Tour de France 2012 - The Favorites

The 99th edition of the Tour de France starts out Saturday in Liege with a 6,4 km prologue. A perfect start for the overall favorite, Bradley Wiggins. No one can argue that Wiggins is among the top favorites for the yellow jersey in Paris, probably even the biggest favorite of them all. With just over 100 km of time trialing it’s set to be a fight between the best against the clock and so far this year Bradley Wiggins has shown to be the best.

The question to ask is:

“Can Wiggins minimize the time loss to the other favorites in the few mountain stages and win it back in the time trials?” - My answer is Yes.

After he crashed on stage 7 and withdrew last year, everything has been put on to win the Tour this time. Team Sky know they will be strongest team and thereby have everybody else looking at them to control the race. To cope with the big task they have been preparing the riders and trying to control and race for yellow in every stage race so far this year. In Algarve they won with Richie Porte after a tremendous work from the whole team (including Bradley Wiggins working hard in front to set up Porte’s attack - now he can count on Porte to do the same for him in the Tour), in Paris-Nice they controlled the race from the very first day and won with Bradley Wiggins. Same thing happened in Tour de Romandie and latest in Criterium du Dauphine where Team Sky murdered all competition with four riders in Top10 – three of these in the Top4!

So despite never been defending the yellow jersey in the Tour before, Team Sky sure have experience in controlling a stage race and winning the overall classification. Another important thing to remember is that in all of the stages races Bradley Wiggins has taking part this year he has shown to be one of the strongest riders in the uphill section too. It’s true that he build his wins on the time trials, but it’s not like they can just drop him like that when the road goes uphill. In this Tour de France there are only three stages with a mountain top finish and with guys like Rogers, Porte and Froome (all capable of doing Top10 themselves) to set the pace, the pure climbers really have to come up with a something special in order to ruin Bradley Wiggins’ yellow dreams.

The way I see it only a few riders will be able to threaten Bradley Wiggins in the overall classification. Cadel Evans and Denis Menchov. Evans finally won his first Tour last year thanks to his strong time trial skills (he was actually only seven seconds from beating Tony Martin in the final time trial!) and with a course like this year’s, Cadel Evans will never get a better chance of taking another overall victory. Last year he won Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour de Romandie before he ended second in Criterium du Dauphine (see the similarities to Wiggins’ winning pattern this season?) but this year Evans has been struggling to find the right pace. In Tirreno he ended 32th overall and in Romandie 29^th. It wasn’t until Dauphine we saw what Cadel Evans is capable of this year when he took 3^rd place after the Sky duo Wiggins and Rogers. Evans says that he feels ready but looking results I have my doubts. Hopefully he will be able to put in a good fight but he really needs to bring his A-game to the time trials to keep up with Wiggins.

Same goes for Denis Menchov. The Tour de France is the sole purpose of Menchov’s 2012-season and therefore everything has been set up around the Tour. Menchov signed with Katusha before this season only to focus on winning the Tour (the last of the three GTs he hasn’t won yet) and while his results - or lack of - haven’t been anywhere nearly as good as his main competitors’ you must not count out the Silent Russian Assassin. Denis Menchov knows how to build up towards the Grand Tours and he rarely shows himself before it really counts. Also being representing his home country in the colors of Katusha sure will boost Menchov’s morale quite a bit:

“The Tour is my first big stage race with the team of my country, so I´ll give my best in order to win. It´s a great responsibility that gives me high motivations. It's the only Grand Tour I haven't won and it's no secret that this year it has been my main goal”.

Another thing to favor Denis Menchov is his strong time trial skills. As shown numerous times before Menchov is capable of clocking in a great time in the long time trials in the big stage races. Just take a look at these recent results.

Giro d’Italia 2009 - Menchov wins overall and wins the 60,6 km time trial.

Tour de France 2010 - Menchov ends 3^rd overall and take 11^th place on the final 52 km time trial after the wind changed. He beat the rest of the GC-favorites (including Contador) with more than 2 minutes that day.

