Vuelta Route Announced...
 

...and I don't understand why the Schlecks aren't riding it, along with the Giro. Andy especially, rides like the TdF is the only race all year, and it's all I ever hear about when he's interviewed. I think it's pretty obvious that he won't even retain his perennial runner-up spot in the Tour this year, with 100k of ITTs and not a huge emphasis on climbing. I also think it's obvious that he's good enough to FINALLY win a grand tour if he was smart about it.

The Vuelta and Giro both suit him much better this year, but I doubt he'll ride them. Why not?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/2012...phill-finishes

I think it's all about the sponsors, honestly. They want their golden boy riding the TDF. I do agree that it would be better for him in the long run to try the Giro and the Vuelta, which suit him better, so he can learn how to win and gain some momentum. Next year's Tour is rumored to have lots of climbing, so he doesn't have to abandon it forever.

It's true sponsors probably prefer their biggest stars to ride the Tour but like they couldn't tell Contador to skip the Giro (even though it was obvious it would mess with his Tour) or they can't tell Rodriguez to not go for Giro/Vuelta (alright, now Menchov is bigger, but it wasn't like this before) or they won't stop Gadret from saying that he likes the Giro much more than the Tour (despite being a Frenchman riding for a French team)- they wouldn't have such power over Andy. Bruyneel has a say in this and he should tell the Schlecks that it's good for them and either they step up in other GTs or they'll have their careers tainted with being eternal bridesmaids (Frank not so much because I'm not sure he has the talent of a GT winner). Unfortunately Bruyneel himself shares the philosophy that nothing but the Tour matters and I'm not sure if he's able to see the bigger picture (in that particular case).
And as for Andy, he won't use his power to ride whatever race he wants because possibly if it depended entirely on him, he'd only ride the Tour and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The rest of the year he's haunted by bad weather conditions in which he can't race, tooth problems, his responsibilities as party boy and such things. He says "Giro will never be the Tour" and I doubt he can bring himself to really fight for the pink because he doesn't want it as much as yellow and he even has some problems fighting for yellow (I mean his lack of attacking). The only way I see someone could convince him to ride other GTs is if he understood that the experience would help him win the Tour one day... or maybe even this wouldn't work.

But who cares. I'll be happy if he never wins another race and in the meantime I'll enjoy others really doing their best. And back to Vuelta, I guess it's somewhat fair for climbers to have a GT designed with them in mind, considering what the Tour will be like but... too many uphill finishes. I can't wait for some of them (especially the new ones) though.

Andy is what 26? Lance was practically dead at that age. Johan is a master. Andy's tactics have always been his biggest problem not always time trialing. If he can take 5 min in the mountains (which I truly think he can by attacking properly) he's not going to lose all of that

5 minutes isn't going to happen. There are only 2 true summit finishes. Contador, when not tired from the Giro, can climb with Schleck. Evans is smart enough to limit his losses. I would even expect Samuel Sanchez to finish ahead of Schleck.

I agree that Schleck is all too happy to play along with the sponsors and only ride the TDF and LBL. I'm not sure I agree with your examples, though. Contador only rode the Giro because it wasn't clear early in the year whether he'd get to ride the TDF. We saw how the Giro wore him down and I doubt he'll ride it again. Rodriguez isn't really a Tour rider (don't get me wrong- I love the guy), so I'm not sure that's his decision.

I think the one exception is that Italians love the Giro and some of the guys who could maybe do a top 10 TDF would choose a shot at top 5 in the Giro instead.

enthused about the new wrinkles in this year's vuelta. probably in the minority but i enjoy the inclusion of new routes/climbs. i feel like i've seen certain climbs (angliru, alpe d'huez, tourmalet, galibier, stelvio) too much in the last few years. drag 'em out every 4-5 years i.e. mont ventoux. don't need to see 'em every year/every other year...keep a little mystique.