Who will win the 2015 Vuelta?

[Flamin]

So... who will? Cast your votes.

 

[Mr.White]

Alejandro Valverde Belmonte

 

[DFA123]

Very difficult to call. I would make Valverde or Nibali favourites, because they still seemed to be improving in form by the end of the TdF.

Think Quintana could be too young to do well in consecutive tours and Froome has been losing form since the second week of the Tour.

An outsider could take it in theory, but there is such a gap in quality between the top 4 and the rest that it's unlikely imo.

 

[Catwhoorg]

Same podium as the TDF

Quintana ontop step, then Froome.

 

[StannisBaratheon]

Nibali will win by over one minute. The Sicilian is back

 

[jens_attacks]

fabio aru will win this bike race.

 

[damian13ster]

Rafal Majka! He is the only one that has enough balls to do something bold (other than Froome and Nibali), and he will have to looking at the joke of the team that Tinkoff is sending (they completely screwed up this season).
In all seriousness though, I think it will be between Froome and Nibali, although you never know how they will recover from the Tour.
Valverde could do great as well, I can see him getting on a podium but time trial will be a bit of a weakness.
Pozzovivo is my dark horse.

What do you guys think about the sprinters though? Anyone other than Sagan, Degenkolb, Bouhanni gets a chance to shine?
Pellushi? Ewan?

 

[Arredondo]

Quintana. Or Aru. All the other riders don't stand a chance.

Only if Landa will get his freedom, he can win too. But i doubt that.

 

[ILovecycling]

Fabio Aru

 

[Arredondo]

Re:

Very difficult to call. I would make Valverde or Nibali favourites, because they still seemed to be improving in form by the end of the TdF.

Think Quintana could be too young to do well in consecutive tours and Froome has been losing form since the second week of the Tour.

An outsider could take it in theory, but there is such a gap in quality between the top 4 and the rest that it's unlikely imo.

In the Tour: yes
In the Vuelta: no

Guys like Aru, Purito and Landa are not that less then someone like Bala or Froome. I think the first two can get the podium by their own strenght. Aru can even win it.

Beating Quintana will be impossible though. Aru will be the closest.

 

[damian13ster]

Re: Re:

Very difficult to call. I would make Valverde or Nibali favourites, because they still seemed to be improving in form by the end of the TdF.

Think Quintana could be too young to do well in consecutive tours and Froome has been losing form since the second week of the Tour.

An outsider could take it in theory, but there is such a gap in quality between the top 4 and the rest that it's unlikely imo.

In the Tour: yes
In the Vuelta: no

Guys like Aru, Purito and Landa are not that less then someone like Bala or Froome. I think the first two can get the podium by their own strenght. Aru can even win it.

Beating Quintana will be impossible though. Aru will be the closest.

What are you talking about? He had a dream route in Tour and failed to win even a single stage. Vuelta, with really steep and punchy finishes and long time trial is not that good for him. And only two multi-mountain stages

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Very difficult to call. I would make Valverde or Nibali favourites, because they still seemed to be improving in form by the end of the TdF.

Think Quintana could be too young to do well in consecutive tours and Froome has been losing form since the second week of the Tour.

An outsider could take it in theory, but there is such a gap in quality between the top 4 and the rest that it's unlikely imo.

In the Tour: yes
In the Vuelta: no

Guys like Aru, Purito and Landa are not that less then someone like Bala or Froome. I think the first two can get the podium by their own strenght. Aru can even win it.

Beating Quintana will be impossible though. Aru will be the closest.

Don't forget there is a reasonably flat and fairly long time trial. Both of those guys will lose time there. Also, neither are really explosive enough to take many bonus seconds.

I think Valverde will be leader for Movistar and will also comfortably beat Aru. He always does better in the vuelta than the Tour and will hoover up the time bonuses.

 

[damian13ster]

Re: Re:

Very difficult to call. I would make Valverde or Nibali favourites, because they still seemed to be improving in form by the end of the TdF.

Think Quintana could be too young to do well in consecutive tours and Froome has been losing form since the second week of the Tour.

An outsider could take it in theory, but there is such a gap in quality between the top 4 and the rest that it's unlikely imo.

In the Tour: yes
In the Vuelta: no

Guys like Aru, Purito and Landa are not that less then someone like Bala or Froome. I think the first two can get the podium by their own strenght. Aru can even win it.

Beating Quintana will be impossible though. Aru will be the closest.