Vuelta España 2010 - Menchov takes second place on the final 46 km time trial. Beating Cancellara and Gustav Erik Larsson with 20 and 40 seconds.

Vuelta España 2011 – Menchov ends 5^th overall and ends 11^th on the 47 km time trial, despite a crash a the earlier stages. He lost around 1 min to Bradley Wiggins that day.

If Denis Menchov arrive to the Tour in his top condition and he stays out of trouble the first week he could very  well end up winning the whole thing as I see him a bit stronger in the mountains than Bradley Wiggins.

Wiggins, Evans & Menchov. These riders are the only ones I have put down as actual “winner candidates” for the Tour. For what concerns the “podium candidates” my paper shows the following names:

Jurgen Van den Broeck

Due to the many kilometers against the clock this year, Jurgen Van den Broeck has been training hard to improve his time trial skills and so far it looks like it has been working. He has never been really bad at it, but when the distance got over 40 km the time gap to the best was around 2½ minutes. Too much if you want to win the Tour. This year the gap to his main competitors has been minimized though- significantly!

In Volta ao Algarve he only lost 28 seconds to Bradley Wiggins on a 25,8 km course and in Criterium du Dauphine the gap was just around 2 mins on the long 53 km time trial. Beating specialists like Edvald Boasson Hagen, Lieuwe Westra and Richie Porte. Actually Jurgen Van den Broeck was only 29 seconds slower than Cadel Evans on that course. Last year Van den Broeck was one of the best riders in the mountains, never afraid of attacking. This year he has been focusing 100% on the Tour but still he showed in Vuelta al Pais Vasco and latest in Dauphine that he has no problems following the best uphill. I see him as a solid Top5 rider with a chance of ending on the podium if it goes his way.

Vincenzo Nibali

Nibali has already won the Vuelta España and ended on the podium in the Giro d’Italia twice (3^rd helping team mate Ivan Basso to win it and 2^nd last year after Contador’s suspension) – of course he is a contender for the Tour de France podium as well. So far this year his best result (in a stage race) is winning Tirreno-Adriatico where he attack on the hard mountain stage to Prati di Tivo and won solo. He decided to skip the Giro d’Italia (even with a good chance of winning the race) to put all his focus on the Tour de France and because of that, he is a guy to take serious. Not many Italians give away the chance of winning the Giro in order to reach for podium in the Tour.  Still, to pull it off he needs to clock in a better time against Wiggins, Evans and Menchov than he normally does in the time trials and then keep on attacking when the terrains allow it. A couple of the mountain stages end with a downhill section to the finish line and this is where Vincenzo Nibali needs to set in his attack to gain time.

Samuel Sanchez

Same goes for Samuel Sanchez. His time trial skills are without a doubt much better than Nibali’s (and Van den Broeck for that matter) and if one of the big favorites shows not to be ready, Samuel Sanchez has a good chance of making a big result for himself in this Tour. Last year he ended 5^th in the general classification and won the polka dot jersey. This year the only jersey he is concerned about is the yellow one and he will do everything he can to get on the final podium in Paris. In 2010 he ended 3^rd overall but only a year after when Contador got suspended. This time he wants to be take the step up to the podium as well. The reason for why I haven’t put Samuel Sanchez down as an overall winner candidate is because of his crash in Criterium du Dauphine. Sanchez crashed hard on the first stage and even just a few days before the Tour he still feels the pain.

Robert Gesink

Last one on my paper with a solid chance of fighting for the podium is Robert Gesink. Being the only “pure climber” among the favorites so far, you may think Gesink will blow away on the 100 km against the clock. But that’s not the reality. Gesink is actually pretty good in the time trials. Last year he showed it mostly on the short courses, but this year he has taken his skills to the next level. In Tour of California he got 5^th on the 30 km time trial and despite starting out not so good in Tour de Suisse he once again clocked in 5^th best time on the 34,3 km time trial. Beating guys like Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer. Robert Gesink still needs to show he can stay within 2 minutes of the best in the 50+ km time trials but if he manages to do so in the Tour he can be a dangerous outsider for the jersey.

