La Vuelta 2020, Pre Race Info and General Discussion.

Irún now hosts the Big Start of the 2020 Vuelta a España on Tuesday 20 October. The Spanish Grand Tour features just eighteen stages, with the Dutch Depart being put into cold covid storage.
The race, as ever these days, is extremely mountainous and wastes no time at all, by throwing in a tough GC challenge on the very first stage.
It serves summit finishes at the Sanctuary of Arrate, Laguna Negra, Tourmalet, Moncalvillo, La Farrapona, Angliru, Mirador de Ézaro and in La Covatilla. Fingers crossed, the finish is intended to be on 8 November in Madrid.

Might as well get the Covid impact out of the way first.
The organisation of La Vuelta, in coordination with health authorities and the government delegations of all territories crossed by the route of the 75th edition of the race, have agreed to apply a series of restrictions to some departures, finish-lines and mountain passes, limiting the amount of public that may attend.
La Vuelta deeply regrets that the current epidemiological situation in Spain does not allow the adequate conditions required for the public to be present at those points. The race will take place without its usual commercial and advertising activities, such as the Parque Vuelta and the advertising caravan, in order to avoid any unnecessary crowds.
The reduced group of organisation personnel, media, sponsors, teams and state security forces that will travel with La Vuelta 20 will be subject to strict sanitary protocols. The organisation will also rigorously enforce a maximum capacity control in all restricted race areas. The team parking area, a space that is usually open to the public in order to allow fans to get closer to the riders will be completely closed-off to the public in order to guarantee the protection of the athletes and of the personnel working with their respective teams.
The following mountain passes will have restricted access:
PUERTO DE ARRATE
LA LAGUNA NEGRA. VINUESA
COL DU TOURMALET
PUERTO DE ORDUÑA
ALTO DE MONCALVILLO
ALTO DE LA FARRAPONA. LAGOS DE SOMIEDO
ALTO DE L’ANGLIRU
MIRADOR DE ÉZARO. DUMBRÍA
ALTO DE LA COVATILLA




The race, as ever these days, is extremely mountainous and wastes no time at all, by throwing in a tough GC challenge on the very first stage.
It serves summit finishes at the Sanctuary of Arrate, Laguna Negra, Tourmalet, Moncalvillo, La Farrapona, Angliru, Mirador de Ézaro and in La Covatilla. Fingers crossed, the finish is intended to be on 8 November in Madrid.

Might as well get the Covid impact out of the way first.
The organisation of La Vuelta, in coordination with health authorities and the government delegations of all territories crossed by the route of the 75th edition of the race, have agreed to apply a series of restrictions to some departures, finish-lines and mountain passes, limiting the amount of public that may attend.
La Vuelta deeply regrets that the current epidemiological situation in Spain does not allow the adequate conditions required for the public to be present at those points. The race will take place without its usual commercial and advertising activities, such as the Parque Vuelta and the advertising caravan, in order to avoid any unnecessary crowds.
The reduced group of organisation personnel, media, sponsors, teams and state security forces that will travel with La Vuelta 20 will be subject to strict sanitary protocols. The organisation will also rigorously enforce a maximum capacity control in all restricted race areas. The team parking area, a space that is usually open to the public in order to allow fans to get closer to the riders will be completely closed-off to the public in order to guarantee the protection of the athletes and of the personnel working with their respective teams.
The following mountain passes will have restricted access:
PUERTO DE ARRATE
LA LAGUNA NEGRA. VINUESA
COL DU TOURMALET
PUERTO DE ORDUÑA
ALTO DE MONCALVILLO
ALTO DE LA FARRAPONA. LAGOS DE SOMIEDO
ALTO DE L’ANGLIRU
MIRADOR DE ÉZARO. DUMBRÍA
ALTO DE LA COVATILLA




"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
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@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
That was the TDF cancellation for next year, right?
On the bright side I am glad someone is actually reading all my bumf.
I think you can rest assured your thread starters are well read. I often find I'm waiting for one to tell me what to expect from the next stage (no pressure mate
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
I am not sure. You have no chance.
2/1 Roglic
4/1 Dumoulin
7/1 Buchmann
8/1 Carapaz
12/1 Valverde, Pinot
14/1 Mas, A.Yates
16/1 Vlasov
20/1 Kuss, Froome
25/1 Sosa
30/1 Gaudu
40/1 Uran
50/1 Soler, Martinez
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
I am not sure. You have no chance.
DECEUNINCK - QUICK-STEP
ARCHBOLD Shane
BAGIOLI Andrea
BENNETT Sam
CATTANEO Mattia
GARRISON Ian
MORKOV Michael
STEIMLE Jannik
STYBAR Zdenek
MITCHELTON - SCOTT
CHAVES RUBIO Johan Esteban
EDMONDSON Alexander
GRMAY Tsgabu Gebremaryam
NIEVE ITURALDE Mikel
SCHULTZ Nicholas
SCOTSON Callum
SMITH Dion
STANNARD Robert
TREK - SEGAFREDO
DE KORT Koen
EG Niklas
ELISSONDE Kenny
KAMP EGESTED Alexander
LIEPINS Emils
LÓPEZ Juan Pedro
MOSCHETTI Matteo
RIES Michel
UAE TEAM EMIRATES
COVI Alessandro
DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David
FARIA DA COSTA Rui Alberto
FORMOLO Davide
HENAO MONTOYA Sergio
OLIVEIRA Ivo
PHILIPSEN Jasper
RIABUSHENKO Aliaksandr
TEAM JUMBO - VISMA
1 ROGLIC Primoz
2 BENNETT George
3 DUMOULIN Tom
4 GESINK Robert
5 HOFSTEDE Lennard
6 KUSS Sepp
7 MARTENS Paul
8 VINGEGAARD RASMUSSEN Jonas
So good, some fair and some what are they doing there?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EkW1i-fWkAAO8k8.jpg
Instagramme
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
.. POWER Robert - 25 years old
.. ARENSMAN Thymen - 20 years old
.. DONOVAN Mark - 21 years old
.. KANTER Max - 22 years old
.. SALMON Martin - 22 years old
.. STORER Michael - 23 years old
.. VAN WILDER Ilan - 20 years old
.. DAINESE Alberto - 22 years old
Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
Andrey_Amador
RichardCarapazM
chrisfroome
golasmichal
brandon rivera
ivan sosa cuervo
Dylan van Baarle
cameron wurf
The difference is that almost all of the contenders did the Tour in some capacity
I don't think I noticed Mas even being at the Tour. He gradually lost time while losing less time than most others.