Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

[Kevin S]

Joint thread required!

The Vuelta starts a week Saturday with a Team Time Trial. It's going to be immense. The pre-selections have been done so the start list is beginning to take shape.

Quintana will start as favourite but how things pan out in the team between him and Valverde will be fascinating. Froome has recovered from his Tour torment so will be looking to do well here, but Contador has not. Uran and Aru, second and third at the Giro, will ride too, as will Kelderman. Purito and Moreno as usual lead the Katusha charge.

Veterans hoping to figure strongly include the defending champion Chris Horner, Cadel Evans, Haimar Zubeldia and Ryder Hesjedal. David Millar also bids farewell to grand tours.

Young guns to look out for for a host of reasons include Adam Yates, Natnael Berhane, Bob Jungels, Arndt and Barguil of Giant, Alexey Lutsenko, Merhawi Kudus and Carlos Verona may try to make an impact in his home Tour. There is no young riders jersey in the Vuelta (sadly).

The Tour of Britain is a bit further away, with the Vuelta bedding in for a good couple of weeks first, so no real details of the start list are yet available.

In its first year as an HC race, there are more Pro Tour teams coming:

Pro
Belkin Pro Cycling (NED)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
Garmin Sharp (USA)
Movistar Team (SPA)
Omega Pharma Quick-Step (BEL)
Team Giant Shimano (NED)
Team Sky (GBR)
Tinkoff Saxo (RUS)

Pro Conti
Bardiani CSF (ITA)
IAM Cycling (SWI)
MTN Qhubeka (RSA)
Team NetApp Endura (GER)
Team Novo Nordisk (USA)

Conti
AN Post Chain Reacton (IRL)
Madison Genesis (GBR)
NFTO Pro Cycling (GBR)
Giordana Racing Team (GBR)
Rapha Condor JLT (GBR)
Team Raleigh (GBR)

National
Great Britain (GBR)

Good to see the most successful of the Conti level British teams have still got their place, with AN Post too, and it's a good selection of Pro Conti teams as well.

Though it's exciting to see all those World Tour teams, it would have been a bonus to get Orica GreenEDGE in so that Simon Yates could have ridden.

But that would be complaining too much about what should be an excellent spectacle with high class teams. The race is in great health, and the course looks a cracker. Maintaining a time trial but reducing it to 8.8km and putting it at the end is, for a week-long race, an excellent move which should encourage attacking riding.

Defending champion Bradley Wiggins is not in the Vuelta squad (he seems to have had enough of grand tours) so let's hope he rides this instead.

[longeared]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Just as you've started this thread, Contador has put a video out saying that he will ride the Vuelta after all. Sounds as if he's going for stage wins only, not unsurprisingly.

Both these races will be on ITV4 in the UK, highlights only for the Vuelta, live and highlights for the Tour of Britain.

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Excellent! Maybe Bertie fancies a KoM jersey?

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

I also missed this: Brailsford says Wiggo will ride the ToB.

[Ray de Galles]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

I don't know enough about road cycling but is Wiggins' choice of events now more dictated by keeping his profile high in the UK (the Commonwealths, RideLondon and ToB) than for strictly sporting reasons? It would seem the usual Simon Fuller MO.

[Toro Toro]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Ahm, yes and no. It's absolutely routine, and has been for decades, to put a racer in the races where he has most commercial exposure; that's just a function of the trade teams system, where you have transient teams dipping in and out of existence as sponsors come and go.

But it also makes sporting sense; he's not going to race Grand Tours anymore, seemingly having neither the inclination nor the team support, so there's not a great deal of point to putting him in the squad for them; he'd be a malcontented luxury domestique who maybe takes the odd TT win, and meanwhile compromises his preparation for events he can actually dominate.

Looking forward to the TOB immensely, especially as the Devon stage finishes with a chunk of my commute. Route's here; Stoke Hill is testing enough. They went over the virtually identical Pennsylvania Hill, which is my alternative route, last year barely out of breath; but that was very early in the stage. This year, there should be fireworks there because it's straight and steep downhill for 2km to the finish line afterwards; any rider or small group that gets to the top first will certainly win.

What I might do is ride up Haytor in the morning, watch them there, then ride across to Stokey. But loads of people will be thinking that...

Might also take in the Brizzle finish the previous day.

