Vuelta a España 2012 (likely to include spoilers)

[Nuncio]

The Sky team has been announced:
Juan Antonio Flecha, Sergio Henao, Danny Pate, Richie Porte, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift, Rigoberto Urán and Xabier Zandio.

Will Froome be able to carry his form through this one after a fairly heavy season? With a very climber-friendly route and little time trialling, is it possible that silver-medallist Uran or Porte will have to hold back a little at times to support their leader?  How will on-form youngster Henao manage in his second Grand Tour after a strong showing in the mountains in the Giro?

I haven’t seen any other teams yet but assume that Cobo will be back to defend his title. Given that he came from a relative no-where to win it last year and has done nothing much else since, will he even be team leader, assuming that Valverde will be riding?

Who are the other favourites?  Contador, Rodriguez, Igor Anton, Hesjedal?  I hope Anton mnagaes a challenge after crashing when in the lead a couple of years ago – he seemed an unassuming kind of guy compared to Rodriguez' chopsiness.

[tiermat]

Either I mis-read your starting lineup or Froome is not in for this....

Should be interesting, I like the Vuelta a Espana, like it's poor cousin at the beginning of the year (V a Cataluyna) it usually throws up interesting racing as team orders matter less and the guys are usually out to secure/improve their team places.

[Nuncio]

... and Froome.  (sorry).

[rr]

Highlights on ITV 4

[Fohat]

I think it has been designed for Contador, and he will oblige. Currently "riding himself in" at the Eneco Tour.

Not a fan of his myself, but there you go.

[Dinamo]

Highlights on ITV 4

 
 
Go Froome   

[Gareth Rees]

I think it has been designed for Contador, and he will oblige.

That two-year ban seems to have passed very quickly! It was only handed out in February this year.

(The ban was backdated to August 2010, so he raced for most of his ban, winning the Vuelta a Murcia, the Volta a Catalunya and the Giro d'Italia among other races.)

[Gus]

I can see Garmin keep repeating their trick, big crash again, not a good thing to do in TTT and drop 3 riders all most from the start.

[Rhys W]

Wasn't it the Vuelta last year that Sky had a shambles of a TTT?

[spesh]

Wasn't it the Vuelta last year that Sky had a shambles of a TTT?

Yes, they had a crash, then the fifth man sat up because he miscounted how many riders were left, so the remaining four had to slow down. 

They dropped three riders inside the first 8km, and finished with six, though Froome said that was the plan (the final kilometre looked way too tight to keep more than 5-6 riders in a cohesive group).

Not sure what's funnier, the looks on the faces of the Rabobank team (They had donned fresh jerseys in anticipation of the podium ceremony) when Movistar smashed their time, or the fact that Euskatel scored a top-ten placing in a TTT for the first time years. 

ETA - there appeared to be issues with the timing, because although Rabobank were in the hot seats till the end, the official results now place Omega Pharma-Quickstep's first five ahead of the Dutch team.

[Ewan Houzami]

More importantly, did anybody clock Froome's attempt at a mohican when he was on the turbo after Sunday's stage? Or was it a trendy 'undercut'? Or just helmet hair?

[Honest John]

Is it me or did Roger Hammond give the game away so far as stage 2 was concerned in the intro to the highlights on ITV4?

"Likely to include spoilers?"

[JT]

I find it really hard to get into the Vuelta.

There's the lack of scenery, the weakened field, the amateurish (Spanish) TV coverage, to name just a few things. I think if I went to see the race in person it would probably be nice - more laid back than the Giro, which in turn is more laid back than the TDF.

I'll still watch it though but will record Eurosport's coverage and x30 to the last 30km. Gray Imlach is a broadcasting God but Antony McCrossan is no Dave Harmon. He's better than Hugh Porter though! 

[Honest John]

I find it really hard to get into the Vuelta.

The end of today's stage - Wow!
And I'll agree, some Spanish scenery is an acquired taste. I've ridden in the Basque country, Catalonia/Cerdaña, Andalusia and along the Camino de Santiago and been impressed (in different ways) by it. I regard it as a very tough country.

[David Martin]

I managed to get the last 1.5km so missed the most exciting parts, but old alberto certainly knows how to spice things up.

[Nuncio]

There's the lack of scenery

I'm guessing that with so many mountain stages and going no further south than Madrid,  there won't be so many stages where they have miles and miles of straight road through little more than flat dusty scrub land.  But my Spanish geography's not that good.  Where, mainly, are the plains in Spain?

