Vuelta a España 2018 Rumours

[Gigs_98]

Re:

But isn't it good to have a climb where the harder sections are at the bottom, so as to encourage attacks from further out?

I agree but what climb are you talking about? After all the hardest two kilometers of mont oiz are the last two

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

But isn't it good to have a climb where the harder sections are at the bottom, so as to encourage attacks from further out?

Also, an Arcalis MTT would be great. The climbs isn't tough enough to provide big gaps these days on a road stage, but for an ITT it is perfect imo.

Hopefully there is also a flat ITT somewhere.

I doubt it, and from the rumors about the mountains, I sure as hell hope not. That would be imbalanced as ***, and at would mean every GT this year is suited to the TTers.

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

But isn't it good to have a climb where the harder sections are at the bottom, so as to encourage attacks from further out?

Also, an Arcalis MTT would be great. The climbs isn't tough enough to provide big gaps these days on a road stage, but for an ITT it is perfect imo.

Hopefully there is also a flat ITT somewhere.

There are rumours about almost everything, including a flat ITT. Like the rumour about the MTT there are no trusted sources for it. Both TTs would be in the 3rd week. In fact the flat ITT is rumoured to be in Ejea de los Caballeros (near Zaragoza), which is half-way between the Basque Country and Andorra. Best case we can assume is rest day after Asturias on Monday, Monte Oiz on Tuesday, flat ITT Wednesday and... MTT on Saturday? I find that hard to believe. It smells to fake rumours.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

But isn't it good to have a climb where the harder sections are at the bottom, so as to encourage attacks from further out?

Also, an Arcalis MTT would be great. The climbs isn't tough enough to provide big gaps these days on a road stage, but for an ITT it is perfect imo.

Hopefully there is also a flat ITT somewhere.

I doubt it, and from the rumors about the mountains, I sure as hell hope not. That would be imbalanced as ****, and at would mean every GT this year is suited to the TTers.

How is the Tour suited to the time trialists? The mountains stages are plenty hard to do something. Unless you of course count the TTT and even the cobbled stage also

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

But isn't it good to have a climb where the harder sections are at the bottom, so as to encourage attacks from further out?

Also, an Arcalis MTT would be great. The climbs isn't tough enough to provide big gaps these days on a road stage, but for an ITT it is perfect imo.

Hopefully there is also a flat ITT somewhere.

I doubt it, and from the rumors about the mountains, I sure as hell hope not. That would be imbalanced as ****, and at would mean every GT this year is suited to the TTers.

How is the Tour suited to the time trialists? The mountains stages are plenty hard to do something. Unless you of course count the TTT and even the cobbled stage also

The first 9 stages are great for the better rouleurs and stronger teams. I don't think the mountains are great to do something cause Sky is so damn strong.

 

[Netserk]

As weak as the Tour route may be, it is roughly as tilted towards the climbers as '11. Climbers on strong teams, that is.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

As weak as the Tour route may be, it is roughly as tilted towards the climbers as '11. Climbers on strong teams, that is.

2011 didn't have cobbles. But mostly, 2011 was before Team Sky did what they do now. That Tour would've been reduced to the last 3/5km on Luz Ardiden, Plateau de Beille, Col du Galibier, and Alpe d'Huez, no problem at all.

That Tour ended up being close because Evans had a garbage team, and no team consistently controlled the race.


Now there's only 3 stages where the pure climbers can realistically put in decent attacks. Unless you count the Tourmalet at some 80km from the finish as a legit opportunity. Anything else is gonna get reeled in real easy.

Only chance for chaos in the mountains is if at least 2 Sky riders crash out in the first week.

 

[Netserk]

Uh, Sky won't be that frightening in the mountains next year. No Nieve, no Landa. Kawazaki, G and Moscon will have all-round roles, and neither can be expected to regularly be there when the other leaders make their moves. Henao showed this year his lack of consistency. Poels will be frightening, no doubt, but it'll be down to him when sh!t hits the fan.

