Vuelta Prediction: How will GC battle Shake up?

[Miburo]

Yep it's happening

 

[Brullnux]

Aru be like:

 

[staubsauger]

LOL

Seriously, Ag2r must field Pozzo & Bardet now. They'll win this thing with one of them.

Whoever is the strongest guy at Astana and deserves leadership. They'll only have found out when it's too late.

I highly doubt it will be Nibali. This could easily become the biggest fail decision on his cycling career. He better attempts this one well prepared.

 

[infeXio]

Astana to do 1-2-3

 

[phanatic]

Is Froome racing as well? It's got to be driving Tinkoff out of his mind that the other big names are doing this after rejecting his Giro-Tour challenge; he should be sending out disappointed/contemptuous tweets. It would be LOL to see the same top four at the Vuelta as in the Tour.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

My prediction, which even I have no faith in:
1. Nibali
2. Quintana
3. Landa
4. Valverde
5. Aru

Froome not to start.

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

Aru be like:

Vino will toss a coin at breakfast time to decide who's team captain for the day

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Majka for podium. Piti 2nd. Nibali ftw.

 

[No_Balls]

Re:

Nibali confirmed his presence. Wasn't expecting that. So Astana will go with Aru, Landa and Nibali. Still I think there will be only one leader and it will be Aru.

So now we wait for Froome and Quintana. Today I read on twitter that Quintana won't go but not sure if it's official.

Wasn't the deal Aru for Giro and Landa for the Vuelta?

If so one wonder what Landa might think having been promised gold and glory here and then Vino throws in both Aru and Nibali in this race in a moment of disappointment after the Tour. And with his presumably last season Landa could very well tell them to sod off and go for it himself.

The internals here could shape up to something very intresting indeed.

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re: Re:

Nibali confirmed his presence. Wasn't expecting that. So Astana will go with Aru, Landa and Nibali. Still I think there will be only one leader and it will be Aru.

So now we wait for Froome and Quintana. Today I read on twitter that Quintana won't go but not sure if it's official.

Wasn't the deal Aru for Giro and Landa for the Vuelta?

If so one wonder what Landa might think having been promised gold and glory here and then Vino throws in both Aru and Nibali in this race in a moment of disappointment after the Tour. And with his presumably last season Landa could very well tell them to sod off and go for it himself.

The internals here could shape up to something very intresting indeed.

That would be some entertaining racing if Landa shoots a middle finger to Vino and rides his own race. It won't happen, but we can dream.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Nibali confirmed his presence. Wasn't expecting that. So Astana will go with Aru, Landa and Nibali. Still I think there will be only one leader and it will be Aru.

So now we wait for Froome and Quintana. Today I read on twitter that Quintana won't go but not sure if it's official.

Wasn't the deal Aru for Giro and Landa for the Vuelta?

If so one wonder what Landa might think having been promised gold and glory here and then Vino throws in both Aru and Nibali in this race in a moment of disappointment after the Tour. And with his presumably last season Landa could very well tell them to sod off and go for it himself.

The internals here could shape up to something very intresting indeed.

Even if he climbs like in the spring, which I highly doubt, Landa will loose 3 minutes to Nibali in the ITT. He is a dom and will go to Sky for good money where he will become the Basque Little Richie. He might even learn how to time trial. As for Aru/Nibali combo we might indeed see some interesting developments here, heard they don't get along too well.

 

[Wallenquist]

Re: Re:

Nibali confirmed his presence. Wasn't expecting that. So Astana will go with Aru, Landa and Nibali. Still I think there will be only one leader and it will be Aru.

So now we wait for Froome and Quintana. Today I read on twitter that Quintana won't go but not sure if it's official.

Wasn't the deal Aru for Giro and Landa for the Vuelta?

If so one wonder what Landa might think having been promised gold and glory here and then Vino throws in both Aru and Nibali in this race in a moment of disappointment after the Tour. And with his presumably last season Landa could very well tell them to sod off and go for it himself.

The internals here could shape up to something very intresting indeed.

Never heard of such deal
And with Landa leaving I highly doubt they will ride for him as a leader. Also, he didn't prove to be capable of doing two GT's at high level in one season (yet). Also, I read somewhere that he said himself that Giro suits him better and Vuelta is too lat in the season for him. I think it will be all for Aru with Nibali doing a Valverde.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

Nibali confirmed his presence. Wasn't expecting that. So Astana will go with Aru, Landa and Nibali. Still I think there will be only one leader and it will be Aru.

So now we wait for Froome and Quintana. Today I read on twitter that Quintana won't go but not sure if it's official.

Wasn't the deal Aru for Giro and Landa for the Vuelta?

If so one wonder what Landa might think having been promised gold and glory here and then Vino throws in both Aru and Nibali in this race in a moment of disappointment after the Tour. And with his presumably last season Landa could very well tell them to sod off and go for it himself.

The internals here could shape up to something very intresting indeed.

Even if he climbs like in the spring, which I highly doubt, Landa will loose 3 minutes to Nibali in the ITT.

If he climbs like he did in the spring (which I also tend to doubt), Nibs will lose more than that to him in the climbs.