Today's stage (well the last bit, at least) was a real thriller, with more attacks (Terpstra, Valverde, Contador x 5 or 6,  Rodriguez, Anton briefly) than any of the TdF stages this year, even if they failed to stick.  And they hit the bottom of that climb so fast that even had Sky or Movistar  wanted to dictate the pace as a team, they couldn't manage it.

[JT]

Whether or not he's clean is anyone's guess but it was bloody brilliant watching Contador attack the shit out of that climb! His style out of the saddle is effortless - god knows what it does to the morale of his rivals.

In contrast, Froome looks quite ungainly on his bike but he did well yesterday to match the changes in pace and then take 3rd to pick up a bonification. 

Could ITV4's set look any cheaper? 

[vorsprung]

Whether or not he's clean is anyone's guess but it was bloody brilliant watching Contador attack the shit out of that climb! He's style out of the saddle is effortless - god knows what it does to the morale of his rivals.

In contrast, Froome looks quite ungainly on his bike but he did well yesterday to match the changes in pace and then take 3rd to pick up a bonification. 

It was a bit exciting for only the third stage!  Froome beat Contador at the end and so gained 4 seconds on him. 

[TheLurker]

Yeah I think CF is quite happy to let Bertie do all that macho attacking uphill stuff and just reel him in slowly without wasting too much energy.  Did you notice how Bertie was constantly checking to see if he'd shaken CF, Valverde et al off his wheel?  My tuppence worth issued from the comfort of my sofa?  Bertie will be more rattled than CF by what happened yesterday.  Be interesting to see if he'll try the same again today.

It was quite exciting tho'.

[David Martin]

Froome sees Contador as his main rival. He has never yet attacked, just raised his pace to bring himself back to the group when they run out of steam from their attacks. He doesn't have the sheer acceleration of Valverde/Rodriguez but has probably got more endurance. Wait for the big climbs

Contador was riding a really old school race - attack and hope to break your opponents. It would be far more effective without race radios. Froome will just grind them off his wheel (not as well as Wiggo, but not far off)

[Honest John]

Where, mainly, are the plains in Spain?

The middle of Spain is a plateau (the Meseta) rising to about 2000m, very hot and dry in the summer. The mountains are (left to right, top to bottom) the Picos de Europa along the north coast, the Pyrenees on the border, the high ridges around Madrid in the middle of the Meseta and in Andalusia in the far south. Spain is allegedly the most mountainous country in Europe (although that includes El Tiede on Tenerife which is 3700m high).

So this year's Vuelta takes in most of the lumpiest bits of the north and very little of the flat, dry bits. That's how they have managed to have 10 hilltop finishes in just three weeks. It's already turning into a fight between Valverde (great climber but never quite there), Rodriguez (very, very punchy climber), Contador (superb kick) and Froome (dogged determination) after just one Cat 1 climb.

[LEE]

Froome sees Contador as his main rival. He has never yet attacked, just raised his pace to bring himself back to the group when they run out of steam from their attacks. He doesn't have the sheer acceleration of Valverde/Rodriguez but has probably got more endurance. Wait for the big climbs

Contador was riding a really old school race - attack and hope to break your opponents. It would be far more effective without race radios. Froome will just grind them off his wheel (not as well as Wiggo, but not far off)

That was what I thought.  Wiggo's steady climbing pace on the TdF was successful (and probably scientifically calculated by SKY as the best approach).  Froome seems to be using the same approach but he also has the ability, unlike Wiggins, to accelerate hard up steep climbs.  I think he'll pick his moment to use that but I'm sure we'll see Froome charge off the front at some point.

[mattc]

From my armchair it looked like a cunning route choice by the orgs.  A steep final climb (almost) to the finish will always encourage attacking, but the other factor was the twisty street stuff beforehand. It was guaranteed to create a long string of riders, especially if the stronger teams fought to keep their riders up the front.
Hence they had even more to gain from attacking on the climb, being many seconds ahead of some rivals from the off - instead of starting the climb in the usual sprawling bunch.

[sg37409]

Valverde: tough shit.

[David Martin]

What goes around, comes around. They did it to Leipheimer in the Giro, and they knew he had gone down, without any pretence of it being a racing move. Sky played the echelon card, Valverde lost out. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.