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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@motor city
Just went back and watched stage 12 (which I missed watching live). Wow, what a climb! I was told that some of the riders were running 32s on their cassettes to get up that one. Amazing climbing.
@Gianni
Congrats, the stripey jersey is indeed looking fine on you! This does however leave me with a problem - I'm now relying on Bertie Beefsteak to win to increase my points haul, and that makes me feel... dirty. To compound this I haven't submitted rest day picks so far this year, and as a matter of principle don't want to start now. And if that wasn't enough, work are shipping me to Afghanistan for a week (seriously - I'm wondering what the point is too) so no chance of submitting re-picks anyway.
I'm going to have to use voodoo for my World Champs picks I think.
@Fausto
As last year's winner my advice is this: Do whatever it takes to win because if you don't some other asshole, like @marcus, will.
Finally getting around to watching the race this year. the spectators are rather thin. has it been like that the entire time?
what a duel! Purrrrito!!! These battles on the final climbs have been ridiculous. And how about Talansky?
Yes J-Rod is looking awesome.
Fair play though to Majka, Paulinho, Gonzalez and the Saxo team - an outstanding display of domestiquation. A couple of times they pulled away, only to hang at the back and come up to the front again.
Take note BMC and Liquigas - that's how you put together a team to chase the GC.
What a finish! Clenbutador put in what I thought was going to be a unstoppable surge, and J Rod just shut him down. I'm still impressed at how well Zoomy is doing given how much work he did for Wiggo last month. I figured he'd be totally cooked.
Phenomenal last climb! I agree with @el gato, these hilltop finishes are so exciting.
@scaler911 I agree, Contador seemed to be home free for the stage win. But J Rod timed his attack to perfection. No panic, he went when he wanted to. Simply incredible to watch these two guys duel it out on the steep hills.
Contador took a bit of a shot from one of the fans just as Rodriguez was about to catch him. But, though I'm sure it affected his climbing rhythm, J Rod clearly had him by that point. Can't wait to watch more of this!
Is it common practice to tape a little graphic of the course profile to your stem? I saw Losada did that today. I made a homemade version of the same thing the last time I rode a sportive and was so damn impressed with my own ingenuity that I emailed the organisers to suggest they provide a peelable profile sticker for each entrant, as a little 'added value' thing. Their response: "No need, mate. Everybody got Garmins". Pfff.
@Gianni Rapha does have good looking kits and really nice design. I have one s/s Rapha jersey I wear in the winter and i love it. Affordable? It'll be interesting to see how much the team gear costs, given that normal Rapha gear is already pretty pricey.