Oh, small typographic/language thing; it's not AN Post, but An Post. "An" is Irish for "the", so it's not an acronym or initials; "An Post" (On Pussed) means "The Post". So if you're in the wesht of Ireland, "Oifig an Phoist" (Iffig on fwisht) is the Post Office (literally "Office of the Post").

[Toro Toro]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

In fact, no. Looking more closely at the route, they're going over Pennsylvania Road again; it's mislabelled as Stoke Hill, which is about a quarter of a mile east, and finishes about a quarter of a mile east, climbing about the same distance about as steeply.

Descent's a little trickier if anything, so basically the same comments apply.

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Toro Toro wrote: Oh, small typographic/language thing; it's not AN Post, but An Post. "An" is Irish for "the", so it's not an acronym or initials; "An Post" (On Pussed) means "The Post". So if you're in the wesht of Ireland, "Oifig an Phoist" (Iffig on fwisht) is the Post Office (literally "Office of the Post").

Cheers Toro, it's British Cycling's fault, so let's hope they fix it before the graphics and the like are set up for broadcast.

Also, the Wales stage (or something like it) is going to become an annual one day race with associated mass sportive ride.

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Some of the nines coming in now.

Lotto-Belisol: Armée, Breen, De Clercq, Debusschere, Hansen, Henderson, Ligthart, Monfort, Van den Broeck.

IAM: Marcel Aregger, Jonathan Fumeaux, Sébastien Hinault, Pirmin Lang, Matteo Pelucchi, Vicente Reynes, Aleksejs Saramotins, Patrick Schelling, Johann Tschopp

Europcar: Berhane, Cousin, Craven, Engoulvent, Jérôme, Martinez, Mederel, Nauleau, Sicard

[longeared]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Blimey, that Exeter stage of the ToB will have a fast finish coming off Pennsylvania Road. Aren't there speed bumps on there?

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Toro, I've tweeted ToB and An Post cycling to see if they can correct it!

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Trek
Fabian Cancellara
Julián Arredondo
Haimar Zubeldia
Kristof Vandewalle
Bob Jungels
Jasper Stuyven
Yaroslav Popovych
Jesse Sergent
Fabio Felline

Katusha
Joaquim Rodriguez
Daniel Moreno
Alberto Losada
Giampaolo Caruso
Alexander Kolobnev
Iurii Trofimov
Sergei Chernetckii
Eduard Vorganov
Dmitriy Kozonchuk

[ingoldale]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

I'm heading to Spain for a few stages and can't wait for this.

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Excellent - hope it's as good as it's shaping up to be.

OGE:

An opportunistic roster will start the Vuelta a España for ORICA-GreenEDGE this Saturday targeting stage wins and, in a first for the team, an interest in general classification proceedings.

Adam Yates, Brett Lancaster, Cameron Meyer, Esteban Chaves, Ivan Santaromita, Michael Matthews, Mitch Docker, Sam Bewley and Simon Clarke.

“This year we are going in with a multi-task team,” Stephens said.

“There have been times when we have just targeted stages with one or a couple of riders but this year the whole team is basically all opportunists.

“I think that anyone who looks at our line up for the Tour of Spain will see that there are some great standout stage winners there and we will be trying to give some attention to the general classification with Esteban Chaves too.”

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Astana have just announced too.

Aru – ITA
Landa – ESP
Kangert – EST
Tiralongo – ITA
Fominykh – KAZ
Guardini – ITA
Guarnieri - ITA
Zeits – KAZ
Lutsenko – KAZ

“Aru and Kangert are two proven GC riders – Fabio this year was third at the Giro with a Queen Stage victory in the mountains and Tanel has done outstanding work for Nibali over the past two seasons“

“Guardini, Guarnieri and Lutsenko have the beginnings of a very fast and very strong sprint team – in Denmark Alexey and Andrea were victorious partners, and with Jacopo we have the legs to be at the front in a Grand Tour finish -“

“Landa is super motivated for a good result – after a great climb on ST3 at the Vuelta a Burgos, despite a heavy crash at the beginning of the day, he showed what a promising young Spanish rider is capable of at home -“

“Fominykh has shown in the past season that he can race on different courses in different conditions – this Vuelta will be his first test at three weeks of competition, and he has all of the requisites and characteristics to succeed -“

“Tiralongo and Zeits are the veteran legs and brains on the road – their experience is invaluable and their leadership is 100 percent guaranteed“

[longeared]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

"Opportunistic roster" sounds like another way of saying Orica simply can't be arsed.

Enjoy the race Ingoldale.

