[Condor Andy]

Stages all in the game now and we’re just waiting on the start list. We’ll probably open in a few days, Sunday or Monday.

Here are 2 links to start lists and I’ll be keeping my eye on Twitter for announcements, when I have a spare moment. My free time has taken a hit in the last month or so.

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/vuelta-a-espana/2022/gc/startlist

https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=23&y=2022&k=8

Topic

[11waterloo]

The GC has to be the biggest

The GC has to be the biggest part of any Grand Tour but the ‘undercard’ is often just as interesting, especially if the GC race ends up a foregone conclusion. Oddly, in the TdF, it was the green jersey competition which failed to deliver excitement where as the GC was brilliant. My point is that the more jerseys there are, the more chance of a good battle somewhere. I heard someone suggesting a senior jersey ( like young rider, but over 30’s) or a jersey for most time in the breakaway. The more the merrier for me, I would even have a lanterne rouge jersey for the rider last on GC! 

[Dr Winston]

Good shout. 

Good shout. 

[Daniel Norton]

The way many of the sprints

The way many of the sprints are also at the top of a sharp climb tells me they are favouring a Spanish winner.  Valverde?

[jje]

Well I took a risk in leaving
Well I took a risk in leaving out Evenepoel from my purist team. I expect to lose a lot of points in the first week. I need him to crumble 2nd week if I am to have a chance of catching the doc (changed my mind a few times over that one)

[Dr Winston]

It smacks of a deliberate

It smacks of a deliberate devaluing of what little they have. Somebody somewhere must have decided to place them all late on in stages… it can’t be an accident. I really like the races to the early intermediates.

On a wider topic. I suppose it’s a matter of whether you view a GT as 21 races that produce a winner… or one long race to provide a GC winner. I’ve always taken the view that it’s the former and that a GT should be a race for all. Reading some of the forums it seems that many view a GT as the latter with any sprint or rolleur stages just seen as so much fluff and padding.

[11waterloo]

It is baffling but I think

It is baffling but I think that they just don’t value the points jersey in the Vuelta. The fact that it can realistically won by a climber shows how little attention the organisers give it! 

[Dr Winston]

Quite a lot could. Lots of

Quite a lot could. Lots of CAT 1’S and CAT 2’s and very few HC climbs brings loads of riders into the game. Lutsenko, Alaphilippe an ageing Valverde… loads of riders like that. This KOM competition is wide open.

In a game were we can’t have them all i’d be quite happy with any of those three… they’ll all score well.

[Daniel Norton]

If Alaphilippe doesn’t have a

If Alaphilippe doesn’t have a go, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Chaves win the KOM jersey.

[Daniel Norton]

Kuss can’t put out the watts

Kuss can’t put out the watts to make a lot of difference on that route, so definitely saving him and taking no chances in terms oh him getting dropped (which is a clue in itself, I hope).  Carpet ride!

King Kelly kept saying it didn’t matter to Jumbo/Kuss whether he got dropped.  I beg to differ as they would have said do a couple of turns and drop off the back if that were true.

[Dr Winston]

Well maybe one or two… on

Well maybe one or two… on the other hand, rather than protecting him, i suppose they may have taken the view he would actually slow them down, so just left hin hanging.

[Dr Winston]

Any thoughts as to why the

Any thoughts as to why the Vuelta has put every intermediate sprint at the back end of the stages? It seems an odd decision because it renders an already fairly impotent green jersey competition to even more of a sideshow… and doesn’t really help the whole race in any way. Surely in a sprinter lite GT they could have thrown in a few early intermediate sprints.

[Sniffer]

Dr Winston wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Well TJV were very definitely protecting him over Roglic. I don’t think he took a single turn in that TTT.

Given Kuss’s TT abilities and the strength of TJV, do you think Kuss could have taken a turn?
Reminds me of when I go up a group in the local chain gang. I am holding on for grim death.

[Dr Winston]

I put Chaves in for some

I put Chaves in for some breaks. Nothing for EF other than Uran, Carthy and Chaves stage hunting… the field is too strong.

[Sniffer]

Daniel Norton wrote:

Daniel Norton wrote:

Sniffer wrote:

In my Purist team 

Roglic in, then out, then in, then out, then in…..

might be a couple of interations yet.

Edit – I see the deadline has passed.  For good or bad, he is in.

If you’re high up in the Purist standings, probably the only safe thing to do as the other leaders are unlikely to gamble on no Roglic.

I am not. Never been good at the Purist game. Don’t give it much thought.

[backwoods pedeler]

Just wondering why Juan Ayuso

Just wondering why Juan Ayuso only scored 10 points on Stage 1 when the rest of UAE who he finished with got 12?

[Author]

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