaken faster. Not twee weeks of getting into shape.

If there's lots of hard stages in the beginning he'll still have the advantage from that better recuperation. Because the others still don't recuperate as fast as he does from hard stages... So what's the difference? Only that the '3rd week effect' comes sooner

 

[The Hitch]

I'm hoping and expecting the latter from Wiggins. I think he now knows what it means and what it takes to be a top GC contender.

Im not sure Bradley Wiggins cares about being a top gc contender or not. It seems to me he only cares about being a Tour contender. I would be shocked to see him be able to motivate himself for the Giro yet alone the weakest gt.

I would very much like to see him prove me wrong of course.

 

[The Hitch]

Those basque hills are really great, but the problem is that they are always waaay too far fromt he finish. I don't think there will be a lot of GC action in the basque country... unfortunately.
I think Purito showed some progress at TT'ing, but it won't be enough to win a GT unless he takes huge amounts of time in the mountains. He won't though. Anton showed us last year that he's more likely to take time in the mountains, but I don't know anything about his TT ability, but I expect he isn't any good at it.

But they do come after the mountain stages, usually the point after which the race is set and done, so if the gaps are close going into the Basque country some riders might decide its worth a shot.

If its close that is.

 

[Anonymous]

every route map, profile and final km's profile on one page.
http://teamskyfans.com/Vuelta.html

 

[Fetisoff]

very route map, profile and final km's profile on one page.
http://teamskyfans.com/Vuelta.html

Thanks, looks good.
Some of these are inconsistent with the vuelta website though. The ITT is actually 47 km long, the TTT is 13.5...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, looks good.
Some of these are inconsistent with the vuelta website though. The ITT is actually 47 km long, the TTT is 13.5...

will change that. the distances are based on the original released distances back whenever it was.

fixed: thats what you get when you do your preview in May. Thanks for spotting it.

 

[Swede1]

So based on Brajkovic's 17th place in Tour of Utah prologue does it mean that he recovered well and is in a good position to do well at the Vuelta? Or is this the remnants of his Tour form and he is on a downward trajectory with his form?