Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco 2015 (6-11 april)

[lemon cheese cake]

Re:

See I'd not remembered him crashing, but I had remembered him climbing with Piti and J-Rod.

http://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/adam-yates-crash-an-unfortunate-end-to-san-sebastian

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

Yates does however have a good repute and good performances in short and mid-length climbs, which is what they will face here. In the big, drawn-out epic climbs, Chaves all the way, but here I think Yates can give a very good account of himself.

Although when I looked back at his palmarès Yates hadn't been as good at San Sebastián last year as I recalled, fading badly after being in the front group when the first attacks began on the last climb, and his high mountain results in California were better than I remembered too.

He didn't fade badly, he crashed heavily, after being the 3rd strongest climber behind Piti & Jrod (but in the same group as them over the top).

At Tirreno & Catalunya we saw pretty clearly what they can each do against top level opposition on long climbs at the moment, and the results speak for themselves, as they did the year before, even if Adam is only 22.

He was not in the same group with Valverde and Rodriguez, they were alone on the top, he was in the second group with Nieve and Mollema. And he wasn't the 3rd strongest climber, it was Nieve

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Re: Re:

Yates does however have a good repute and good performances in short and mid-length climbs, which is what they will face here. In the big, drawn-out epic climbs, Chaves all the way, but here I think Yates can give a very good account of himself.

Although when I looked back at his palmarès Yates hadn't been as good at San Sebastián last year as I recalled, fading badly after being in the front group when the first attacks began on the last climb, and his high mountain results in California were better than I remembered too.

He didn't fade badly, he crashed heavily, after being the 3rd strongest climber behind Piti & Jrod (but in the same group as them over the top).

At Tirreno & Catalunya we saw pretty clearly what they can each do against top level opposition on long climbs at the moment, and the results speak for themselves, as they did the year before, even if Adam is only 22.

He was not in the same group with Valverde and Rodriguez, they were alone on the top, he was in the second group with Nieve and Mollema. And he wasn't the 3rd strongest climber, it was Nieve

Fair shout on Nieve. Just rewatched the ending on steephill and the two of them did crest together. Mollema joined shortly afterwards.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

One hell of a lineup. I hope Dumoulin, Gallopin and Wellens rides aggressively.
In the end my money is on Kwia.

 

[Brullnux]

If I were a betting man then Simon Spilak would be my choice. Probably won't win, but the odds on him would be fantastic. He is really underrated.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

I stil don't see Henao in the start list. Can somebody confirm if he is going please?
Thanks.

I believe Henao said something in an interview that he would have liked to return to racing in Pais Vasco (but he already returned earlier). Sky has not made their line up official yet so think we ll have to wait a bit.

He's confirmed according to biciciclismo.

Thanks.

I just saw the official line up.

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race.php?id=149886&c=3

 

[johnymax]

Quintana is obviously the main favourite. Then I see a bunch of podium contenders (wouldn't be surprised if somebody of these win though) but not sure how to rate them. I'll give it a try:
*** Quintana
** Kwiatkowski, Peraud, Špilak, Pinot, Rui Costa, Mollema
* van Garderen, Nieve, Talansky, Purito(he would be higher but I'm not sure about his form)

 

[TMP402]

hope rui costa can win something other than the tour de suisse for a change.

 

[luckyboy]

Five times up Aia in two days is going to be crazy, jesus christ (even if two ascents aren't the really brutal side)

 

[TurboButton]

1 Mollema
2 Quintana
3 Van Garderen
4 Kwiatkowski
5 Costa
Peraud & Spilak (if weather allows) might be in top 5 as well . IMO Rodriguez w/o any serious start yet can't top riders who already had good results this season.
Kwiatkowski to win stage 1, but too many mountains for him and he loses time in one of later stages. Mollema the only one who survives Quintana attacks and gains on TT.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

My prediction:
It will rain on the first stage. Spilak is in the break. He solos to win the stage from 5k out. The peleton make the same mistake in Catalunya. Spilak gets two minutes. Follows everybodys moves except a crucial one by Peraud, like he (Peraud)did to Pinot in the Crit Inter. He loses 30 seconds along with everyone else and 10 more in the TT. Spilak wins by a margin of 1min 20secs.

