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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Sooo good!
Y'know what makes me think racing has turned a bit of a corner is seeing GC riders have bad days. Froome cracking and getting illegal feed, Nibbles cracking and losing seconds to Horner, it shows that they are not good to go 150% every day anymore...
Check this out great stuff here -
http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/09/cam-wurfs-vuelta-diary-new-buddy-in-the-bunch/
I've been loving Wurf's blog for a while now....incredible insight into life as a domestique. The guy has such an amazing attitude, too.
Yeah, his blog is very revealing and interesting, I only really follow here, his blog and a results site. I am flabbergasted at the assistance he gets from other teams/directors when he is in trouble, and it sounds like they all are quite cordial in the peleton, chatting and joking with each other. I thought the bunch would be all stern, serious and cold, only helping your team and screw everyone else, but couldn't be further from the truth. they're all pulling for each other to finish, help other hurt riders with shelter or supplies etc. Provides a lot more positive perspective of the whole deal...
Holy fucking shit. Horner is going to do this, especially with Nibali's bullshit boo-hoo attitude. The man needs some V.
@ramenvelo Nibali's latest interviews do seem to have a certain amount of resignation to the fact he's going to explode on the Angliru and cede the race to Horner. It is unusual, given Nibali still has the lead, however slender that may be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LIRIAinJo0E#t=122
@Beers
I agree, there was an interesting article I remember from a year or so back written by a sports scientist that basically said that over time in an event like a Grand Tour the power output of the human body had to tail and should have the odd crisis point but that in the peak of the doping period their power output not only maintained but in some cases increased through the tour. The conclusion as I remember was left open - I guess he didn't want to get sued - but was pretty clear. I wonder if anyone else remembers the article?
@Teocalli
This looks like the conclusion to it http://bikepure.org/2013/06/watts-the-story-to-tour-de-france-glory-report-into-doping-in-the-tour-de-france/
Watching the final 30 k yesterday it dawned on me why cycling is such an amazing sport to participate in & follow. It doesn't fucking matter who wins each day because that dude instantly becomes a goddamn badass that I'd buy a beer and hope to have a chat with if I saw them.
Sure, one might like one racer more than another but, some guy I've never heard of attacks with 5 k to go, then holds off the dogs, or gets caught with 1k to go while suffering from a foot cramp and still has the chops to come around at the line...total hardman.
*I guess that is the biggest crime of doping, this elemental awesomeness of the sport is stolen when you know that guy crossing the line first is a hopped up scumbag full of lies & EPO.
**Incidentally, I think this is why most other sports, especially most balls sports, have lost their intrigue. It's tough to just be happy with a good game or match because some players and teams just rub you the wrong way. (I'm looking at you, Philadelphia Flyers) Or, the entire league (NFL) is totally doped and everyone pretends to not know it and it's just a big corporate reach around. I can't just watch and enjoy the spectacle.