As I said Gesink is pure climber. He may not look like one with his 190 centimeters but don’t get fooled by that. As 22 years old he took 6^th place on Alto de Angliru (one of the steepest and most difficult climbs in the world) and ended 7^th overall in the Vuelta España. The next year he crashed in the first week of the Tour and had to abandon. He took revenge in the Vuelta being in the top5 on all the mountain stages and once again ending 6^th overall. In 2010 he finally got to show his skill in the Tour, where a third place on the stage to Morzine-Avoriaz and 6^th place on the Tourmalet among other good results in the mountains secured him a Top5 place overall. Last year Robert Gesink once again got in troubles in the first week but still managed to finish the Tour. This year he is ready to take his revenge and show the world that he can compete with the best when it counts.

The next row on my paper is called “Top5-10” and it includes riders like: Alejandro Valverde, Janez Brajkovic, Bauke Mollema, Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner and Andreas Klöden while my “Top10 aspirants” shows the names of; Peter Velits, Rein Taaramae, Jerome Coppel, Lieuwe Westra, Tom Danielson among others.

To end this preview of the favorites I will take my chances and name the winners of the different jerseys for the Tour de France as well as how the Top10 will look like in Paris.

1. Bradley Wiggins
2. Cadel Evans
3. Denis Menchov
4. Jurgen Van den Broeck
5. Robert Gesink
6. Samuel Sanchez
7. Vincenzo Nibali
8. Janez Brajkovic
9. Alejandro Valverde
10. Levi Leipheimer

Yellow: Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky)

Green: Peter Sagan (Liquigas)

Polka Dot: Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM)

White: Rein Taaramae (Cofidis)

Favorites for Paris-Nice

This year's route for Paris-Nice.

The first big important stage race of the season is finally here. A lot of hilly stages and two time trials, the last one on Col d’Eze, make it difficult to pick out one grand favorite, simply because there are so many contenders this time.

One could argue that the course favors riders like Tony Martin and Bradley Wiggins, but with steep stages finishes like the one on Mende, suddenly Alejandro Valverde becomes the favorite – or what? Here is my view on the favorites for Paris-Nice 2012.

Winner candidates
I’m changing the set-up for my usual “Favorites”-pieces a bit, so instead of picking out three guys I will let you know which riders I see have a possible change of winning the race. First of those is naturally Alejandro Valverde. He was super strong in Andalucía and even though the peloton is stronger in Paris-Nice, I still find three stages with a finish perfect for Valverde. Remember there are 10 bonus seconds for each stage win. Before his ban Valverde had developed some pretty good time trial skills and I know he has been working hard on improving in this discipline during his ban. Still I doubt he is back at his former level against the clock and compared to some of the other strong riders, I think he will lose valuable time on the last stage.

One of the guys Valverde will lose time to is Bradley Wiggins. The British champion did an outstanding job in Volta ao Algarve, working hard for Richie Porte on the mountain stage and beating Tony Martin while winning the time trial. In February Wiggins said he was feeling stronger than ever before this time at year and if he can keep track of Valverde and minimize the gap on Mende he has a very good change of taking his first big stage race win.

Tony Martin won the race last year, but that was mainly because of his class in the long time trial. This year the two time trials both count less than 10 km and the climbing part definitely doesn’t favor Tony Martin compared to Wiggins and the others. Tony Martin still did well in Volta ao Algarve and if a dog hadn’t crossed the road in the time trial, making Tony Martin hit the brakes, I’m sure he would have won that stage. That means the shape is good and even though he may not win Paris-Nice this year, you mustn’t count him out too early.

Now it’s getting interesting, because here is my joker for the overall win; Rein Taaramae! Everyone following me know I have high expectations for Taaramae this year, but so does he. “I’m here to win, nothing else. The course suits me very well and the short, hilly time trials are in my favor. The whole team is working for me and I think I can win” – that’s not Valverde, Wiggins or Martin saying this, but Estonian Rein Taaramae – look out for him! I will honestly be very surprised if Taaramae doesn’t end on the final podium and from there everything is possible!

