La Vuelta

Adieu
Adieu Posts: 83
edited August 2008 in Pro race
The only pro tour I have ever watched in my life has been the Tour de France, however this year I am very much interested in watching The Vuelta as-well and was wondering, if anyone could inform me of any differences between the Tour and the Vuelta and if there is anything I should know/look out for?

Thanks. :oops:
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Comments

  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    They TT down empty dual carriages with flyovers as the only scenery in the Vuelta :wink:
    I like bikes...

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  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    You know when you were watching the Tour and there were fans lining the whole route? Now imagine the same thing, only there are no fans at all. That's the Vuelta.

    Last year was a stinker of a race, but there have been some really good ones over the past few years (erm, if you ignore the fact Heras and Vino have both been exposed as eeevil dopers). The Vuelta stages are generally shorter than those in the Tour, but the geography of Spain means the organisers of the race can really mix up the route and throw in a mountain stage whenever they like.

    I really like the Vuelta.

    Edited to add: The camera work and scenery are rubbish compared to the Tour, and the pictures are usually so sun-bleached you haven't a hope of telling which rider is which - but I still like it :lol:
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    They TT down empty dual carriages with flyovers as the only scenery in the Vuelta :wink:

    That's unfair - it's not all dual carriageways, they throw in some heavily industrialised areas too, to break it up.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Less fans, more drugs, shorter stages and funny fishy jerseys
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • Arkibal
    Arkibal Posts: 850
    yes, much better racing than in the Tour. :D
  • Doobz
    Doobz Posts: 2,800
    and Carlos Sastre beating Cadel Evans in the same way he beat him in this years tour :p
    cartoon.jpg
  • Arkibal
    Arkibal Posts: 850
    Cadel needs a better team if he ever wants to win a GT.........
  • espoir
    espoir Posts: 61
    The lineup looks good

    Contador
    Sastre
    Igor Anton
    Gesink
    Sammy Sanchez

    Will Menchov defend his title? He has already done the Giro and the Tour already.

    ps. Maxime Monfort is my tip for a top 8 finish
  • jimmythecuckoo
    jimmythecuckoo Posts: 4,718
    It's a nicer more relaxed less hyped watch that Le Tour and great to have on as you have a post cycling snooze...


    ...or so I reckon.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    The scenery is so boring. All those scorched fields, dry river beds and as others have said, almost no one by the road. Maybe they should put the finish at 8pm, so the Spaniards can watch the race, rather than be on their siesta during the race?

    The Iberian peninsula is gangrenous with doping and lies, you end up raising more eyebrows than Roger Moore in a Bond film. For many riders in the race, they're just there for training for the world championships and they quit after two weeks, others are there to make up the numbers. In the Tour, everyone wants to win.

    The event has been part-bought by ASO, owners of the Tour de France. So I'd expect some shake up soon, to make the race a bit better. Cycling is popular in Spain and they could have a great race on, they just need to improve it.
  • is there any tv coverage? If so, do you know what channel?
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    is there any tv coverage? If so, do you know what channel?

    It'll be on Eurosport
    I like bikes...

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  • ahh...no mainstream (non-subscription) channel then?
  • Salsiccia
    Salsiccia Posts: 405
    Kléber wrote:
    The Iberian peninsula is gangrenous with doping and lies, you end up raising more eyebrows than Roger Moore in a Bond film.

    :lol::lol::lol:
    I was only joking when I said
    by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed
  • Adieu
    Adieu Posts: 83
    Sounds pretty interesting then. Haha.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    One other thing... remember in the Tour (ah, those halcyon days, where did they go?) when the day would start at 11 o'clock with Km 0 on Eurosport, then over to yesterday's highlights on ITV4, then back to Eurosport for four hours of the race, then back over to ITV4 for the highlights, and then back to Eurosport for their highlights?

    Well, you're usually lucky to get 90 minutes max of the Vuelta each day. Without any studio chat or expert analysis. That doesn't include when the beach football over-runs. And the Eurosport highlights, if there are any, are edited by a trained chimp they keep locked away in the Paris dungeons.
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    Last year Vuelta was worse than ever with a rubbish route (althoug the main figures were the same that in this Tour) without any good mountain stage

    This year route is better (but no very much), no just for Angliru stage, there are some medium mountain stages very interstings.

    Anyway spanish supporters miss mountain pass similar to french or italians colls, and we have a few of then but Unipublic don´t dare to use then (Peña Trevinca, Ancares, Portillinas, Pradell, Veleta, Gamoniteiro....) You can see their profiles in www.altimetrias.com. Hope with the Aso participation they use it in the future

    Hope nasty Unipublic invite Barloword to see Soler o a portuguese team (they are very competitive).
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • ridgerider
    ridgerider Posts: 2,852
    The Vuelta gives you a good indication of who will do well in the Worlds...they all drop out like flies towards the end.
    Half man, Half bike
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • perfil13.gif

    This will be the day to take off work
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    perfil13.gif

    This will be the day to t
    ake off work

    It´s saturday

    In other hand, how can i upload images? Cheers
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Paste the address of the image between two img tags. For example, typing:
    [img]http://www.lavuelta.com/08/imgrecorrido/perfil7.gif[/img]
    
    Will give you...

