Vuelta Espana 2012
Any predictions? Could be the most exciting race of the year. Froome versus Alberto could be a great fight in mountains and TTs. Quite similar riders. Am wondering if Evans will have a think of the Vuelta after he recovers?
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Plus of course we get to see Bertie post ban. We've seen other riders come back a relative shadow of their former selves, yet most here seem to think Contador will come back just as potent as he was before. Will be interesting to see one way or the other.0
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I'm actually excited about the vuelta for a change.0
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if Alberto can lay off the oxygen boosting transfusions with blood contaminated with clen. We have to wonder if he will be much weaker or maybe he is going to do all he knows like Vino might have. Valverde has definitely struggled post ban. I'd love to see Bert and Froome trading blows on the summit finishes. I feel Bert might not have needed to dope so perhaps we will see him simply on a close level to Froome , with both able to hurt each other and strategy being key. Froome can no longer use the pace making as protection..now he must attack to win and nothing less than that is now expected from him so cannot hide behind the "could have won" if not for being assigned domestique duties..so everyone will be watching him now. Delivery time Chris and against someone much harder to drop in mountains than Bradley! I reckon Bert will have studied Froome very carefully at TDF for clues0
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I'm curious as to who will make up the rest of Team Sky. Will it be the Giro squad or will the TdF boys be pressed back into action. I would expect Thomas and Kennaugh to be there having missed the TdF through Olympic duties. Will Wiggo have to turn out? or will he be rested?0
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Yellow Peril wrote:I'm curious as to who will make up the rest of Team Sky. Will it be the Giro squad or will the TdF boys be pressed back into action. I would expect Thomas and Kennaugh to be there having missed the TdF through Olympic duties. Will Wiggo have to turn out? or will he be rested?
there's a start list on cycling news....--
Chris
Genesis Equilibrium - FCN 3/4/50 -
Mega excited for the Vuelta, I usually am. Quite like the Vuelta apart from the boring scenery.
MY sort of route too. I know many complain about MTF's being boring/overated/defensive and ruining the race - all of which CAN be true, but will be nice to see some good mountain battles after a contrasting relatively mountainless Tour.
Bring it on...0 -
The Spanish have found a new "gimmick" climb in the Cuita Negra:-the Bola Mundo of the Asturias.
http://39x28.blogia.com/2011/070801-cui ... fotos-.php
Detailed profiles and lots of photos. Nice surface for the steep finishing ramps!"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
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Blazing Saddles wrote:The Spanish have found a new "gimmick" climb in the Cuita Negra:-the Bola Mundo of the Asturias.
http://39x28.blogia.com/2011/070801-cui ... fotos-.php
Detailed profiles and lots of photos. Nice surface for the steep finishing ramps!
Bring it on.
Contador is the Greatest0 -
Wiggins or Froome. Contador to finish top 10.+++++++++++++++++++++
we are the proud, the few, Descendents.
Panama - finally putting a nail in the economic theory of the trickle down effect.0 -
And it's all in the North this year, so fewer dead-straight dual carriage roads through the desert you get in South and Central Spain. No fewer than five stages in Galicia, scenery more like Cornwall than the Sahara of the south.LeicesterLad wrote:Mega excited for the Vuelta, I usually am. Quite like the Vuelta apart from the boring scenery.
Lots of mountain and hilltop finishes, and the emphasis is very much on final climbs. Lots of mountain stages, but hardly any really big stages, like in the TdF with two or three HC climbs. More fights, smaller time gaps, more exciting race, like last year? Or more domestiques surviving for a dominating rider to control the race?0 -
Should be good. Looking forward to Quintana, Uran, Henao, and other youngsters like Landa, Jeannesson.
Movistar look interesting with Quintana, Cobo, Intxausti, Kiryienka.
Regarding Sky, I'd expect the climbers (Froome, Uran, Henao, Nordhaug) to be far more attacking than the Tour team. Great chance for Swifty to get a GT stage win or two.0 -
I'd very much doubt Wiggins will ride the Vuelta, and I can't see Froome winning it, it's very difficult to peak for two GTs in just over a couple of months, and lets be honest he must have been at his peak and giving all in the Tour right to the very end.
Even in the peak of the drug fuelled days I don't recall too many doing or even attempting the Tour and Vuelta double. Those that did both at full intensity - Hamilton & Herras to name just to a couple were clearly on the juice.
Similarly I'd doubt Evans will ride it, hopefully he'll be back for a crack at the World's.0 -
It'd be nice to see Sky try out some different tactics in the Vuelta. Maybe put people in breaks etc. so that they at least have a plan B if plan A isn't working.0
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editContador is the Greatest0
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Paulie W wrote:phreak wrote:It'd be nice to see Sky try out some different tactics in the Vuelta. Maybe put people in breaks etc. so that they at least have a plan B if plan A isn't working.
Yes because the tactics they've used in recent grand tours has failed them miserably...
Not that so much.
Just would be nice to see a tactic that doesn't shut the race down.
So far in the GTs we had Liquigas choke the Giro off, and Sky the Tour.0 -
Brilliant, frenchfighter.0
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Rick Chasey wrote:Paulie W wrote:phreak wrote:It'd be nice to see Sky try out some different tactics in the Vuelta. Maybe put people in breaks etc. so that they at least have a plan B if plan A isn't working.
