Velominati Super Prestige: La Vuelta a España 2013
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.
[vsp_results id=”26944″/]
Not too sure on my picks but I feel that just like last year this will be the most exciting grand tour.
I mean really, how about a little action? Pedaling for podiums in the Vuelta? Who cares?
This ain’t the Tour (thank goodness) people are riding for their jobs, bonuses and just general respect.
The field is littered with dynamite, the favorites are all going to have to be aggressive and grab time when it suits them. It is a race. Have at it.
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. J-Rod
3. Dan Martin
4. Uran
5. Horner
@frank
I can’t tell you how honored I am that Cobo-gate represents to you the pinnacle of the Vuelta; not surprisingly I feel the same way. My B-samples from 2011 have been destroyed in accordance with the Spanish court’s order, can you confirm?
I must note however that your pronoun usage is a bit obscure; I have no idea what a “todger” is so I can only assume it is some sort of antipodean monstrosity and therefore belongs to @Marcus.
VSP PICKS:
1. Uran
2. Nibali
3. Henao
4. Sammy sammy sanchez
5. Betancur
VSP PICKS:
1. J Rod
2. Nibali
3. Valverde
4. Henao
5. Thibaut Pinot
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. J. Rodriguez
3. Uran
4. Malmerde
5. Kreuziger
After I Delgado’d a few VSP races, I am shocked to find myself sitting in second. I thought I had no chance of catching @dancollins, but after reading Frank’s race commentary, I can honestly say that I am way more interested in the Vuelta than I’ve ever been before.
Come on, lads! Earn me that apron! Total crapshoot, but at least I’m beating the pants off @NoTubes. I somehow can’t bring myself to pick Piti, even though I probably should. I could not take enough showers to wash away that dirty, dirty shame for picking him.
VSP PICKS:
1. Sergio Henao Montoya
2. Vincenzo Nibali
3. Rigoberto Uran
4. Bauke Mollema
5. Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez
I’m just happy not to Delgado again. Bon Chance tout le monde.
VSP PICKS:
1. uran
2. betancur
3. kreuziger
4. nibbles
5. j rod
@TBONE
Sorry to point out that Cancellara is Swiss.
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. Henao
3. Betancur
4. Rodriquez
5. Uran
I was just kidding with the Basso pick.
VSP PICKS:
1. Nibali
2. Valverde
3. Henao
4. Rodriquez
5. Uran
@snoov
Sorry to point out his chances of winning are about as good Phil Liggett’s.
Up for an early Saturday morning ride, my brain tells me I need to sort something out…and well fuck, I’ve Delgado’ed. After two strong VSP years, I’m playin’ like Phil Gil is riding. Fack. Thankfully I don’t make a living doing this, but it does take away from the fun. And I do want to win a shop apron!
I think Nibali can win, even if he is eager to win a WC in a few weeks. Ha, to think of Eddy soft pedaling in anything so he can save energy to win down the line is laughable, funny how times have changed.
I think Valverde has lost it and doesn’t have the mental fortitude to do it for three weeks. Then again, it could be the blood’tude.
Uran vs. J-Rod for 2nd in my mind.
Third, hmm, will be interesting to see if Bauke can put in another strong three weeks, but I’m thinking top 5 for him and maybe Betancur comes of age for a podium spot.
Note to self: don’t ever again delay picks since you can change them.
@Ron
The VSP is 78% more hilarious when you Delgado every other race. Thank you for your contribution (or lack thereof).
Off year for sure. I blame it on…hmm, I actually don’t have any excuses. Damnit.
Balls. Uran is leaving Sky? He won’t be well supported, FFS! I should have spent more than 30 seconds making my picks.
Watching La Vuelta TTT; each of Faboo’s guns is the size of your average Columbian grimpeur!
@eenies
Loving everything about these tactics and philosophy.
Good win by Nico…well judged….Heynow Heynow don’ dream its over…and what on earth happened to dirty Sanchez? !
@Deakus
What happened was I picked him for the GC win. See also, Carlos Betancur and Sergio Henao.
In fact, if anyone wants to make any money betting on la Vuelta just take a look at my top three VSP picks and avoid like the plague.
Meh, it’s early days but Henao is 2:49 down after today’s stage. Nibbles in red.
@Ron Don’t feel bad, I Delgado’d a race this Spring myself … although at least it wasn’t a MAJOR Fuck’in Grand Tour that I Delgado’d!!!
Hope that helps ease the pain a bit. You know, we’re here for you in your time of need. Brothers and all that.
Damn cool to see a Wisco boy finish well today, congrats to Matt Bouche!
@Deakus
Hell! He might rue the “Bad Day at the Office” but I rue the day that I put him in my picks along with Henao!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/samuel-sanchez-rues-bad-day-at-office
But it is early days yet and at least I didn’t pick Betancur!