He then romps away with victory in Romandie later.

 

[manafana]

Quintana will be too strong for the field with Rodriguez tt likely to cost him seconds even if he is top of his game after his time away. Peraud did well last year and i expect he can do that again. Watch out for Bennett who gets to lead jumbo

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I'm really liking Lotto this year. They ride very aggressively and they have some exciting upcoming riders

Gallopin and Wellens together is also very good for stage races without high mountains and for hilly one day races. Wellens likes to attack from further out and usually races very aggressively, whereas Gallopin relies more on tactics and when he wins it's usually from one perfectly timed attack, near the end of the race. So they can race very well together, like we saw in the Paris-Nice stage that Gallopin won, which I think exemplified both of their styles.

The competition is a bit too much here to really ride for the win in the GC or anything like that, but I hope they play their cards well and get some nice results

 

[Asero831]

^^ if only they could learn to TT with the best

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

I'm really liking Lotto this year. They ride very aggressively and they have some exciting upcoming riders

Gallopin and Wellens together is also very good for stage races without high mountains and for hilly one day races. Wellens likes to attack from further out and usually races very aggressively, whereas Gallopin relies more on tactics and when he wins it's usually from one perfectly timed attack, near the end of the race. So they can race very well together, like we saw in the Paris-Nice stage that Gallopin won, which I think exemplified both of their styles.

The competition is a bit too much here to really ride for the win in the GC or anything like that, but I hope they play their cards well and get some nice results

Yes.
I'm liking them a lot too. They could've done a bit more in MSR maybe, but overall a very good season.

 

[Escarabajo]

TT is not flat pancake. It is not the same for neither Quintana nor Purito.

I hope that Henao makes a good showing.

 

[SafeBet]

Streaming anyone?

 

[infeXio]

Re:

Streaming anyone?

http://www.sportingvideo.tv/20150406/vv ... 42091.html

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Aupa Omar! Caja Rural in their typical País Vasco go-crazy form. They (and Movistar) are the local teams with no Euskaltel, both based in Navarra (Caja Rural in Pamplona, Movistar in Egüés).

 

[Gigs_98]

i think that race will be great

 

[hfer07]

so...... Pais Vasco is all about Quintanita ------ the rest

might see some resistance from Purito & Pinot -perhaps Scarponi - but that's a stretch considering how good Nairito's form is coming about....

 

[luckyboy]

Re:

Aupa Omar! Caja Rural in their typical País Vasco go-crazy form. They (and Movistar) are the local teams with no Euskaltel, both based in Navarra (Caja Rural in Pamplona, Movistar in Egüés).

Murias Taldea have just started out too. Hopefully they can move up in the coming years

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Aupa Omar! Caja Rural in their typical País Vasco go-crazy form. They (and Movistar) are the local teams with no Euskaltel, both based in Navarra (Caja Rural in Pamplona, Movistar in Egüés).

Murias Taldea have just started out too. Hopefully they can move up in the coming years

Yea, they're a home team for the .HC and .1 races round here (Amorebieta, GP Big Mig, Ordizia, Getxo, Llodio although that's probably gone the way of the dodo) but I think they'll need good results for a couple of years to get enough funding to go ProConti to do this and Donostia and I don't really see that happening immediately, unfortunately, partly due to the lack of national calendar races in the last few years. And that two of the biggest races they could be visible in - Burgos and Portugal - are coterminous.

 

[The Hitch]

Anyone have a non English stream. Preferably Spanish or French?

Thanks.

 

[DBotero]

Re:

Anyone have a non English stream. Preferably Spanish or French?

Thanks.

http://www.footstream.tv/lecteur.php?id=3