Another outsider for the overall win is Janez Brajkovic. The Astana captain hasn’t many race kilometers in the legs so far this year but this is a course that really suits the Slovenian. Brajkovic is good against the clock and on his best days he can stay with the top-climbers as well. Anything but a spot on the final podium with Janez Brajkovic would be a lack of ambitions from the Astana team and if Brajkovic is ready, I think he could surprise quite a few with an early season win.

Last rider on my paper with the status “winner candidate” next to him is Andreas Klöden. It may be a conservative pick, but Klöden is always good in Paris-Nice and the two time trials are very good for him. He knows Col d’Eze extremely well and if he rides like last year, he will be difficult to shake off. My only concern is that Klöden wasn’t very good in Volta ao Algarve last month, but if he is back at his normal “early-season-level” he should be a strong contender for the overall win too.

Well, that was my 6 winner candidates. I could go on with guys like Tejay Van Garderen, Levi Leipheimer, Richie Porte, Denis Menchov and Jerome Coppel who all are great in the time trials and the uphill sections, but I had to stop somewhere. So to make a long story short, if possible at this point, here is how I think the final Top10 will be:

1. Rein Taaramae
2. Bradley Wiggins
3. Alejandro Valverde
4. Janez Brajkovic
5. Andreas Klöden
6. Tony Martin
7. Tejay Van Garderen
8. Jerome Coppel
9. Bauke Mollema
10. Richie Porte

I picked out Oscar Gatto as a surprising winner of Strade Bianche and I keep on with the surprises in taking Rein Taaramae to win Paris-Nice. Oscar Gatto almost pulled it off, hadn’t it been for an outstanding Fabian Cancellara. Let’s see if Rein Taaramae has more luck. Many pick Alejandro Valverde as their favorite, but as I said, I still doubt his time trial skills a little bit. One thing is training another is racing and Alejandro Valverde hasn’t really been racing many time trials recently. Still, if his old time trial abilities are intact, of course he is the number one favorite to win Paris-Nice.

It’s going be a very close race this year and I wouldn’t be surprised if only seconds separate the three riders on the final podium.

Team Saxo Bank - Ghost Team

Team boss Bjarne Riis.

Ever since Alberto Contador's case started a large amount of great riders have been signing contracts with Team Saxo Bank as his replacement or as luxury gregario in the mountains. At least in the press. Fact is that Team Saxo Bank hasn't signed a single one of all these riders.

Some riders they didn't have the funds to sign while other riders never were more than just a rumor. I thought it could be interesting to take a look at some of the riders who turned out to be nothing but ghosts.

Tony Martin (signed with Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
Bjarne Riis was very interested in signing Tony Martin when Team Highroad closed, but even though Saxo Bank had a an extra bag of money ready, the German rider decided to go elsewhere.

Thor Hushovd (signed with BMC)
It was very obvious during last year's Tour de France that Bjarne Riis would have loved to secure Thor Hushovd as Saxo Bank rider in 2012, but when Thor Hushovd saw the amount of zeros BMC could put on his paycheck he chose to join Phillipe Gilbert.

Denis Menchov (signed with Katusha)
Like last time Denis Menchov needed a new team, the press was fast to link the Russian rider with Bjarne Riis. According to the rumors Menchov had already had several conversations with Riis about a contract, but with an annual payment of €1.8 Euros, Riis didn't have the money (nor the desire?) to sign Menchov on for 2012.

Juanjo Cobo (signed with Movistar)
After winning the Vuelta España Juanjo Cobo signed a €800.000 contract with GEOX just to see the shoe company withdraw their sponsorship a few days later. Rumors had it that Cobo would head to Team Saxo Bank instead, but I think everyone 'involved' in that knew that would never happen.

