Which out of contract rider will be flying in the vuelta?

[the sceptic]

A fine tradition.. who will go thermonuclear this time?

 

[classicomano]

Wrong subforum

 

[damian13ster]

Valverde to do the same to Quintana as Nairo did to him in TdF 2013

Just kidding, but to be honest I think that Horner is only serious option here

 

[senatorrick]

Nice topic! Should be interesting to find out, let's see based on the poll options I'm going to shoot for Valverde, I think pappy will look his age this time around even though I hope I'm wrong and he's a beast again

 

[Jspear]

Horner of course. He is only know reaching his peak years.

 

[Luigi_Max]

Valverde is declining as a rider and having ridden the Tour will not do much
Horner who knows what will happen there, nothing will be surprising after last year
Evans is riding to support Sanchez and I think he will be true to this. Break stage win is probably his best chance of doing anything if he loses a lot of time and Sanchez is nowhere as well
Sanchez also looks to be well past it but might show glimpses of his old self. Highly unlikely to be doing much of too much note.
Betancur is probably too fat but if he gets through the first week without too much time loss might ride himself into form to do surprisingly well. At least he has youth on his side.
Cunego has not done anything much and I cannot see that changing, could scrap a top ten but even that does not look likely.

 

[ILovecycling]

Valverde to do the same to Quintana as Nairo did to him in TdF 2013

Just kidding, but to be honest I think that Horner is only serious option here

what is it?

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Valverde is declining as a rider and having ridden the Tour will not do much.

Declining as a rider? WTF!?


You do realise that Valverde rode the Tour in 2012 and 2013 aswell. He still finished 2nd and 3rd in the respective Vuelta's.

 

[ILovecycling]

Valverde is declining as a rider and having ridden the Tour will not do much
Horner who knows what will happen there, nothing will be surprising after last year
Evans is riding to support Sanchez and I think he will be true to this. Break stage win is probably his best chance of doing anything if he loses a lot of time and Sanchez is nowhere as well
Sanchez also looks to be well past it but might show glimpses of his old self. Highly unlikely to be doing much of too much note.
Betancur is probably too fat but if he gets through the first week without too much time loss might ride himself into form to do surprisingly well. At least he has youth on his side.
Cunego has not done anything much and I cannot see that changing, could scrap a top ten but even that does not look likely.

1 1 VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro ESP19800425 MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) 462
2 2 CONTADOR VELASCO Alberto ESP19821206 TINKOFF-SAXO (TCS) 407
3 3 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA19841114 ASTANA PRO TEAM (AST) 392
4 4 QUINTANA ROJAS Nairo Alexander COL19900204 MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) 345
5 5 PERAUD Jean-Christophe FRA19770522 AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) 300

probably declined from zero place

 

[Pentacycle]

Carlos Verona.

 

[jens_attacks]

samu having a go would be nice to see but probably too much to lose. the guy has a statue in oviedo...

list of out of contract riders anywhere?

i would have gone with kern but he wasn't picked by the team. fortunately there is always limousin.

 

[burning]

I'd love to see a Il Principe show, wont happen though

Here's the CQ graph of that declining rider

 

[No_Balls]

I'd voted "others" if there was that option.

The poll suggest far too talented/merited riders for me to feel the wings of history. We should start to look in the gruppetto for answers.

 

[Luigi_Max]

Valverde did not climb very well in the Tour, not finishing second was a failure. I think there are signs he is heading the same way as Evans, he looked very much like Evans at times although not as nearly as bad yet. In my view age is catching up with him and having done the tour will be a negative this year. He still has had a great year in one day races, winning 5 1 day races plus good results in a number of others. His CQ ranking is high because of this plus the Tour being quite weak.

 

[happychappy]

Is Cobo riding?

 

[ILovecycling]

Is Cobo riding?

they would never invite that team,they are not that stupid.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Is Cobo riding?

His team is only CT. Needs PCT status to get a possible invite.
Other than that Cobo would fit into the Vuelta line up perfectly.

 

[Netserk]

they would never invite that team,they are not that stupid.

They can't invite that team, even if they wanted.

 

[Akuryo]

Carlos Verona.

I hope you're right.

 

[RedheadDane]

Oh come on! Txurruka is always flying!

 

[filipo]

Heart says Cunego, head says no way.

 

[SafeBet]

Piccolo principe travelling 10 years back in time.

 

[May0maniac]

Piccolo principe travelling 10 years back in time.

Hell yeah, all the favourites will try to stay with Horner on the climbs when suddenly another lampre rider appears from nowhere and drops every single one of them

 

[Red Rick]

I hope for Cunego to show something nice. I like his style but he's shown nothing the last two years and doesn't seem al that motivated

 

[movingtarget]

I think Dan Martin has something to prove after a the bitter disappointment of the Giro. I think he will ride well without making the podium. Quintana might be the one to put on a show. He has had no injury problems or falls like Froome and Contador and won the Giro decisively. It's just about how he handles a second GT I think. Talansky will also be hungry to do well after his Tour disappointment and should still have fresh legs.