    perfil7.gif

    To get the address of the image, right-click and select "copy image location" (that's for Firefox).
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    Thankd mate :)
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    In velo-club:

    Ag2r - La Mondiale Vladimir Efimkin (Rus)
    Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita)
    John Gadret (Fra)
    Stéphane Goubert (Fra)
    Hubert Dupont (Fra)
    José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Esp)
    Lloyd Mondory (Fra)
    Julien Loubert (Fra)
    X

    Astana Alberto Contador Velasco (Esp)
    Levi Leipheimer (Usa)
    Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Esp)
    Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por)
    Daniel Navarro Garcia (Esp)
    José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Esp)
    X
    X
    X


    Quick Step Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Esp)
    Paolo Bettini (Ita)
    Juan Manuel Garate (Esp)
    Alexander Efimkin (Rus)
    Tom Boonen (Bel)
    X
    X
    X
    X

    Caisse d'Epargne Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Esp)
    Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Esp)
    José Rujano Guillen (Ven)
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X


    Rabobank Oscar Freire Gomez (Esp)
    Mauricio Alberto Ardila Cano (Col)
    Robert Gesink (Ned)
    Grischa Niermann (Ger)
    Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Esp)
    Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Esp)
    Marc De Maar (Ned)
    X
    X


    Cofidis (10 noms) Sylvain Chavanel (Fra)
    Rik Verbrugghe (Bel)
    Nick Nuyens (Bel)
    Kevin De Weert (Bel)
    Leonardo Duque (Col)
    Bingen Fernandez Bustinza (Esp)
    Frank Hoj (Den)
    Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel)
    Maryan Hary, Sébastien Minard (Fra

    Crédit Agricole Pietro Caucchioli (Ita)
    William Bonnet (Fra)
    Pierre Rolland (Fra)
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X


    Euskaltel - Euskadi (11 noms) Igor Anton Hernandez (Esp)
    Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Esp)
    Koldo Fernandez (Esp)
    Amets Txurruka (Esp)
    Inigo Landaluze Intxaurraga (Esp)
    Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Esp)
    Ivan Velasco Murillo (Esp)
    Azanza, Irizar (Esp)
    Alan et Ruben Perez (Esp)

    Team CSC - Saxo Bank Carlos Sastre Candil (Esp)
    Inigo Cuesta Lopez De Castro (Esp)
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X


    Française des Jeux Sandy Casar (Fra)
    Philippe Gilbert (Bel)
    Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra)
    Gianni Meersman (Bel)
    Tom Stubbe (Bel)
    X
    X
    X
    X


    Lampre Damiano Cunego (Ita)
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X


    Karpin Galicia Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez (Esp)
    Carlos Castano Panadero (Esp)
    David Herrero Llorente (Esp)
    Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Esp)
    X
    X
    X
    X
    X
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    Team leaders for the Vuelta:

    Corredor Equipo Dorsal


    Carlos Sastre CSC-Saxo Bank 1
    Vladimir Efimkim AG2R-La Mondiale 11
    José Luis Carrasco Andalucía-Caja Sur 21
    Alberto Contador Astana 31
    Dimitri Champion Bouygues Telecom 41
    Alejandro Valverde Caisse D'Epargne 51
    Sylvain Chavanel Cofidis 61
    Eric Berthou Credit Agricole 71
    Igor Antón Euskaltel-Euskadi 81
    Sandy Casar Probabily not Française des Jeux 91
    Davide Rebellin Gerolsteiner 101
    Ezequiel Mosquera Karpin Galicia 111
    Damiano Cunego Lampre 121
    Daniele Bennati Liquigas 131
    Paolo Bettini Quick Step 141
    Óscar Freire Rabobank 151
    Cadel Evans Silence-Lotto 161
    Erik Zabel Team Milram 171
    Mikhail Ignatiev Tinkov 181
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    Probably Evans won´t go to the Vuelta:

    http://www.foxsports.com.au/beijing_oly ... 07,00.html
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    For a frenh paper Evans close to ride La Vuelta:

    Evans et Popovych veulent prendre part à la vuelta et les places seront chères chez Silence Lotto. Kaisen a déclaré dans le quotidien LA MEUSE qu’il ignore encore s’il pourra y participer.
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    For french fans Contador is the main fauvorite (www.lavuelta.fr):

    Sondage
    Qui s'imposera sur La Vuelta 2008 ?

    Igor Antón: 3.92 %
    Alberto Contador: 62.75 %
    Vladimir Efimkin: 2.35 %
    Cadel Evans: 6.27 %
    Ezequiel Mosquera: 1.57 %
    Carlos Sastre: 7.06 %
    Alejandro Valverde: 16.08 %
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com
  • victorponf
    victorponf Posts: 1,187
    What a pity!

    Toegevoegd op 20/08/2008 - 20:29:45
    >> No Vuelta for Cadel Evans
    Dr Daniel De Neve had a close contact per telephone with the Italian specialist who deals with Cadel Evans's knee problem.

    Apparently, Cadel's lesions are more serious than expected, so that he will have to skip the Vuelta. Replacement is Australian road champion Matthew Lloyd.

    Surgery is not considered yet; however, healing and revalidation will require about 6 to 8 weeks, so that Cadel's to the top competition this year might be improbable.
    If you like Flandes, Roubaix or Eroica, you would like GP Canal de Castilla, www.gpcanaldecastilla.com