Vuelta a España 2022: Pre-race discussion/hype tread

[Marco-Sun]

Yes, I also assume that Ayuso will be better at the vuelta. That he will be better now doesn't mean that this will also be the case in two years or so, but for now Ayuso has to be rated higher. I am still excited for the Grand tour debut of both. At the age of 19 is quite impressive..

For sure Ayuso is the heavy favorite in this race of the first timers... quite curious to see if Brenner can show something at steeper and long climbs... but Form seems to be finally there after a nice time Trail in Poland

 

[Valv.Piti]

Damn, Emil Axelgaard from feltet.dk has Hindley as the favorite. So far his ranking looks like this:

Hindley
Roglic, Carapaz
Mas, Almeida, Lopez

No Evanepoel in first 6 is a bit of a surprise to me.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Damn, Emil Axelgaard from feltet.dk has Hindley as the favorite. So far his ranking looks like this:

Hindley
Roglic, Carapaz
Mas, Almeida, Lopez

No Evanepoel in first 6 is a bit of a surprise to me.

Last year he had Evenepoel as standout favorite for the Giro in his comeback from injury. Seems like he's afraid to ge burnt.

 

[tobydawq]

Damn, Emil Axelgaard from feltet.dk has Hindley as the favorite. So far his ranking looks like this:

Hindley
Roglic, Carapaz
Mas, Almeida, Lopez

No Evanepoel in first 6 is a bit of a surprise to me.

Evanepoel, lol. Sometimes I wonder if people have trouble spelling his name or just misspell it on purpose to mock him.

But yes, that was a surprise to me too. I don't get how he can put Hindley first when he spends so much time explaining how Hindley has his advantage in the third week and that the third week in this Vuelta doesn't allow for big time gaps. And there is a big, long flat TT.

 

[tobydawq]

Last year he had Evenepoel as standout favorite for the Giro in his comeback from injury. Seems like he's afraid to ge burnt.

I don't think he cares one bit about how anybody thinks of him. But I am interested to see what he has to say about Remco, provided he is among his 15 favourites

 

[Valv.Piti]

Evanepoel, lol. Sometimes I wonder if people have trouble spelling his name or just misspell it on purpose to mock him.

But yes, that was a surprise to me too. I don't get how he can put Hindley first when he spends so much time explaining how Hindley has his advantage in the third week and that the third week in this Vuelta doesn't allow for big time gaps. And there is a big, long flat TT.

It was not on purpose, Rimcoh Revanepul is a hard name to spell.

Logic: Do you actually follow these rankings?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Lotto Soudal bets on the alternative calendar and takes a modest team to La Vuelta. The big players will make an alternative calendar, looking for UCI points.

Lotto Soudal apuesta al calendario alternativo y lleva un modesto equipo a La Vuelta

Por @FXavierVidela Hoy por hoy, el conjunto belga está perdiendo la categoría World Tour. Sin un jefe de filas claro para disputar la general de la Vuelta a España 2022, los directores han decidido…

www.ciclismointernacional.com

Surprise surprise. This is exactly what i said they should have been doing for all big races this year where they have no riders who can do anything useful anyway. But back then it was ''we don't mind if we get relegated''. Now this, while De Lie is forfeiting his chances to become WCC on a parcours that suits him, in order to chase UCI points in local races instead. What a joke.

Logic: Do you actually follow these rankings?

Feltet? Yes, sometimes, but only because it means ''fierce boob'' in Dutch (/Flemish).

I don't think he cares one bit about how anybody thinks of him. But I am interested to see what he has to say about Remco, provided he is among his 15 favourites

Then he is a bit clueless or not very objective. Not because he doesn't put Evenepoel in the top 6, but because he doesn't put him in the top 6 while putting him at 1 for the 2021 Giro.

 

[Bonimenier]

Damn, Emil Axelgaard from feltet.dk has Hindley as the favorite. So far his ranking looks like this:

Hindley
Roglic, Carapaz
Mas, Almeida, Lopez

No Evanepoel in first 6 is a bit of a surprise to me.

Does he rank them on the chance he thinks they have to win the race, or the position he believes they will end? Because there is a significant difference between the two.

 

[tobydawq]

Surprise surprise. This is exactly what i said they should have been doing for all big races this year where they have no riders who can do anything useful anyway. But back then it was ''we don't mind if we get relegated''. Now this, while De Lie is forfeiting his chances to become WCC on a parcours that suits him, in order to chase UCI points in local races instead. What a joke.


Feltet? Yes, sometimes, but only because it means ''fierce boob'' in Dutch (/Flemish).



Then he is a bit clueless or not very objective. Not because he doesn't put Evenepoel in the top 6, but because he doesn't put him in the top 6 while putting him at 1 for the 2021 Giro.

My laughing reaction was to the Dutch translation of the site's name.

I think he got s reality check at the Giro and has seen Remco being dropped on lots of climbs. He doesn't always take everything into consideration and probably follow Remco less than you do, but he is definitely not a clueless person. And apart from always putting Meintjes into his 15 favourites, he is definitely one of the most objective people I know of.

 

[tobydawq]

Does he rank them on the chance he thinks they have to win the race, or the position he believes they will end? Because there is a significant difference between the two.

The first one.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Damn, Emil Axelgaard from feltet.dk has Hindley as the favorite. So far his ranking looks like this:

Hindley
Roglic, Carapaz
Mas, Almeida, Lopez

No Evanepoel in first 6 is a bit of a surprise to me.

Who is better than Hindley??

Probably only Almida could be stronger

Of course Roglic but I don't think you can win a grand tour on 10 days training.

Evenpeol didn't even fished a grand tour. He also has not to have a tantrum for 3 weeks , and survive the Sierra Nevada. Maybe he can do it, but there's not reason to call him the favourite.