Yes because the tactics they've used in recent grand tours has failed them miserably...
Not that so much.
Just would be nice to see a tactic that doesn't shut the race down.
So far in the GTs we had Liquigas choke the Giro off, and Sky the Tour.
Don't teams pick their tactics around riders and courses rather than how it will look on telly?"In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
Paulie W wrote:phreak wrote:It'd be nice to see Sky try out some different tactics in the Vuelta. Maybe put people in breaks etc. so that they at least have a plan B if plan A isn't working.
Yes because the tactics they've used in recent grand tours has failed them miserably...
Sure, but they used the same tactics in the Olympic RR and it didn't work. Sure they'd like to have a few options rather than just setting tempo all the time. That worked in the Tour because it suited Wiggins perfectly. With a squad with guys like Froome, Uran and Henao you'd think a different approach would be tried.0 -
disgruntledgoat wrote:Rick Chasey wrote:Paulie W wrote:phreak wrote:It'd be nice to see Sky try out some different tactics in the Vuelta. Maybe put people in breaks etc. so that they at least have a plan B if plan A isn't working.
Yes because the tactics they've used in recent grand tours has failed them miserably...
Not that so much.
Just would be nice to see a tactic that doesn't shut the race down.
So far in the GTs we had Liquigas choke the Giro off, and Sky the Tour.
Don't teams pick their tactics around riders and courses rather than how it will look on telly?
Er, yes?
I'm talking from my perspective, not theirs.
I couldn't care less how well or badly they do, sporting wise.
I just want racing I enjoy.
2012 hasn't been vintage so far.0 -
Rick Chasey wrote:Paulie W wrote:phreak wrote:It'd be nice to see Sky try out some different tactics in the Vuelta. Maybe put people in breaks etc. so that they at least have a plan B if plan A isn't working.
Yes because the tactics they've used in recent grand tours has failed them miserably...
Not that so much.
Just would be nice to see a tactic that doesn't shut the race down.
So far in the GTs we had Liquigas choke the Giro off, and Sky the Tour.
But that's not what the post I responded to was saying is it? I doubt that Sky will approach the Vuelta like the Tour because the personnel are likely to be pretty different but they will have their eyes on the GC with Uran, Henao or Froome (if he rides) and that means they are unlikely to throw men into breaks. They showed at the Tour in 2011 they were more than capable of a "Plan B" (c) if the GC ambitions dont play out.0 -
phreak wrote:Paulie W wrote:phreak wrote:It'd be nice to see Sky try out some different tactics in the Vuelta. Maybe put people in breaks etc. so that they at least have a plan B if plan A isn't working.
Yes because the tactics they've used in recent grand tours has failed them miserably...
Sure, but they used the same tactics in the Olympic RR and it didn't work. Sure they'd like to have a few options rather than just setting tempo all the time. That worked in the Tour because it suited Wiggins perfectly. With a squad with guys like Froome, Uran and Henao you'd think a different approach would be tried.
What has the Olympic RR got to do with a Grand Tour?0 -
I am sure that the tactics will be decided on what makes the most exciting race and not what gets the win.
Perhaps we should ask Sky to not shut the race down so that the lead fluctuates day to day.
Hang on; I will send an email to Dave B, surely he will hail me as a tactical genius for this and put me on the staff.
:twisted:+++++++++++++++++++++
we are the proud, the few, Descendents.
Panama - finally putting a nail in the economic theory of the trickle down effect.0 -
Lot's of people very protective of precious Team Sky at the minute. :roll:
-They are not Team GB
-They are like any other pro-tour team.
-just because some British people ride for them doesn't mean we all have to be massive fans.
-Just because they won the Tour doesn't mean that they cant be boring, or indeed tactically inept or anything else.
-Some on here getting shot down for talking about Sky's boring tactics - it's not that we are all tactical genious, its not that Sky tactics don't work, clearly they do. But as my primary role in cycling is a SPECTATOR, I would like to see VARYING tactics and a little EXCITEMENT - I'm not advising Sky how to ride bikes, merely, like others, wishing for a different style to watch on telly and enjoy, as a SPECTATOR.
-Don't confuse a team riding tempo up mountains with being exciting - because it isnt. Even if it involves some British people with a yellow jersey, it's still not exciting.
Now, back to the Vuelta...
Lots of mountains, YEY!0 -
Lots of reactionary rubbish being written too, on this thread and others, about Sky's tactics. If some are being 'protective' of Sky, others are being critical for the sake of it (or because they don't really understand what they're watching). Not directing this at you LL - I recognise that you and others want to see more 'attacking' and open racing but that is not the point that a lot of people are trying to make or rather score when they talk about Sky's approach.0
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Paulie W wrote:Lots of reactionary rubbish being written too, on this thread and others, about Sky's tactics. If some are being 'protective' of Sky, others are being critical for the sake of it (or because they don't really understand what they're watching). Not directing this at you LL - I recognise that you and others want to see more 'attacking' and open racing but that is not the point that a lot of people are trying to make or rather score when they talk about Sky's approach.
Good considered response, and I can see exactly what you are saying - I think the line between good and exciting is a continueing factor in this argument!0 -
What is the TV coverage likely to be like on this? Eurosport appear to be showing an hour or two live in the afternoons.
Does anyone know if ITV4 will be covering it?0 -
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LL - isn't it also down to other teams to make the race exciting?0
