Who will win the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco?

[janraaskalt]

do you have a source about Betancur illness please?

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=70611

 

[karlboss]

Give me proofs that he ain't! Unless you are talking about the Contador of 2009, it's another story. He finished more than 2min over Froome at the Tour 2013 in the ITT at Mont Saint-Michel, behind Valverde, who is not a good ITT.

Just quickly, head to head 12:1 to Contador and the 1 is a TTT. Hejedal has 6 times finished top 10 in an ITT, 3 of those are the Canadian nationals. Contador about 40. Not including results that were scrubbed from 2011. Is that enough proofs?

 

[burning]

Give me proofs that he ain't! Unless you are talking about the Contador of 2009, it's another story. He finished more than 2min over Froome at the Tour 2013 in the ITT at Mont Saint-Michel, behind Valverde, who is not a good ITT.

Edit: The TT from 2011 Tour is excluded here, so the score between them is 11-0

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Funny how there are STILL people who think Contador is not much of a time trial specialist, even when he started out as one when he was really young.

His first important victories you ask?
-Tour of Pologne, uphill ITT
-Pais Vasco, hilly ITT
way back in 05/06

Yeah.. Hesjedal can surely compete with that, can't even remember Hesjedal ever winning an ITT btw

It's a bit like saying Mollema can beat Rodriguez this year in uphill sprints

 

[ILovecycling]

http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=70611

thanks a lot,biciciclismo is great

 

[theyoungest]

1. Ask Purito about Ryder Hesjedal's time trialing abilities. See what he thinks.

2. This is a very hilly ITT.

See what Hesjedal has done in these very hilly Pais Vasco TTs. Really, that final Giro TT is quite out of the ordinary for Hesjedal, and Purito managed to get quite close... but it's simple physiology that he can't beat Hesjedal on such a course. On a hilly Pais Vasco course, expect Purito to beat Hesjedal.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Give me proofs that he ain't! Unless you are talking about the Contador of 2009, it's another story. He finished more than 2min over Froome at the Tour 2013 in the ITT at Mont Saint-Michel, behind Valverde, who is not a good ITT.

You mean the same Mont-Saint-Michel ITT in which Contador beat Hesjedal by 3 minutes?

 

[VeloHuman]

See what Hesjedal has done in these very hilly Pais Vasco TTs. Really, that final Giro TT is quite out of the ordinary for Hesjedal, and Purito managed to get quite close... but it's simple physiology that he can't beat Hesjedal on such a course. On a hilly Pais Vasco course, expect Purito to beat Hesjedal.

This may be true, it's a very hilly ITT and Purito is looking strong right now. The point was very simply that Hesjedal is not a bad time trialist, even if he isn't a great one. If he's actually targeting this race, I don't think the time trial will hurt him; doesn't mean I think he'll win it or the overall. TvG, Valverde, Contador, Kwiato (thanks to TT), and Purito seems like much better bets than Hesjedal, who hasn't really done much since he won the Giro.

 

[Arredondo]

This may be true, it's a very hilly ITT and Purito is looking strong right now. The point was very simply that Hesjedal is not a bad time trialist, even if he isn't a great one. If he's actually targeting this race, I don't think the time trial will hurt him; doesn't mean I think he'll win it or the overall. TvG, Valverde, Contador, Kwiato (thanks to TT), and Purito seems like much better bets than Hesjedal, who hasn't really done much since he won the Giro.

I don't know for sure, but you think Purito is going to start in Pais Vasco?

He doesn't, just as Moreno.

 

[theyoungest]

This may be true, it's a very hilly ITT and Purito is looking strong right now. The point was very simply that Hesjedal is not a bad time trialist, even if he isn't a great one. If he's actually targeting this race, I don't think the time trial will hurt him; doesn't mean I think he'll win it or the overall. TvG, Valverde, Contador, Kwiato (thanks to TT), and Purito seems like much better bets than Hesjedal, who hasn't really done much since he won the Giro.

In Pais Vasco, the TT has consistently been Hesjedal's downfall... so while not a truly bad TTist, it hasn't helped him in this race.

And yeah, apparently Purito doesn't race here, so that comparison was a bit useless

 

[Jelantik]

do you have a source about Betancur illness please?

here it is the latest one on april 1
http://cyclingquotes.com/news/betancurs_participation_in_vuelta_al_pais_vasco_under_threat/

 

[skidmark]

This may be true, it's a very hilly ITT and Purito is looking strong right now. The point was very simply that Hesjedal is not a bad time trialist, even if he isn't a great one. If he's actually targeting this race, I don't think the time trial will hurt him; doesn't mean I think he'll win it or the overall. TvG, Valverde, Contador, Kwiato (thanks to TT), and Purito seems like much better bets than Hesjedal, who hasn't really done much since he won the Giro.

You can probably even change that last statement to 'hasn't really done much ever other than winning the Giro'. Don't get me wrong, I like Hesjedal (I mean, I'm Canadian and he's on my CQ team, so I have some incentive I guess) but really, there's no reason to talk about him as someone who is going to win. He hasn't won ANYTHING (stage-race wise, I know he's won stages, yes) other than the Giro. Not Paris-Nice, not Criterium International, not Tour L'Ain, nothing. Ever. He's a fine TTer, he's a fine climber, and GTs seem to be his best thing, as he's consistent and gets stronger in the third week. Sure, a race like Pais Vasco has such awesomely unique climbs that it often produces a surprise winner, so maybe there'd be a chance in hell this would be the race he'd win. But history is not on his side. Top 5? Possible. Contador is 100x more likely to win, if that's all we're talking about, though.

