gcasillo

1. Heras
2. Gonzalez
3. Mancebo
4. Azevedo
5. Botero
6. Simoni
7. Sastre
8. Pereiro
9. Sevilla
10. Zaballa

classic1

I'll make one prediction only for the win.

Aitor Gonzalez.

If he is going like he was in the Tour de Suisse, look out!

hair07

didn't heras finish like 2 hrs down in the tour? i'd be impressed if he gained so much form since then. i wouldn't be surprised if he stunk this year. i hope mancebo does well.

Devil

hair, Heras didn't even finish the Tour last year and won the Vuelta. His Tour performance doesn't matter.

I'll only predict the podium, cause I'm in a rush:

1) Aitor
2) Mancebo
3) Heras

skinnyone

Ill do 5...
1). Gonzalez..
2). Hereas..
3). Botero..
4). Mancebo..
5). Sastre..

ljb61

1- Gonzalez
2- Sastre
3- Hereas
looks like a lot of fans think Gonzalez has a good chance to win. The reason that he is my pick is because of how strong he looked at the Tour De Suisse and he did'nt do the TDF so he could focus on the Vuelta.
I do not think he will win, but I hope Iban Mayo has a good race, a stage win would be great. He was fun to watch in the mountains before the 2004 TDF. I hope he can get back to that level again someday.

cjbruin

I'll pick 10 with you paisan...

1. Gonzalez
2. Mancebo
3. Heras
4. Azevedo
5. Sastre
6. Landis
7. Pereiro
8. Simoni
9. Botero
10. Mayo

Carelli

I'd like to think Heras would win, but he doesn't have the supporting cast. At the end it may just be him and Beloki from Liberty. Here is my stab in the dark:

1 - Simoni
2 - Heras
3 - Sastre
4 - Zabel
5 - Pereiro
6 - Mayo
7 - Mancebo
8 - Landis
9 - Azevedo
10- Bettini

but what the heck do I know? Santiago Botero (Phonak) might put in a good showing along with Juan Flecha (Fassa). I think Petacchi will be saving himself for the world championship (he's the favored at 4 1/2 to 1 odds to win the world's).

Devil

And what of Nozal?

...

Zabel in fourth place? Bettini in tenth? How do you figure that?

Chucklehead

no takers for danielson? i'm thinking he'll be top 10 easily. he's my guy.

Jakey

Someone from discovery. I just want to see them win all three grand tours this year

Carelli

Nozal always has a good showing at the Vuelta, almost winning two years ago and placing 7th last year. He's a good rider and will difinitely be an asset to Heras.

As for Zabel, I believe T-Mobile is out to prove something after Ulrich got edged out in the Deutschland Tour. And Bettini is on a strong team. Right now Quickstep is ranked 3rd in the UCI Team rankings.

By the way...these are just predictions. You made yours and I made mine. After today's results, you may want to rethink Aitor as the winner.

cjbruin

I'm thinking that he will be riding support for Ace. If something happens to him early, Danielson would probably become the team leader and he may have a shot.

Devil

Zabel is a SPRINTER! Bettini is an all-rounder but he can't hang for three weeks!

As for Aitor's performance in the prologue, it's 7km. Big deal. Lance barely made the top 10 in the '03 Prologue of the Tour but still won.

Get real.

Zabel, fourth place. Come on now.

cjbruin

OK Devil...you're right...your prediction for fourth was much better...oh wait...you didn't make one...

Devil

No, I didn't, because I was busy. I certainly would not have picked Zabel (an aging sprinter) in the most mountainous Grand Tour of the year, though.

cjbruin

OK, that's two out of the race for me. Funny...I was thinking of them as longshots for the top 10 anyway. Should have listened to myself.

cjbruin

This may be a very good call. Ace fell to 66th today -- 12:15 behind. Seems like Danielson should be the team leader now...unless they go with Beltran since he's a spaniard.

Of course, there's lots of racing left.

oneradtec

I am picking Juan Miguel Mercado to win the whole damn thing.

hi565

1)Lance
2)Ivan Basso
3)Ian ullrich,........hey wait a second!