Stefano Garzelli (re-signed with Acqua e Sapone)
Recently Stefano Garzelli was linked to Team Saxo Bank after his Italian team Acqua e Sapone didn't get invited to the Giro d'Italia where Garzelli had planned to end his career. After La Gazzetta bought the story, Garzelli himself said that it in fact was last summer he was negotiating with Team Saxo Bank, but ended up staying at Acqua e Sapone anyway. For what reason I don't know, but I guess he owed the team that much and of course thought they would be invited to the Giro.

Vladimir Karpets (signed with Movistar)
After a disappointing time with his fellow countrymen at Katusha, Vladimir Karpets felt the time was ready for a change. According to a recent interview with French site Velochrono, Karpets was very tempted to sign a contract with Bjarne Riis and Team Saxo Bank but decided to go to Movistar and his old boss Eusebio Unzué. "If I hadn't sign the contract with Movistar I would been going to Saxo Bank", he says. Karpets would have been a great help for Contador, plus a good rider for the one week stage races. Shame Bjarne Riis couldn't convince him.

Damiano Cunego (re-signed with Lampre)
Before the beginning of the 2011 season Damiano Cunego had a chance to change team for the first time in his career but decided to stay loyal to Lampre. The former Giro d'Italia rider had an offer from Bjarne Riis on the table but like all the riders above the ink never touched the paper - at least not the paper saying Team Saxo Bank at the top.

Other riders linked to Bjarne Riis and Team Saxo Bank are Chris Froome, Alejandro Valverde, Christopher Horner & Jakob Fulgsang (likely to sign next year) just to name a few. It's true that if Alberto Contador is a superior this year as he was in the Giro d'Italia last year, he doesn't need that one last man in the mountains, but it sure wouldn't have made his chances of success any smaller if just one of the mentioned riders was there to help him.

EXCLUSIVE - No new sponsors to save Gianetti & Matxin

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Mauro Gianetti had at least two concrete offers on the table to save the former Team GEOX. One of these was the deal with President Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan government while the other was with ‘regular’ international company. At the time it seemed like it was only a matter of time before a new sponsor deal would be signed but now the optimism is gone. I just got off the phone with Mauro Gianetti.

“The situation isn’t easy. Right now we are still waiting for a decision from the Venezuelan government. It’s a big, long term project and of course you can’t just rush to a decision, I understand that. I’m in touch with them every day though, but I don’t think it will be possible to continue on the level we would like to next year. Maybe we can make a deal for 2012 to carry on with a smaller budget, but I don’t know. To be honest it’s very complicated right now”, Gianetti explains.

Last Friday the UCI gave Gianetti & Matxin another week to find a new sponsor, but according to Gianetti that’s not enough time.

“Ever since GEOX announced the end of their sponsorship, I have been doing everything I could to secure a new deal. But now we just have to face the reality of modern cycling. It’s extremely difficult to find a new sponsor and if you look around there are really no new sponsors among the big teams. Not even Highroad managed to find a new sponsor. Due to the low economy it’s just not possible right now and we have to face that. Maybe we can sign a deal in one or two months, because I’m really talking with a lot of companies. The opportunity is there but the time isn’t”.

Denis Menchov has already been rumored to Katusha for several months and according to Mauro Gianetti that would indeed be the best solution. “I hope he sign the deal soon. Denis is a good rider and a good person and I think that Katusha should have the best Russian rider on their team”.

Also Juanjo Cobo, who has been faithful to Gianetti & Matxin in this difficult time, is now ‘free to leave’. “He has been approached by some teams. I can’t say which ones, but of course he is not going to stay now, I mean he is the winner of the Vuelta”, Gianetti says. According to my information Cobo will most likely continue on one of the World Tour licensed teams next year.

So unfortunately it really seems like the former GEOX team won’t continue next year and if they do, only on a level much lower than before. Such a shame for cycling!

EXCLUSIVE - New sponsor just around the corner for Gianetti and Matxin

Gianetti & Matxin in Venezuela...

Mauro Gianetti and Josean Fernández Matxin have been working very hard to secure a new sponsor deal since GEOX announced the end of their sponsorship a month ago. Right now they have 2 “concrete deals” to choose between.

