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Who will win La Vuelta 2012?

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Who's going to win Vuelta 2012

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jens_attacks said:
Is Contador such a clear favourite that this is his race to lose? This isn’t 2009, when he laid down one of the most astonishing displays the Tour de France has ever seen, nor is it the 2011 Giro d'ltalia, when he had the impressive audacity to inform his rivals when and where he would attack on the slopes of Etna. Those days are in the past, and Contador finds himself on the back foot.

wait..what?
he will be stronger than ever
but the main idea is you can't be sure that he will be stronger than froomy

no doubt,he will be at least,at 2011 giro level


ok,putting quintana on the list instead of alejandro is very good though

"froomy" said hisself he doesnt know how it will go and might even realize its a step too far by stage 2

All these predictions that he will fly away are similar to all the Contador haters who predicted that Contador was going to win the 2011 Tour by 10 minutes, out of sheer fear.
 
Jul 29, 2012
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The Hitch said:
He will finish 7th on m.t with the winner but Froome will come 2nd and Anton 3rd and they will all say - Contador is lost.
Just watch;)

You remember the stage in the giro 2011 of the montevergine that De Clercq won?

Would be pretty much the same then. You prob were referring to that right?
 
Aug 15, 2010
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cineteq said:
Aren't you the one calling Contador the King, the Great One? :rolleyes: On the other hand, the guy's supposedly tired from the Giro, or injured but he was able to do a serious long-range attack on TdF 2011 stage 19?

And btw, Farrar made Nibali crashed, and he wasn't obviously the same after that.

Daniel Benson agrees:
"He’s also not raced a Grand Tour since 2011’s limp Tour showing and while his recent Eneco ride shows that he’s in form, it doesn’t give a complete reflection of his three-week capabilities. Factor in that he’s not won a time trial since last year’s Giro d'Italia and he looks more beatable than ever."

I don't think Contador was tired from the Giro on stage 18 of the TDF 2011, I think he was tired from clawing back a 1.30 odd deficit from the early stages and having been on the attack on both the preceding two stages. Can't blame him for having an off day on the Galibier. Schleck was flying on the lower slopes - I saw it for myself, but even he, the winner of the stage, was blowing over the last 3 k's or so and if you compared his time to Contadors from Lauteret to top it wouldn't be too disimilar. He feels better the next morning and has another crack on stage 19 because he's trying to win, end of story.
 
Jul 29, 2012
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Froome said he isn't scared of Contador but then again he never raced against him.

It will come... Nibali also faced the truth.
 
Few hours before La Vuelta and almost 90% think either Contador (70%) or Froome (20%) will win. Last year, neither Cobo nor Froome was in the poll, and only one person voted for Cobo as Other.

Wouldn't it be funny if Talansky wins this year. :D
 
Contador expending a little energy to gain 2 seconds (before losing 4 on the line) and using up all sorts of energy on the final climb to little effect today. I think if Froome was going to be suffering from his TdF, Olympics and lack of preparation for the Vuelta, it would have shown today a little bit but it was a breeze for him. Add in that Froome had a couple of teammates around him to help on the climb and Cobo is out of it already it is "advantage Froome" methinks. Praying for a Rodriguez or Anton miracle.
 
Fergoose said:
Contador expending a little energy to gain 2 seconds (before losing 4 on the line) and using up all sorts of energy on the final climb to little effect today. I think if Froome was going to be suffering from his TdF, Olympics and lack of preparation for the Vuelta, it would have shown today a little bit but it was a breeze for him. Add in that Froome had a couple of teammates around him to help on the climb and Cobo is out of it already it is "advantage Froome" methinks. Praying for a Rodriguez or Anton miracle.

It's only stage 3! Wouldn't Froome's fatigue likely show later in the race rather than sooner especially on such a short climb?
 
Aug 16, 2011
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Fergoose said:
Contador expending a little energy to gain 2 seconds (before losing 4 on the line) and using up all sorts of energy on the final climb to little effect today. I think if Froome was going to be suffering from his TdF, Olympics and lack of preparation for the Vuelta, it would have shown today a little bit but it was a breeze for him. Add in that Froome had a couple of teammates around him to help on the climb and Cobo is out of it already it is "advantage Froome" methinks. Praying for a Rodriguez or Anton miracle.

