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.

Vuelta Expert: David Etxebarria

During the Tour de France this summer, former pro-rider David Etxebarria figured as one of the four experts on this site, and now he is ready to stand out as the main expert for the Vuelta España. That means that Etxebarria not only will give his best pick for the stage win but also write a little bit about each stage and what to expect.

You will find David Etxebarria’s preview of stage 1 to be online Saturday morning.

Enjoy!

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...

UPDATED 15/08 - Quick look at the favorites & outsiders for the Vuelta

With less than two weeks to the start of this year’s Vuelta a España, I think it’s time to take a quick glance at the favorites and outsiders for the final podium in Madrid.

Chances are that I forgot a few, my apologies. Anyway here goes the overview. Feel free to leave a comment stating if you agree or not. Thanks! 


I have decided to update this post regularly and to make it easier to find the latest added riders, their names will be written in red.

Big time winner favorites:
Igor Antón – Best rider last year before his crash. Ready to get revenge when the race visits his Basque home soil.

Purito Rodriguez – Best climber when the percentages rise above 10. Probably spend too much energy on getting the red jersey for the stage in Catalunya last year. Paid for his effort on the time trial.

Janez Brajkovic – Showed last year in Dauphiné how great he can climb. Has a lot to show the world after his early exit in the Tour.

Vincenzo Nibali – Outraced the pure climbers like Purito and Mosquera last year, finally keeping his head cool at all time. Another long ITT in his favor this year.

Solid podium contenders:
Denis Menchov – Missed out in the Giro, but everybody knows what he is capable of. Will have the strongest of all teams to help him.

Jurgen Van den Broeck – Seemed to be in the shape of his life before crashing out of the Tour. Could fight for the overall win if he shows the same strength in the Vuelta.

Bradley Wiggins – Pretty much the same story as above...

Michele Scarponi – Showed in the Giro that he is one of the strongest uphill. Could be a serious contender for the overall win if he gets his impulsive counter-attacks under control.

Andreas Klöden – The big joker. One of the strongest in the Tour before his crash. Think he will either top of flop…

Top10:
Nicolas Roche – Got his Tour ruined by the crash in Dauphiné. Has shown he is stable enough to do better than “just top10” in the Grand Tours.

Thiago Machado – Failed his first big test in the Giro, but I believe he has what it takes to do Top10 in the a Grand Tour. Won't be easy with both Klöden and Brajko to work for tho...

Fabio Duarte – Would probably have surprised quite a few in the Giro without his knee injury. Be prepared to see this little Columbian rider up with the best in the mountains. Will have to ride for Menchov, without that; podium is possible.

Mikel Nieve – Right hand and last man for Igor Antón. Showed last year in the Vuelta and this year in the Giro that he has what it takes to win in the big mountains.

Andrey Kasheckin – Former top3 in the Vuelta back in the happy Astana days. Now he is back with Astana, ready to show that Lampre made the wrong decision when leaving him out of the Tour. He says he can do Top5 - let's see...

Luisle Sanchez – Should be the front figure of the Rabobank team. Aims big at the Vuelta, but he always has one bad day…

Daniel Moreno – Purito’s best man in the mountains. Has showed his strength many times in the Grand Tours and proved in Burgos that he is right where he should be!

Carlos Sastre – If Carlos is taking part in the Grand Tour, you can’t rule him out of the top10 before the race starts. I doubt he will make much noise, but I sure hope I’m wrong in this case.

Juanjo Cobo – Another Geox rider with Top10 potential. Showed in Burgos that he is ready!

Ezequiel Mosquera – I know...But the guy still ended 2nd last year! One of the best climbers and he never has an off-day. Still the chances of Eze being at the start in Benidorm seems “not very likely*”.

Chris Anker Sørensen - Being Danish myself, of course I have to mention Team SaxoBank's Vuelta-leader. According to himself he aims at a spot among the best in the GC, but I'm pretty sure he rather wants stage win in the mountains than securing 9th place..

Jakob Fuglsang - Another Dane, I know...but Jakob Fuglsang is still the best GC-rider LeopardTrek brings to the Vuelta this time. About time Jakob gets his own chance in a Grand Tour. I think he can do top10 without any bad luck.

David Bernabeu - Spanish veteran. Don't be surprised if good old Bernabeu will up there with the 15 bests in the last week. Solid a rock!

Rein Taaramae - Great climber and time trialist. Came close to a top10 spot in the Tour. Normally not a big fan of the hot weather, which could put a very likely place in the top10 in danger...

Steven Kruijswijk - Gifted young climber. Outstading performances in the Giro and Tour de Suisse. One of many possible top10 candidates Rabobank brings to the Vuelta. Barredo, Slagter, LLS.

Wout Poels - Got his Tour de France ruined by a crash before they hit the mountains for real. Has been showing great climber legs all year long, time to make it count this time?

* I was told by Vacansoleil-DCM press officer Ard Bierens on the 8th of August.

Bye bye HTC

Well...I won't say I'm surprised about the news of HTC not continuing in 2012 - disappointed fits better I think. How can the most winning team of all times not find a new sponsor - and why won't HTC continue? If you want your brand name to be known, what better they can you think of than sponsoring Mark Cavendish and his record-winning team?!

I'm pretty sure I could be writing about this matter for days, but since I'm still officially on vacation I think I will just kick back and let the rest of the news outlets do their job.

See you all soon!

Tour de France - Overview of the experts' picks

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The Tour is now over and I want to thank you all for checking in at the site during the race! The interest has been bigger than I expected, thanks! Let's take a look how well the 4 experts managed to do with their picks:

Thomas Löfkvist : 
Right winner pick: 7
Winner pick in top3: 2

Mauro Gianetti : 

Right winner pick: 5

Winner pick in top3: 1

David Etxebarria :
Right winner pick: 4

Winner pick in top3: 5

Laura Meseguer : 

Right winner pick: 4

Winner pick in top3: 3

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The numbers show that Thomas Löfkvist wins this little intern competition in front of David Etxebarria, Laura Meseguer and Mauro Gianetti. Thanks to the 4 experts for participating!

Well, thats all for me for now. It's about time to get some vacation, so I will change my surroundings in Madrid with new ones in Barcelona for a couple of days. See you all later!

Mikkel Condé 

The Experts' Tour Picks - Stage 21

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Thomas Löfkvist : Mark Cavendish

Mauro Gianetti : Mark Cavendish

David Etxebarria : Mark Cavendish

Laura Meseguer : Mark Cavendish

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Bookmaker's favorite : Mark Cavendish