Who are favourites for the Vuelta?

terongi

All I have heard is that Vino and Valverde are not riding.

Who are GC contenders this year?

Do we know yet?

andyp

There is one former winner, in the shape of Denis Menchov, riding as is last year's fourth placed rider Carlos Sastre.

Hope springs eternal for Tom Danielson too (although Disco may be better off supporting Janez Brajkovic).

iainf72

And Cadel Evans must be hungry-like for a GT win.

Relax-GAM aren't fielding a very "colourful" team either.

afx237vi

andyp wrote:

Hope springs eternal for Tom Danielson too (although Disco may be better off supporting Janez Brajkovic).

I'd throw Stijn Devolder in there as well... probably above Brajkovic. He chose to skip the Tour de France to focus solely on the Vuelta and won the Tour of Austria in the process.

Last year he finished 10th (I think, without checking) as a domestique, so if they give him some support he could get top 5.

Titanium

Do you care? This must be one of the most discredited sporting events in the world. Heras and Vinokourov have been busted as cheats.

As we saw from the Puerto case in Spain, you can have a refrigerator full of blood bags and the case gets dropped. Pedro Delgado, TV commentator and voice of cycling in Spain says "the fight against doping must be fought without any publicity". The authorities and the figureheads are interested in the hush-hush.

Expect riders from Discovery and Saunier-Duval to be on fire.

Until the Spanish step up the testing regime and criminalize doping, the result for 2007 will be as meaningless as it has been for years.

dave_1

I´d say Cunego for the win...but any enjoyment I might have at that is cancelled by the fact that it´s Pantani´s ex DS who manages him I understand...Martinelli who will have known fine well what was coming and goin from team hotels of Pantani and who is not fit by that association to be managing Cunego. Guilt by association is more than enough now in my book. As titanium says, do we care who wins the charade in Spain?

calvjones

I will just about manage to drag myself to make some PTP selections, but for completeness sake more than actual interest.

If pushed I'd hope for Cadel I guess, but then what would it say about him if he did win?

Last year my Clean Tour Pundit pick was Perez, cos he rode for a French team, but as Moreni showed, that means jack sh1t anyhow.

moray_gub

. As titanium says, do we care who wins the charade in Spain?[/quote]

Well i for one care, i love professional cycling it has no equal as a sport for me. Sure it has its doping problems probably more so than most sports but im not prepared to give up on it or be apathetic towards it becuase of that.

cheers
MG

Stark.

Cynicism. Despondency. Suspicion. The Vuelta must almost be upon us.

I for one will still follow it with interest – partly for the racing but also for the possibility that yet more riders might be foolish enough to attempt the odd blood transfusion or two.

As for a possible 'winner', I'm intrigued to see how Michael Rogers performs after crashing out of the Tour and hope that Carlos Sastre gets a podium place.

campagchris

Sam Sanchez could go well

Mr Bumble

Hmm the Vuelta should be very entertaining and open....

Sastre, Evans, Sanchez, Zubeldia will feature

moray_gub

campagchris wrote:

Sam Sanchez could go well

He has had a strange season has wee Sammy, expected a bit more from him in the classics and for some reason he wasnt in the Orange jersey team for the TDF. Was he injured for that or what ? Have kinda missed his briliant descents he is probably the only man in the current Pro ranks who can match up to Savoldelli at that skill.

cheers
MG

moray_gub

Mr Bumble wrote:

Hmm the Vuelta should be very entertaining and open....

Sastre, Evans, Sanchez, Zubeldia will feature

Yea probably, this is how i see it

Evans : Two time trials one of 49kms where he could gain serious time but the other is only 25kms so hes not gonna gain too much there. Its seems to be quite a hillyish route so that could go against Evans, but if he can limit his losses(copyright Sean Kelly !) he may win.

Sanchez : Stage win probably

Zubelldia : top 5 at a push

Sastre : Podium

winner outsider Gomez Marchante

cheers
MG

weyayeman

Could be Kashechkin
as reported on cycling news

timoid.

Moray Gub wrote:

outsider Gomez Marchante

cheers
MG

Not entirely an outsider. Didn’t he finish 5th last year? Will be in the shake up this year for sure.

I think the course suits a climber who can limit his losses in the TTs rather than the other way round. If Cunego wants it, I would have though he's the class act along with Sastre. Its too lumpy for Evans, Menchov and Develoder I think. Others to consider are Brajkovic, Double L Sanchez, Perreiro and Tricky.

Sanchez is the wild card. He's aimed his whole season at this and be furiously storing up his blood for months.

Zubeldia always flatters to deceive. Top 10 maybe. Danielson??? Fook knows. I'd be shocked if he could beat Cunego or Sastre.

drenkrom

I'd go for Marchante. He fought with all his energy last year, and, behind the two Kazakh automatons, he was the guy that seemed to want it the most. It was inspiring to see him ride back up to the leaders after everyone left him for dead time and time again.

Singling out the Vuelta as a depressing dope-fest is kind of ridiculous when you scroll down the list of past Tour de France winners. Granted, it can be an incredibly boring race, but I doubt there is more doping there than anywhere else.

"Quick, I need my blood transfusions so I can be in top-shape and forever bask in the glory of my Vuelta transitional stage win!"

uh huh...