Last week Gianetti and Matxin went to Venezuela in order to set up a deal with the Venezuelan government, more specifically the tourism board, under the name of “Venezuela - País de sueño”. The two stayed in South America for three days where they managed put together a pretty good plan. Very much like Katusha and Astana the idea is to set up a big national cycling project, bankrolled by the Hugo Chavez government enrolling the pro.-team (what’s left of Team GEOX), a track team, mountain bike etc. etc. “A very interesting project”, as Mauro Gianetti describes it. All there is left now is for President Hugo Chavez to green light to the project.

Should the Venezuelan project fall apart, Mauro Gianetti has yet another Ace up his sleeve.

“We have two concrete deals right now. One of them is the one with the Venezuelan government, the other one is more a regular one with a big international company as the main sponsor”, Mauro Gianetti tells me. “We have not signed anything yet, but we hope to close the deal very soon. It could be any day now. For me it doesn’t matter which deal we end up taking. The Venezuelan one is a very interesting project with the government and the other one is with a good, serious company that we know very well. We will see”.

No matter what deal Mauro Gianetti and and Josean Fernández Matxin end up taking, the leader of the team next year will still be Vuelta España winner Juanjo Cobo who, not like Menchov, Duarte, Felline, Ardila etc., has chosen to stay with the team in this difficult time. Also Rafael Valls and David de la Fuente are expected to stay.

Explanation - Why Saxo Bank haven't signed a new star to help Contador

Contador really needs a strong climber - but who?

As everybody who read my interview with Jesus Hernandez knows, Alberto Contador really wants one more strong climber to help him in the mountains next year. Many could argue that Jesus Hernandez himself or team mate Dani Navarro should be that rider, but as shown during the 2011-season, that’s just not the case. And when Richie Porte decided to leave the team together with Gustav Larsson, it seemed clear Bjarne Riis had to get some reinforcements.


So far the newcomers who can help in the uphill sections are the two Portuguese riders, Bruno Pires and Sergio Paulinho. Even though they are both solid climbers, they are nowhere near the level requested by Contador. So how about a rider like Juanjo Cobo who has just won the Vuelta España and right now is without a team for next year after GEOX had pulled the plug on their sponsor deal or the other former GEOX-captain Denis Menchov? Well, the answer is simple: Riis has neither the money nor the desire to do so.

Let me explain:

First of all, it’s a common mistake to think that just because Saxo Bank boss Lars Seier Christensen said the Danish bank is willing to pump more money into the team if they come up with the right name, Bjarne Riis has a blank check waiting for him. “There is a clause in the contract saying that we will release more money for the team if Bjarne finds the right rider”, it was said at the press conference back in July this year.

Therefore, the real question is, what exactly does “the right rider” mean? Does it mean Bjarne Riis can just pick any available rider on the market and then turn to Saxo Bank for extra money? Or does it mean that if Riis manages to find the rider he is looking for Saxo Bank will help out with the salary? I back the latter…

Riis wanted Hushovd to join Contador

Think about it. During this year’s Tour de France, Bjarne Riis made no effort in hiding how interested he was in signing Thor Hushovd for 2012. Normally, the team may not have the necessary means but with Saxo Bank’s additional financial support this may change. Unfortunately for Riis, the BMC team had a lot more capital to operate with and Hushovd therefore chose to sign with them instead.

In fact it seems like Thor Hushovd wasn’t the only one Riis was chasing. At the 2012 Tour presentation he said: “There have been some riders I would have liked to sign, but financial problems and other stuff got in the way”.

It’s understandable that Bjarne Riis doesn’t have the same capital as a team like BMC but if Saxo Bank really was ready to pump more money into the team in order to get another ‘name’ on the roster, how can it be that a rider like Juanjo Cobo (who signed a €800.000 contract with GEOX just before the sponsor left) isn’t an option? Well, remember what I said about desire?... the same applies for Denis Menchov. Rumor has it he requests €1.80 million a year - not exactly desirable taking into account Saxo Bank already pays Alberto Contador around €5,00 million a year.

