Kevin Airey
Active Member
I'll be there at the summit of stage 8 on Peñas Blancas where I live in Estepona, near Marbella...
La Vuelta 2013 (24 Aug - 15 Sept) **SPOILERS**
- Thread starter smutchin
- Start date
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laurence
Veteran
- Location
- in the aeroplane over the sea
Flecha and Hoogerland for Vacansoleil... that's the daily breaks taken care of then.
Since all of us had such a good prediction at the Tour de France and we were all - once again - reminded we know just about as much as Phill Liggett about cycling... (I had an especially bad prediction, flunking the exam with only 4 out 10 names right 
...showing monkeys could have probably done better)
So what are the guesses for this Vuelta?
...showing monkeys could have probably done better)So what are the guesses for this Vuelta?
thom
____
- Location
- The Borough
Dan Martin ?
Who else is going - is there a provisional start list anywhere ?
OP
OP
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
For me, it's between Betancur and Henao. And of those two, I favour Betancur.
Is Purito even going to be there? If he is, he'll be in the mix for sure.
Edit: according to this site, he will be there - along with Nibali, Scarponi and Valverde:
http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjM2ODU=
Presumably the likes of Anton and Nieve will want to put themselves in the shop window too. (They haven't signed for another team yet, have they?)
Is Purito even going to be there? If he is, he'll be in the mix for sure.
Edit: according to this site, he will be there - along with Nibali, Scarponi and Valverde:
http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=MjM2ODU=
Presumably the likes of Anton and Nieve will want to put themselves in the shop window too. (They haven't signed for another team yet, have they?)
laurence
Veteran
- Location
- in the aeroplane over the sea
i shall cheer for Euskaltel Euskadi in their last grand tour. gora gora! i will miss them, they have been my team since before they entered the pro tour ranks.
I was very happy with the performance of Betancur in the Giro... if it wasn't for some other 23-year-old from Columbia, he would have had the best young-rider performance of the year.... However, I don't see him (at his age) doing twice in 1 year as well, so I guess him to be barely making top 10 at best.
Henao... well, it's finally his (Colombian) turn, so I expect him to give a good showing indeed.
Purito... he's actually my number 1 guess... I don't think Nibali will be as good as in the Giro (but even a little out-of-form he should be top 10 - if he is fully interested and isn't secretly just there to ramp up to the WC-) and looking at the last week of the TdF Valverde shouldn't be as strong as Purito.
I do have quite a good feeling about Sanchez, I see a top 5 for him.
Brajkovic and Pozzovivo are 2 others I see with a lot (of their season) at stake, so I expect them to be top 10 as well.
Besides the GC, Meersman could be the (smaller) Degenkolb of this year's Vuelta, the punchy finishes and the presence of - let's face it - second rate sprinters might entice him of wanting to carry the points jersey for the first 2 weeks.
thom
____
- Location
- The Borough
Sky will really like getting Henao on the podium - it was a stated goal of Brailsford to get on podiums for all 3 GTs.
Obviously their style so far has been to have a second guy up there too & Uran^2 is the natural option but I wonder if the politics mean that privilege passes to Cataldo, Lopez-Garcia or someone else.
Obviously their style so far has been to have a second guy up there too & Uran^2 is the natural option but I wonder if the politics mean that privilege passes to Cataldo, Lopez-Garcia or someone else.
FYI... a tweet from Gilbert:
A couple of days ago BMC was saying Gilbert would definitely start... but this personal tweet makes it sound a bit more complicated
(Not that GIlbert had anything close to a decent season so far, but then again last year it was also in the Vuelta that he started to pick up some form)
A couple of days ago BMC was saying Gilbert would definitely start... but this personal tweet makes it sound a bit more complicated
(Not that GIlbert had anything close to a decent season so far, but then again last year it was also in the Vuelta that he started to pick up some form)
Pedrosanchezo
Veteran
- Location
- Perthshire, scotland
Are we not fancying Nibali for this? I am sure i recall him focusing on the double (Giro & Vuelta) at the beginning of the year.
If he's on form then it's his to lose. Henao should pull a podium as Sky seem to have it together in the longer races just now. He will surely relish the role.
Outside bets or top tens, for me, will be:
Valverde
Purito
Dan Martin
Scarponi
Pinot
Ten Dam
Betancur
Fuglsang
Looking forward to it.
If he's on form then it's his to lose. Henao should pull a podium as Sky seem to have it together in the longer races just now. He will surely relish the role.
Outside bets or top tens, for me, will be:
Valverde
Purito
Dan Martin
Scarponi
Pinot
Ten Dam
Betancur
Fuglsang
Looking forward to it.
deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
- Location
- Armonmy Way
Started and finished. Here's your top 10 after the TTT. The Procyclinglive times for the livestreams were wrong and were only corrected at the last moment. It was on before they said it would be. Athleticsliveontv.com also had a dodgy listing up.
Result
1 Astana 0:29:59
2 RadioShack-Leopard 0:00:10
3 Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:00:16
4 Sky Procycling 0:00:22
5 Movistar Team 0:00:29
6 Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:00:32
7 NetApp-Endura 0:00:35
8 BMC Racing Team 0:00:36
9 Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:45
10 Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:00:46
