End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta, UCI Worlds, and Lombardia); spoilers abound

Aug 20, 14 10:14

Post #1 of 248 (11214 views)

So it's that time of the year again as the pro cycling season winds down. In addition to la Vuelta, we have Vattenfall Classic (sprinter borefest), GP Ouest France (somewhat interesting), GP Quebec (interesting last lap), GP Montreal (interesting last lap), UCI RR Championship (should be a good one), and Lombardia, not to mention the various 2.HC races such as Paris-Tours.

Discuss any and all of these races.

I'll start.

For Vuelta, Quintana, Uran, and Froome. Outsiders include Rodriguez, Samuel Sanchez, Dan Martin, Aru, Pinot, Barguil, and Rider #15. Rodriguez will probably take the points jersey and may have a good shot at the overall, but there will be ~ 45 km of individual time trialing split into two days. If Rider #15 were to place on the podium again...

For stages hunting, stages 3, 7, and 13 for the classics specialists such as Gilbert, Sagan, and Cancellara. Also predict that Louis Meintjes may just win a stage.

Last edited by: echappist: Aug 25, 14 9:45

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 22, 14 21:32

Post #2 of 248 (11099 views)

bump. Looks like Pinot & Horner won't be doing much. Out with them and in with Kelderman and Chaves

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 23, 14 0:47

Post #3 of 248 (11077 views)

Hard to predict Chaves's performance on GC but Kelderman should be up around the top 5. Dan Martin is probably the most unknown quantity at the moment. Looking forward to seeing how it shakes out.

The Giro di Lombardia is the race I'm most excited for though it's one of my favorite races although hopefully it won't rain this year. Worlds should also be good as always.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 23, 14 4:56

Post #4 of 248 (11046 views)

Rider #15 is out of the VaE. http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=5219265

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 23, 14 9:02

Post #5 of 248 (10999 views)

The list of climbers is more impressive than any GT I can recall in past few years: Froome, Quintana, Uran, AC, Aru, J-Rod, Martin, Talansky, Valverde.

Hard to bet against Froome with two ITTs. If AC was on form he'd be my pick but I'm not sure he'll get through first week with contenders.

Will be interesting if teams like Movistar and Garmin with multiple leaders can get one up the road and force Sky's hand

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 23, 14 9:21

Post #6 of 248 (10993 views)

The prologue starts in 1 hour, the TTT, 12.6 km.
Lots of strong teams with a chance for the win.
I'll predict OPQS in 1ST [Tony Martin taking long pulls], Trek in 2nd [Spartacus leading], Sky 3rd [Froome is hungry].

res, non verba

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [RoYe] [ In reply to ]

Aug 23, 14 10:00

Post #7 of 248 (10985 views)

Carl Spackler wrote:

The list of climbers is more impressive than any GT I can recall in past few years: Froome, Quintana, Uran, AC, Aru, J-Rod, Martin, Talansky, Valverde.

Hard to bet against Froome with two ITTs. If AC was on form he'd be my pick but I'm not sure he'll get through first week with contenders.

Will be interesting if teams like Movistar and Garmin with multiple leaders can get one up the road and force Sky's hand

they total to be less than 45 km, though. so not that much in the grand scheme of things. Quintana seems to have stepped up in the ITT department, so i guess perhaps 2-2.5 minutes total for both stages? still a handicap, but not as much

RoYe wrote:

The prologue starts in 1 hour, the TTT, 12.6 km.
Lots of strong teams with a chance for the win.
I'll predict OPQS in 1ST [Tony Martin taking long pulls], Trek in 2nd [Spartacus leading], Sky 3rd [Froome is hungry].

i think Movistar will get on the podium, most likely at the expense of Trek

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 23, 14 12:33

Post #8 of 248 (10947 views)

2.5 minutes is typically a lot of time between that quality a field. Plus, that means Quintana, et all, have to be on offensive elsewhere to get rid of Froome. Valverde lost nearly 2.5 minutes to Nibali on stage 20, the latter having never shown he was in the same league of TTer as Froome. So it could be much more.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [Carl Spackler] [ In reply to ]

Aug 23, 14 13:11

Post #9 of 248 (10938 views)

Good point; 2min 30 is quite a bit, though for now Quintana has a 27 second buffer. Quintana better hopes he can dust off Rodriguez on the uphill kicks in order to claim bonus seconds, or perhaps do something audacious a la Contador circa 2012.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 23, 14 22:00

Post #10 of 248 (10884 views)

Movistar pulls off a surprise win, Quintana & Valverde start with an 9 sec. lead on Cancellara, an 11 second advantage over Uran, 19 sec. on Contador, 27 sec. on Froome, 38 sec. on J Rod, 41 secs over Hesjedal.

Lots of variety in bike suppliers:
3 spesh: OPQS, Tinkoff-Saxo, Astana
2 Scott: Orica, IAM
2 TREK: MTN , TREK
2 Giant: Belkin, Shimano
2 Canyon: Movistar, Katusha
Vivelo: AJA RURAL
Focus: AG2R
CERVELO: Garmin-Sharp
Lapierre:FDJ
LOOK: Cofidis
Colagno: Eurocar
Pinarello: Sky
BMC
Ridley: Lotto Belisol
Cannondale

It looks like Garmin-Sharp and Cannondale will merge next year, I wonder if they'll use Cannondale?

res, non verba

Last edited by: RoYe: Aug 23, 14 22:40

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [RoYe] [ In reply to ]

Aug 23, 14 23:16

Post #11 of 248 (10865 views)

RoYe wrote:

Movistar pulls off a surprise win, Quintana & Valverde start with an 9 sec. lead on Cancellara, an 11 second advantage over Uran, 19 sec. on Contador, 27 sec. on Froome, 38 sec. on J Rod, 41 secs over Hesjedal.

