Who will win the Vuelta (rest day 2)

[Max Rockatansky]

Froome will win.

Superman will continue doing a Santi Perez and get himself a spot on the podium.

Nibali third place.

 

[telencefalus]

i don't know who will win i don't have the crystall ball , i just hope that Nibali could win for biology sake

 

[del1962]

Froome will win, but more interesting is who will be the best without Froome, expect Keldemann to be second after ITT

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Re:

I could imagine 1 vote for Contador, but not 2...

The people who voted for him will still be voting for him next year when he's ain't even racing.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

I'm gonna go for Nibali, he may jump onto the Lopez attack later in race and gain enough time to jump Froome.

 

[jens_attacks]

keldermerckx will annihilate the field.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

I'm gonna go for Nibali, he may jump onto the Lopez attack later in race and gain enough time to jump Froome.

To keep his wheel, Nibali must jump on his back

 

[Rollthedice]

Froome was the favorite before the Vuelta and still is for the overall. There are some slim chances for Nibali to overturn the situation because there are still stages where big differences can be made, Froome has reverted to TdF form plus a bit of fatigue, Nibs can profit from Lopez who is an aggressive rider with good legs, Contador will try again to destabilize, Zakarin is on his way up and will attack again and all these can get rid of the Sky train earlier, there are a few interesting descents left plus his proverbial last week resurrection might play a role. If we add that Froome is prone to crashing then I say that it's not all lost.

 

[huge]

If Nibs manages to keep his disadvantage in GC under 2 mins after the ITT, there is still a chance.
Very very slim, and only if Froome starts fading for real, which is a possibility. But still I don't think it will happen.

So my guess is

Froome
Nibali
Zak

 

[Jagartrott]

Unfortunately for Nibali and the rest, even if Froome is showing some signs of weakening, his team aren't. Poels seems to be growing in form just when needed.

 

[huge]

Re:

Unfortunately for Nibali and the rest, even if Froome is showing some signs of weakening, his team aren't. Poels seems to be growing in form just when needed.

One thing that Sky must be praised for is their ability to manage its own strength.

Using their riders in a very wise and measured way.
Poels coming into form in the third week, instead of using him to full extent from the start is one good example and it's planned!
Another example. Yesterday Froome had two team mates in front of him pulling and keeping the tempo, and one behind! A third teammate who will be even fresher than him when needed.
Other teams probably would have put all three teammates up front setting the tempo.
Small details that could and often do make the difference at crucial moments.

 

[telencefalus]

Will Froome fade a bit , i think that he will , think at this he ride one of the fastest tour de france ever at 41 km/h now he is riding after only 26 days one of the fastest vuelta espana at 41 km /h i think that metabolism will made him crack , i hope so

 

[Pantani_lives]

Today might turn out to be the most exciting day of the Vuelta. We don't have to watch the Sky Train all day and we can fantasize about López taking five minutes in a monster attack, or even more unlikely: a Spanish rider winning a stage.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Unfortunately for Nibali and the rest, even if Froome is showing some signs of weakening, his team aren't. Poels seems to be growing in form just when needed.

One thing that Sky must be praised for is their ability to manage its own strength.

Using their riders in a very wise and measured way.
Poels coming into form in the third week, instead of using him to full extent from the start is one good example and it's planned!
Another example. Yesterday Froome had two team mates in front of him pulling and keeping the tempo, and one behind! A third teammate who will be even fresher than him when needed.
Other teams probably would have put all three teammates up front setting the tempo.
Small details that could and often do make the difference at crucial moments.

Strength, if you don't have it there's nothing to manage. That's the problem, ALL teams are FAR weaker than Sky. Other teams setting tempo with three riders CAN'T drop half of Froome's team, and if it's the other way around they CAN'T stay on Sky's doms pace.

 

[telencefalus]

imagine if Nibali lose only 30 seconds , that will be excting for the angliru stage , i would like him to gain 10 or fewer seconds , Nibali work a lot with the tt bike , who knows , maybe froome will start feel bad or will crash or some crazy fan will put him down , who knows

 

[telencefalus]

but likely Froome will win this having the red jersey for 19 days , with the 15 days at le tour , i don't know what to say ET

 

[Arked]

In general Froome is clearly the strongest so far. And his advantage will be even bigger after tomorrow TT. But... With Tour in his legs the chance of cracking increases with every consecutive stage. And if such thing happens not even the strongest team in the world will help him. So there is still chance for proper drama.

 

[Eclipse]

Froome is obviously still the favourite but I think it's fair to think he might ship some time on the final big mountain stages given the efforts in his legs this year. Big question will be whether or not it's anyone close enough who can really make a difference who takes advantage of any weakness.

Got my Nibali fingers crossed but too confident in the Froomedawg to bet against him

 

[Carols]

Vince will pull it out one more time! Forza Vincenzo!

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

I could imagine 1 vote for Contador, but not 2...

The people who voted for him will still be voting for him next year when he's ain't even racing.

Same as with Vino!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The only reason Froome looked weaker is because of his injuries, not because of his form.

 

[SafeBet]

Hard to see past Froome. I'll give Nibali a 20% chance of winning if he manages to lose max one minute in the ITT.
Sky won't be playing around with Lopez in the third week (unless he's 5 minutes down again, which could very well be).

 

[willbick]

Re:

Froome (Sky?) is like Lehman Brothers bank: to big to fail

Befeore Vuelta I wrote Nibali will be second and Kelderman third
Now I think new guy in play is a crack.
Lopez will kill them both on Angliru.

Not sure Angliru is a Lopez climb. Seems more like Quintana i.e. best suited to high altitude big mountains, Angliru is lower and steep

 

[Jspear]

Re:

I could imagine 1 vote for Contador, but not 2...

How bout 4?

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re: Re:

I could imagine 1 vote for Contador, but not 2...

How bout 4?

Yes... indeed
After 8hrs an amount of votes is squadred... Next 24 - it would be..... 65 536???????