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Brown power - with Betancur

The official team roster of the AG2R LA MONDIALE team for the Vuelta a España : Carlos BETANCUR - Maxime BOUET - Hubert DUPONT - Damien GAUDIN - Patrick GRETSCH - Yauheni HUTAROVICH - Lloyd MONDORY - Rinaldo NOCENTINI - Sébastien TURGOT

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

ToB comes through my town on Day 2, with an intermediate sprint on the High Street before going out on the Denbigh Road. Excellent - day off booked.

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Good man.

For anyone who hasn't seen the route, here we are.

7/9/14 Stage 1 Liverpool city centre
8/9/14 Stage 2 Knowsley to Llandudno
9/9/14 Stage 3 Newtown to The Tumble
10/9/14 Stage 4 Worcester to Bristol
11/9/14 Stage 5 Exmouth to Exeter
12/9/14 Stage 6 Bath to Hemel Hempstead
13/9/14 Stage 7 Camberley to Brighton
14/9/14 Stage 8a London Individual Time Trial
14/9/14 Stage 8b London Circuit Race

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Sky squad for the Vuelta:

Froome, Cataldo, Deignan, Kennaugh, Kiryienka, Knees, Nieve, Rowe, Siutsou.

Decent team to back up Froome there. A little surprising to see Swift's omission but perhaps they want him to ride the ToB and make him a household name?

[longeared]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Mmm, it is a decent team to support Froome, but what's Sky's plan B going to be if Froome falls off again (which is less likely given that the Vuelta tends to be less crash-tastic than the Tour) or simply hasn't got the form after six weeks out? Nieve? Kennaugh? Hope to animate the race and grab a stage win somewhere?

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Their release seems to suggest Cataldo but I'd have though Nieve - with several GC top tens to his name - is the better bet in his home Grand Tour.

All the riders are described in terms of their support for Froome though, it's classic Sky stuff. So we don't hear about Rowe's sprinting ability, but that he can ride hard on the front and "will play a key role in keeping team leader Chris Froome safe in the bunch". We mention that Kennaugh is the new GB Champion but add that his "climbing talents will be a great asset."

So, same old, same old.

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Phew, a few teams to get through here.

OK, let's start with OPQS. Their Vuelta squad is Cav-less. This means that 2014 will be the first year he has not won a GT stage since he made his TDF debut in 2007.

Cav will continue his recovery from Harrogategate at the Tour of Britain, which, along with Wiggins' riding it, is obviously great news for that race's profile at home.

So OPQS are putting their weight behind Rigo again, which means we have the three Giro podium riders all going for it with bells and whistles.

OPQS: Uran, Poels, Brambilla, Serry, Verona, M Velits, Maes, T-Mart, Boonen.

The last two names on that list are the flat stage protection and also warming up for a double assault on the World Champs.

Next up, Belkin. Again, another Giro star in Kelderman is racing, but with Gesink and Ten Dam too they have a strong core that know their way around the top of a GC.

Belkin: Clement, Gesink, Hofland, Keizer, Kelderman, Martens, Ten Dam, Tjallingii, Wagner.

Then we have FDJ which, as noted upthread, is Bouhanni's sprinting crew this time. I guess not much is expected of Pinot and co GC wise after their TdF exploits, but you never know.

FDJ: Soupe, Bouhanni, Mangal, Pineau, Pinot, Elissonde, Roux, Le Bon, Fischer

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Three more

Movistar: Valverde, J Moreno, Malori, Jose Herrada, Gorka Izaguirre, Castroviejo, Erviti, Quintana, Amador

Cofidis: Bagot, Coppel, Hardy, Joeaar, Le Mevel, Levarlet, Mate, Zingle, Navarro

MTN-Qhubeka: Pardilla, Ciolek, Meintjes, Thomson, Venter, van Rensburg, Teklehaimanot, Kudus, Sbaragli

Six Africans (4 RSA, 2 ERI) in the Qhubeka squad, as well as Berhane (ERI) and Craven (NAM) in the Europcar squad, so that's decent representation from the continent. (Froome too, you could argue, of course!)

[Kevin S]

Vuelta a España & Tour of Britain 2014

Cannondale: Sagan, Caruso, De Marchi, Bodnar, Gatto, Longho Borghini, Bennett, Krizek, Boivin.

Giant-Shimano: Arndt, Barguil, Craddock, Degenkolb, Fröhlinger, Haga, De Kort, Ludvigsson, Sinkeldam