Vuelta a España - Stage 12 Andorra la Vella - Lleida 172.5km

[The Hitch]

Vuelta a España - Stage 12 Andorra la Vella - Lleida 172.5km

Sprint/ Breakaway


Official prediction: tfftw -Farrar

 

[Connor Pass]

For the first time ever I'll tip Cavendish to win a stage!

As always HTC don't have a whole lot going on in GC and will chase the break.

 

[Polyarmour]

For the first time ever I'll tip Cavendish to win a stage!

As always HTC don't have a whole lot going on in GC and will chase the break.

Yes I don't think he'll be first over that climb, but he and HTC have 120km to catch the leaders.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

For the first time ever I'll tip Cavendish to win a stage!

I wonder if he'd make it past the AleJet - that is if AleJet hadn't gone back home early.

 

[Kwibus]

I wonder if he'd make it past the AleJet - that is if AleJet hadn't gone back home early.

Ale-Jet is at home.
I also predict Cavendish to win.

 

[Frosty]

Julian Dean may be feeling better now and so be able to help farrar out more in the final stages of the sprints. He finished at 13.19 down yesterday which was 6 minutes ahead of the Cav bus and 7.30 ahead of the final group of 15.

 

[The Hitch]

Julian Dean may be feeling better now and so be able to help farrar out more in the final stages of the sprints. He finished at 13.19 down yesterday which was 6 minutes ahead of the Cav bus and 7.30 ahead of the final group of 15.

+ farrar did well to get 1 or 2 points in the sprint 15 k from the finish yesterday. I say hes got good form which is why i pick him.

 

[craig1985]

Grega Bole FFS.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Cav-tastic......

 

[hrotha]

Yeah, Cav should win this. Not that I want him to.

 

[Frosty]

Break of 6 out in front including Bak from HTC. Is he just going to sit on the back or do they not fancy Cav's chances? Maybe they are going to make the other sprinters' teams do the chase so they can give Cav more of a hand in the finale?

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Break of 6 out in front including Bak from HTC. Is he just going to sit on the back or do they not fancy Cav's chances? Maybe they are going to make the other sprinters' teams do the chase so they can give Cav more of a hand in the finale?

Clever tactic really. It'll make Garmin do some work at least.

 

[joy118118]

HTC hasnt enough powerhouses to do what they do in Tour. And they havent Eisel now.

 

[Frosty]

David Garcia has joined the break. He is only 5.14 down so euskaltel are chasing. There are 3 Xacebo riders in the break of 9 so euskaltel will have to watch it. Not such a straightforward break v the sprinter's teams after all!

 

[roundabout]

Respect that Xacobeo is trying, but is this the right stage to do it?

 

[ttrider]

Nothing wrong with choice of stage, if plan fails they can simply have a rest day tomorrow.... interesting move, beginning to like Xacebo Galicia

 

[roundabout]

I mean that other than the GC teams who may or may not want to chase there will also be sprinter teams who will definately Euskaltel.

 

[nvpacchi]

As long as Euskaltel keeps the gap manageable, they should get sprinter's team help down the stretch. There is no need to get too antsy just b/c Lopez is in the break.

 

[Ferminal]

Grega Bole FFS.

I doubt he will be preferred to Hondo?

 

[Frosty]

From the news feed it seems to be Garmin and Quick Step who are on the front anyway at the moment.

 

[Francois the Postman]

HTC hasnt enough powerhouses to do what they do in Tour. And they havent Eisel now.

They have got the full train approach tuned to perfection, but are struggling a bit this Vuelta to make a shorter and less powerful one work for them. As if the power-approach is in the head and hard to replace with something more suitable. The same for Mark maybe. Not quite in the same form, but going through the motions as if he is.

Mark is almost left to do a Freire towards the very end. Pick a wheel of the (2nd) most likely candidate for victory. And he hasn't got that approach down at all. Been very strange to see someone in a HTC shirt picking the (empty) Rabo spot in those sprints.

I'm sure he's annoyed and humiliated enough to throw some extra venom in it today, assuming it is all playing out as we expect, and we get that mass sprint. Which probably means he'll fluff it one more time (I'm with Farrar for the day) before getting it right the very next time. And then bow out of the Vuelta.

BTW, just read that Contador is planning to do two Tours next year, TdF and Vuelta. He made similar comments about the Vuelta last year, so take it with the appropriate amount of salt. But it does sound like he feels he peaked to early this year, and won't give the early season quite the keen attention it got this year. And with a shorter Spring, it makes sense that he keeps a longer Fall open as an option, especially if he doesn't need to be at his best in August. And if he needs to be at his best in August (he hasn't got the TdF in the bag just yet I think, so we even might be treated to Contador looking to save his 2011 season in Spain).

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/08092010/58/vuelta-espana-contador-eyes-vuelta-return.html

 

[Jamsque]

The break is being kept within easy reach, ought to be a bunch sprint.

 

[sublimit]

Can Theo Bos have a go at the sprint? He should of stuck to track racing and continually lose to Sir Chris Hoy and jason Kenny but you never know, he might pull something off today.

Garmin pulling hard for Tyler but Cav will get this.

 

[Mellow Velo]

The Vuelta goes all scenic....................and for this stage, it needed to.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Can Theo Bos have a go at the sprint? He should of stuck to track racing and continually lose to Sir Chris Hoy and jason Kenny but you never know, he might pull something off today.

Garmin pulling hard for Tyler but Cav will get this.

At least we know Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny can never succesfully switch to the road because they are completely wrongly build.

Theo Bos is far more versatile