Vuelta a España Who’s going to win La Vuelta? Rest Day 2 Poll

[Kaptain Kool]

I do not understand how you have Roglic fan in your name and yet compare him to George Hincapie.

Maybe Skijumper such a big Roglic fan that it made the poster confuse one Gent Wevelgem and two mid-teen TdF GCs with 3 Vueltas.

 

[Netserk]

I think a pretty realistic scenario for Angliru is Mas, Landa, or Ayuso attacking, Vingegaard responding then riding clear with Roglic staying in the bunch falling behind.

Yeah, no. Landa ain't dropping Rogla on no climb.

 

[KZD]

There is literally nobody interesting on the poll to vote for.

Wait, not even Landa?

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Yeah, no. Landa ain't dropping Rogla on no climb.

I’m not saying Landa will finish in front of Roglic, just that he might optimistically attack, Vingegaard follow, then fall back with Vingegaard pushing on solo.

 

[topcat]

There is literally nobody interesting on the poll to vote for.

Vino: one of the most interesting and attacking riders ever. Ok, he’s not in the race but we’re not going to let that stop us. It’s shaping up to be absolute carnage with Jumbo policing the peloton and killing all moves.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

This Vuleta is over

She's far from over, she may be 33 so at the tail end of a career for somebody in a sport dependent on explosivity but she's got plenty in the tanks still, I mean she just won the World Championships!

Gearing up already for plenty of obscure rider references from LS.

You know what really hurts? After all of that, and Samu's epic wind-up post... I've realised that the race that gives us a good precedent for this is...in fact... the 2016 Volta a Portugal, with Sepp Kuss playing the role of Rui Vinhas, and Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič playing the roles of Gustavo César Veloso and Raúl Alarcón. So I have to jump in and make precisely the kind of references that Samu lampooned.

One of them needs to throw a hissy fit in the press the way César did about being forced to play shepherd to a domestique. Vinhas got into a breakaway early in the race that gained four minutes, and then did an ITT better than expected to defend his lead.

It's quite a trip looking back at the results there. Stefan Schumacher in 2016? Rinaldo Nocentini? Davide Viganò? Alex Diniz? Francesco Gavazzi? And Franco Pellizotti? Think this might be the year that Delfino joined the ranks of pros commenting on the stupid speeds in a Volta.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Wait, not even Landa?

Landa is interesting but not in this vuelta.

 

[Cookster15]

Landa is interesting but not in this vuelta.

Landa is 33 now. We should all remember he earned his reputation in the 2015 Giro where he finished on the podium and looked stronger than his team leader Fabio Aru. Unfortunately Landa has never fulfilled that promise since with only 1 further grand tour podium (2022 Giro). Normally I’d pick him for 3rd at this race But at this grand tour that isn’t going to happen unless something goes seriously wrong with at least two Jumbo riders.

Personally I am annoyed Roglic looks like he has to play 2nd fiddle again, this time to Sepp and possibly Vingegaard (again).

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Landa is 33 now. We should all remember he earned his reputation in the 2015 Giro where he finished on the podium and looked stronger than his team leader Fabio Aru. Unfortunately Landa has never fulfilled that promise since with only 1 further grand tour podium (2022 Giro). Normally I’d pick him for 3rd at this race But at this grand tour that isn’t going to happen unless something goes seriously wrong with at least two Jumbo riders.

Personally I am annoyed Roglic looks like he has to play 2nd fiddle again, this time to Sepp and possibly Vingegaard (again).

Please don't Landasplain!

 

[gregrowlerson]

Do you remember the year where Antonio Blobloblo of Egality Moroder could have won the Volta, but his clueless DS Sabrosa didn't allow him to attack his teammate Tiago Valero on Torre, which then resulted in Tino Frego from Porto Branco just riding into the abyss and win the race by 53 seconds ahead of Blobloblo, who only got the green light to drop Valero when it was much too late? Of course that whole spectacle was only made possible, because the defending champion Vítor Baía had received a 3.5 week ban shortly before the race for having ridden on an eruptive cocktail of Diet Coke and Mentos during his Volta ao Algarve triumph back in February, but in large part also due to the fact that the organizers had designed an awful route which was way too easy for true climbers like Carlos Cardozo, Rui Rodriguez and the Chilean wonder Sergio Livingstone Vidal to have a fighting chance, but at the same time too hard for Joni Vinho of Basso Mortolo, who hadn't yet entered his peak Volta years, which wouldn't happen until his antics on the crazy Senhora da Graca stage 12 months later, where he would single handedly kill the crowd favourite Joao Almida on what would since be dubbed the day that real cycling died after the experimental East German/Swedish rock band STÄSI released their legendary 12″ single about their love-hate relationship with the race, which by the way was their last recording before vocalist Dag Tag's failed suicide attempt, during which he accidentially murdered a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker inside an abandoned church with one of Täve Schur's old spare wheels.
The Torre incident made Blobloblo severely depressed, and he never became the same rider afterwards, although he did have a short lived renaissance at Faia Futuro in the latter stages of his career, but not even their manager Alfonso Ribeiro could keep him on the right track for very long. Ribeiro was of course known for being Portuguese cycling's answer to NHL's Jack Robertson, due to their way of only communicating with their athletes via telefax. I believe Blobloblo works as a pizza delivery guy nowadays.

