Professional Cycling For the Fans - Vuelta Predictions

Who are your favorites?

I personally think Evans is NOT going to make his point in this one. Valverde and Sanchez perhaps.

cough Tom Danielson cough

time to salvage the season for some!

could be a chance for farrar to keep his train rolling. looking over the prelim start list,
ballan, boonen, friere, greipel, hansen and ciolek were the only name sprinters that jumped
out. no cavendish, bennati or hushovd. probably missed someone though...

for the big name gc contenders we've got sanchez, valverde, basso, vandevelde, evans
and the schleck bros. keeping an eye on the dark horses: zubeldia, vladi efimkin,
valjavec and kreuziger (isn't this his 3rd grand tour this year??).

mosquera, anton and the rest of the spanish armada will undoubtedly light up the mountains.

probably most curious about christophe le mevel-can he improve on his high placing in the tdf?
it's been a long time since france had a serious gt contender. talk about pressure! also curious
to see how contador's buddy jesus hernandez does in the mountains.

it's valverde's race to lose and might be his best remaining chance to win a grand tour.
that said, here's my podium in order: sanchez, valverde, kreuziger.

oops, looks like i missed bennati! he'll definitely be a factor.
i'm not seeing a katusha start list anywhere; did i miss their
exclusion or just an oversight?? also forgot about horner.
would love to see him put the hurt on his old teammate cadel.

AC isn't riding his home tour?

AC isn't riding his home tour?

Nope. The overall field looks far weaker than the TdF and Giro ... Evans and the home favorites Valverde and Sanchez are as big as it gets for this year's Vuelta.

It seems Columbia are looking to Kim Kirchen. He's someone that will be looking to save his season. Also, Greipel will likely be the man to beat in the sprints.

Zubeldia and Horner as dark horses from Team Astana?

It seems Columbia are looking to Kim Kirchen. He's someone that will be looking to save his season. Also, Greipel will likely be the man to beat in the sprints.

Zubeldia and Horner as dark horses from Team Astana?

Kloden is also listed for Astana.

I think one of the Liquigas guys will pull it out. They've had strong showing in both the Giro and TdF. Maybe Kreuziger or Bennati. Hell, Basso may finally come back to form.

It will be interesting to see Columbia supporting a GC rider without having to worry about stage hunting for Cavendish.

I wouldn't be surprised to see A. Schleck win though. He says he not riding to win, but if he's feeling good, why the hell not.

S Sanchez
Basso
Kreuziger

I'd put Valverde in there put haven't seen enough of him. He's just not consistent enough and all it takes is one bad day.

Vino.

S Sanchez
Basso
Kreuziger

I'd put Valverde in there put haven't seen enough of him. He's just not consistent enough and all it takes is one bad day.

I feel the same way about Valverde. I wanna pick him, but something about him just keeps me from thinking he'll do it.

I'm with you on those Liquigas boys. Kreuziger has been pretty consistent all season. I think Basso has got to show something of his old form sooner or later.

I feel the same way about Valverde. I wanna pick him, but something about him just keeps me from thinking he'll do it.

I'm with you on those Liquigas boys. Kreuziger has been pretty consistent all season. I think Basso has got to show something of his old form sooner or later.

Totally forgot about the Liquigas riders (They kinda slipped off the radar despite good performances). I reckon Kreuziger will put on a good show as well.

Kloden is also listed for Astana.

I think one of the Liquigas guys will pull it out. They've had strong showing in both the Giro and TdF. Maybe Kreuziger or Bennati. Hell, Basso may finally come back to form.

It will be interesting to see Columbia supporting a GC rider without having to worry about stage hunting for Cavendish.

I wouldn't be surprised to see A. Schleck win though. He says he not riding to win, but if he's feeling good, why the hell not.

I read somehwere over the weekend that Kloden will not now ride the Vuelta having crashed out of the ENECO. Something to do with his wrist.

Think Spaniards..............

Think you're correct about Kloden not racing.

Basso, S. Sanchez. Evans and Valverde as outside shots.