I talked with Team Saxo Bank’s press officer Anders Damgaard about it but unfortunately he couldn’t elaborate further since “that specific deal between the cycling team and Saxo Bank is confidential”.

Martin remains an opponent for Contador

Still it doesn’t take a genius to see that if Saxo Bank was willing to pay for the right rider, and Bjarne Riis has been chasing specific riders since July, well then the Dane’s mission hasn’t really been very successful, has it?

Tony Martin is another rider Bjarne Riis had hoped to get on the team with the extra bag of money from Saxo Bank but, like Hushovd, Martin decided elsewise.

So to answer the headline’s question, ‘why hasn’t Saxo Bank signed a new star to help Contador’. There are three reasons:

1. The extra money from Saxo Bank isn't just for 'any rider'.
2. Bjarne Riis hasn’t managed to close the deal with the riders he wanted to use the extra money for.
3. No ‘desirable’ riders are left on the market.

Congratulation Juanjo Cobo!

For many years I have waited for the day when Juanjo Cobo would take his first big win and yesterday it finally happened. Being one of the very underdogs before the Vuelta started, Cobo turned out to be the strongest in the mountains and his stage win on Angliru pretty much speaks for itself.

Denis Menchov lost valuable time in the first couple of days – without that he would probably have won the Vuelta – but still showed his class by helping Cobo in the last week. Even one-captain-only Carlos Sastre was up pulling the peloton for Cobo. It really was an outstanding performance by the whole GEOX team who rightfully could be celebrated as the best team during the race.

So once again; Congratulation Juanjo Cobo and congratulation Team Geox for this spectacular Vuelta!

Vuelta Rest Day Interview - Mauro Gianetti (Team Manager, GEOX-TMC)

Team Geox finally showed their real potential on the stage to Angliru last Sunday, when Juanjo Cobo won the stage and ripped the red jersey off Bradley Wiggins. I guess I don’t have to point out it was a very happy team manager I talked with on Monday’s rest day.

Mauro, first of all, congratulation! This must be the best rest day for you in a long time?
Thank you. Yes, I am very happy. Since the beginning of the season we have known we had a good team with a good level, but for many reasons we have never been able to really show it. Now it finally happened.

At what point during the Vuelta did you start to think that Cobo could be a player for the overall win?
Well, from the beginning actually. We knew he could do a good GC, since he did top10 two years ago. Normally he would work for the captains, but he managed to stay up front all the time and only lose some time in the time trial. One week ago we told him that he should stay close to Menchov and follow him and only work hard if we really needed it.

Menchov showed on Angliru that he is back at his former great level, what happened to him in the first week?
We really didn’t have a good start. First we lost time in the team time trial when Blanco crashed and then Denis had a mechanical problem and lost time. So after just a few stages he was more than 2½ minutes behind and that made it difficult for him, also for his morale. Also he is not so good at placing himself in the sprints so he has also lost some time there, for example when Sagan took his second stage win [stage 12, Menchov lost 19 seconds, edt.]. But now he is back and that is very important in order to keep the jersey.

What about now. We still have one week to go, what is the plan?
Now we have to defend the jersey as long as possible. Peña Cabarga [on stage 17] is not an easy climb and the stages in Pais Vasco are definitely not easy either. It will be great to ride in the Cantabria region with the jersey. The team has base there and we have the region as sponsor on our jersey, moreover Cobo is also from that region. We really have to stay focused now and keep the concentration all the time.

What can we expect on Peña Cabarga? Will Cobo try to take more time?
It depends on how he feels. It has some very steep parts and is more a climb for Purito-Moreno and Nieve-Antón. But of course if he can, he will try to get some more time and maybe some bonus seconds. We must be smart. It’s now Froom and Wiggins who have to attack.

And who do you see as the strongest of the two?
I think they are on the same level. Froome is very, very strong right now. Also in the time trial. He is closer, but Wiggins has more experience. One week is still a long time and it’s important for them that they are two riders who can attack. We will see what happens.

