Vuelta a España 2011

[Forunculo]

Is the first stage to be ride at midnight again?

My bet for Vuelta are Purito and Anton, and for 3th spot Menchov, Nibali and the unknown fitness of VdB

 

[the asian]

Is the first stage to be ride at midnight again?

My bet for Vuelta are Purito and Anton, and for 3th spot Menchov, Nibali and the unknown fitness of VdB

No way Purito wins the vuelta with a 45 KM flat ITT. Last year he was in the lead before the ITT, but did a horrible one losing about 4 minutes. More likely to be Anton, Nibali or Scarponi. Not sure whether Menchov has it still.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

It has nothing to do with him being right or wrong, but with his attitude.

he is very obnoxious. And makes his points on selective data.

---


Purito would have to do a number in the mountains to win.
I can see him being the best climber tho, and his strength could very well play into the hands off anton, who is my pick for the win.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

The steeper a climb is, the more it becomes J-Rod's playground.

I would love to see him and Gilbert take each other on on Montelupone. That's J-Rod's yard.

Phille would crack big time imo. He cracked a couple of times in TA this year..

 

[Kwibus]

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.

 

[Forunculo]

No way Purito wins the vuelta with a 45 KM flat ITT. Last year he was in the lead before the ITT, but did a horrible one losing about 4 minutes. More likely to be Anton, Nibali or Scarponi. Not sure whether Menchov has it still.

Last year he rode Tour, in Giro he didn't lost so much, the problem is that the last high mountain is Angliru 16 stage i think. The rest are basque hills. A gift to Euskatel, this is a penalty for Nibali because his team can't defend him against all. Scarponi to me is going to do a Franck Schelck last year. Top 5 and very invisible in race.

 

[Kwibus]

Last year he rode Tour, in Giro he didn't lost so much, the problem is that the last high mountain is Angliru 16 stage i think. The rest are basque hills. A gift to Euskatel, this is a penalty for Nibali because his team can't defend him against all. Scarponi to me is going to do a Franck Schelck last year. Top 5 and very invisible in race.

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.

 

[El Pistolero]

Phille would crack big time imo. He cracked a couple of times in TA this year..

Yeah, but he wasn't in super shape back then.

 

[Ney the Viking]

CAS having free roam to aim for top 10 GC at the vuelta. If the legs isnt there he wants to hunt stages. Fuglsang reported captain at Leopard, and Brechel has free roam for stage hunting at rabobank. Source: http://ekstrabladet.dk/sport/fodbold/landsholdsfodbold/article1598478.ece

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

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.

I haven't read much on the website lately (or any cycling actually), did they indicate mollema would ride or just a hunch?

I am curious as to Kruijswijk. Will he be leader (co-leader with lulu?), protected or what. Hopefully he can ride his own race anyway.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

CAS having free roam to aim for top 10 GC at the vuelta. If the legs isnt there he wants to hunt stages. Fuglsang reported captain at Leopard, and Brechel has free roam for stage hunting at rabobank. Source: http://ekstrabladet.dk/sport/fodbold/landsholdsfodbold/article1598478.ece

I read that he would be working for friere in the sprints but would get a few opportunities also.

 

[cineteq]

Euskatel's 9 for Vuelta
Igor Antón, Mikel Nieve, Egoi Martínez, Gorka Verdugo, Amets Txurruka, Juanjo Oroz, Iñaki Isasi, Jorge Azanza y Pierre Cazaux

What? No Landa?

 

[hrotha]

Euskatel's 9 for Vuelta
Igor Antón, Mikel Nieve, Egoi Martínez, Gorka Verdugo, Amets Txurruka, Juanjo Oroz, Iñaki Isasi, Jorge Azanza y Pierre Cazaux

What? No Landa?

Too young. Euskaltel is big into not putting any sort of pressure into their riders, that's why Antón is still a promising young gun at 28 instead of a consolidated star.

 

[l.Harm]

I haven't read much on the website lately (or any cycling actually), did they indicate mollema would ride or just a hunch?

I am curious as to Kruijswijk. Will he be leader (co-leader with lulu?), protected or what. Hopefully he can ride his own race anyway.

I assume he can. He can surprise and ride top 5 (with some luck).

 

[Kvinto]

Kruijswijk should definitely be a team leader, the one and only. Lulu doesn't look like a GC contender even for Vuelta, then Mollema... i dunno... his Giro 2010 was memorable but Kruijswijk's Giro 2011 was better. I think Mollema can be much more useful for the team in the post WC classics.

 

[Kwibus]

I haven't read much on the website lately (or any cycling actually), did they indicate mollema would ride or just a hunch?

I am curious as to Kruijswijk. Will he be leader (co-leader with lulu?), protected or what. Hopefully he can ride his own race anyway.

Allthough this isn't rock solid evidence that they will go to the Vuelta.

http://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/15116/mollema,-slagter-en-keizer-naar-vuelta-a-españa.html

I'm pretty sure it's true though.

 

[Descender]

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

 

[Michielveedeebee]

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

who else did that ?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I haven't read much on the website lately (or any cycling actually), did they indicate mollema would ride or just a hunch?

I am curious as to Kruijswijk. Will he be leader (co-leader with lulu?), protected or what. Hopefully he can ride his own race anyway.

Lol, as if Rabobank would ever have Kruijswijk (best GT result 9th in gruesome Giro) work for LL Sanchez (best GT result 10th in soft Vuelta).
Kruijswijk will be the leader, or actually most of the team will have free role, maybe keep 1 guy for Kruijswijk

 

[Fetisoff]

who else did that ?

Miguel Poblet (ESP): 1956
Pierino Baffi (ITA): 1958
Alessandro Petacchi (ITA): 2003

 

[icefire]

who else did that ?

Miguel Poblet (1956)
Pierino Baffi (1958)
Alessandro Petacchi (2003)

 

[Nielsa]

Miguel Poblet (ESP): 1956
Pierino Baffi (ITA): 1958
Alessandro Petacchi (ITA): 2003

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

 

[Lanark]

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

Petacchi didn't, don't know about the other two.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

@kwibus
yea, probably true.
thanks

Lol, as if Rabobank would ever have Kruijswijk (best GT result 9th in gruesome Giro) work for LL Sanchez (best GT result 10th in soft Vuelta).
Kruijswijk will be the leader, or actually most of the team will have free role, maybe keep 1 guy for Kruijswijk

this was more or less my assumption, with rabo mgmt you never tho.

I was certain he'd be co-leader at the very least.

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.

 

[Fetisoff]

I don't think Petacchi finished the TDF in 2003. It's hard to tell with the other two, Baffi is not in the final standings for the Vuelta, but those are not complete either (seems like he finished the other two). Same goes for Poblet and the Giro, as I couldn't find the results for that year