I've voted for Kuss.

Rereading this now, and my favourite parts are not the "awful route" mentioning, not even the East German/Swedish rock band, but the simple couple of "of course" phrasing's. Because you've gotta love when LS goes on a rant that only 10% of forumites know the history of (and probably 0.0001% of the general population), and speaks as if it is as commonly known as Djokovic winning his 24th slam.

Also the fact that there is no 'easy' reference to the Tourmalet, or to short GT stages, or to TTT's or to Geraint Thomas.....yet this genius still absolutely nailed it.....of course.

 

[gregrowlerson]

She's far from over, she may be 33 so at the tail end of a career for somebody in a sport dependent on explosivity but she's got plenty in the tanks still, I mean she just won the World Championships!

You know what really hurts? After all of that, and Samu's epic wind-up post... I've realised that the race that gives us a good precedent for this is...in fact... the 2016 Volta a Portugal, with Sepp Kuss playing the role of Rui Vinhas, and Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič playing the roles of Gustavo César Veloso and Raúl Alarcón. So I have to jump in and make precisely the kind of references that Samu lampooned.

One of them needs to throw a hissy fit in the press the way César did about being forced to play shepherd to a domestique. Vinhas got into a breakaway early in the race that gained four minutes, and then did an ITT better than expected to defend his lead.

It's quite a trip looking back at the results there. Stefan Schumacher in 2016? Rinaldo Nocentini? Davide Viganò? Alex Diniz? Francesco Gavazzi? And Franco Pellizotti? Think this might be the year that Delfino joined the ranks of pros commenting on the stupid speeds in a Volta.

Not going to lie. I really, really wanted to google this.

But I'll take your word for it.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but really the only place where anyone can take serious time from Sepptimus is on the Angliru, and Sepp is a pretty good climber. I can imagine Jonas or Rog smashing that climb, but Sepp should be able to hang on well within his lead time.

 

[Rackham]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but really the only place where anyone can take serious time from Sepptimus is on the Angliru, and Sepp is a pretty good climber. I can imagine Jonas or Rog smashing that climb, but Sepp should be able to hang on well within his lead time.

I'd say the biggest dangers for Kuss are the stages with potential snafus (splits, crashes, chaos, bad weather etc.), like stage 20. It was a similar stage in the TdF when Rodriguez crashed & took down Kuss behind him.

But I have no 'fear' of the Angliru as far as Kuss is concerned. I'm more inclined to believe Ayuso & Mas will suffer more on that climb than Kuss will. They're the ones who need to attack & put in more effort.

 

[Vino's Mum]

97 votes for Seppy, huh?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

I should not have changed my vote away from Vingegaard for the first time in any of these polls…

 

[Peyroteo94]

Vote for Jonas. It's looking good

 

[nightowl]

I think unless Kuss drops/cracks trying to follow an attack from other GC riders (probably Ayuso) and Vingo/Roglic are able to follow, he will win this Vuelta. The other 2 won’t purposely put significant time into him even if they can - he’s been their key lieutenant for all of their GT wins so I doubt they’ll stab him in the back.

Well then…

 

[Escarabajo]

If JV does not win the Vuelta, would that be the biggest Rabofail in the history of cycling? or would it be the biggest fail in history of cycling, period?

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

OK, so have changed my mind quite a bit since my post this saturday.

My conclusion based on Tourmalet finish was that Sepp seemed to be the strongest going into 3rd week anyway, and PRimoz just ahead of Jonas, hence my logics were status quo on the top 3 order in Madrid and everyone satisfied.

Later I learned Jonas had serious gastrointestinal health issues during entire 1st week. Which makes his effort at Arinsal finish/stage 3 even more impressive with his 2nd just behind Remco, and post stage mentioning he felt uncomfortable, now learning there was more into that.

Then add Jonas is now in 3rd week stuff, fully recovered feeling well, i.e. Jonas home territory, as backed up when he asked Sepp the other day on Tourmalet "Do you feel well?" (yes) "OK, I feel REALLY good!", continually asking Sepp if it was OK with him that he went scout hunting in advance. So no doubt Jonas has become really ambitious and now resents his 1st week and doesn't want to drop it all on the floor.

In addition, on my day off, I have now spent a few hours skimming through all the interviews from Sepp Kuss, I can only read sincere honesty from all his answers and behavior that he really believes that all three of them have the chance - and that he doesn't feel bad about the situation if/when he were to lose the jersey.

In addition, I have been following up on all of Primoz's interviews since Xorret de Catí. It sounds like he feels uncomfortable and drained of energy after the stages, most recently the day before yesterday where he gave the impression that he is just looking forward to when they are in Madrid.

So I must say that I have turned my view of the internal trinity on its head.

However, I still think it's wide open between the three, or at least now I think it's open, where on saturday I would say the 1-2-3 pecking order by then would be fixed to Madrid.
It is also very possible that Primoz has in fact saved it all for today (now my personal hopes are coming back, I can feel it, I don't know how realistic it is), so I think the tension is intact.

It is also very exciting to find out which episode of Benny Hill as non-Team UAE will deliver us today. We've been really gifted here lately.

It may well be that Kuss showed a bit of weakness yesterday against Bejes, but I doubt he will loose it all to Ayuso and Mas.