Look for Farrar in the sprints. He's carrying pretty good form right now.

I'll be pulling for A. Schleck - With five mountain top finishes you never know - If he can get frank to perform like he did most of the Tour de france it could be Andy's Vuelta-

I am pulling for Andy, he placed second in both the Giro and TdF in his career. I think it would be a good way to finish the year if he won the Vuelta. Would definitely speak volumes towards the build up of next season.

Think you're correct about Kloden not racing.

Basso, S. Sanchez. Evans and Valverde as outside shots.

Look for Farrar in the sprints. He's carrying pretty good form right now.

I didn't hear that about Kloden. He's still listed as a starter for Astana on the website. But who knows if that will be updated. Interestingly, Astana has Vino as a reserve.

Farrar could be a factor in the points race.

Vande velde!!

I hope atleast, seemed to be pretty good in the tour...

think spaniards..............

+1

Basso, S. Sanchez. Evans and Valverde as outside shots.



Outside shots? Basso, Sanchez and Valverde are the top favorites by anybody's measure. If fact, there's my pick 1-AV, 2-IB, 3-SS

1- as
2 - rk
3 - av

It will be interesting to see what Horner does - he's been talking like he's in great shape and has a GC shot, and even more that he may not be satisfied with just shuffling over to the Shack with the rest of them and spending another couple years carrying bottles for Lance. So he's got something to prove...

Boonen and Farrar looked good today in the prologue. Boonen gonna ride like hell to win in front of some home country fans over the next couple of days. Gonna be a nice battle of for points jersey between the two. Gotta give Boonen an advantage with something like 8 mountain stages. But Tyler has looked very strong in sprints coming in. Nice little race in the race.

If the field is really weak, Evans may have a shot. He's never really come through with the goods when it counted in a big tour. Maybe this will be the one.

is this race covered by Versus on cable?

is this race covered by Versus on cable?

Nope. Its on Universal Sports. Some cable operators carry it. Direct and Dish do not.

andy s. if he is still on form or anything close to TDF, he will win.

Weird...(stage 4) some guy veered away from the peloton and rode right into the back of some parked tanker truck. Had plenty of distance to slow down and stop or just avoid it altogether. Nobody was around him. Bad brakes? Thought he was pulling off to relieve himself. Probably be on YouTube.

Update: the announcers said rider was abandoning the race. What a weird way to do it. Must have been really sick.

I predict Horner will get hurt again.

I predict Horner will get hurt again.

He went down hard in the big crash at the end of stage 4 - will probably hear during the rest day if he can still finish :(

He went down hard in the big crash at the end of stage 4 - will probably hear during the rest day if he can still finish :(

They're saying he's through for the season.

Chris Horner is done for the season. Broke his wrist:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/horner/2009/09/crash_knocks_chris_horner_out.html

Biggest crash I've ever seen. Riders sprawled out on the ground for 100 feet. Looked like that scene from Gone with the Wind.

Biggest crash I've ever seen. Riders sprawled out on the ground for 100 feet. Looked like that scene from Gone with the Wind.

Yeah, I just saw it today (Universal Sports was off the air for a couple of days here in SoCal due to the fires). I bet those guys are glad for the early rest day after that demolition. A lot of guys looked real banged up. Be interesting to see if there are any significant abandonments tomorrow.

Just took a look at the stage profiles for 12, 13 and 14 - holy crap! Three huge mountaintop finishes in a row! There's more to cycling than climbing mountains of course, but that's the stuff the TdF was missing.

Any climbers looking good so far? I know Andy Schleck says he's just tuning up for the world's, but any bets on Basso of Zubeldia?

Andy's gone.

Valverde.

Outside shots? Basso, Sanchez and Valverde are the top favorites by anybody's measure. If fact, there's my pick 1-AV, 2-IB, 3-SS

Anybody doing better with their picks than me?

General classification after stage 14 # Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
2 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
3 Samuel Sánchez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
4 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas

I'm rootin for Robert Gesink. He lost some seconds on Valverde, but gained some time on nrs 3 and 4 in La Pandera.