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″/]
@Buck Rogers that, and as you said, the climbers will always win the points jersey in Spain as they get the same points for a stage finish no matter if it’s a summit or a sprint.
Can Martin make it the whole way today? He apparently showed up in a skinsuit and had an agenda. Wonder if he broke out the 55T ring as well? A co-worker said that he should’ve let Fabian in on his secret and they could have blown apart the fastest stage record.
@Tartan1749
Just checked in on the race and saw this. Awesome! Totally should have two-up’d a TT with Sparticus. Still really cool that he is blitzing this stage solo. Wonder how far he’ll make it?
Holy Tony!
I was standing on my office chair shouting. I wonder what the winner feels like knowing everyone — no doubt even his family — watching that race wanted him to lose because Martin was putting on such a show.
@Collin
Fuck’in BRILLIANT ride from T. Martin! Made an otherwise pretty boring stage a beauty and one deep in the V!
@Buck Rogers
Utterly. Superlatively. Brilliant.
If the Panzerwagen wanted to send a warning to Faboo and Twiggo ahead of the worlds then he sent out a pretty fucking strong message today.
@V-inden
It was awesome in the final 10km. I actually thought in the final 3 the peloton were going to let him go as a Chapeau for such an effort, it certainly looked like they were talking and easing up a touch….unfortunately Argos Shimano do not seem to respect the kind of V shown today…
VeloNews actually said something funny:
@VeloNews
Martin had a very sore backside today so even more chapeau
I hear Bigdog Ratpack is planning to lose a few kilos this winter in order to tackle a GC in a 2014 grand tour. How awesome would that be?
Dan Martin is hard as fuck. Tumbled, looked really shaken and in a lot of pain (pretty much staggering around like a lost sheep). New bike, back and working on catching the peloton which is going full gas!! Chapeau!
@Deakus
Is he back on yet??? They are flying from what the live update ticker is saying!
@Buck Rogers
He was back on the bike within 2 or 3 minutes but there was only 11kms to go. He had team mates to pace him back but it was never really going to happen which makes it even more impressive that he gave it his all…
Whew! Another great escape to watch at the end there. That finish couldn’t have been much closer. Hopefully, today was a sign Gilbert is getting back where he needs to be. I’d hate to see him go winless this year.
@Deakus
Fuck’in live updates, painful! So how much time did D Martin end up losing today?
@Buck Rogers Don’t know yet…the one irritating thing about the Vuelta coverage is they finish the program about 3 minutes after the finish. You don’t get any interviews, GC standings or even see the podium awards…
I would imagine he lost between 2 and 6 minutes but that is put guesswork….
@Deakus
Yeah. Cyclingnews just signed off on their LiveUpdate ticker without saying how much D Martin lost today, which, in the grand scheme of the overall for this Grand Tour is probably the most important thing to date!
D Martin “only” lost 1:33 but now sits between Slammy Sammy Dirty Sanchez and Hay-Now or however the fuck you say it. Not great company in my opinion.
@Buck Rogers
Tell me about it! I have Danny Boy at #3 on my VSP.
I do hope Gilbert gets a win this year. He’s a deserving, quality rider and I don’t want to read a whole lot of “curse of the rainbow jersey” articles. Pipped by Stybar today but it was damn close and you’ve got to admit, the man gave it a helluva shot.
This Vuelta’s producing some pretty good racing so far. The lead picture bugs the hell out of me though, as I can’t look at Cobo and not see someone who somehow managed to avoid a positive test. The socks don’t win him any credit either.
I’m assuming most of you kids read this, which sounds like it’s going to be a helluva good read: http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/sean-kelly-hunger if this excerpt is any indication. Lots of great juicy tidbits!
@Mirko
They say if he loses 4kg he could be a contender 4kg!!
Dan Martin is out after yesterday’s crash.
1. There goes my GC
2. He received a knock to the head, and still finished the stage. This isn’t hardness, but foolhardiness. Cycling is no better than other professional sports when it comes to protecting its athletes from serious, long-term consequences of injury (and probably worse).
Well blow me down, hasn’t Nicholas Roche suddenly found his legs.
I wonder what the difference is (genuinely, I know that sounds like I’m implying something, but I’m not).
Is it just Bjarne Riis and a good team at Saxo ? From reading various biographies and other accounts the team management and support clearly has a massive effect on riders, but it is not something that we as fans get much insight to. Not until well afterwards anyway.
Well, better late than never. The standings after 8 stages are…eyebrow-raising, to say the least. Horner in second is a shocker, that’s for sure. (Yes, I’ve been living under a rock for the last week.)
