2006 Vuelta a España: Stage 2 - Málaga - Córdoba, 176 Kms

Todays stage starts in Malaga and heads north to the Moorish city of Cordoba.

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Steve
CyclingForums.com

My prediction. Sprint finish, McEwen to win.

I want Pettachi to show who is STILL the best sprinter in the world........

He has had some bad luck this year, I really hope he can get a win this vuelta....and what better to do it in the first sprint stage

Of course if you look at it realisticly Mcewen is the one to beat......

Nice win for Paolo Bettini, Hushovd second. Milram was riding for Zabel...

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Paolo takes care of em all. Impressive.

Agreed too, being realistic McEwen STILL best bunch sprinter over the past 2 seasons. Consistantly beaten Petacchi and Boonen. Train or not he has it over them both now.

I have to agree: McEwen is having a great season...

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Well....I agree about this season, but the last 2/3 years Petacchi has been the best sprinter...at least the sprinter with the most wins..

He also broke the record for winning most sprint in all GT's in 1 year.......can't remember which year it was though....

Btw, nice win for bettini!

Congrats to Bettini, who is having an excellent second half of season. Wonder if he will pull off a double and win Zurich and the Lombardia?

And Petacchi is the best sprinter, this year excepted for obvious reasons. Fine he has a train and all that, but he has won more than McEwen (I believe that counts for something amongst sprinters).

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De Rosa Planet
Campagnolo Per Sempre!
PAOLO BETTINI CAMPIONE DEL MONDO x 2!

Wins dont always tell the full story, sprinters at the Petacchi McEwen level can cherry pick races where there is no sprinting competition. A race like Paris Nice had a weak field this year. Gotta look at them in pure bunch finishes like at the Grand Tours i think, and right now head to head McEwen has it over Petacchi and Boonen. I think Petacchi's past 2 Giros tell the story.

like Yoeki said, when Petacchi and Boonen have their trains, ofcourse they will rack up 20 wins per season.

If Graeme Brown had a train like that, I think he could put away about 15 wins a season.

See for example Lampre, when Ballan, and Stenjal or whatever his name is ramp it up for Napolitano and Bennati they usually take the biscuits.

It is pretty difficult winning against a train when they string it out single file. In a grand tour it is too difficult now, because the competition is coming from the left and the right and even the old Fassa train is not strong enough to pull it single file.

So # of wins dont tell the entire story MJTje (btw, I am "chris t" from DPforums)

The best indicator is Grand tour wins, Head to head.

Match them head to head in grand tours, and see who has the most wins.