Less than a week till the Veulta starts! Originally scheduled to start in the Netherlands, the organisers have opted to drop the first 3 days racing rather than adding new stages in Spain, so the race starts in Irum on Tuesday 20 October.

Provisional lineups announced and there seems to a strong (young) british rider list. Really good to see Harry Tanfield and Fred Wright on the list but the most pleasing thing is to see Hugh Carthy first name in the EF list – are they touting him as GC, above Tejay? I certainly think he’s got what it takes, will be great to see

Vuelta – should this final Grand Tour of 2020 go ahead on the 20th, some of the riders racing include: Roglic, Dumoulin, Valverde, Pinot, Harry Tanfield, Scott Davies, Fred Wright, Dan Martin, Chris Froome, Hugh Carthy and Mark Donovan – early startlist #provisional pic.twitter.com/eqow5VyTUC

— VeloUK Cycling Mag (@AussieLarry) October 15, 2020

Nothing as yet from Velogames, but there’s time for them to get in – as soon as they do, I’ll set up the usual fantasy league

Evening bump, George at Velogames confirms he’s finalising the rider list and hopes to open the Tour Of Spain competition soon – maybe later tonight

are they touting him as GC, above Tejay

Not necessarily – teams don’t always out their leader in the number 1 spot. Have a look at DQS for example – Shane Archbold (definitely leadout guy) is 1 and Sam Bennett (rumour has it he’s a good sprinter) is at number 3.

Looks like an interesting race.

Velogames now open for entry

https://www.velogames.com/spain/2020/

STW fantasy league code is 985249830

https://www.velogames.com/spain/2020/leaguescores.php?league=985249830

teams don’t always out their leader in the number 1 spot

I had overlooked Dani Martinez in the list who I think is a more likely GC choice

Some tough decisions on that Velogames rider list. Looking forward to the racing

cheers @nbt

Entered my list of riders most likely to get COVID.

Well I will have a go. But having lost 3 major riders in the Giro d’Italia Velogames, then I’m just going to except this is probably what’s going to happen from Tuesday in Spain.

Last day to get your ‘Velogames’ team in.

But having lost 3 major riders in the Giro d’Italia Velogames

Yates, Kruijswijk and Vlasov for me. Fully expect the rest of my team to test positive today.

Afternoon bump, you can enter till noon tomorrow

Morning bump, you have until noon to create your team – as long as your team is set up you can join the league afterwards.

https://www.velogames.com/

Nice to see they’ve timed the start to coincide with a major storm hitting the Peninsular 😀

My main man (Velogames) Martinez fell off in the fist hour doing a ‘G’. At least he got back up. Not sure whether he’ll start today.

Kicking myself now, I took Carthy out of my team so I could get Carapaz. I should have left him in and got rid of someone else, I reckon he’s going to come good

I dropped Carthy too, even worse it was for Formolo. Can’t be a single person who’s entered a team who hasn’t had an expensive GC rider’s hopes ended on day one!

Slightly regretting not making room for one of Ackermann/Bennett. That should be a feisty competition between the two of them given the circumstances of Bennett leaving Bora.

The Vuelta passes through Ainsa on Saturday, about 100km into the stage.

We’ll go and watch it just outside Ainsa and then take a short drive to see it again as they come down towards the town of Fiscal about 150km into the stage 🙂

OOh spekkie – enjoy.

I posted this on my “Buying a Property in the Pyrenees” thread. I’ll copy it here too…..

This weekend “La Vuelta a España”, which was pushed back by 2 months thanks to Covid19, will be passing right through the area we live in 🙂

We currently live in Boltaña and the race will pass through Ainsa, 6km east of here at the 100km mark and again through Fiscal, 20km west of us at the 160km mark. With luck we should be able to see the race both times. Race officials are predicting about an hour and a half of riding between the two points while they take in the “Añisclo Canyon” with its “Alto de Vio” and “Alto de Fanlo” climbs. Plenty of time for us to get from one to the other…..

The weather and temperature differences between mid August and mid October are worlds apart. The weather is currently too changeable to try and predict. Yesterday I was working in shorts and a T shirt – today I’m at home and it’s raining and cold. Overall I’d guess that this is going to be a much colder & wetter Vuelta than usual.

Stage 5 is following a different route than that which was originally released last year. It finishes in a different place – I assume because of the snow on the peaks at this time of year.

The Route:

The race will leave the town of Huesca and head east towards Barbastro. They’ll be on the “old road” not the new dual-carriageway that we would use. It’s an undulating road which, overall, descends very slightly between the two towns.

In Barbastro they will turn left (North) and head towards Ainsa. 20km outside of Barbastro they will start riding alongside the El Grado Dam (Embalse del Grado) followed by the Mediano Dam (Embalse de Mediano) which takes them all the way up to Ainsa. The Mediano Dam has an abondoned village in the middle of it – you can see the top of the church tower, even when the dam is full. Currently the dam is 3/4 empty!

Through Ainsa and 11km up to Escalona where they turn left again (West) and hit the two climbs of the day. This road is not an easy road to get any speed up on – up and down and very wiggly! The riders will have to pay attention here. It does take in some really stunning scenery though. We’ve driven it several times.

They exit the valley at the small town of Sarvise, about 145km into the stage and turn left (South) to head down to Fiscal. This road is downhill all the way to Fiscal and it’s not a bad road. From Fiscal to the finish in Sabiñanigo they will be on, for the most part, a relatively new nice wide road that includes a 3km long tunnel and a 2nd Cat climb. I would expect an all out sprint for the last 20km of the race!

Incidentally, the road from Sarvise all the way to the finish line in Sabiñanigo is the same road that they rode back on 4th September 2016 at the beginning of Stage 15 of La Vuelta – but in reverse. That was the day Nairo and Alberto dropped everyone in the first 10km of the Stage!

Pinot abandons 🙁

Thibaut Pinot has abandoned the Vuelta.

— Daniel Friebe (@friebos) October 22, 2020

I’ve just got round to joining the STW league.
My choices havent gone well, I thought Chris Froome would do well, then Simon Gesche retired!

I have Froome too, I never expected him to challenge for GC but I think he’ll be strong in week 3. Really really pleased to see Hugh Carthy doing so well

Brilliant.

So many young Brits doing well in this race.

I was so chuffed to come second in the (Velogames) STW fantasy league. I was second from bottom on the Giro Velogames.

Sad the long season has finished, however I think the riders and team employees can’t wait to go home.