Is there anyone riding the Vuelta??

jerry3571

Just been thinking, most big riders are at the Tour Nibs, Aru, Valverde, AC is changing teams so not bothered, Martin, sky boys are busy now, French riders will be tired.
I can only think of Chaves and maybe Pinot as he's not riding GC in France. Tom Dumoulin is targetting stages now but has rode the Giro in the same way so he might be too tired to do three grand tours.
Any ideas? Loking like a grand tour for the taking.

milton50

I'm guessing Quintana will definitely be there.

jerry3571

Milton50 wrote:

I'm guessing Quintana will definitely be there.

Think he's trying to ride full gas at the Tour so he'll be tired at the Vuelta.

RichN95.

I expect Contador to ride it. I also think Froome will. I reckoned Valverde may fancy trying to come top ten in all three GTs.

jscl

RichN95 wrote:

I expect Contador to ride it. I also think Froome will. I reckoned Valverde may fancy trying to come top ten in all three GTs.

My understanding is that Contador was already confirmed as riding?

DL1987

You'd have thought Steve K would be riding too.

specialgueststar

Steven KCruisewick is riding - Gesink (??)
How will J ROd recover _ he's strong now
Chaves and S Yates look a strong pairing
Jungles
Pinot (? doubt it) but Geniez is good - one Vuelta too many for JC Peraud . I can see Vuillermoz riding and doing well if motivated .
Atapuma
Talansky

Lot's of chances for the motivated rider - I think it will be a good edition

dish_dash

I would love for Purito to finally get his GT... seems to be getting back into form. Wishful thinking I know... but we can all dream.

I reckon we'll have a full cast at the Vuelta...

Was also thinking about Dan Martin for Lombardy...

jerry3571

As for AC, on itv 4, Mr Tinkoff had a major bitch about his GC rider and said he wished he backed Sagan last year and not bothered about the overall. Think Tinkoff likes green and polka dots these days. Him and AC might be finished now.
Kruijswijk might be rested by now as mentioned above. Always think of him as Rasmussens apprentice. :twisted:

RichN95.

jerry3571 wrote:

As for AC, on itv 4, Mr Tinkoff had a major ***** about his GC rider and said he wished he backed Sagan last year and not bothered about the overall. Think Tinkoff likes green and polka dots these days. Him and AC might be finished now.
Kruijswijk might be rested by now as mentioned above. Always think of him as Rasmussens apprentice. :twisted:

Nothing Tinkoff says should be taken seriously.

dinyull

All of the big Tour hopes next year will ride it because Sky see it as a good prep for the following season.

bobmcstuff

Looking forward to seeing Chaves ride it as he looked super strong on the uphill finishes at the Giro (assuming there are lots of uphill finishes at the Vuelta like usual).

argyllflyer

Uran?

itboffin

I keep checking my inbox but no invite yet

dougzz

RichN95 wrote:

jerry3571 wrote:

As for AC, on itv 4, Mr Tinkoff had a major ***** about his GC rider and said he wished he backed Sagan last year and not bothered about the overall. Think Tinkoff likes green and polka dots these days. Him and AC might be finished now.
Kruijswijk might be rested by now as mentioned above. Always think of him as Rasmussens apprentice. :twisted:

Nothing Tinkoff says should be taken seriously.

He does seem a wrong 'un. But even so I found the comments about dinner quite interesting, how he said Sagan brought laughter and AC brought tension. Sure I read similar stuff about Sky with Froome as compared to Wiggins. Would he/could he actually stop AC from riding just to be bloody minded. He seemed to say that the publicity was worthless to him as he had only Russian businesses and cycling wasn't popular there. But then again can any of it be believed.

bobmcstuff

Wasn't the Froome/Wiggins thing more that they just didn't get on?

dougzz

I think that was true. But Brad is supposedly a little moody and brought a tension that made others nervous, and created an atmosphere of uncertainty.

jerry3571

AC riding Vuelta?? His Team left him high and dry at the Tour and Tinkoff has fallen out of love with him so is he using Trek as his domestiques?? Going to be another weird one, like AC and LA at the Tour de France.


http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/rac ... ell-263207

FocusZing

Looks like Froome could be there. Contador will surely be at his max.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2016/07/ ... IFTTT&_r=0

joelsim

Top riders so far (unconfirmed).

Best GC contenders

Pos. Rider Points
1 QUINTANA Nairo 1750
2 FROOME Christopher 1445
3 CONTADOR Alberto 1080
4 PINOT Thibaut 962
5 IZAGIRRE Ion 851
6 RODRÍGUEZ Joaquim 770
7 CHAVES Johan Esteban 600
8 WELLENS Tim 590
9 LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel 481
10 KREUZIGER Roman 453
11 KRUIJSWIJK Steven 436
12 BARGUIL Warren 421
13 GILBERT Philippe 411
14 TALANSKY Andrew 395
15 LATOUR Pierre 363
16 SÁNCHEZ Samuel 356
17 FERNÁNDEZ Rubén 330
18 FELLINE Fabio 327
19 ARROYO David 315
20 GESINK Robert 276
21 ATAPUMA John Darwin 245
22 PARDILLA Sergio 226
23 WESTRA Lieuwe 225
24 SICARD Romain 225
25 DOMBROWSKI Joe 209

And Betancur.

joelsim

Landa and Froome possibly joint leaders.

salsiccia1

Joelsim wrote:

Landa and Froome possibly joint leaders.

Bwahahaha!

Richmond Racer 2

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Joelsim wrote:

Landa and Froome possibly joint leaders.

Bwahahaha!

My immediate reaction was also 'Is it Comedy Hour already?'

phreak

Sky should have a strong team to support Froome, as you'd imagine the likes of Intxausti, Deignan, Konig, Nordhaug, Roche, Kwiatkowski and Boswell would be there.

joelsim

Why don't you think this? CF (Fenton for RR) has achieved his first objective, second is Rio and La Vuelta is a bonus. I can easily see them both be given support/free roles.

salsiccia1

Because if Froome is riding a GT, he is team leader. There'll be no split priorities and Landa will not be given equal support.

Richmond Racer 2

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Because if Froome is riding a GT, he is team leader. There'll be no split priorities and Landa will not be given equal support.

What Sausauge says

No_Ta_Doctor

Hmmmmm.....

I can see Landa getting a fair amount of protection if there's even the faintest sniff that Froome isn't focussed or in form and Landa is looking in shape. I know Sky don't usually go heavy on contingency plans, but Tour-Rio-Vuelta is a lot to ask of a rider, especially one that's going to have a lot of media duties (even more if he won in Rio).

joelsim

No tA Doctor wrote:

Hmmmmm.....

I can see Landa getting a fair amount of protection if there's even the faintest sniff that Froome isn't focussed or in form and Landa is looking in shape. I know Sky don't usually go heavy on contingency plans, but Tour-Rio-Vuelta is a lot to ask of a rider, especially one that's going to have a lot of media duties (even more if he won in Rio).

^Exactamondo.

Sky's objectives have been achieved. Tour & Monument.

SDB may let his hair down.

Richmond Racer 2

hehehehehehehehe

No_Ta_Doctor

:-D