Spain is an awesome country. It has amazing scenery, culture, cities and chicas… oh, the chicas. Its football competition features the world’s best players, their national team are the reigning World Cup holders, and they boast world champions in tennis, Moto GP, Superbikes and Formula 1. They regularly kick the collective asses of France and Italy, and a lot of other European countries when it comes to bicycle racing, although most of their recent heroes have somewhat of a cloud hanging over them. So why does their Grand Tour hardly raise an eyebrow when compared to the other two big tours, and why the fuck do they still allow cowards on horses armed with poison darts to taunt and kill a beast as noble as el toro for ‘entertainment’?
I can’t really answer the last one, but the fact that La Vuelta is treated like the road racing equivalent of a red-headed stepchild is about as fair as the Corrida itself. To me, and to many pros, it is seen as a tour of redemption. Those who, for one reason or another, either due to bad luck, bad management or bad form suffered a less-than-stellar Tour de France, now get a chance to make something of their season and add a ‘major’ to their palmares. Riders like Jan Ullrich, who in 1999 took the amarillo jersey after sitting out Le Tour with a dicky knee. 2008 saw Contador make amends after his Astana team was prevented from starting le Grande Boucle under a doping cloud. In fact, La Vuelta and doping have more than a passing aquaintance, with Valverde winning while under a pending hearing in 2009, and of course little Robbie Heras getting stripped of his 05 title after an EPO positive. Last year wasn’t without its own scandal, with a positive for 2nd place ‘sensation’ Ezequiel Mosquera dragging La Vuelta’s name through the red dust again. It could well be the dirtiest tour of them all, a race that itself seeks atonement as much as those who race it.
This year’s edition has the same sense of redemption written all over it, with some of Le Tour’s unfortunates having a crack at it. There’s Wiggo, who was in the self-proclaimed form of his life before snapping his twig-like collarbone early on. Can he show us what he had promised on the roads of France in the Dauphine, or will the Spanish heat and steep, long climbs be too much for him? How about Jurgen Van den Broeck, also looking great before his own clavicle calamity ended his July. Invisible Denis will also be there, his Geox team considered not good enough for the Tour, out to show that he’s still a force and add to his two Spanish victories. Other battered old warhorses who will never give up easily are Andreas Klöden and Carlos Sastre, but father time may have finally taken its toll on this duo.
In reality, it’ll probably come down to the younger brigade made up of last year’s winner Vinnie Nibali, J-Rod, Scarponi, and Anton. It could be a blow-out, or one of the best races of the year. We may even get another drug controversy to keep up the status quo of years gone by. Whatever happens is anybody’s guess, which is why this race is one of the hardest to pick for VSP contenders, and one that might even be as exciting, vibrant and colourful as the country it traverses for three hot weeks.
So pour yourself a glass of Sangria, give the start list a long or glancing look, and post your picks before 5am Pacific time (yeah, I don’t know when the hell that is either…) and if you have any doubts, confusion or questions, head to the VSP page for clarification, rules and/or rebuttals. No horsing around, no bullshit.
Buena suerte!
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View Comments
Froome's rise has been as meteoric as Cobo's, no?
@Nof Landrien
Know what you mean but Froome is 26 and on an upward trajectory from teams like Barloworld.
Cobo is 30 and has never shown that form. He has history with Saunier-Duval (he was awarded the Pau-Hautacam stage after his team-mate Piepoli was busted - same tour and team that Ricco was busted on). And the Geox team is managed by Mauro Gianetti, who was in charge of Saunier-Duval at the time.
Lord knows I could have my faith blown out of the water. In some ways I hope he is doping because it would be even worse to lose a Grand Tour by a handful of seconds because of some doping cheater if you were riding clean. I suspect Cadel Evans could commiserate.
@frank
So it's just not me that's noticed the weird tilted-towards-the-back positioning of Cobo's helmet? Is that how it's supposed to sit or is he pushing it backwards? Also, anyone else noticed the lovely positioning of images on the home page? To the right we have Frank laying down some serious V. To the left, apparently behind him, the wee lassie in Paris seems to be cruising along on her velib and keeping up with the big man. Faster Frank, faster. You know you can drop her!
@Nate @LA Dave
Mmmm, looks like no shit was flung after all, indeed, nobody got too excited at all about your subbing in of Cobo at all, so I'd best back down from my horse of high and mighty principle and tip my hat to your stupendous VSP lead - somehow I seem to have dropped to zero points again, despite having Wigoo at No 1 - je despair - born loser
:o(
@Chris
why don't you try shaving your arse first, then slowly work your way down your left leg to the foot over a few days - then if you don't dig the look and feel of it, you can always avert your eyes and look at the right leg til it all grows back?
@Nate
Good idea, I lose track of who hates who - we've even kissed and made up with the English over here (esp after we whooped their ass at cricket last year)
@frank , @Buck Rogers , @Dr C
Thank goodness the plan seems to be working -- nothing worse than compromising principles and not getting the result!
@Nate
Hey, I'm currently on a meteorific rise in the standings. Finally managed to nail a point in the Vuelta VSP!!!
@Buck Rogers
Now I'm just hopiong that Cobo pops positive before the end and they release the result before Sunday! ;)
@Buck Rogers
Would it help if I published some sort of falsified Drug Testing Medical certificate in the interim? As Nate says, why let good ethics stand in the way of a resounding victory
@Dr C
Haha, you must be a proper Doctor with such sage advice!
Mrs Chris has on occasion complained about eyebrow and back hair, maybe I should do a deal whereby she can organise whatever gentleman grooming she see fit and I can shave the guns!