But sure, it's only about as TT-biased as '15 then...

 

[ice&fire]

La Vuelta does not discard a stage in Catalunya
http://www.mundodeportivo.com/ciclismo/vuelta-espana/20171024/432328987778/la-vuelta-no-descarta-su-paso-por-catalunya.html

A Catalan journalist asks Guillén during the presentation of the opening ITT if the Vuelta will visit his home town and Guillén who doesn't know anything because the course is still very open says whatever to please the journalist.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Re: Re:

But isn't it good to have a climb where the harder sections are at the bottom, so as to encourage attacks from further out?

Also, an Arcalis MTT would be great. The climbs isn't tough enough to provide big gaps these days on a road stage, but for an ITT it is perfect imo.

Hopefully there is also a flat ITT somewhere.

I doubt it, and from the rumors about the mountains, I sure as hell hope not. That would be imbalanced as ****, and at would mean every GT this year is suited to the TTers.

How is the Tour suited to the time trialists? The mountains stages are plenty hard to do something. Unless you of course count the TTT and even the cobbled stage also

The first 9 stages are great for the better rouleurs and stronger teams. I don't think the mountains are great to do something cause Sky is so damn strong.

I really thought you were trolling

The way the sport is going I can see climbers being outraged twenty years from now when a GT includes no ITT's, but it's prologue is pancake flat.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

But isn't it good to have a climb where the harder sections are at the bottom, so as to encourage attacks from further out?

Also, an Arcalis MTT would be great. The climbs isn't tough enough to provide big gaps these days on a road stage, but for an ITT it is perfect imo.

Hopefully there is also a flat ITT somewhere.

I doubt it, and from the rumors about the mountains, I sure as hell hope not. That would be imbalanced as ****, and at would mean every GT this year is suited to the TTers.

How is the Tour suited to the time trialists? The mountains stages are plenty hard to do something. Unless you of course count the TTT and even the cobbled stage also

The first 9 stages are great for the better rouleurs and stronger teams. I don't think the mountains are great to do something cause Sky is so damn strong.

I really thought you were trolling

The way the sport is going I can see climbers being outraged twenty years from now when a GT includes no ITT's, but it's prologue is pancake flat.

Balance is relative, and it needs to be seen in context, and depends on relative ability of contenders as well as its teams. A route that is biased to climbers may be biased to TT'ers in another year.

And I really think the mountains aren't that great because half the mountain stages are wasted stages unless somehting crazy happens.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Uh, Sky won't be that frightening in the mountains next year. No Nieve, no Landa. Kawazaki, G and Moscon will have all-round roles, and neither can be expected to regularly be there when the other leaders make their moves. Henao showed this year his lack of consistency. Poels will be frightening, no doubt, but it'll be down to him when **** hits the fan.

But sure, it's only about as TT-biased as '15 then...

Thomas is there when the peloton is down to 10 if he doesn't crash out. Given both Moscon and Kwiat are gonna be there, one of them will do his work later than usual.

Not to mention it's pretty likely that 5 of 8 Sky riders will have had top 10s in Roubaix or won other cobbled classics, assuming they bring 2 rouleurs

 

[ice&fire]

La Covatilla will host stage 9 on Sunday 2nd of September. Nothing is said on other climbs in the stage.
First rest day will be in Salamanca.
Stage 10 will be Salamanca - Fermoselle.

Fermoselle hosted a stage finish last year in Castilla y Leon. I guess we can expect something similar with a hill climb from the bottom of the river canyon followed by two false flat kilometers to the line.

http://bicirunsalamanca.com/2017/10/la-vuelta-ciclista-a-espana-regresa-a-salamanca-y-a-la-covatilla-en-2018-tras-siete-anos/

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Uh, Sky won't be that frightening in the mountains next year. No Nieve, no Landa. Kawazaki, G and Moscon will have all-round roles, and neither can be expected to regularly be there when the other leaders make their moves. Henao showed this year his lack of consistency. Poels will be frightening, no doubt, but it'll be down to him when **** hits the fan.

