2004 La Vuelta a Espana

[Perro Loco]

I hear you there.

As for today's breaking news, it seems that Perez is the one to watch in the Vuelta this year. I think he will be the winner in the end. He's riding so well now. I expect him to continue to pour it on to the end.

Today, Perez gained 38 seconds on Heras, leaving Heras wobbling at the end of the stage, unable to match Perez' final attack. Temperatures today were around 35 C, sweltering. Valverde slipped farther back on this stage, and now it's a neck and neck between Perez and Heras in the GC. Heras still has the yellow jersey, but Perez is a close second.

By the way, Phonak has just announced that it has suspended Tyler Hamilton. Phonak mgmt says they believe Hamilton, but if he cannot prove his innocence and rebut the charges of doping, his contract will be terminated immediately upon final word that the results of doping stand against him.

So, from many people expecting Tyler to win the Vuelta, to his current position that he may be ejected from the sport for a couple of years, it's been a tough Vuelta for Tyler, even worse after dropping out early than it was when he was suffering with the rest of the peloton during the race. Now is his biggest trial ever in his career.

Not wanting to dwell too much on scandal, I will do some research on Perez and post it here. I want to know more about this climbing sensation. He's really putting the screws to Heras. Heras is no match.

` 2 years ago perez was next great Spanish rider. His fiance was killed in an auto accident and he has had a mediocre few years until now. I did not know this until recently, but have read several reports this past week on the various news scources- velonews, cyclingnews.com etc.

He clearly looks like the strongest rider at the moment, unfortunately he probably lost time early on being a domestique.

 

[Virenque]

Yes, its going to be interesting until the end! Valverde lost a lot today, I hope he will come back! I agree, Perez is the strongest at the moment and he will be big surprise if he will take the gold jersey until the end! And after all dissapointings with Hamilton and Sevilla, that will look like "help from God" for Phonak hehe

 

[gntlmn]

` 2 years ago perez was next great Spanish rider. His fiance was killed in an auto accident and he has had a mediocre few years until now. I did not know this until recently, but have read several reports this past week on the various news scources- velonews, cyclingnews.com etc.

He clearly looks like the strongest rider at the moment, unfortunately he probably lost time early on being a domestique.

Yes, in this race with Hamilton. But even though he may have lost time, when you consider he's only about a minute off from Heras now in the GC, and that he might be wearing the yellow jersey if it weren't for his domestique efforts, then that makes it even more likely that he will win. He's not getting any help from his team in the mountains. Heras still has Nozal helping him. And yet Santi Perez keeps bettering the Heras/Nozal duo. Now that Hamilton is suspended, I think it is perfect timing for him if he wins this Vuelta because it may set him up to be team leader next year in the Tour de France. I think he senses that, and he'll be hard to beat to the end of this Vuelta.

If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on Santi Perez to win final GC.

I did just read that he had lost his fiancee in 2002, which is I believe the same year he turned pro. He is 27 years old now, prime age for grand tours. He has also had time to recover from his tragic loss.

 

[Craig Walsh]

And he is not the only one with a lot of bad luck in one season! Cadel Evans brake his colarbone 3 times (?) last year! You must have bad luck to broke it once, but he did it few times!! Savoldelli is another one..

Maybe it is a T-Mobile thing.

Bad luck and T-Mobile seem to go hand in hand.

 

[gntlmn]

I wonder if Santiago Perez kind of dogged it up l'Alpe d'Huez this year at the Tour de France. He finished back 4:16 from Lance Armstrong, the winner. The way he's riding now in the Vuelta, you'd think he would have been closer. Maybe it was because he was domestique for Tyler in the TdF, as he was at the early stages of the Vuelta this year, and he wanted to conserve energy. He had no chance at the GC anyway. But his showing in the TdF made it pretty hard to realize how good he is now. Maybe Tyler's absence will work to his advantage.

 

[gntlmn]

Time's running out for Vuelta contenders--only 2 more stages, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday will be another mountainous stage followed by the mostly flat ITT on Sunday. Each day is going to be key at least for the top 4 contenders. Here's the gc after today's stage:

General classification after stage 19

1 Roberto Heras (Spa) Liberty Seguros 72.13.01
2 Santiago Perez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 1.13
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 2.15
4 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 2.16
5 Isidro Nozal (Spa) Liberty Seguros 6.08
6 Carlos Garcia Quesada (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 6.16
7 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 7.56
8 Angel Gomez (Spa) Paternina-Costa De Almeria 10.21
9 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Nobili Rubinetterie 12.21
10 Luis Perez (Spa) Cofidis, le credit par Telephone 12.25

Perez is riding very strong in the mountains, but he had a very poor showing in an earlier ITT, the one Hamilton won. He lost quite a bit of time to Heras who is not known as a good TT man. If Santi was resting then to support Hamilton as domestique, perhaps the result will be different on Sunday. But if not, he must make his move in the mountains tomorrow. Out of the bunch, Valverde is probably the best TT man, and he is very close to 2nd. If he has 2 more good days, he could win. And remember, earlier he almost pulled out of the Vuelta after a crash when he hurt his knee.

 

[keydates]

Yep. It's going to be close.

 

[gntlmn]

Yep. It's going to be close.

Now's when I wish I had live TV coverage. I think I would be glued to the set this weekend. Oh well, at least I'll get more fresh air. Heh heh.

 

[Virenque]

Did you try to use www.lavuelta.tv ? The quality must be very poor, bot better than nothing..