 

[VeloHuman]

In Pais Vasco, the TT has consistently been Hesjedal's downfall... so while not a truly bad TTist, it hasn't helped him in this race.

And yeah, apparently Purito doesn't race here, so that comparison was a bit useless

Yeah I guess no reason to compare them on this course; only brought up Purito because he saw the Giro slip through his fingers when Hesjedal out TTed him. Re: his consistent downfall... he's only done a TT in this race twice!

You can probably even change that last statement to 'hasn't really done much ever other than winning the Giro'. Don't get me wrong, I like Hesjedal (I mean, I'm Canadian and he's on my CQ team, so I have some incentive I guess) but really, there's no reason to talk about him as someone who is going to win. He hasn't won ANYTHING (stage-race wise, I know he's won stages, yes) other than the Giro. Not Paris-Nice, not Criterium International, not Tour L'Ain, nothing. Ever. He's a fine TTer, he's a fine climber, and GTs seem to be his best thing, as he's consistent and gets stronger in the third week. Sure, a race like Pais Vasco has such awesomely unique climbs that it often produces a surprise winner, so maybe there'd be a chance in hell this would be the race he'd win. But history is not on his side. Top 5? Possible. Contador is 100x more likely to win, if that's all we're talking about, though.

This was an oft-overlooked point when prognosticators kept pegging Hesjedal to win this or that race last year. The guy has placed highly in several big races, but he has all of two WorldTour wins; he didn't even win a stage in the Giro he won. I think everyone agrees his chances of actually winning are slim here.

 

[Hugo87]

Re: his consistent downfall... he's only done a TT in this race twice!

4 times, not twice.

Didn't you saw his results that I posted 1 or 2 pages ago?

 

[Afrank]

This was an oft-overlooked point when prognosticators kept pegging Hesjedal to win this or that race last year. The guy has placed highly in several big races, but he has all of two WorldTour wins; he didn't even win a stage in the Giro he won. I think everyone agrees his chances of actually winning are slim here.

His team won the TTT.

 

[VeloHuman]

4 times, not twice.

Didn't you saw his results that I posted 1 or 2 pages ago?

You're right; I did see them, but then I was looking at ProCyclingStats which doesn't apply the little "this is an ITT" icon that far into the past unfortunately.

 

[durtyfat]

Edit: The TT from 2011 Tour is excluded here, so the score between them is 11-0

Did you see what i write at least? I said after 2010, Hesjedal is stronger than Contador in ITT, Hesjedal began in the road at 2005. Do you really expect him to be that good in ITT in his first years. And Contador wasn't clean, so the results of 2009 and before doesn't count.

 

[durtyfat]

You mean the same Mont-Saint-Michel ITT in which Contador beat Hesjedal by 3 minutes?

You mean the same Tour de France where Hesjedal wasn't in a good shape and had a broken rib and who wasn't riding for GC after that, hmm. De Gendt finished 1min ahead Contador in that ITT who, at the same time, did about the same that Hesjedal in the last ITT in the Giro 2012.

 

[Jspear]

Did you see what i write at least? I said after 2010, Hesjedal is stronger than Contador in ITT, Hesjedal began in the road at 2005. Do you really expect him to be that good in ITT in his first years. And Contador wasn't clean, so the results of 2009 and before doesn't count.

Actually they do count.....Also we know Hesjedal has never had any shady business goin' on in his past. Bringing that up means and proves nothing.

Let's just see who ends up doing better in the time trial. Then you can come back and say "oh told you so" or "oh sorry I was wrong."

 

[burning]

Did you see what i write at least? I said after 2010, Hesjedal is stronger than Contador in ITT, Hesjedal began in the road at 2005. Do you really expect him to be that good in ITT in his first years. And Contador wasn't clean, so the results of 2009 and before doesn't count.

How on earth he's stronger than Contador, even though he never beat him in a time trial?

 

[ExtraSpoke]

How on earth he's stronger than Contador, even though he never beat him in a time trial?

He said after 2010, but meant after 2020

 

[VeloHuman]

Maybe moving on from Ryder... will be interesting to see if Valverde is still flying like he was last month. He was dominating for like a three week period at the second level, but it's been a bit since then and this race is against bigger competition than, say, Andalucia. He's gotta be salivating at the thought of all these possible stage wins, too, what with the numerous post-climb flat finishes.

 

[hfer07]

Folks- there is only one rider to name in this Pais Vasco race:

Don Alejandro Valverde Belmonte will smoke 'em out like nothing

and the "fat Cat" AKA Betancur will perform superbly too

 

[VeloHuman]

Folks- there is only one rider to name in this Pais Vasco race:

Don Alejandro Valverde Belmonte will smoke 'em out like nothing

and the "fat Cat" AKA Betancur will perform superbly too

If said fat cat isn't suffering from a boil on his leg...

 

[hfer07]

If said fat cat isn't suffering from a boil on his leg...

noo- just "water retention" underneath those pistons