Vuelta Prediction: How will GC battle Shake up?

[Asero831]

For the podium, we all know that Froome, Quintana, Valverde, Nibali, Landa, Aru, Pozzovivo, Bardet and Rodriguez will have their eyes on the GC overall victory. Still waiting for the confirmation from Van Garderen and Pinot. Only Contador, Porte and Uran are missing among the big names.

My top 5 Prediction is:
Quintana
Nibali
Froome
Valverde
Aru


Other riders that might crack the top 10 are Majka, Martin, Costa, Rolland, Sanchez, Barguil and Mollema. Frank, Talansky and Kelderman might also join the mix if they ride Vuelta.
And since riders with fresh legs perform well in Vuelta, we could also throw the names of Spilak, Van Den Broeke, Nieve, Bentacur, Moreno and Niemiec

Other GC names that will surely miss Vuelta are Hesjedal, Talansky, Konig, Kruijswijk and Caruso .

 

[TheGreenMonkey]

Post edited to remove the junk I posted.

 

[Kwibus]

Impossible to predict like a true Vuelta it seems it's time for a surprise winner again.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Edit: Was an reply to greenmonkeys initial post.

 

[Sciocco]

Majka to win.

 

[Sasquatch]

Riders that rode the TDF won't win.

No *** way can they recover from this hard race in 4 weeks.

Aru takes it.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Really strong lineup this year. Interesting that Astana have all of Nibali, Aru and Landa on the preliminary start list. Valverde and Rodriguez are usually stronger in the Vuelta than in the Tour. I have no idea how they aim to peak though. Rodriguez probably peaked for the Tour which means that his GC days are past him. Majka I think will be really strong.

Prediction:

1. Majka
2. Quintana
3. Landa
4. Valverde
5. Aru
6. Froome

 

[BigMac]

Costa ain't doing the Vuelta.

 

[SeriousSam]

Who's going to lead Astana? Aru and Nibali joint leaders, with Landa doing the donkey work despite probably climbing better?

 

[Squirbos_19]

Nobody competing has really shown they can be better in their second GT of the year apart from Valverde and Rodriguez. We've seen Froome fail in 2012, Aru wasn't good enough in 2014, Landa has pretty much come from nowhere so we don't know how he'll go, Quintana hasn't had a proper shot. Nibali wasn't as good in 2013 and with his new style of peaking I'm not sure what his form will be.

As seen in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 the winner hasn't ridden a full GT prior to the Vuelta so they've been fresh. Therefore Pozzovivo is my pick for a podium.

This has got the making to be a really exciting GC battle

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

A lot of the mentioned names don't even ride Vuelta.

 

[jsem94]

It's going to be really unpredictable. I will be anticipating this like crazy. The flat ITT will be key. Froome has a legit chance to do the Tour-Vuelta double.

 

[Tyr]

Landa will obiouvsly win unless there's a long ITT.

 

[Brullnux]

I'd be really impressed if Froome goes to Vuelta. With all the Criteriums he's meant to go to now it will really take a knock off form and time to prepare, just ask Niali last year. Or will Froome not turn up to those and be even more hated by the French?

 

[BigMac]

Re:

I'd be really impressed if Froome goes to Vuelta. With all the Criteriums he's meant to go to now it will really take a knock off form and time to prepare, just ask Niali last year. Or will Froome not turn up to those and be even more hated by the French?

Post-Tour criteriums are just fixed races. He can keep training and it's not like they're many. Usually just two or three for each rider.

 

[Squirbos_19]

Landa will obiouvsly win unless there's a long ITT.

There's a 39km TT.

 

[dacooley]

froome won't start if his shape doesn't allow to battle for the win or podium. aru and valverde are my favorites.

 

[Brullnux]

My prediction now is that Pozzovivo will podium if he is at the form we saw earlier this year, this has been his best year ever form-wise. Quintana will fade in the 39km TT and ship almost as much as Landa. The person who needs this win most is Nibali IMO, but Valverde and Murito will win plenty of stages in the first week which is once again littered with uphill sprints, maybe with Gerrans and Ulissi joining the battle for stage wins if fit.

 

[46&twoWheels]

Froome,Nibali or Verde

no way Quintana and Aru will win with 39km ITT

Landa is going to lose 5minutes in the ITT

Unless NIbali chokes Aru and Landa are all going to work for him by the way,so their chances to win are limited from the start. I hope Astana won't be so weak and insecure again. Choose your damn captain and stick with it

 

[Anderis]

Other riders that might crack the top 10 are Majka, Martin, Costa, Rolland, Sanchez, Barguil and Mollema. Frank, Talansky and Kelderman might also join the mix if they ride Vuelta.
And since riders with fresh legs perform well in Vuelta, we could also throw the names of Spilak, Van Den Broeke, Nieve, Bentacur, Moreno and Niemiec

Other GC names that will surely miss Vuelta are Hesjedal, Talansky, Konig, Kruijswijk and Caruso .

So Talansky might crack the top 10 despite surely missing the race? A good rider he must be.

Nonetheless, I hope he choses Vuelta over USAPC. He had troubled start of the season, but he was getting better towards the end of the Tour. That gives him a chance to continue upwards trend for Vuelta.

 

[Wallenquist]

We dont even know who will really ride the Vuelta. For example Vino was mad at Nibali and wanted him on Vuelta but after pretty good 3rd week I don't think he will ride. Same for Froome, he was tired in third week already, how can he win the Vuelta now ? He's not the kind of rider who will ride for the stage win.

Mollema, Kelderman, Costa, Barguil all wont ride. Nibali and Froome probably either. Landa already said that Vuelta is too lat in the season, dont expect him to ride GC.

Apart from Valverde and Purito, the obvious GC riders are Majka, Aru and Pozzovivo, rest unknown for now, we have to wait a little bit longer

 

[jsem94]

I just checked the route... most stages are typical Unipublic _______________/ as usual. The ITT will determine if Valverde/Murito wins this or not. The only really epic stage will be the one after the rest day with 5 huge climbs in and around Andorra. But even that is only 140km long. WTF...

 

[Arredondo]

1. Quintana
2. Landa
3. Valverde or Purito

Purito will be in the mix in the Vuelta. That race just suits him way more then a Tour in this stage of his career. Last year he was in an horrible shape in the Tour, and he still finished 4th in Spain. He should be fine.

 

[roundabout]

Last year he was in horrible shape because of the Giro crash.

This year he was in horrible shape because of his horrible shape.

Although it is quite funny to read you talking him up after the Dauphine.

 

[Arredondo]

Last year he was in horrible shape because of the Giro crash.

This year he was in horrible shape because of his horrible shape.

Although it is quite funny to read you talking him up after the Dauphine.

He won two stages dude

And he dropped Contador/Nibali/Mollema/Gesink on Alpe d'Huez yesterday. But hey, if you don't follow the Tour, don't say anything