Don't forget there is a reasonably flat and fairly long time trial. Both of those guys will lose time there. Also, neither are really explosive enough to take many bonus seconds.

I think Valverde will be leader for Movistar and will also comfortably beat Aru. He always does better in the vuelta than the Tour and will hoover up the time bonuses.

Fully agree with that.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I feel Valverde will win this race.

 

[KyoGrey]

My heart is with Landa & Valverde, but my head says Froome or Quintana.

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Very difficult to call. I would make Valverde or Nibali favourites, because they still seemed to be improving in form by the end of the TdF.

Think Quintana could be too young to do well in consecutive tours and Froome has been losing form since the second week of the Tour.

An outsider could take it in theory, but there is such a gap in quality between the top 4 and the rest that it's unlikely imo.

In the Tour: yes
In the Vuelta: no

Guys like Aru, Purito and Landa are not that less then someone like Bala or Froome. I think the first two can get the podium by their own strenght. Aru can even win it.

Beating Quintana will be impossible though. Aru will be the closest.

What are you talking about? He had a dream route in Tour and failed to win even a single stage. Vuelta, with really steep and punchy finishes and long time trial is not that good for him. And only two multi-mountain stages

Contador and Froome showed last year two multi-mountain stages are enough.

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Very difficult to call. I would make Valverde or Nibali favourites, because they still seemed to be improving in form by the end of the TdF.

Think Quintana could be too young to do well in consecutive tours and Froome has been losing form since the second week of the Tour.

An outsider could take it in theory, but there is such a gap in quality between the top 4 and the rest that it's unlikely imo.

In the Tour: yes
In the Vuelta: no

Guys like Aru, Purito and Landa are not that less then someone like Bala or Froome. I think the first two can get the podium by their own strenght. Aru can even win it.

Beating Quintana will be impossible though. Aru will be the closest.

Don't forget there is a reasonably flat and fairly long time trial. Both of those guys will lose time there. Also, neither are really explosive enough to take many bonus seconds.

I think Valverde will be leader for Movistar and will also comfortably beat Aru. He always does better in the vuelta than the Tour and will hoover up the time bonuses.

Aru not explosive? Based on this Giro, or last Vuelta, he's quite explosive.

Valverde still went really deep in the Tour. Normally he's always better in La Vuelta, but i don't know he will be this year. The freshness of Aru and Landa is an advantage for sure.

 

[Moviestar]

It remains to be seen how Nairo will perform in a back to back GT. I also think the parcours doesn't suit him very much with those murs and the long flat timetrial.

 

[Red Rick]

From the Tour riders only Quintana and Nibali have a shot I think. From what I've seen/heard from Froome I don't think he'll be in it to win it all the way until the last week. He was declining during the last week of the Tour and what he's done inbetween doesn't seem like great preperation.

Quintana was the best climber in the last week of the Tour, and I think he'll recover well. Nibali actually looked to be improving during the last week, and rode like a best on the stage he won. Don't think he really tried on AdH after the mechanical. He'll be super motivated to show that his Tour failure was a fluke and that he's still top dog at Astana

From the Giro guy's, I only see Aru (and maybe Landa if he's just as good, but I've heard people say he's always during Giro time than later in the year).

But hell, it's the Vuelta in an odd year, so anything can happen

 

[SafeBet]

I think Aru will suffer on some of the steeper gradients of the Vuelta climbs. He's quite explosive, but he rarely excels when the percentage goes above 10% for more than a couple kms.

It's between Valverde and Nibbles for me.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

I think Aru will suffer on some of the steeper gradients of the Vuelta climbs. He's quite explosive, but he rarely excels when the percentage goes above 10% for more than a couple kms.

It's between Valverde and Nibbles for me.

Yes, Aru is great on short steep climbs, but longer really steep oness seem t be his weakness.
Hard to say who'll win it, Pozzovivo as an odd year Vuelta winner would be awesome.

 

[Billie]

Ruben Plaza will win this bike race.

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

Yes, Aru is great on short steep climbs, but longer really steep oness seem t be his weakness.
Hard to say who'll win it, Pozzovivo as an odd year Vuelta winner would be awesome.

I'm also hoping Pozzovivo has a great Vuelta. Realistically he can aim at the podium if some of the riders coming from the Tour fade.

 

[Marco Pantani]

Valverde or Quintana

 

[greenedge]

1. Pozzovivo
2. Valverde
3. Nibali