 

[keydates]

Did you try to use www.lavuelta.tv ? The quality must be very poor, bot better than nothing..

Yes, but it hasn't worked for me.

Now it's going to be even closer, although it looks to me like Perez is going to win. Hard to tell, as neither are very stellar time trialers.

 

[Virenque]

Im afraid that you will find the answer here! 3 weeks too late

 

[sportzgurl]

Now's when I wish I had live TV coverage. I think I would be glued to the set this weekend. Oh well, at least I'll get more fresh air. Heh heh.

Hey! Just a thought, they have live coverage on eurosports news channel (if you get that) i think. I get thet channel but they never seem to seem to show any live cycling in on it in NZ but they might where you are. Either that or they just show live updates - which i have found are actually not live lol!!!!
But the adds on the eurosports news channel say that its live so maybe it is - just a thort!

 

[gntlmn]

Yes, but it hasn't worked for me.

Now it's going to be even closer, although it looks to me like Perez is going to win. Hard to tell, as neither are very stellar time trialers.

Top 4 is still a close bunch:

Overall Individual

La Vega de Alcobendas - Puerto de Navacerrada 178 kms.


Pos. Nº Name Nat. Tea. Time
1º 1 HERAS, Roberto ESP LST 77:07:28
2º 118 PEREZ, Santiago ESP PHO a 43
3º 81 MANCEBO, Francisco ESP IBB a 2:19
4º 11 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP KEL a 2:26
5º 14 GARCIA QUESADA, Carlos ESP KEL a 6:33
6º 2 NOZAL, Isidro ESP LST a 7:16
7º 171 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC a 8:16
8º 105 GOMEZ, Angel ESP ALM a 12:11
9º 55 PEREZ, Luis ESP COF a 12:45
10º 201 GARZELLI, Stefano ITA VIN a 14:35


I understand Valverde is quite a bit better at time trialling than Heras, but I'm not sure about Perez now because he has been riding so strong in the mountains. Maybe he'll do reasonably well in the final mostly flat time trial. It's amazing that Santi is in striking distance of the win after being domestique for 8 stages. It's awesome.

I'm pretty sure Mancebo is good in the TT too. So this will be a very close race all the way to the end. Now it's all on the line. Sunday will be the deciding stage.

 

[gntlmn]

Im afraid that you will find the answer here! 3 weeks too late

I already saw this a long time ago. It doesn't work on my computer, and I don't want to start trying to modify my video software to make it work. I think it has something to do with the problems the authorities have been giving microsoft in Europe, trying to force it not to offer it's best software. It probably works well on the watered down version they sell over there. Mine works great for american videos.

 

[gntlmn]

Hey! Just a thought, they have live coverage on eurosports news channel (if you get that) i think. I get thet channel but they never seem to seem to show any live cycling in on it in NZ but they might where you are. Either that or they just show live updates - which i have found are actually not live lol!!!!
But the adds on the eurosports news channel say that its live so maybe it is - just a thort!

Nope. I get a lot of cable stations, including 6 HBO movie stations, but no Eurosport. I do get OLN though. Frankly, I would find some way to get OLN if I didn't have it. I hardly ever watch tv except during the TdF. Then it's a tv marathon.

 

[sportzgurl]

Nope. I get a lot of cable stations, including 6 HBO movie stations, but no Eurosport. I do get OLN though. Frankly, I would find some way to get OLN if I didn't have it. I hardly ever watch tv except during the TdF. Then it's a tv marathon.

I'd say!! The time zones are a pain though lol. When I watch the TdF its at like 3am!! So when nothing is happening its hard to stay awake lol

Oh well, you are not missing much anyway. I had to watch their live updates of the Olympic TT to see if Jan Ullrich won, cos our NZ coverage didn't think JU was important(yeah right) and the live updates were comming about 30mins after the thing had finished grrrrr!!!
Do you know where I can watch the Worlds on internet??

 

[gntlmn]

I'd say!! The time zones are a pain though lol. When I watch the TdF its at like 3am!! So when nothing is happening its hard to stay awake lol

Oh well, you are not missing much anyway. I had to watch their live updates of the Olympic TT to see if Jan Ullrich won, cos our NZ coverage didn't think JU was important(yeah right) and the live updates were comming about 30mins after the thing had finished grrrrr!!!
Do you know where I can watch the Worlds on internet??

No, where? By the way, I didn't watch the olympics. I had had enough tv since watching the TdF every day for 3 weeks.

 

[sportzgurl]

No, where? By the way, I didn't watch the olympics. I had had enough tv since watching the TdF every day for 3 weeks.

What do you mean where??? Sorry i am a bit cabbage today - i have been studying for exams and now my brain is fuzzy!! Oh you mean where do you watch the Worlds? I don't know, I was asking you.

 

[gntlmn]

What do you mean where??? Sorry i am a bit cabbage today - i have been studying for exams and now my brain is fuzzy!! Oh you mean where do you watch the Worlds? I don't know, I was asking you.

That's funny. I thought you were holding back to see if I was interested. Yes, I am, but no, I don't know where to watch it.

 

[sportzgurl]

That's funny. I thought you were holding back to see if I was interested. Yes, I am, but no, I don't know where to watch it.

He he i didn't mean it like that. I can't even find the official site for it. I think i have been looking for the last half hour too. I think people are still focusing on Vuelta lol. By the way, do you think Jan Ullrich has a chance at the worlds?? (i am asking you this one lol)