Vuelta - poor indicator.

Why is La Vuelta such a poor indicator of future greatness? Botero, Levi, Aitor, Heras, etc...

Well first it is the least important of the three tour, but hold up a second.

Levi: podium in the Vuelta or the Tour for that matter doesn;t indicate much of anything. Furthermore, we aren't deep into Levi's career (for those who have patriotic faith).

Aitor: he won last year and had a bad follow up season. He is not the first to do that. I wouldn't pass judgement on him yet.

Botero: maybe winning the Vuelta is a predictor of laziness (note Jan). On the other hand many people were saying great things about Botero because of his performance in the Tour. Some because of his World TT championship. So the Tour is a terrible indicator and so is the World TT. I mean 5 Tour victories and Lance wins nothing else!!!

Heras: Ok, the Vuelta is a race for pure climbers. Heras won. Then he got tendinitis. Then he got a second in the Vuelta and he will probably get another second this year. That really isn't very bad. Also remember the his decision to join USPS hurts his chances elsewhere. In 2002, I think that he could have won at least one mountain stage of the Tour or maybe more. Do you really think that Heras couldn't be KOM or something. Heras is a super sucessful small climber and why you would have ever expected anything else is beyond me.

Callistus Valerius <jazzyboss@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Why is La Vuelta such a poor indicator of future greatness? Botero, Levi, Aitor, Heras, etc...

Don't forget Indurain and Armstrong.

Bob Schwartz cvcc@execpc.com

"Callistus Valerius" <jazzyboss@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:<0nVbb.356$NX3.319@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net>...
> Why is La Vuelta such a poor indicator of future greatness? Botero, Levi, Aitor, Heras, etc...

Lance?

"Callistus Valerius" <jazzyboss@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:0nVbb.356$NX3.319@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Why is La Vuelta such a poor indicator of future greatness? Botero, Levi, Aitor, Heras, etc...
>

It is not a poor indicator. Perhaps only those that give it too much importance are mislead.

The real question is, "will we hear from Nozal again"?

l>Lance?

lance was 4th in the vuelta the year before he won his first tour... those who were surprised by him
in 1999 saying that he hadnt ever shown good climbing form, nor had he shown the ability to be
effective in a GT were not thinking of how great he rode in the Veulta in 1998...

riding well in one race,though, doesnt mean that you will ride well in others... the veulta title
isnt the hiesman trophy either, nor is the giro, with the tour being the superbowl MVP... each race
is a great event in its own right.. a rider winning a stage or performing well on GC can be
considered a champion in his own right without ever having to win anything else...

there is a bit of a lack of respect in this newsgroup for the difficulty of races that arent the
tour, and for the difficulty of one day races that arent in the WC... and a lack of respect for the
abilities of "no name" riders...

erik saunders wrote:
>
> there is a bit of a lack of respect in this newsgroup for the difficulty of races that arent
> the tour

There's a peripherally interesting article in MSSE that compares the physiological demand of the
Tour vs. the Vuelta ("Tour de France versus Vuelta a Espana: Which is harder?" MSSE 35(5): 872-878).
I suspect that its conclusion is a tad premature (i.e., I'm not convinced), but it's an interesting
view on the debate. A .pdf version of the article has been posted by one of its authors at
http://public.webbox.com/index.asp?p=625966&ls=1

Callistus Valerius wrote:

> Why is La Vuelta such a poor indicator of future greatness? Botero, Levi, Aitor, Heras, etc...
>
>
loose dope controls? Heras has a role that he plays very well all season. that role overshadows his
talents to some extent. You're right about the rest though.

Maybe the Tour is a poor indicator of Vuelta success, and you have it backwards.

Dan

Fred Marx wrote:
>
>
> Callistus Valerius wrote:
>
>> Why is La Vuelta such a poor indicator of future greatness? Botero, Levi, Aitor, Heras, etc...
>>
>>
> loose dope controls? Heras has a role that he plays very well all season. that role overshadows
> his talents to some extent. You're right about the rest though.