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

Nibali confirmed his presence. Wasn't expecting that. So Astana will go with Aru, Landa and Nibali. Still I think there will be only one leader and it will be Aru.

So now we wait for Froome and Quintana. Today I read on twitter that Quintana won't go but not sure if it's official.

Wasn't the deal Aru for Giro and Landa for the Vuelta?

If so one wonder what Landa might think having been promised gold and glory here and then Vino throws in both Aru and Nibali in this race in a moment of disappointment after the Tour. And with his presumably last season Landa could very well tell them to sod off and go for it himself.

The internals here could shape up to something very intresting indeed.

Never heard of such deal
And with Landa leaving I highly doubt they will ride for him as a leader. Also, he didn't prove to be capable of doing two GT's at high level in one season (yet). Also, I read somewhere that he said himself that Giro suits him better and Vuelta is too lat in the season for him. I think it will be all for Aru with Nibali doing a Valverde.

Remember i read it somewhere in the Giro-threads back when he looked like the stronger rider.

Found this from before the Tour and run it through translation. Lets just say he has no intention of finish lesser then fifth and are determined to show his spring was no fluke:

http://www.ciclismoafondo.es/competicion/entrevistas/articulo/declaraciones-Mikel-Landa-balance-final-Giro-Italia-2015

 

[whittashau]

Wow, some faith in Nibs around here. As a fan of his I'm expecting him to come into the Vuelta underdone after probably sitting at home playing family for the next few weeks. Next to no chance he goes into the Vuelta in the form to win it

 

[StannisBaratheon]

Nibali won't go into la Vuelta just because he has nothing better to do, no, he will go for the win like the true champion he is. Like he did in 2013.

 

[Dog]

Nibali needs to outperform Aru, otherwise his position as Astana's premiere GC rider will be under threat next year.

 

[ice&fire]

Nibali needs to outperform Aru, otherwise his position as Astana's premiere GC rider will be under threat next year.

If he manages to keep his form from the 3rd week of the Tour he won't lose to Aru the 3 minutes he'll gain in the ITT

 

[Miburo]

Nibali needs to outperform Aru, otherwise his position as Astana's premiere GC rider will be under threat next year.

No it won't, you saw how Contador played with Aru in the giro? Even if aru performs better, nibali is still 2 classes above him

 

[Dog]

Nibali needs to outperform Aru, otherwise his position as Astana's premiere GC rider will be under threat next year.

No it won't, you saw how Contador played with Aru in the giro? Even if aru performs better, nibali is still 2 classes above him

A fresh Nibali was marginally better than a battered Contador at the Tour.

 

[ray j willings]

Nibs obviously had issues in the tour , his performance was scatty. He did not give up and attacked whenever he could.
Not sure how much the tour took out of him. I'm sure he feels he can hit top form and he will be tough to beat with such a strong team that have options in going for victory.

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

Nibali confirmed his presence. Wasn't expecting that. So Astana will go with Aru, Landa and Nibali. Still I think there will be only one leader and it will be Aru.

So now we wait for Froome and Quintana. Today I read on twitter that Quintana won't go but not sure if it's official.

Wasn't the deal Aru for Giro and Landa for the Vuelta?

If so one wonder what Landa might think having been promised gold and glory here and then Vino throws in both Aru and Nibali in this race in a moment of disappointment after the Tour. And with his presumably last season Landa could very well tell them to sod off and go for it himself.

The internals here could shape up to something very intresting indeed.

Even if he climbs like in the spring, which I highly doubt, Landa will loose 3 minutes to Nibali in the ITT. He is a dom and will go to Sky for good money where he will become the Basque Little Richie. He might even learn how to time trial. As for Aru/Nibali combo we might indeed see some interesting developments here, heard they don't get along too well.

I doubt TT will have a strong impact on this Vuelta and whoever TT-specialists that has to attack the red jersey will have a hard time knowing that its not until stage 17 when pretty much all mountain stages are done for.

I really cant wait.

EDIT: This just in. Now we know it will be joint leadership and of course no tension there

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/aru-ready-to-share-leadership-with-nibali-at-the-vuelta-a-espana/

 

[StannisBaratheon]

Nibali needs to outperform Aru, otherwise his position as Astana's premiere GC rider will be under threat next year.

No it won't, you saw how Contador played with Aru in the giro? Even if aru performs better, nibali is still 2 classes above him

A fresh Nibali was marginally better than a battered Contador at the Tour.

What are you talking about? He was a beast in the third week, even Froome felt that and faked his mechanical so he would have an excuse for not following .

 

[Miburo]

Nibali needs to outperform Aru, otherwise his position as Astana's premiere GC rider will be under threat next year.

No it won't, you saw how Contador played with Aru in the giro? Even if aru performs better, nibali is still 2 classes above him

A fresh Nibali was marginally better than a battered Contador at the Tour.

I give nibali the benefit of the doubt, he *** up his prep. It happens to everyone, now if he shows up like that again in the tour then ok (if there's no legit excuse for it)

 

[Netserk]

He seemed pretty okay the first couple of stages. I think his crash actually had an impact and that something went wrong on the first rest day.