One of the loveliest things about the Grand Tours is that you get a feel, by the nature of the route, of the country’s landscape and physical qualities. Italy is littered with mountains and coasts, France is bordered by mountains with large swaths of open landscape throughout, and Spain is like Tatooine; mostly desert with some rocky outcroppings. I might be oversimplifying here, but it seems like every edition of the Vuelta features a week or two of riders cutting through open desert on a freeway and then finishing it off with some climbs that require a buzz-saw gear to get up. Of the three Tours, this one is my least favorite, but it’s a bike race and I loves me a bike race.
The Vuelta also stands apart as being the event which generally decides the Velominati Super Prestige GC and the personalized Shop Apron that goes with it; in past editions, we’ve even had newcomers to the event debut at the Vuelta and win the overall, as was the case last year with @Nate’s performance. Unless I have that wrong, in which case I don’t really care. The important point here is that even though there is less interest in this event than others, it matters quite a bit to the year-long VSP, so you better be paying attention, corporal.
No fancy prizes on offer as we did at the Tour, but we do have our customary Symbol Pack up for grabs, in addition to second and third places winning a pair of Handlebar Cufflinks each when they come available in a few weeks. So, check the race details, get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero (5am Pacific time on Saturday), and buckle in for the ride. Regular GT VSP rules apply. Good luck.
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@Erik
Yeah - I made that mistake on the Giro - he admitted on the first day that he was recovering from the plague or somesuch
@David I think their point of view when saying Froome was struggling was more to do with the comparison between the way they saw him climbing in the tour compared to here. At the tour he seemed to be the one who was able to get out of the saddle & really kick, whereas his efforts on Monday were more Wiggins-esque in staying seated & tempo-ing his way back.
There was a telling quote from Mick Rogers after the tour where he said they'd be on the front & someone would take off but they wouldn't bother chasing cos they were already sitting at 450w & there was no way the attacker would be able to sustain their pace. It could well be a case of the Sky DS keeping in Froome's ear with pieces of info like that.
@the Engine
See. Plague?! He couldn't say something sooner? I need to find a new dark horse. We'll see if Monfort can pull it together, but he sits only a few seconds ahead of Gadret on the GC. Bugger.
What do you all think of the move Sky put on when Valverde went down? Even if they were spontaneously making the run up, and then Valverde drops, should they have let up?
I was surprised to see them stick him like that, but I came out respecting Valverde more for diggin it and not losing a ton of time, and now he will be pissed, and its just stage 5 today with lots of road ahead
@Erik
There are many reasons why he's called Judas.
I guess that a proper dark horse is someone not chosen by anyone else - hence you scoop the pool if he does well and you look like an expert and everyone forgets if he finishes nowhere
@Souleur
Yeah it's a real piti nobody showed him any respect.
Putting aside him being a lying, unrepentant cheat though...
By that logic anybody would have to wait for the leader when they had a bad day. A crash happens more often when you are badly positioned, and unless Chris Froome stuck a mini-pump in his spokes then a crash is just tough luck. That's racing. A crash is not the same as a mechanical.
CN reported that a Spanish newspaper had asked 8 Spanish ex-pros what they thought, and 7 of them said Sky were in the right. That's pretty telling. Either his fellow Spanish riders also think he's toxic, or he was wrong, probably both.
Armchair Valverde crash comments: from what I've read the echelon was formed before he crashed. Game on.
My three "dark horses" are already so far behind they need telescopes to see the leaders - shows what I know.
@Erik
This IMHO. Sky tactic was to accelerate in the crosswind, don't know why Valverde blaming Sky for crash, TV footage not conclusive. As to whether they should of waited, not sure. Sky saying they didn't realise GC leader was down.
My two cents on Valverde. A wee touch of sour grapes I think. Sure, I agree that there are, and needs to be, unwritten rules of etiquette in racing. See the tacks incident in this year's Tour. However, as it turns out, the echelon was already formed when AV crashed. Tough titty. He has a bad reputation for not riding near the front. For how to do it, look at Wiggo in the Tour - almost never out of the top 10-15 riders.
This rises another point, is the Patron of the peloton supposed to go around the bunch asking if everyone is feeling ok and ready to race? Anyone feel like they're having un jour sans? Oh, a couple of riders are feeling a bit queasy? Ok everyone, let's take it easy today, rider X isn't feeling well/fallen off/punctured/mechanical/struggling on a climb. Get grip. This is a hard sport. Within limits, it's mano-a-mano, shit happens, ride hard, don't whine.