La Vuelta Espana 2013

[Shands]

The Spanish climbathon is upon us! If it's even half as spectacular as last year then we're in for a real treat. Hopefully Euskatel can go out in a blaze of orange glory and a podium spot for Samu.

Got my eye on Betacur too as the one who could ignite the race, and a bit of repemption for Pinot would be nice too.

Come on TDF fans, let's get on it.

 

[Rascal]

Here is the race guide courtesy of Team Sky website. Its an amazing parcours.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,29285_8881107,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290, ... 07,00.html</a>


As a Team Sky fan im hoping for a good showing from Henao and maybe a couple of sprints from EBH.

Nibali is obviously the man to beat though.

 

[andyhinch]

Is it on tv, if so what channel?

 

[manchester blue]

Live on British Eurosport, highlights ITV4 around 10pm. Looking forward to this, the last classic of the season.

 

[Rascal]

And here for reference are the teams


AG2R La Mondiale (9 riders) - Bérard, Betancur, Chainel, Cherel, Gastauer, Mondory, Montaguti, Nocentini, Pozzovivo.

Argos-Shimano (9 riders) - Arndt, Barguil, Fröhlinger, Hupond, Janse van Rensburg, Peterson, Preidler, Sinkeldam, Stamsnijder.

Astana (9 riders) - Brajkovic, Fuglsang, Grivko, Iglinskiy, Kangert, Nibali, Tiralongo, Vanotti, Zeits.

Belkin (9 riders) - Bos, Brown, Clement, Garate, Mollema, Sanchez, Tanner, Ten Dam, Wagner.

BMC (9 riders) - Eijssen, Gilbert, Kohler, Lander, Lodewyck, Nerz, Pinotti, Santaromita, Wyss.

Caja Rural (9 riders) - Aramendia, Arroyo, A. Cardoso, Ferrari, Garcia, Lasca, Piedra, Txurruka, Velasco.

Cannondale (9 riders) - Basso, Boivin, Dall'Antonia, Haedo, Longo Borghini, Paterski, Ratto, Sarmiento, Wurf.

Cofidis (9 riders) - Bagot, Bessy, Coppel, Edet, Mate, Petit, Poulhies, Sijmens, Zingle.

Euskaltel (9 riders) - Anton, Azanza, Landa, Martinez, Nieve, Oroz, Sanchez, Urtasun, Verdugo.

FDJ (9 riders) - Courteille, Elissonde, Geniez, Mangel, Pineau, Pinot, Roux, Soupe, Veikkanen.

Garmin-Sharp (9 riders) - Fairly, Farrar, Fernandez, Howes, M. Kreder, Martin, Nuyens, Rasmussen, Vansummeren.

Katusha (9 riders) - Caruso, Gusev, Isaychev, Kozonchuk, Losada, Moreno, Paolini, Rodriguez, Vicioso.

Lampre-Merida (9 riders) - Anacona, Bono, Dodi, Graziato, Mori, Richeze, Scarponi, Stortoni, Ulissi

Lotto-Belisol (9 riders) - De Clercq, De Greef, Hansen, Henderson, Reynes, Van der Sande, D. Vanendert, J. Vanendert, Van de Walle.

Movistar (9 riders) - Capecchi, Erviti, Gutierrez, José Herrada, Intxausti, Lastras, Moreno, Szmyd, Valverde.

NetAPP-Endura (9 riders) - Barta, Camaño , De la Cruz, Dempster, Huzarski, König, Mendes, Schorn, Voss.

Omega Pharma-QuickStep (9 riders) - De Weert, Fenn, Martin, Meersman, Pauwels, Serry, Stybar, Van Keirsbulck, Vandewalle.

Orica Greenedge (9 riders) - Bewley, Clarke, Cooke, Docker, Gerrans, Howard, Matthews, Christian Meier, Sulzberger.

RadioShack Leopard (9 riders) - Busche, Cancellara, Hermans, Horner, Irizar, Kiserlovski, Popovych, Rast, Zubeldia.

Saxo-Tinkoff (9 riders) - Kreuziger, Majka, Morkov, Petrov, Roche, C.A. Sorensen, N. Sorensen, Tosatto, Zaugg.

Sky (9 riders) - Cataldo, Boasson Hagen, Henao, Kiryienka, Knees, Puccio, Rowe, Uran, Zandio.

Vacansoleil (9 riders) - Bole, De Gendt, Flecha, Hoogerland, Marczynski, Markus, Poels, Valls Ferri, Westra.

 

[Paul Lake's Left Knee]

Should be good. Liking the parcour looks like it should throw up some good racing.

 

[Rascal]

Odds for GC

Nibali 2/1
Purito 7/2
Valverde 4/1
Henao 12/1
Betancour 14/1
Sanchez 16/1
Basso 20/1
Uran 25/1
Kreuziger 33/1
Mollema 66/1

100/1 bar

 

[Rascal]

Got my eye on Betacur too quote]

Not the best of starts for him. Lost near 2 mins on Nibali. He will have to attack though :)

 

[Shands]

Got my eye on Betacur too quote]

Not the best of starts for him. Lost near 2 mins on Nibali. He will have to attack though :)

Just watched the stage on record this morning. Loved the idea of the floating start ramp and the course was great with all those technical sections weaving through the small town. Watching last years race I was really taken by Galicia and I thought it looked stunning again yesterday, definitely going on my regions to visit list.

As you say though no bad thing that Betancur has lost time. He usually pretty keen to attack as it is and this should make it even more likely. The good thing is that because of so many uphill finishes, and particularly stage bonus seconds, a gap like that is nowhere near as much of a problem as it would be in the Tour De France. I think they'll also still be a bit of an onus on Nibali to make things happen because there are several guys who I reckon would feel able to out sprint him if they're all together come the last k or so; I'd say off the top of my head that Valverde, Purito, Martin, Betancur, Moreno might all feel they have a better kick than Nibs.

Anyway bring on stage 2, they're hitting the slopes nice and early :)

 

[Shands]

Does anyone have a good pair of binoculars going spare? It's just i'm going to need them to keep a close eye on Betancur now he's 12 minutes back! Not to worry, at least Sammy Sanchez is looking good....oh.....emmm, well there's always Heano.......*rips up betting slip*.