Vuelta Prediction: How will GC battle Shake up?

[Taxus4a]

Froome is the big favourite, he is the best and there is a 39 Km iTT.. at the end, not very long, quite hilly, but enough to win la Vuelta if he has lost some time in the mountains.

Quintana would have the same favouritism, but IMO it is the first time he try 2 GT in a row.. he is young and he will pay that at the end.nhe is my favourite for Andorra stage. He will put time on Froome that day (20-30 seconds)

Valverde and Nibali will be up there but depends on the weather to win the race. They are favourites, but no more than Froome, although le tour is le Tour, and now is la Vuelta, different races, and froomehad a lot of agenda after le Tour.

Aru? he is fresh, but he is not so good to win people as Froome.

Landa, if he get the same shape than in the spring, he is not allowed by the team, Martinelli said that in an interview, he will star helping the team..

Pozzovivo: The fresher, some stages are really good for him.. he need good weather as well as Valverde. I fdont kno really with him, but he is not so good in 3 weeks.

TVG, Samu,... it looks like Tejay is here to help Samu. Samu could be up there and ride a great Vuelta, but not in the podium.

My dark horses for the race are Verona and Berhane.

I hope Barbero get one stage or some podiums.

 

[Gigs_98]

I don't get why there are so many people who don't give aru a chance. Only because he has never beaten an absolute top tier rider yet? He is 25 so he is still very young. The day will come on which he beats one of the best rider of the world, and why not this year.

 

[Kwibus]

If my memory serves me right riders that rode the Giro at their peak form usually won't reach that same peak form in the Vuelta again. Aru got close last year though, but usually they won't.
2013 Nibali comes to mind, monster in the Giro, but just not that same monster mode in the Vuelta. Some riders don't come near their Giro form.
Same goes for the TdF-Vuelta ofcourse, allthough Valverde doesn't seem to mind. Curious how he will go this year since he rode his best TdF ever.

I have actuall no idea on which riders I should bet for this Vuelta. No doubt Valverde, Quintana and Froome will be good, but how good? Winning good?
Nibali, Aru and Landa Trio makes me go dizzy. They guy that won the Giro poule on www.scorito.com actually lined up the entire Astana team and ofcourse Contador and other good riders and he won because of that choice. Will Astana be that dominant again? It's their Giro line up afterall, but will all of them reach that same level at the Vuelta? I very much doubt it.... then again it is Astana....

 

[May0maniac]

Okay so I went through the biggest parts of the route with google street view and I found some pictures that made me laugh and especially wonder:
the slightly dangerous curve:

which way will you take:

not narrow at all:

rofl

This is insane!! Did they even try to think about how fast these guys will be going!?!

LOL, and it's a TTT, I dont even want to think about Dan Martin...

 

[MatParker117]

Think one of those T's might become an I?

 

[Taxus4a]

[quote="rofl[/b]

This is insane!! Did they even try to think about how fast these guys will be going!?![/quote]

As far as I know, road cycling cant go for that place, except they put that balls out...They can go in the sand, it is a question of cars, always in a race cars must go for anyplace.

 

[staubsauger]

Dan Martin would've managed to crash in the 2005 Giro opening prologue.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Think one of those T's might become an I?

Still dangerous has hell, but at least it wouldn't be a bad as a TTT.
Serious question, who designed this TTT, a bunch of mountainbikers that hate roadies after +15 beers and a decent amount of weed? Who would even think about having something like this as a TTT?

 

[King Boonen]

I don't see much wrong with the TTT as long as those ball things can be removed...

 

[BeagRigh]

Remove the balls make it an ITT and I'd be okay with it. As a TTT it is an accident waiting to happen.

 

[Sasquatch]

I think you will find they have taken out the balls and made it safer. That screenshot could have been taken by google last year.

 

[gmedina]

all the teams will be using these bikes:

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Froome is the big favourite, he is the best and there is a 39 Km iTT.. at the end, not very long, quite hilly, but enough to win la Vuelta if he has lost some time in the mountains.

Quintana would have the same favouritism, but IMO it is the first time he try 2 GT in a row.. he is young and he will pay that at the end.nhe is my favourite for Andorra stage. He will put time on Froome that day (20-30 seconds)

Valverde and Nibali will be up there but depends on the weather to win the race. They are favourites, but no more than Froome, although le tour is le Tour, and now is la Vuelta, different races, and froomehad a lot of agenda after le Tour.

Aru? he is fresh, but he is not so good to win people as Froome.

Landa, if he get the same shape than in the spring, he is not allowed by the team, Martinelli said that in an interview, he will star helping the team..

Pozzovivo: The fresher, some stages are really good for him.. he need good weather as well as Valverde. I fdont kno really with him, but he is not so good in 3 weeks.

TVG, Samu,... it looks like Tejay is here to help Samu. Samu could be up there and ride a great Vuelta, but not in the podium.

My dark horses for the race are Verona and Berhane.

I hope Barbero get one stage or some podiums.

What makes you think that Sanchez is the BMC leader?

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

More details here

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vuelta-a-espaa-riders-question-conditions-of-dirt-bike-path-team-time-trial-course/

Very wacky decision by the organisers. Won't the course get much harder the later you set off? And what if it rains?!!?

This is one of the most ridiculous things that I have seen on cycling. Just plain stupid. After somebody gets hurt then they'll come back to tell us that they won't do it again.

 

[MatParker117]

What happens if halfway through the stage it rains? You'll have riders going 50kph heading for what is essentially glue.

 

[Kwibus]

Some opinions.

Will Sagan be good? If I recall correctly he took it easy last year?
Garmin bring Talansky and Martin for GC where I had hopes for Dombroski who looked really good in Utah, but it's his first GT. Will they let him of the leash?
How about Torres and Cano. Will they ride like typical Coldeportes riders in a GT (invisible) or will they actually do good?

 

[MatParker117]

Finish:

Really?

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Finish:

Really?

Thats a joke right? I am not even sure if this is a joke. Tell me this is a god damn joke
edit: oh my god, thats real

 

[MatParker117]

Re: Re:

Finish:

Really?

Thats a joke right? I am not even sure if this is a joke. Tell me this is a god damn joke

That's from the Vuelta's official twitter and doesn't look incredibly dangerous in any way whatsoever. I would not be shocked if this stage is cancelled.

 

[RedheadDane]

That TTT route... just... what the heck?

 

[MatParker117]

From Froome's Twitter:

I hope to god those pallets of what look like concrete will be moved.

 

[Red Rick]

Vuelta route officially Froome proof

 

[DFA123]

Re:

What happens if halfway through the stage it rains? You'll have riders going 50kph heading for what is essentially glue.

Same thing as what happens if it rains on the descents in Strade Bianche. Massive over-reaction here to a small section of sand; they've raced in a lot worse conditions.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

What could go wrong. Going through sand next to giant stones and stone walls....

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

What happens if halfway through the stage it rains? You'll have riders going 50kph heading for what is essentially glue.

Same thing as what happens if it rains on the descents in Strade Bianche. Massive over-reaction here to a small section of sand; they've raced in a lot worse conditions.

Its not only because of a small section of sand. Its because the riders have to ride with 50 kph over a street which is about 2 meters wide and there are big rocks besides the "street". Thats dangerous as hell. In an ITT we could discuss but in a TTT riders have to overtake other riders and If you don't even have enough space to do that without any danger the route is automatically too dangerous.
ps: you can't compare the strade bianche with this. This is a stage where people start at different times, so riders who would have to ride on wet sand would have an enormous disadvantage.