But sure, it's only about as TT-biased as '15 then...

Isn't de la cruz going to sky as well? He would be another domestique so strong that he could get a top 10 in gc if he doesn't have to work for someone else.

 

[yaco]

I dont expect Moscon to ride the TDF - I expect he will try for GC at the Vuelta, as Froome is likely to bypass the Vuelta.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Landa, Nieve and Poels have pretty much been the 3 best mountain domestiques for the last 3 years. Nieve has an insane amount of consistency and Landa and Poels have a Porte-esque ceiling as domestiques on good days.

 

[ice&fire]

Sorry for interrupting the Team Sky discussion with an off-topic post about the Vuelta rumours. Ciclo21 is reporting today that Puerto Lumbreras (in Murcia close to the border with Andalucía) will host a stage departure.
http://www.ciclo21.com/vuelta-espana-2018/

If stage 4 departs from somewhere in Málaga, stage 9 finishes in La Covatilla and they have to go to Puerto Lumbreras sometime in between, they're going to do more kilometres in the bus than on the bike.

 

[julianper]

The latest news are showing that our rumours are being confirmed, so we're right. That means the Vuelta 2018 will be one of the worst Grand Tours ever done. One more time, there you can see how will be this cycling-joke: https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/tours/view/7174

 

[Sciocco]

Re:

The latest news are showing that our rumours are being confirmed, so we're right. That means the Vuelta 2018 will be one of the worst Grand Tours ever done. One more time, there you can see how will be this cycling-joke: https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/tours/view/7174

I like the stage to Luintra. (maybe at least)

Otherwise...

 

[Singer01]

That cant be it surely, what a load of dogsh!t.

 

[Gigs_98]

Purito to make a comeback and win by 5 minutes.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

The latest news are showing that our rumours are being confirmed, so we're right. That means the Vuelta 2018 will be one of the worst Grand Tours ever done. One more time, there you can see how will be this cycling-joke: https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/tours/view/7174

So that has Monte Oiz being done from the harder side, not from Iurreta?

Oiz, Lagos, Covatilla and the Andorra stage will encourage a lot of climbers I think. The medium mountain stage I guess will be how they always are: either the riders can make them memorable, or they can do nothing on them and they will be dull af.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

The latest news are showing that our rumours are being confirmed, so we're right. That means the Vuelta 2018 will be one of the worst Grand Tours ever done. One more time, there you can see how will be this cycling-joke: https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/tours/view/7174

So that has Monte Oiz being done from the harder side, not from Iurreta?

Oiz, Lagos, Covatilla and the Andorra stage will encourage a lot of climbers I think. The medium mountain stage I guess will be how they always are: either the riders can make them memorable, or they can do nothing on them and they will be dull af.

Must be the harder side, but it's still pure speculation.

If we're gonna go with stupid steep climbs, I wouldn't mind seeing Cuitu Negru again instead of another year of Covadonga.

 

[Gerrard Slipped haha]

Wait, are you really telling me that the Malaga proloque could be the only ITT/TTT of Vuelta? If so then wow. Amount of MTF's is pretty typical for Vuelta, but very few stages actually look interesting and make you feel that something big could happen, I think Oiz and Covadonga are the only ones, rest looks shitty. I agree that if it was 2010-15, Purito would win this race by like 6 minutes.

Let's hope Oiz rumours are true and *** everything else, give me something better than this

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Wait, are you really telling me that the Malaga proloque could be the only ITT/TTT of Vuelta? If so then wow. Amount of MTF's is pretty typical for Vuelta, but very few stages actually look interesting and make you feel that something big could happen, I think Oiz and Covadonga are the only ones, rest looks ******. I agree that if it was 2010-15, Purito would win this race by like 6 minutes.

Let's hope Oiz rumours are true and **** everything else, give me something better than this

Still better than having more TTT than ITT. But very little is confirmed yet.