[url= http://road.cc/content/news/126588-video-alberto-contador-ride-vuelta ]Contador now likely to take part[/url], so along with Froome and Quintana it's shaping up nicely; I'm quite excited...roll on 23rd Aug!
I don't really believe dirty bertie ever broke his leg. He lost loads of time on the cobbles, tried dropping Nibali in the vosges and got nowhere so looked like he was going to cry and then fell off a few stages later.
Personally I reckon he bottled it and wanted an excuse to bin it.
(He says, from the comfort of his sofa)
Looking forward to this, really enjoyed it last year. 🙂
He's playing down any GC ambitions by saying he's only going for stage wins.
I doubt he'll be in the best condition after breaking his tibia but he is the kind of guy who can make a race happen.
Interesting. He did say earlier that he'd only race the Vuelta if he thought he had a chance of winning. I'm a little surprised he'd do the vuelta if he's not going to be competitive, better to rest and go into off season training fresh and injury free. Maybe he wants a crack at the worlds and thinks it's good prep.
Should make for a better race though if Bertie's there.
Having not seen the best of him since last year I am hoping he will light it up!
No doubt Chris Horner will be way better than usual, at just the right time...
I've created my Velogames team, anyone else interested?
ah... the dopers tour. Interesting for the improbable feats of human endurance but I struggle to be too interested because of how improbable the improbable feats are. That said, Froome vs. Quintana will be a good battle
Quintana
He'll win it.
My second favorite Tour of the season this.
Yeah it should be interesting to see how Bertie goes....If he is capable of even finishing in the bunch on the tougher stages then I'll be questioning whether his injuries from the Tour were as bad as reported.
It's always a bit of a nuts race the Vuelta....not least because there's usually a few obviously doped up riders around the business end of the race. JJ Cobo never really did much after beating Froome and Wiggo a few years back did he!
Just seen that Dan Craven is riding after having signed for Europcar. Hard to see him finishing the race imo.
Genuine question: assuming that it is easier to race doped in the Vuelta, why is this the case?
How do the doping controls differ from other tours? Are they applied by local officials?
I remember thinking that the performances in the 2012 Vuelta looked bonkers after watching that year's Tour de France.
It's always been thought of that way because after they changed the event from Spring to Autumn all the riders have been hacking away doing events all year and may/may not need a "pick me up".
I didn't follow last years race, not a huge fan of the winner either but that's another of my opinions.
Beautiful race mind, stunning Country Spain.
8)
The Vuelta is my fave grand tour.
There will always be questions and accusations about who is doping etc in any of the tours .. but unless anything is proved, I don't really care.
Like him or not. Contador is the one guy that can make it interesting.
The Vuelta is great fun. Riders with points to prove, with grudges to act on and with contracts to win. You get odd results and odd/stupid riding. I like it a lot.
Quintana for the win I reckon, not sure Froome or Bertie are fit yet.
My guess as to why there is more doping is that it's usually the Spanish riders that are doping. Mosquera for instance was popped a few years back after finishing runner up.....he was a Spanish rider that rarely raced outside of Spain....given the way that the Spanish doping officials handled Bertie and Valverde etc it's not unreasonable to suggest that they aren't really that up for prosecuting their own riders!
Sky team is freaking awesome (on paper)
I'm wondering how many toys Valverde is going to throw out of the pram when Quintana takes over the 'joint leadership'. I'm betting all of them.
Horner to "peak" at the right time for a podium?
Nobody been watching? No opinions on Contador?
Tomorrow 10.00 pm ITV4 highlights. Should then hopefully go back to 8.00 pm... maybe.
Good finish today.
Definitely. 🙂
not much to judge Contador on yet.
Seem to have spent most of this season yelling 'DAN' at my laptop. Pipped again!
In other news, nobody seems to be rating Uran for the GC. Which is silly given how strong his team are. And him.
Nobody been watching? No opinions on Contador?
I broke my tibial plateau (albeit apparently worse than AC's as mine needed pinning back on, his was a partial fracture?). My opinion is I'm going to spend 3 weeks wincing whenever I see him riding. My toes are curling now just thinking about it.
Did you see Cancellara's salt-encrusted jersey (and his tweet to the UCI that safety considerations should include hot weather)?
Agree - the heat makes it so much tougher than usual.
I am on Majorca at moment. Even at 6pm when i ride its 32degrees.
Huge respect to the Vuelta guys for riding hard in this heat .. I certainly can't.
Good showing from Dan, shame he was pipped but looks like his fitness is good. ( big fan of Dan ) but did you see Bertie on the last climb, that last lump before the flat drag in ? Well he was in 3rd place for almost the entire climb, ok it may have not been a steep one, nor long, but he was there, right there.
Still can't warm to the Orica Team, don't know quite what it is about them but I really don't like em' much 😕
Have you lot stopped watching? 😉
Highlights are on soon, mountains for the next few days.
Cracking final climb today!
Froomey froomey!!!
Anyone else watching BES getting a bit fed up with more commentary on the failings of motorbikes, spectators, commissaires etc than the race. It's like having it commentated by my dad...
Motor was working properly today.
Great final today, both the lead battle and the GC lads.
I don't like Froome, but massive respect for his performance today, all the GC guys were really trying. Tomorrow and Monday will be awesome!
Wow, how exciting was that??? Froome was just amazing, actually so were everyone on that final climb. Definitely massive respect. 🙂
hesjedal !
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt
Awesome.
Froome sticking to plan and it working for once.
Valverde biting off more than he can chew. Ha!
Contador magestic as usual but showing some cracks.
Best Grand Tour of the year so far?
And great win for Hesjedal. Always liked his style.
Great stage today brilliant.Froome on the GAS great stuff.
it's always the best one - recent years mostly because of the lingering smell of burnt EPO and the wild-west way they carried on, but this year is all the better for the TdF's losses
What happened? LittleMissMC demanded Daddy take her to bed just as the leaders had 2k to go.
Kids 👿
swiss geezer rode away from the breakaway on the really steep bit and "couldn't lose" from there
As it plateaud, hesjedal reeled him in. Won by miles in the end. He seemed to really want it today 😉
WOnder if the post-race press conference is online anywhere
Then, 5 min later it all kicks off in the GC group:
Couple of attacks, bit half-hearted at first, then Contador goes pretty hard. Group splinters, the grown-ups get back on fairly quick - except for Froome who looks gone. Turns out he's Wiggoing his way back to them and later on he kicks hard off the front himself. Doesn't gain masses of time, in fact very little, but they must be wondering how good he'll be tomorrow & Monday
... did I mention that Valverde lost quite a lot of time 😀 😀
(still 2nd in GC though, I think 🙁 )
Great tv 🙂
Great stage, I had it on from about 70km out, managed to doze through until about 20km left and was gripped by the last 5km.
Froome stuck to his plan, let the other GC boys burn themselves out a little and rode back past them. Bertie looked to be working pretty hard, his face is normally pretty impassive but he was having trouble staying with Valverde for a while.
Ryder had one hell of a grin on his face for the last 100m.
Ryder had one hell of a grin on his face for the last 100m
Battery held out!!
I mean his lactic didn't get too high
