Vuelta 2011 Winner

victorponf

I bet for Antón

Tusher

Yup, he's my PTP pick.

rozzer32

I'm quite tempted to go for Wiggo for my PTP, but I don't know if I should go all out to win or just try and stay near the top :?

durhamwasp

J-Rod

rick_chasey

Anton is the bookie's favourite.

victorponf

In my opinion the key is gonna be the ITT, if Menchov, VDB and Nibali do a really good one, It´ll be difficult for other people.

Think that too many mountains for Bradley, too many ITT km for Purito (lots uphill finish for him)

Anton (Scarponni as well), with Covatilla, Farrapona, Angliru and Cabarga have plenty of oportunities in really steep final climbs.

However Nibali have really good chances in ITT and stages with descents like Cordoba, Ponferrada (Ancares is the hardest climb of Vuelta history, apart from Angliru), Noja and Bilbao.

I think is gonna be a really good Vuelta, and 10 stages in the green north!

inkyfingers

Should be a good battle, looks like quite a similar course to last year in terms of balance between climbing and TTing.

Menchov and Nibali stand out for me as guys who can TT and stay with the pure climbers on most of the toughest climbs. As others have said, unless J Rod has learnt to TT in the last 12 months then he hasn't got much chance despite being great on the really steep climbs (if memory serves me correctly he lost about 4 minutes to Nibali & Menchov on a similar course last year). Anton is the favourite but a bit of an unknown in terms of whether he can really go the distance, that's why I keep coming back to Menchiv & Nibali as proven GT contenders.

Kléber

Possibly Purito but it seems Katusha's rockets aren't firing this year.

Several big names trying to salvage their season.

sonny73

Anton all the way for me, I think he will be very strong and hard to beat and some of the climbing is ferocious.
I'd rather see Wiggo win it obviously, but I am next an Anton fan and as such I'd be very happy to see him win too.
Either way I'm looking forward to it, should be a corker.

rozzer32

Can anyone tell me why Anton is such a favourite when he has never finished in the top 5 of a grand tour?

victorponf

rozzer32 wrote:

Can anyone tell me why Anton is such a favourite when he has never finished in the top 5 of a grand tour?

had you whacted last Vuelta?

rozzer32

victorponf wrote:

rozzer32 wrote:

Can anyone tell me why Anton is such a favourite when he has never finished in the top 5 of a grand tour?

had you whacted last Vuelta?

No I didn't, I'm guessing I missed something.

RichN95.

rozzer32 wrote:

victorponf wrote:

rozzer32 wrote:

Can anyone tell me why Anton is such a favourite when he has never finished in the top 5 of a grand tour?

had you whacted last Vuelta?

No I didn't, I'm guessing I missed something.

At last year's Vuelta, he crashed out on stage 14. At the time he was leading GC and had won two stages. He was in top form and would have certainly been in contention for the win.

Surfr

Last years form doesn't mean much this season though. Look at Wiggo's TDF performance. 4th, to nowhere to podium contender again in 3 seasons.

Personally I've just dropped 20 notes on Wiggo for an each-way bet.

victorponf

Covatilla, Ancares, San Lorenzo, Farrapona, Angliru, Cabarga... think too many hard climbs for Wiggo (Sierra Nevada and Manzaneda suits him, but think is not enough).

In other hand, Anton in bad shape won Zoncolan stage this year

frenchfighter

Surprised Wiggins is favourite here. Would be happy for him to do well but cannot see him winning with the ridiculous mountains.

If it came down to him destroying them in the ITT that would be pretty rubbish to say the least.

Peter_K

How is it that Nibali can do well on short steep punchy climbs but finds it hard to react right away to the attacks of riders like Contador and J Rod on longer climbs?

Green Jersey

Wiggins by a nose.

Does anyone else think that Sky have delayed announced Cav's arrival yet because they didn't want to disrupt their Vuelta campaign with a multitude of Cav-only questions?

victorponf

First 9 days with temperatures over 35ºC, it´s going to be painfull

sonny73

Here's what Wiggo has to say: http://www.teamsky.com/video/0,27287,22759,00.html

OffTheBackAdam

Patriotism & blind optimism leads me to pick Wiggo!

Gingerflash

I think it'll be between NIbali and Scarponi.

Rodriguez will win several stages. Wiggins will be top 5.

LeicesterLad

Don't See Wiggo winning, some very hard lumps in there, and theres better climbers who can TT. Unsure about Anton, Youth is on his side, he's been waiting all year for this, Nibali is a possible, can climb and has a TT, and Scarponi, both finished well in the Giro. its a tough one.

afx237vi

Not brave enough to pick him in PTP, but my tip for a good top 5 finish: Kessiakoff.

flasher

Menchov

secretsqirrel

afx237vi wrote:

Not brave enough to pick him in PTP, but my tip for a good top 5 finish: Kessiakoff.

Good call. Won the Tour of Austria last month.

There are also other Astana riders beginning with 'K' that might put on a good show

rick_chasey

Anyone else struggling to care about the Vuelta?

Feels like it's one of those sports day events at school where all the kids who were rubbish get a chance to 'win' themselves.

I've never had a good relationship with the Vuelta, but this year in particular it seems to be full to the rafters will people who for some reason or other haven't as well as they should have this season.

The last one I really remember enjoying was that one where Vino won. He seemed to really care.

inkyfingers

I enjoyed last years edition, but generally my interest tends to wane during the Vuelta. The TTT on saturday reminded why I don't normally bother watching TTTs, the only interesting things were the mechanicals, crashes and Sky somehow conspiring to make a huge cock up of a stage they should have been top 5 in. I also watched the last 5k of yesterdays stage, which was good in the sense that there was an unexpected winner.

avoidingmyphd

Rick Chasey wrote:

Anyone else struggling to care about the Vuelta?

Yep, me. I'm going to keep trying for a few more stages though. Hopefully tomorrow will ignite some enthusiasm.

It's funny you see the high numbers of people who have, for whatever reason, unfinished business this season as a bad thing though. If it was just as case of watching Anton and Menchov scrap it out, I wouldn't even be trying.
I'm also trying to embrace (through laughter) rather than resent the fact that nothing about it is as slick as the earlier races in the season, otherwise I'll end up shouting at the TV about an event I don't even care about!