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Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2019

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    Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2019

    Looks like Astana want this Grand Tour pretty badly. López and Fuglsang both in the roster.

    #2
    Movistar, despite their budget, have won just one Grand Tour from the last eight: Carapaz' spectacular Giro d'Italia victory in May. He's starting the Vuelta with capable deputies in Quintana and Valverde ;-)

    Comment


      #3
      One of the reasons the Vuelta is brilliant is that simply by virtue of being the last of the three each year, a lot of the top riders have a crack at it with whatever is left in the tank, even if they were in the top ten in France. There's nothing to be gained from sitting it out.

      Jumbo-Visma embody this attitude extremely strongly.

      Roglic? Here.
      Kruijswijk? Here.
      Gesink? Here.
      G Bennett? Here.
      T Martin? Here.

      Yowsers.

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        #4
        I will not stand for your conscious erasure of Movistar's domination of grand tour team classifications, aka the only gong that matters (to Unzue)

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          #5
          But then there are a fair number of teams looking for stage wins, and there's a good selection of sprinters and classics riders slated to appear as well - Bauhaus, S Bennett, Stybar, Gilbert, EBH, Cav, Gaviria, Degenkolb - as well as a fair number who look good for breakaways.

          Other GC contenders we might see could include Aru, Uran, Latour, Majka and Chaves. Not sure what the Frackers are planning to do between the Vuelta and ToB.

          No preview up on the Inner Ring but the Vuelta is a pain to preview anyway because no-one has any idea what form the riders have going into it. There's no series of build-up races to think through like there is with the Giro and Tour.

          Two time trials - the first one is the first stage on Saturday and it's the TTT. The ITT is 36km and has a couple of climbs on it. That is stage 10, on Tuesday 3rd, straight after a rest day.

          Stage 5, next Weds, concludes with this, so the GC will be strongly shaped rather early.

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            #6
            Is this year's ToB unusual in it's south-averse route?

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
              I will not stand for your conscious erasure of Movistar's domination of grand tour team classifications, aka the only gong that matters (to Unzue)
              Heh, good call. As it happens, this domination has been increasing since 2016; they have four in a row and are on for a clean sweep this year.

              2016
              G = Astana
              T = Movistar
              V = BMC

              2017
              G = Movistar
              T = Sky
              V = Astana

              2018
              G = Sky
              T = Movistar
              V = Movistar

              2019
              G = Movistar
              T = Movistar
              V = ?

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                #8
                Originally posted by Ray de Galles View Post
                Is this year's ToB unusual in it's south-averse route?
                I'd say so. Here are the route maps for 2012-19.

                Comment


                  #9
                  East Anglia has done well out of the Women's Tour but has only had three stages in the last eight year's of the men's race. Can't complain this year, of course, as the national championships were held in Norfolk.

                  I think one of the considerations is always how many other days of races there are in the region that year. Yorkshire has been used less since the TdY came about and this year also has the World Championships themselves. But this year is odd because the Women's Tour basically went coast-to-coast from Suffolk to Carmarthenshire and didn't go far south at all. There was a stage in Gravesend but that involved laps of a cyclopark so no major road closures.

                  Maybe it was felt that the Surrey-London classic was 'enough' this year?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    And you also have to look at the number of times the race has gone into Scotland at all ... I meant to say something about the inaugural Women's Tour of Scotland last week, so I'll try to make amends by pointing to the highlights available on iPlayer:

                    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...ur-of-scotland

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Kevin S View Post

                      Maybe it was felt that the Surrey-London classic was 'enough' this year?
                      Maybe but the the Surrey/London event has been running for at least six years itself. I do hope the region wasn't avoided because of NIMBYs and Top Gear arseholes complaining about road closures.

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                        #12
                        The Vuelta seems to have about the half the World Tour teams absolutely going for it and filling their roster with big names and the other half are sending along token entries in the hope of animating the race and nabbing a stage win somewhere. Haven't looked at the route so not a clue who will win it, except to say that I'm on holiday next week so hopefully they'll get all the sprints out of the way then.

                        Said when the ToB route came out that it was a bit odd to focus on the north when the Worlds are up this way shortly after, though it may be that they were hoping to attract entries with the geographical advantage of going to see the course. That doesn't seem to have worked as they've got fewer World Tour entries and there's no Deceuninck presence, which deprives the race of the defending champion - a certain Julian Alaphilippe. The race hasn't visited Yorkshire since about 2009, mainly because of the TdY, though amusingly they often contribute to the local economy by staying in the hotels.

                        All that said, the organisers have previously announced that next year's race will start in Penzance (where on earth are they all going to stay?) and it's quite easy to see that route finishing in London and not going any further north than the south Midlands.

                        Seem to remember Rogin asked a while back about race timings - they're all out now, stage eight is here

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Cheers. Was pleased to see mention that The Rake will feature in the last stage, though it turns out that it's with 70km to go, so can't imagine it will have much effect.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                            East Anglia has done well out of the Women's Tour but has only had three stages in the last eight year's of the men's race. Can't complain this year, of course, as the national championships were held in Norfolk.

                            I think one of the considerations is always how many other days of races there are in the region that year. Yorkshire has been used less since the TdY came about and this year also has the World Championships themselves. But this year is odd because the Women's Tour basically went coast-to-coast from Suffolk to Carmarthenshire and didn't go far south at all. There was a stage in Gravesend but that involved laps of a cyclopark so no major road closures.

                            Maybe it was felt that the Surrey-London classic was 'enough' this year?
                            A race that goes from Suffolk to Carmarthenshire is pretty far south, no? (in the context of Britain anyway)

                            Comment


                              #15
                              A line from Lincolnshire to Anglesey would qualify as north in my book.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                I know that's objectively wrong, by the way. But it's just how it is.

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                                  #17
                                  I suppose the UCI is never going to approve a longer ToB which would allow the race to cover the country better so perhaps the best option would be to have two races each year, and a men's Tour of Scotland would be a good thing. Or even have a separate Tour of Wales as well (which could be spectacular).

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Eight days is fine for the ToB. Part of the problem of reach comes from the way they fund it which means that stage towns and finishes are often not that far apart and they end up having something like a stage round Nottinghamshire then the next stage round Greater Manchester when what they ideally want to do is be linking the pair on the same day.

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                                      #19
                                      Potential setback for Movistar's team classification bid as Richard Carapaz crashed last weekend and is doubtful for the race. Decision on whether he starts will be made today or tomorrow.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Oh that would be a real shame for him. A good showing in Spain would really put the icing on his 2019 cake.

                                        In terms of the team classification chances though, you'll be pleased to see that Carlos Betancur, who has multiple top-20s in Grand Tours, didn't race in the Giro or Tour, appears to have done a typical pre-Vuelta schedule of Pologne then Burgos.

                                        But hey, The Big Book Of Daft Tactics would presumably preclude calling him up.

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                                          #21
                                          This setting is wild

                                          [URL="https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/1165304705372872704?s=21"]https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/1165304705372872704[/URL]

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                                            #22
                                            Some prime Vuelta weirdness as Miguel Angel Lopez gets awarded the mountains jersey even though the most significant gradient on the course was the start ramp.

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                                              #24
                                              Everyone who had Nairo in the Points Jersey, please collect your winnings

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                                                #25
                                                That was a cracking stage. Don't think we'd expected the top ten on GC to look so shaped so early but so few riders had the legs for those power climbs

                                                Feels a bit like Nairo leaving has got him away from the daft tactics. That was him racing on his own instincts today, just as when we first saw him.

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