Almida should be the favourite. Motivated, strong, good climb and ITT and at altitude. But on paper Hindley has a good chance

 

[AlfaLum]

I don’t believe in a Hindley Vuelta victory at all.

 

[CyclistAbi]

The way i see it a lot of cyclists where thinking lets skip the Tour this year as what would be the point. Hence a lot of talent will be present at the Vuelta this year. On top of that some of the talent has taken it rather seriously. Did a proper preparation and are now eager to give it a try. Likely a Tour level of approach.

Regardless of his injury for me the favorite is still Roglič. I would put Carapaz over Hindley under normal circumstances. Due to Carapaz leaving Ineos anything is i guess possible. Including Carapaz to flop. For Evenepoel i expect he will raise the bar from his point of view and will perform well. I see Almeida as potential podium contender. As for the rest there is a lot of talent and any of them can surprise and do good. We will soon see who will persist in that group of favorites day after day.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

My laughing reaction was to the Dutch translation of the site's name.

Yeah, i got that

I think he got s reality check at the Giro and has seen Remco being dropped on lots of climbs. He doesn't always take everything into consideration and probably follow Remco less than you do, but he is definitely not a clueless person. And apart from always putting Meintjes into his 15 favourites, he is definitely one of the most objective people I know of.

Well then i guess that's what i meant by getting burnt.

The first one.

Then i find it even more peculiar. I think there is a big chance Evenepoel doesn't make the top 10. However, if he doesn't have an offday like in Tirreno and Suisse, i think he will be very close to winning this thing. For me he is one of 3 or max 4 riders who have an actual shot at winning this. Of those 4 maybe the best odds. But of those four also by far the best odds to finish 45 minutes down in GC.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Does he rank them on the chance he thinks they have to win the race, or the position he believes they will end? Because there is a significant difference between the two.

Winner's chance. I think there are 6-8 riders who realistically can win this race, and wouldn't be surprised if any of those riders end up winning, so I think that excuses him a bit. The list of great riders is long this race and so I expect Evenepoel to pop up very shortly.

Remco is my personal favorite, but that has also something to do with me wanting him to well. Im not entirely objective, of course. But its definitely a wide open race.

 

[yaco]

O'Connor is the one who is under-rated - He was a very strong third in the Dauphine - He brings this form to the Vuelta and he'll be at the pointy end.

 

[search]

I think there is a big chance Evenepoel doesn't make the top 10. However, if he doesn't have an offday like in Tirreno and Suisse, i think he will be very close to winning this thing.

he'll win by 5+ minutes if he doesn't have an off day, I'd think. Sure, more likely he'll blow up, but on such an easy route he has a chance not to.

In Hindley's case, I'd be surprised if he even tries to go for GC. Higuita is Bora's leader anyway, and with one GT in the bag already and a bad parcours for him, imo it makes more sense to go stage hunting.

I see O'Connor as strong as well, but also for him it's not a good course at all.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Froome to win a stage.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

he'll win by 5+ minutes if he doesn't have an off day, I'd think. Sure, more likely he'll blow up, but on such an easy route he has a chance not to.

In Hindley's case, I'd be surprised if he even tries to go for GC. Higuita is Bora's leader anyway, and with one GT in the bag already and a bad parcours for him, imo it makes more sense to go stage hunting.

I see O'Connor as strong as well, but also for him it's not a good course at all.

Apart from the TT disparity, it’s not a bad route for O’Connor. His strongest performances, on the Campiglio, Tignes, and the stage in Cataluyna, are all on diesel climbs. It’s actually a great route for him IMO.

 

[Lequack]

 

[staubsauger]

Evenepoel is as much a GC favorite as Danilo di Luca before 2005. Brilliant classic specialist, but hasn't produced anything that lists him as a GC rider. Has failed to produce gc performances repeatedly instead.

There might be a Di Luca 2005 and maybe even 2007 Giro d'Italia moment in the future . He's 22 after all and can develop.

But this big mouth talk that it's definitely this race when this moment appears is both ridiculous and comical.

Nothing supports that viewpoint, until Evenepoel suddenly rides a good general classification out of the blue.

 

[search]

Apart from the TT disparity, it’s not a bad route for O’Connor. His strongest performances, on the Campiglio, Tignes, and the stage in Cataluyna, are all on diesel climbs. It’s actually a great route for him IMO.

I always had the impression that he needs harder, more mountainous stages to really be able to make a difference - and there are few of those. But la Molina was easy as well, yeah.

 

[tobydawq]

Evenepoel is as much a GC favorite as Danilo di Luca before 2005. Brilliant classic specialist, but hasn't produced anything that lists him as a GC rider. Has failed to produce gc performances repeatedly instead.

There might be a Di Luca 2005 and maybe even 2007 Giro d'Italia moment in the future . He's 22 after all and can develop.

But this big mouth talk that it's definitely this race when this moment appears is both ridiculous and comical.

Nothing supports that viewpoint, until Evenepoel suddenly rides a good general classification out of the blue.

Yeah, sure, the bookmakers have just made him their favourite in order to be comical.

Also, which repeated GC failures is it that he has suffered? Nobody wins all their races.

There are only nine currently professional riders who have won more GC's than him, and apart from Pogacar (who is 2 up), they're all at least 32 years old.

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah, sure, the bookmakers have just made him their favourite in order to be comical.

Also, which repeated GC failures is it that he has suffered? Nobody wins all their races.

There are only nine currently professional riders who have won more GC's than him, and apart from Pogacar (who is 2 up), they're all at least 32 years old.

Bookmakers just react to betting action. They don't just know the correct odds, if the betting population is mistaking on the real odds, the odds won't magically be correct.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

In the Giro ditalia last year Evenpeoel was like a kid that lost his parents at the market