Vuelta Espana - 2005

I still think Heras is prepared enough to win again, but Simoni surprised me the most. He told about big tiredness, his gap at Tour of Portugal was huge, he wasn`t even sure to start Vuelta two weeks ago. I think all was fake.

Bad luck for Beloki again. I am sorry for him.

 

1) Mancebo
2) Heras
3) Pereiro

Landis , Sastre and Azevedo will all go close (you just know 1 Disco rider will fire and i dont think its going to be TD)
Someone from the CV team will rip it up aswell, they always do for this race.

 

I think intermediate timing at the top of the climb today shows something who will be good later in the mountains! For example: Botero: 52nd at 2.3 and 9th at the end and Piepoli (pure climber) 11th at 2.3 and 70th at the end. Interesting, Verbrugghe climbed very well! Beloki also looked very fast, but far back because of the fall. I`m really interested in both, because it`s still very questionable what they can do in 3 week tour.
On the other hand, Phonaks Pereiro, Landis and Botero were all very bad as well as Sevilla, Mayo, Nozal and some others.

 

Its a log tour.1 min is nothing on day 1 , theres no Armstrong to lead from the front , i expect the Amarillo to swap hands quite a lot.
Better to judge when they get to Andorra in a week and even then some climbers may leave their powder dry or be riding into form for the end of the 2nd week.

 

Ah, Mancebo was not as strong as I thought. Perhaps his massive efforts on the climbs in the Tour have weakened, not strengthened him.

Perhaps he will ride himself into the race.

Looks pretty open to me. Surprised to see Simoni do so well.

 

I am curious about Simoni. He said he was not feeling well and will only decide whether to stick with it after the first mountain stages. He wants to win a Grand Tour this year following his defeat at the Giro.

Hhhm.

 

I agree, he`s very suspicious! I think he make a fool of us!

 

This Vuelta is all about the uphill finishes, i'll start making predictions when the results for the first one of them is in (stage 6).

 

A lot of mountain top finnishes and plain as well. Or it just looks like that because their altimetri graphs aren`t so expressive as Tour`s or Giro`s, which are the best of all.

 

I don't believe DC has given up the idea of trying to win the Vuelta, although it realistically also realizes it is not likely to.

Graham Watson on paceline:

"Danielson is an exciting prospect for us English-speaking observers - 5th place today augers well for Discovery's Vuelta, although I expect that his Portugese teamate, Azevedo, is the team's secret weapon as it tip-toes quietly to an ambition of winning a third major tour this season."

Michael Barry on Velonews:

"This year there is no clear leader on our team but we have three riders who could challenge for the overall: Triki Beltran, Tom Danielson, and Jose Azevedo. The three can soar in the mountains and there are no shortage of climbs in this year's course with nine mountain top finishes in total."

Bruyneel's official line is intended to get other teams controlling the race and working, emphasizing stage win intentions for DC:

"We definitely come here with other ambitions for the simple reason we don't have a race favorite on our team, or even a favorite for the podium," said Johan Bruyneel, the team's sports manager. "At the same time, that doesn't mean we can't do well here. I don't want to build anyone's ambitions too high but we have a very diverse team here with riders for everything we will face. Our goal is to win two stages. That would be a great accomplishment.""

 

Stage 1 : Granada-Córdoba, 189.3 km

Great stage today - plenty of incidents.
Eurosports coverage was slightly restricted due to the GP racing but what I saw of it was very good,

Botero seemed to be climbing really well on that final second Cat climb of the day but fair dues to Bertagnolli : he broke away on the climb and held off the chasers apart from Brad McGee.

The crash on the descent looked nasty with Klier going over the barrier (his shirt was ripped to pieces) and a Phonak rider (I think it might have been Pereiro).

McGee in the sprint faded a bit - I thought he'd have the beating of Bertagnolli

Have to say it's great to see the Vuelta - just like the Giro it's been an exciting start.

 

Well, I predicted a bunch sprint today, I could not have been more wrong

I was very surprised at the slow pace today. I know it was hot and windy but it was also mostly downhill until the 2nd cat with 12 kms to go. Oh well, I guess that's why they play the game

As limerickman said, lots of 'incidents' today and some huge time gaps.

Iban Mayo is over 8 minutes behind after 2 stages!!! This guy really was a one hit wonder it's looking like. Gonz de Galdeano is also over 8 minutes back.

Botero looks good as does Sastre.

Stage 3 looks like a for sure sprinter stage

 

Pereiro also lost nearly 8min today.

 

Sastre is featuring well as you say.

I gave poor old DeGaldeano the kiss of death by selecting him to win the Vuelta !
(I thought that Liberty need to get a result and with Saiz at the helm, I reckoned he might do this business).

 

I'm not as surprised about Oscar. He's turning into a Vino type of rider, a real stage hunter.

 

I've picked Sastre to win, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he loses a block of time as well

Liberty still have defending champ Heras and "disappointment poster-boy" Beloki in the mix, so I wouldn't worry about them. DeGaldeano will have no option but to work for Heras now. I still think Beloki can make some noise in this race even with the prologue debacle.

Discovery allegedly had the 3-headed monster at this race Beltran, Acevedo and Danielson, but with Acevedo losing almost 4 minutes in a crash I would expect he will be out of the 'leader' mix right about now. Since Danielson is unproven they might want to get behind Beltran.

 

Good stage, but lack of interest by locals dissapointed me again.

He lost time because the fall.

 

Do you mean local fans or local riders?


I didn't realise Oscar was involved in the wrecks.

 

Fans. I know it`s the worst tour for fans because jobs and schools start that time, but it was Sunday and I was expecting more fans on the climb. I don`t believe there were 100 of them on 10+km.

I`m watching Graham Watson`s photos from todays stage at the moment and he wrote that Phonak rider who had crashed was Gutierez. It looked Pereiro to me and the same to Eurosport comentator.

 

That was the first impression but no. He actually had his shirt zipped off that's why it looked like a rug.