Contador wasn't putting a lot of effort into his attacks, he would attack and then slow down. I think he was just testing his GC rivals. Plus the vuelta couldn't be won on this climb anyways. Froome only has 4 seconds on Contador and like Angliru said it is only stage 3. I'd say its advantage no one at this point.
 
Jan 4, 2010
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Afrank said:
Contador wasn't putting a lot of effort into his attacks, he would attack and then slow down. I think he was just testing his GC rivals. Plus the vuelta couldn't be won on this climb anyways. Froome only has 4 seconds on Contador and like Angliru said it is only stage 3. I'd say its advantage no one at this point.

Agreed to a point. I don't think Contador let anyone win. If he could have he would have won the stage..

Sure he was testing, but we'll see how they hold up. It's early yet. Froome should fade...
 
Jul 5, 2010
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Afrank said:
Contador wasn't putting a lot of effort into his attacks, he would attack and then slow down. I think he was just testing his GC rivals. Plus the vuelta couldn't be won on this climb anyways. Froome only has 4 seconds on Contador and like Angliru said it is only stage 3. I'd say its advantage no one at this point.

If Contador could have gone any faster, he would have. If he could have gotten a 10 second gap, he would have gone for it. But yesterday he wasn't strong enough to do so. I don't believe he was holding back at all.
 
Sep 21, 2009
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Fergoose said:
Contador expending a little energy to gain 2 seconds (before losing 4 on the line) and using up all sorts of energy on the final climb to little effect today. I think if Froome was going to be suffering from his TdF, Olympics and lack of preparation for the Vuelta, it would have shown today a little bit but it was a breeze for him. Add in that Froome had a couple of teammates around him to help on the climb and Cobo is out of it already it is "advantage Froome" methinks. Praying for a Rodriguez or Anton miracle.

Those who watched the 2007 vuelta recall that Evans started to show fatigue with only 3 days to the end of the race. It was enough to drop him from 2nd to 4th.
 
Fergoose said:
Contador expending a little energy to gain 2 seconds (before losing 4 on the line) and using up all sorts of energy on the final climb to little effect today. I think if Froome was going to be suffering from his TdF, Olympics and lack of preparation for the Vuelta, it would have shown today a little bit but it was a breeze for him. Add in that Froome had a couple of teammates around him to help on the climb and Cobo is out of it already it is "advantage Froome" methinks. Praying for a Rodriguez or Anton miracle.
Why on earth would Froome have an advantage? Contador was clearly stronger. And he's more likely to improve than Froomey.

Froome had some teammates around him, but actually the most useful work was done by Majka, Contador's teammate who already put guys like Porte firmly in the hurt box.
 
theyoungest said:
Whoever it was, he was more useful than Froome's domestiques, who could do nothing for him once Valverde went.

Though Uran and Henao keeping high up on gc can give Froome some cards in future stages, though i suppose that wont be so easy considering ACs eyes light up everytime he sees an attack as it means the festivities can start again.
 
icefire said:
Those who watched the 2007 vuelta recall that Evans started to show fatigue with only 3 days to the end of the race. It was enough to drop him from 2nd to 4th.

Fair point but folk watching the 2011 Vuelta will recall virtually all of those who attended the incredibly hard Giro dropped like flies in the first week. Yesterdays final climb was run very aggressively and riders like the defending champion Cobo and TdF 4th place VdB lost a fair amount of time. If Froome was fatigued it’s reasonable to think he’d have a very good chance of showing frailty there. Comparisons between Evans and Froome aren’t valid as Froome has yet to show signs that he is susceptible to any sort of fatigue from the 2011 Vuelta onwards whereas Evans, like most of us, can have off days.

theyoungest said:
Why on earth would Froome have an advantage?

Because Froome expended far less energy than Contador yet gained time plus his teammates proved to be in decent condition. I'm not buying that Contador used minimal energy in making 6 attacks yesterday. I’ve never seen someone make that many attacks on the same climb before.
 

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