And what do you know! Nico actually won something!
Surprises already! Should be a great 2.5 weeks ahead!
Has anyone found a good way to watch the stages on an iPhone? The cyclingfans.com streams don’t seem to play anymore using the Skyfire app as it looks like there in an additional pop up window now that prevents the app from detecting that there is flash video on the page.
Wow, Ivan Santaromita has taken the Italian champs kit to the extreme…
@VeloVita
I’m using eurosport app on ipad. You can subscribe for a year or just month on month..
Awesome stage, and super happy to see Chris Horner pull away to win.
At some point back in this thread of comments, someone asked, “Why pick Horner?”
Well. That’s why.
Course I also picked Sammy Sanchez and I don’t think that is happening.
@Deakus
You’re in the UK though, right? Does that work in the US?
@Erik
Still do not see him Top 10 by the finish but I could VERY easily be wrong!
Great ride by Horner today! Gotta take your chances when they are here. Still early days but this look like it could be an interesting race if the Spaniards all watch each other like hawks allowing the Nibalis and Horners of the world to take advantage. At this point in his career, Horner’s got nothing to lose. Just makes you wonder what he might have done in his prime if he’d been on a different team and more freedom.
@Buck Rogers
I’m always happy to eat crow (I said “why pick Horner”), but it’s a dish best served at the end of a three-week race, not on Day 3. Good win from Horner today, but let’s be honest: nobody took up the challenge to chase””they all sat up and looked at each other rather than try to bring him back. I suspect the main contenders will be happy with Horner in the leader’s jersey, since he’s no threat whatsoever and it means their teams don’t have to chase. I agree with Buck: a top ten will be an excellent result, but I don’t see it. There are just too many guys who are hungry and stronger.
Of course, what do I know: I thought one of those guys would be Betancur, but he lost another 13 minutes today…
@Steampunk
All true…. so true. Of course, the fewer people who picked Horner the better. It is like a long breakaway. To the daring go the spoils. Fewer points to share.
Not that my VSP is paying off. Went with Evans. Fail. Don’t even remember my Giro pick. Fail.
How steep is the Mirador in Stage 4 ?
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JZp1-hlxAEQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DJZp1-hlxAEQ
Pretty fucken steep.
@piwakawaka
entertainly steep, as long as someone else has to do it
@Buck Rogers
Not a dull moment so far and with a “shit-steep” climb to the finish today it’s been great racing. And who would have thought that Brajkovic, Roche and Horner would have been 1st over the line on the opening 3 stages. Viva La Vuelta.
@eenies
Correction – the shit-steep climb is not to the finish, it’s with 34km to go and the Mirador is only a 3rd cat at an average of 13% with a max of 29%!!!
@eenies
Yes. Last year a stage finished there with J-Rod winning the Stage.
And WTF is up with Golden show boy Sammy Sanchez??? Now he stopped to have his shoes fixed. Maybe if he ditched his fuck’in “ohhhh, I won a gold medal in some olympics before you were born” shit shoes he’d be in the lead group!
@Buck Rogers
More eyeballs out riding from Faboo…just timed his move a little too late. Good win from Moreno.
@Buck Rogers
I can only imagine what we’d be subjected to if Vino was still in the peloton…it could only go downhill from here:
@VeloVita
I suspect he burnt his bridges on trying to Buy a Win last time round when he subsequently did not pay up!
@Deakus
I thought there were rumours circulating that he paid/attempted to pay off Uran for the Olympic win, but maybe I’m just making that up.
@VeloVita
I heard it was over 100,000 euros but that he then renegged but i cant remember where i heard it…
@Deakus
If memory serves me right, he was accused of paying Alexandr Kolobnev €150k for his 2010 Liege Bastogne Liege win. Apparently emails between Vino and Kolobnev gave evidence of the deal and Vino’s later back tracking on the deal. Nothing dodgy about dear old Vino was/is there.
@Mike_P
Yeah, the Uran Olympic rumours were in addition to the LBL stuff i thought. Regardless, my point was really more about how obnoxious his gold bike with gold Nokon cables was and that I wonder how long he would have milked that cow if he was still riding since Sanchez is still apparently rocking the gold shoes from his 2008 win.
Man, I am learning some new names in the sprinter category at this race. Definitely not the usual suspects at the “sprint” finishes.
I am REALLY surprised that Sagan did not do La Vuelta as opposed to the US races. I guess he has his eyes on the Worlds but he could have possibly taken the points jersey at this race this year. But, actually, it will probably be a climber that finishes with the points jersey here this year, eh?
@VeloVita
Is it just me or does this look like an inflatable bicycle?
@Buck Rogers
Sagan in the US = big payday perhaps? Cannondale are a US team aren’t they?
@the Engine Yeah, good point. That must be playing a part.