Seriously. Is it almost September? This was not the agreement, this was supposed to be an endless summer. And all you A-Holes down there in the Antipodes are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, enjoying longer days and shorter nights. I don’t need to tell you where you can take that, but it’s dark and it smells. I have no patience for the changing of seasons when it means I’m going to be benching Number One and busting out the headlight.
I’m not going to lie to you; the Vuelta is my least-favorite race of the year. Part of it is the parcours-it’s hard enough to get excited about flat sprint stages in the Tour, but these stages in central Spain that go down a straight freeway for hours are just too much for my brain to find interesting. Hey look! There’s another shrub! Wasn’t he a President at one point? There will be some redeeming points of the race, I’m sure, and the shit-steep climbs they dot along the route are certain to be highlights of the season. But after you do the math, this is the grand tour with the weakest field, the worst route, and-most damning-the strongest signal that Summer is coming to an end on the half of the world that matters.
I can’t be bothered to sort out the route and what stages are going to matter, but I’ll tell you this: for the last few years, the winner of the Vuelta VSP has won the VSP GC. A few years back, @Marcus complained that he only lost the VSP because @Nate used the second Rest Day Swaps to his advantage to take the win, but after heavily increasing the penalties, he kept losing. Typical of a man who posts photos of his todger on a Cycling site. (@Nate, your win was clean according to the VCI.) Speaking of which, at worst the Vuelta will distract from Pat McQuaid and his bid for losing the UCI Presidency.
He has a strong lead in the 2013 Anti-V competition, however.
Check the start list, get your picks in, and don’t Delgado this baby; it could be your ticket to the shop apron. Bon chance.
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After careful consideration and analysis of each contender's season to date... I threw a bunch of names in a hat and picked out five. Scientific analysis at its best.
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. Rodriguez
3. Nibali
4. Dan Martin
5. Kreuzinger
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. Nibali
3. Basso
4. Cancellera
5. Kreuziger
When you are up late drinking beer it's probably not the best time to be making changes. Fuck it, I've decided to stick with two favourites and go with three wee climbers with cool names.
VSP PICKS:
1. J Rod
2. Sergio Henao
3. Sylvester Szmyd
4. Winner Anacona
5. Domenico Pozzovivo
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. Valverde
3. Henao
4. Rodriguez
5. Sanchez
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. J-rod
3. Nibali
4. Henao
5. Uran
I didn't manage my TdF Picks very well so hopefully I'll show better en España.
VSP PICKS:
1. J-ROD
2. A. VALVERDE
3. V. NIBALI
4. D. MARTIN
5. B. MOLLEMA
Nibali is feinting and is going into this thing swinging. I got Horner on deck in case a) a miracle happens and he hangs for three weeks or b) Valverde loses gobs of time for no fucking reason.
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. Valverde
3. Purito
4. Henao
5. Betancur
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. Basso
3. Nibali
4. Sanchez
5. Uran
VSP PICKS:
1. Vincenzo Nibali
2. Joaquim Rodriguez
3. Alejandro Valverde
4. Sergio Henao
5. Rigoberto Uran
Here goes nothing...
VSP PICKS:
1. Valverde
2. J-Rod
3. Nibbles
4. Uran
5. Henao