Vuelta a España 2011

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

he will be there, but I can't see him winning on this course.

 

[scullster46]

I'm sure most know but Gesink apparently is not riding this anymore.

I'm really baffled at why Gesink is continuing racing in the tour right now, rather than leaving, and recovering/gearing up for the vuelta. The Vuelta '09 was by far his best ever GT showing, he really made that race interesting in the mountains. At his best he has a much better shot here than he did at the tour this year. Any dutchies or rabo-fans have any idea why he's doing this?

On a similar note, its good to hear that Kruiswijk is riding this. Maybe he should add about two weeks of hard racing before the start. If he recovers like he did at the giro he'd be riding away from everyone like they are on tricycles by the third week

 

[The Hitch]

Sastre is training for this. Everyone has written him off.

But there may be life in the old dog yet.

 

[jsem94]

Anton
The Pope
Lo Squalo

My top 3.

 

[The Hitch]

Scarponi is riding no?

 

[TeoSheva]

Scarponi is riding no?

yes he will. Wiggins too, Horner and Gesink not. I don't know VDB.

 

[Parrulo]

Scarponi is riding no?

yes he is riding

 

[The Sheep]

yes he will. Wiggins too, Horner and Gesink not. I don't know VDB.

VDB will also ride the Vuelta, got the ok from the doctors today to start training.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Wiggins is riding for worlds ITT shape, I doubt he'll carry on to the finish, and generally I doubt his mental capacity to get 'up' for the Vuelta when he has the get out card of the worlds to fall back on when the going gets tough and he doesnt want to hurt.

 

[therhodeo]

Horner has bike shop mechanics to beat up on in the Tour of Utah.

 

[jsem94]

Will J-Rod ride?

 

[PedalCastro]

Is Duarte riding for Geox in this?

 

[Duartista]

Is Duarte riding for Geox in this?

He should be, but he may not be at his best. He will only be able to start hard training from this weekend, so he is hoping to ride himself into form during the first week.

 

[taiwan]

Will J-Rod ride?

I believe so. No link.

 

[the chicken from T]

is Menchov riding ?

 

[Winterfold]

Wiggins is riding for worlds ITT shape, I doubt he'll carry on to the finish, and generally I doubt his mental capacity to get 'up' for the Vuelta when he has the get out card of the worlds to fall back on when the going gets tough and he doesnt want to hurt.

While some of this may be fair comment, he got up for the Dauphine, which so far was raced harder than the Tour, so maybe its time you cut him some slack and stopped doing the Brit thing of running our guys down?

That said, not a great parcours for him, I would not be surprised if he did not compete on GC and just went to muller the ITT and get in shape for the Worlds

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Maybe Wiggins can play it by ear. See how he feels to Covatilla and how in contention he is able to remain on the rather non-Wiggins-suited finishes in San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Valdepenas de Jáen, and where he lies GC-wise after the Salamanca ITT. If he's in a good position there, then why not have a go? If he's not up at the front, then pull out and focus on the Worlds.

Working hard until the end of the Vuelta didn't exactly harm Cadel Evans (3rd overall) and Joaquím Rodríguez (8th overall) in 2009 at the Worlds, did it.

 

[therealtimshady]

Possible startlists speculation for the Vuelta a espana 2011

Apologies if this thread has started already. With the tour unfortunately over just wondered whether there was some news on possible participants in the vuelta - i assume that the top 10 from the tour won't be competing

 

[El Pistolero]

Van den Broeck, Wiggins, Igor Anton, Joaquim Rodriguez, Vincenzo Nibali, the Radioshack squad, etc will start. Beats the field of the Tour

Cuddles was also going to start, but don't know if he still will.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

There is a thread but I'm sure mods will merge..
Anton
Scarponi
Jrod
Braj
Vdb?
Nibbles
Di luca
Menchov
Sastre
Evans?
Kruijswijk

 

[therealtimshady]

Can't imagine van den broek or wiggins taking the overall serious though

 

[El Pistolero]

There is a thread but I'm sure mods will merge..
Anton
Scarponi
Jrod
Braj
Vdb?
Nibbles
Di luca
Menchov
Sastre
Evans?
Kruijswijk

Yes, he'll start. Has already been training for a week I think. Kruijswijk to be "surprise" top 5.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Machado also i think
Geniez could be a dark horse for a good placing also

 

[dlwssonic]

Mathias Frank Baby!
maybe not the gc but he can go for stages or the KOM.

 

[Kwibus]

Raboteam:
Kruiswijk was just confirmed by Breukink in a interview just after the ceremony on the Champs.
Together with the 4 spanish riders Rabo has (Garate, Barredo, Sanchez and Freire). Maybe Mollema and definately not Gesink.

Can't wait for the Vuelta