Contador set to start out strong?

Contador in San Luis.

Alberto Contador was sidelined the first half of the season last year before comming back winning the Vuelta España and it seems like the Saxo-Tinkoff captain wants to start out 2013 the way he ended 2012.

First race of the new year is Tour San Luis (21^st-27^th of January). Despite not showing up on the official race results, Alberto Contador had a great time in Argentina last year where he won the two big mountain stages and originally ended 2^nd overall. This year’s edition of the Argentinean race features the two very same mountain top finishes and as Alberto Contador always tries to add as many stage race wins to his palmarés as possible, it will be a surprise if he’s not among the riders fighting for the overall win.

The second - and so far only other known race on Contador’s 2013 calendar – is (according to Biciciclismo) Tour of Oman. The ASO-organized race will take place from the 11^th to the 16^th of February and like the last two years, the steep mountain top finish on Green Mountain (10% avg.) is set to make a decisive impact on the final GC. Robert Gesink won the stage in 2011 and took the overall win while Vincenzo Nibali won on Green Mountain last year and ended 2^nd overall. Alberto Contador has never before taking part in Tour of Oman and if he finishes Tour San Luis in good shape I won’t hesitate to put him down as the big favorite for the overall win in Oman.

What do you think? Will Alberto Contador start out 2013 winning in Argentina and Oman? Leave your comments below.

Meltdown leaders

First Alejandro Valverde and now Vincenzo Nibali. Despite being the strongest riders in the race, both riders missed out on winning the overall classification in Tour Down Under and Tour of Oman because of one stupid decision.

Alejandro Valverde and Vincenzo Nibali both like to race when it’s really hot outside, just like it was in Australia and Oman. Still both riders seemed to had a complete meltdown when the important decisions were to be made.

Valverde (green helmet) stops.
Gerrans (yellow jersey) overtakes him.

In Tour Down Under Alejandro Valverde admittedly stopped to pedal on the final meters on stage 2 to Stirling, seeing Simon Gerrans overtake him and get the bonus seconds for being third on the stage. Later on Alejandro Valverde showed to be strongest in show down between him and Gerrans, but since Gerrans had gotten the bonus seconds on stage 2, he ended up winning the race overall.

Normally Alejandro Valverde always sprints to the line, but I guess he still needs a little time getting back into the race rhythm after his ban.

Vincenzo Nibali attacking with the
sprinters teams chasing him down.

Vincenzo Nibali on the other hand had already been racing in 2012 before taking part in Tour of Oman. Still the Shark still to lack a lot of tactical sense. Nibali has always been very impulsive with his attacks, not really thinking very much ahead, and even though it seemed like he had grown in the Giro d’Italia last year, we can now conclude that he really hasn’t. Having been following the other overall favorites so far in the Tour of Oman, Nibali suddenly decided to attack on the last kilometer on stage 4. A completely flat finish, where he naturally got railed back in very quickly and hereafter couldn’t follow peloton, ending up losing 15 seconds to the other GC-riders.

The day after Vincenzo Nibali turned out to be – by far – the strongest climber in the race, winning on Green Mountain. Only problem was that Peter Velits got second on the stage, giving him the leaders jersey just 1 second ahead of Nibali.

Alejando Valverde would have won Tour Down Under, had he just continued pedaling the last few meters on stage 2 and Vincenzo Nibali would have won Tour of Oman had he not hopelessly attacked on the final – pancake flat – kilometer on stage 4.

Simon Gerrans and Peter Velits probably should send Valverde and Nibali a bottle of champagne thanking them for their help…

Here comes the youth!

P. Sagan - M. Kittel - A. Demare

If there is a color that fits cycling right now, I think it's white [no jokes on cleanness]. I mean white for the youth, like the jersey in the Tour. Looking at the recent results it's amazing to see so many riders under 25 in the top.

Especially the sprint finishes show that the up-and-coming riders already have what it takes to beat the elite.

Take a look at the following stages in Tour of Qatar & Tour of Oman.

Tour of Qatar: 
Stage1: Five riders under 25 in the top8 (best 2nd)
Stage5: Seven riders under 25 in the top9 (best 2nd)
Stage6: Six riders under 25 in top11 (best 1st)

Tour of Oman: 
Stage1: Seven riders under 25 in the top9 (best 2nd)
Stage 2: Five riders under 25 in the top6 (best 1st)
Stage3: Seven riders under 25 in the top13 (best 1st)

Riders like Marcel Kittel & Peter Sagan have already established themselves as the future stars of the sport, but don't forget youngsters like the two Frenchmen Nacer Bouhanni and U-23 World Champion Arnaud Demare as well as Italian Andrea Guardini and Russian Denis Galimzyanov. We won't run out of top-sprinters anytime soon!

Writing this piece there are still 3 stages left in Tour of Oman and I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of these would have another winner under 25 years of age.

Update: A few hours after I posted this, Edvald Boasson Hagen won stage 2 in Volta ao Algarve. Another youngster who is already a super star!

Favorites for Tour of Oman

After being spot on with first Tour Down Under and then Tour of Qatar, I hope to make it three out of three with Tour of Oman starting on Tuesday, February 14. 

Joaquim ‘Purito’ Rodriguez
Oman may be a flat race for most of the stages, but with the finish on Green Mountain on stage 5 it seems assured that the overall winner will be a climber. Last year Robert Gesink won the stage to Green Mountain (and the time trial the following day) and took the overall win. If you look at stage results from Green Mountain last year it may surprises you to see Purito down as number 16, 3,28 minutes behind Gesink, but beware – the numbers lie. Purito didn’t get dropped by Gesink with 3½ min, he actually got caught up in the strong wind and had to start the climb 3 minutes down already. In fact Purito had the second fastest time on the final climb, only beaten by; well Robert Gesink. This time I’m sure Purito will be eager to take revenge and without a time trial, a win on Green Mountain should be enough to take the overall win.

Vincenzo Nibali
Tour de San Luis showed that Vicenzo Nibali is already in pretty good shape. On the two mountain stages he stayed within reach of Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer and on the time trial he took second place, beating Alberto Contador with around 30 seconds. The Green Mountain climb may not suit Nibali nearly as good as Purito, but with the shape Nibali showed in Argentina I would be surprised if he doesn’t go top3 on Green Mountain and thereby in the final classification as well.

Sylvain Chavanel
Another one who showed great shape in Argentina is Sylvain Chavanel. Fourth in the time trial, 39 seconds behind Levi Leipheimer (22 seconds faster than Alberto Contador) and close to the best riders in the mountains, Quickstep now hopes for Chavanel to show off in Tour of Oman. Chavanel is very good in the wind and knows how to position himself in any situation. Of course he doesn’t have the same punch as Purito on Green Mountain, but I think the Frenchmen will surprise quite a few with a great performance. It would have been ideal with a time trial for Chavanel, but even without it, I think he will be a player for the overall victory.

As a joker for the general classification I would like to point out Danish Jakob Fuglsang. Fuglsang showed in the hilly race on Mallorca that he is in good shape and knowing Green Mountain from last year, he has good starting point. If he has a super day I actually think he can win on Green Mountain. Top5 overall should be a pretty safe bet.