It looks like Garmin-Sharp and Cannondale will merge next year, I wonder if they'll use Cannondale?

Dunno if it really was that big of a surprise win - didn't they take the TTT two years ago? Also clear Movistar is here to win - only question we're all watching for is whether it's Quintana or Valverde in the leadership role for the team.

Cervelo is out from sponsoring Slipstream, who will be riding Cannondale next year. Cervelo will be bike supplier to MTN Qhubeka (the guys who came in 12th today) next year.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [jjcha] [ In reply to ]

Aug 24, 14 4:16

Post #12 of 248 (10840 views)

I like Wilco. The band and the kid. But no podium. I'm gambling that AC picks up form. Lots of pride there already. Purito and Quintana.
Quintana- Cadillac, bubby. Froomie? He'll be right there. Steak knives I'm guessing.
No, wait. This just in. AC for the win. He's tan, rested and ready.
And if rider 15 needed some cortisol, I've got plenty. I could have topped him off.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 24, 14 7:49

Post #13 of 248 (10806 views)

Vattenfall cyclassics looking interesting at the moment. Beautiful towns/houses and foliage.

Also here's an interesting link:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...leader-in-the-vuelta
In that case I could see Cadel winning a stage or being active in the KOM possibly kind of like Jrod in the TdF although in better form based on Utah.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [Staz] [ In reply to ]

Aug 24, 14 20:18

Post #14 of 248 (10748 views)

Staz wrote:

Vattenfall cyclassics looking interesting at the moment. Beautiful towns/houses and foliage.

Also here's an interesting link:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...leader-in-the-vuelta
In that case I could see Cadel winning a stage or being active in the KOM possibly kind of like Jrod in the TdF although in better form based on Utah.

Too bad Vattenfall is too flat to end up in anything but a bunch sprint. otherwise great scenery in Hamburg. GP Plouay could be interesting, usually with equal chances for bunch sprints and classics specialist. Trivia: one winner of Plouay in the last 10 years has who a grand tour; name this rider

-----

Stage 3 should be interesting in its finish. I can't find the exact elevations, but it seems that the road rises 70 m in the last 2 km, with most of it coming in 1-1.2 km. Cauberg is what would come to mind. Edit: just checked strava and found a cat-4 hill fitting the description. 0.9 miles at 5%

Your more "diesel" type sprinters and puncheurs probably have a good shot at this: Degenkolb, Sagan, Cancellara, Jill Bear, and Matthews. I'll go with Jill Bear.

Last edited by: echappist: Aug 24, 14 20:30

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [McNulty] [ In reply to ]

Aug 24, 14 20:24

Post #15 of 248 (10745 views)

McNulty wrote:

I like Wilco. The band and the kid. But no podium. I'm gambling that AC picks up form. Lots of pride there already. Purito and Quintana.
Quintana- Cadillac, bubby. Froomie? He'll be right there. Steak knives I'm guessing.
No, wait. This just in. AC for the win. He's tan, rested and ready.
And if rider 15 needed some cortisol, I've got plenty. I could have topped him off.

You can tell this is not from Mitch & Murray's downtown office as apparently no one gets fired ;)

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 25, 14 1:40

Post #16 of 248 (10714 views)

Nibali in 2006 or 2007. I think he might have been a neo-pro.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [Staz] [ In reply to ]

Aug 25, 14 9:20

Post #17 of 248 (10671 views)

Dan Martin needs to learn to get in the drops when he attacks.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 25, 14 9:29

Post #18 of 248 (10668 views)

At least he didn't tip over this time. Commentator on the channel I was watching confused Matthews for Yates (Adam or Simon?). That would have been impressive.

Matthews looked really tanned and congrats to him. Two GT stage wins and the leader's jersey in two GT's is impressive.

Really curious about Sagan though as he just tried to set up Gatto yesterday and it looked like Gatto was the man again today. Is Sagan not in form or overtrained or something? Or did they decide they want to keep some UCI points in the team after Sagan leaves?

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [Staz] [ In reply to ]

Aug 25, 14 9:35

Post #19 of 248 (10662 views)

probably having issues with the heat

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 25, 14 12:12

Post #20 of 248 (10621 views)

I think Pete has been drinking with Tinkoff since Paris and is mailing it in.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [McNulty] [ In reply to ]

Aug 26, 14 8:04

Post #21 of 248 (10550 views)

McNulty wrote:

I think Pete has been drinking with Tinkoff since Paris and is mailing it in.

Cracking up.
Sean Kelly just said Sagan has definitely put on several kilos since TdF and that the sponsors should be happy because his kit is stretched out so you can read the names.

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [McNulty] [ In reply to ]

Aug 26, 14 9:07

Post #22 of 248 (10537 views)

looks like he ain't gonna be gunning for the rainbow stripes; a pity as the course would have suited him

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 27, 14 8:39

Post #23 of 248 (10464 views)

I noticed Froome quite cheekily made a break and nabbed a 2 second time bonus at one of the intermediete sprints today.... I like that. I'm really interested to see how close Quintana and him are after the mountains. Does anyone else think Dan Martin has been riding really well so far?

Don't forget to unclip!

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [Armstronium] [ In reply to ]

Aug 27, 14 13:46

Post #24 of 248 (10442 views)

Martin could do well tmwr. The GC riders are all forced to show their cards tmwr

Re: End of Season bike World Tour races (e.g. Vuelta and Lombardia); spoilers abound [echappist] [ In reply to ]

Aug 27, 14 15:33

Post #25 of 248 (10421 views)

Looking forward to it! Hoping for someone like Chaves or Yates to slip off the front for the win. Likely easier for Yates as nobody is going to let Chaves go as long as he's in 6th place.

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