Vuelta de Espana............Yawn?

epo-aholic

Is it just me or is this years race rally boring?

Its full of top riders for a change, maybe its the Eurosport coverage? maybe its the lack of mountains (so far)?

I really got into the Giro for a change this year and the Tour was great, please dont tell me it was just the 'armstrong' factor?

discuss........

afx237vi

Moray Gub started the same thread earlier today:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12648106

It's a bit unfair to judge a grand tour before it's been up a single mountain.

Doobz

yea snoozefest so far but the moutains are comming.. Interested to see vino, basso and shrek brothers - ohh and I forgot valverde

PS: Is the Vuelta ever exiting?!

takethehighroad

Doobz wrote:

PS: Is the Vuelta ever exiting?!

I'd say it's safe on the calender now that it's been bought by ASO

victorponf

Doobz wrote:

yea snoozefest so far but the moutains are comming.. Interested to see vino, basso and shrek brothers - ohh and I forgot valverde

PS: Is the Vuelta ever exiting?!

I snore a lot with your post too,

Roscobob

I'm enjoying it because of the chance to see some different riders with Armstrong, Contador, Wiggins etc all missing.

Le Commentateur

It's a win/win situation for me: either an exciting race to watch, or I get loads of work done.

blazing_saddles

Now we shall see. The following 2 days have catagorised, not just guessing from a profile picture, of 61kms and 67kms, respectively.
Not only that, the gradients are a handful, too.

That's without considering Pandera, on Sunday, the potentially "dangerous" double ascent/decent of the San Jeronimo (Millar time?) on Monday, the always interesting Avila stage and the triple cat 1 day of the Navacerrada, on Saturaday.

Of course, by then, half the field will have packed. :oops:

moray_gub

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Now we shall see. The following 2 days have catagorised, not just guessing from a profile picture, of 61kms and 67kms, respectively.
Not only that, the gradients are a handful, too.

That's without considering Pandera, on Sunday, the potentially "dangerous" double ascent/decent of the San Jeronimo (Millar time?) on Monday, the always interesting Avila stage and the triple cat 1 day of the Navacerrada, on Saturaday.

Of course, by then, half the field will have packed. :oops:

We need something to get the blood racing, in terms of excitement this has been a terrible race. Easily the worst of the GTs so far.

mididoctors

non of the GT's were that bad

the first half of the giro was lack luster and twatstrong didn't help nor did the killer testing positive . the giro's centenary... will be remembered as as a event that was tarnished for many reasons

the tour was actually entertaining from a soap opera POV and there was a few good stages in that race...will be remembered.. verbier... one of the most entertaining tour stages i have seen this century.

the vuelta is ok so far.... not great but ok.

the racing is highly controlled and tactically optimised these days.. you have to look for the subtle things more...

moreover when the race does break down the event is more note worthy. the stage farrararara won the other day was pretty grueling

blazing_saddles

Maybe it's because we have had marginally less coverage, or more likely because the coverage has been more balanced, without the compulsory commentator LA love in, but I have quite enjoyed the Spanish stages of the race, thus far.

The Benelux stages were a drag.

9 stages left, that have 3 major MTFs a mountain downhill finish and a brace of testing medium hills. So, it shouldn't be too bad, if the 5 or 6 serious contenders stay the course and slug it out.

On the other hand, if they all decide to go away and prepare.....

markwalker

looking at todays stage i wouldnt like to be racing that, if its not decisive in itself its got to be a leg breaker for Saturday and Sunday. Shaping up nicely Id say.

Kléber

The TV coverage doesn't help, the Spanish production seems to involve only a few cameras and they aren't that good in taking the odd scenic shot, nor on close ups to catch the action. Hard to explain, it feels very "matter of fact". The Tour coverage is much better, the Giro too has some interesting camera shots.

The lack of roadside crowds also make the race look small and under-appreciated.

blazing_saddles

I conceed.
Today's potentially great stage, was an absolute turd.
Valverde is laughing, all the way to the bank.
zzzzzzzzzzz

victorponf

Sierra Nevada and Pandera weren´t that bad

FOAD

The fact that it's gonna be won by a doper (and that the UCI are so slow in acting and allowing him to do it) make the race a joke and not worth paying much attention to.

Then again it is worth watching cycling's version of Ricky Ponting (in attitude not success) fail with more whining.