@scaler911
Something’s working…
Oh sure. I’m winning this…………..So close in the TdF VSP…………
Superb racing thus far, and deserving of more attention methinks. Exactly zero ‘boring highway to some desolate dry destination’ stages to this point, and gripping finishes more times than not. Hopeful this continues to the end!
Roche seems like a decent chap from his post race interview yesterday on itv4. I hope he can keep the lead for a bit.
@starclimber Absolutely, racing wise this Vuelta shits all over the Giro which had rubbish weather and little suspense once Nibbles was in pink. There’s another shit-steep finish today, up to 30%, so it will be all change in the overall again. Unlike Frank the Vuelta’s become my 2nd favourite grand tour.
@eenies The Vuelta has been great for the past few years. Froome vs Cobo. Contador et al. attacking from the get-go last year. Plus, I’m very much partial to desert scenery, so I enjoy the barrenness of the landscape through which they race, makes me long for home.
I thought today’s final climb was a bit overhyped — Moreno attacked and suddenly he was 50 meters from the line. There wasn’t enough time to counter-punch.
HORNER!!!! What a ride. Damn.
Horner does it again! Some seriously exciting racing in today’s stage.
I was sure Nibali was going to reel Horner in when he blitzed the others: sure wrong. When will age catch up with Chris? Surely he can’t sustain this for 3 weeks.
Horndog leading a Grand Tour on Stage 10. Never, in my wildest dreams, did that possibility occur to me. As a point of interest, I’m going to check later to see if anyone has him in their picks.
I’m similarly surprised to see @eigthzero lead anything that isn’t a queue to the loo.
@ramenvelo
Fixed your post.
@frank this is what cycling news has after stage 10
1
Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack Leopard
40:29:14
2
Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
0:00:43
3
Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
0:00:53
4
Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
0:01:02
5
Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha
0:01:40
@frank
When I was doing my picks for this VSP, Marc (my VMH) said I should pick Horner. I kinda snickered and said there was no way I was picking Horner for the Vuelta. Marc hasn’t said “I told you so” but there is a little smirk on his face.
Rock and roll….I remember pony-tailed CHorn when he was a youngster. Heavy metal, Led Zeppelin Chris Horner. Lets see his old legs make it the end.
Out of order but the picks are still there Except for YouRan. Still a long way to go.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Valverde
2. J-Rod
3. Nibbles
4. Horner
5. Basso
Check the madness
http://www.rtve.es/m/alacarta/videos/vuelta-ciclista-a-espana/ascension-integra-alto-hazallanas/2010149/?media=tve
that is Steep.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibali
2. Rodriguez
3. Basso
4. Valverde
5. Horner
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibali
2. Rodriguez
3. Valverde
4. Henao
5. Nicolas Roche
I’ve got to hand it to Horner. In the category of “if it looks unbelievable, it probably is unbelieveable”, he’s way up there. For me it was probably one of the most suspect stages I’ve seen since a bandaged Vino hobbled on to his bike and blitzed the Albi TT at the ’07 TdF. Just my opinion.
@Mike_P
Yeah, no shit. Dude was suppsoedly one of the only ones to make it through the last generation without ever being suspect but God Damn! Really??? Beating J-Rod, Nibbles and Malmerde, a decade or more younger than him, on these stages.
Oh well, makes for good racing!
By the way, you’re all nancies if you rest day swap!
You know, just calling people out for making the logical decision to play by the rules as opposed to adhereing to some completely irrational notion that is majorly lacks V to change your picks at any point.
No changing picks here, BABY! I’m going down with my ship loaded with Slammin Sammy and Henao!!!
@Buck Rogers Morning Buck. The caffeine’s kicked in then.
@Buck Rogers
Sadly I have to agree. There was some informed guesswork that pointed to him being one of the unnamed riders in the USADA report.
@Mike_P
Fuck Yeah! First Espresso since Friday as I was at the family camp over the weekend without an espresso machine. Jesus, remind me to pack that sucker next time I go there!
@Buck Rogers
Sing it loud, brother. Rest Day Swaps are one of the Three Temptations of Merckx.
The devil said unto him “Make the swaps and the shop apron shall be thine”
The devil said unto him “Wear the yellow cock and you shall descend without fear”
The devil took him to the top step of the podium in the City of Light and said unto him “Take the pot belge and all that you see before you shall come to be yours”
@Chris bollocks. proof read. twat.
@Buck Rogers I deserve to be called a nancy for being daft enough to pick a guy named Winner. Swaps made, no chance of an apron anyway but I’m still daft enough to believe that Henao can still make a comeback.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. J Rod
2. Sergio Henao
3. Ivan Basso
4. Alejandro Valverde
5. Domenico Pozzovivo
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Rodriguez
2. Valverde
3. Horner
4. Uran
5. Nibali