Last, but not least, Mauro Gianetti also confirmed that the team has reached an agreement with Juanjo Cobo for two more seasons!

Vuelta Expert Preview: Stage 9

David Etxebarria:

It’s a very important day for the favorites today and my pick is Michele Scarponi. Another good one is Igor Antón who has the advantage that he has already lost some time in GC. Therefore the favorites won’t follow him if they are all together and Igor attacks on Covatilla. If Menchov loses time again his Vuelta is over.

Vuelta Expert Preview: Stage 1

David Etxebarria:

In the Vuelta the first week is very important, since the level between the favorites will be more even hereafter. It’s therefore an important day for all the favorites. Like Igor Antón, Euskaltel has never been good in the disciplines against the clock and will lose time. Even the biggest favorite, Denis Menchov, will have to wait and see how much time he ends up losing.

My pick for the stage win is Leopard-Trek.

Exclusive Interview - Mauro Gianetti (Manager, Team GEOX)

Bringing one of the strongest teams in many years to the Vuelta, Team GEOX is certainly the team to watch during the next three weeks. To get a better picture of what we can expect, I took a chat with team manager Mauro Gianetti about his view on this year’s race.

Mauro, first of all, how do you feel about your team’s chances in the Vuelta?
Well the team is good. Everybody is ready. We are coming to the Vuelta with Denis [Menchov, edt.] to win the race. He has been working hard and reached a good level so everything is good. We also have Carlos [Sastre, edt.] ready to be a big player. I think it’s very important to have two so experienced riders in the team. It's not very often you get to have two riders with Grand Tours wins on the same team for a race.

Let’s take a look at the 9 riders and what their roles are…
Menchov is our leader. He is ready to win - no doubt about that. He is a great, great rider and has already won the Vuelta twice. He has a very high level and together with Purito and Antón he is one of the rider’s who can win the race. Sastre is coming in a good condition as well. The Vuelta is very important to him so we expect him to be one of the key riders. The same goes for Cobo. He has been having a difficult time, but now is he back again with great motivation. He has class and his job is to work for the team in the hard moments uphill and help Denis. He is a very good rider for our team. Blanco is another very important rider for the team. He can help in any aspect of the race. He is ready to use his experience and big class to help the team on both the flat parts and in the moutains. Same goes for Ardila and Kozonchuk. Their main job is to work for the team. Young Brändle is in the race to learn. He has great potential it will be good for him to stay with Denis and Carlos for as long as possible. He is a man for the future! De la Fuente is a good climber and it’s his job to stay with our leaders. He is very important in the first part of the climbs. Last we have Duarte. We hope he can surprise us. It took him a very long time to get back after his knee injury in the Giro, so we have to wait and see.

All the bookmakers have Team GEOX set as the big, big favorite for the team classification and looking at the riders you easily see why…
That’s true. And it’s very good for the morale as well. It means the riders know that we have a great team and that can help on the mentality. We are firstly here to win the race, but the team classification could be a goal later on as well.

What about the opening team time trial?
Honestly I don’t like this discipline so much. Cycling is an individual sport and with the team time trials a good rider can lose a race just because his team isn’t among the best ones. But since this one is only 14 km, there won’t be very big differences. So it’s okay, it’s a good show.

Looking at the rest of the course, what do you think about this year’s route? The long time trial must be good for Menchov’s chances in the GC?
Sure. The time trial is very important, if you can take 1½ min on your rivals it’s important. But every day is different. This year there are so many mountains and uphill finishes, so riders like Antón and Purito still have a good chance of winning the race compared to last year, where Purito lost it in the time trial.

Who is your own personal favorite for the overall victory?
Nibali. He showed last year that he is capable of winning the race so he must be the big favorite.

Last question. Carlos Sastre ends his contract with the team after this season. Will this be his last Vuelta?
Well, we don’t know yet. We will see how the race goes and then Carlos will have to make a decision...