La Vuelta Predictions?

Alejandro Valverde really is a throwback to the old days of cycling - Kelme
doesn't have reliable paychecks for him, so he just goes out and wins
everything he can, from February to November. However, judging by his form
right now, he hasn't recovered well from his hectic spring and probably
won't be in good shape for the Vuelta, unfortunately - although he could be
just playing possum.

I'd wait for the Vuelta a Burgos to judge about who's in form and who isn't,
but at this point I'm prepared to tip Aitor Osa, who quietly suffered
through the TdF in obscurity and already seems to be building on his base
mileage towards a strong finish to the season, judging by his strong result
in the Circuito de Getxo.

-Sonarrat.

(Isidor Gunsberg) said:

Who's gonna win?

Jose Azevedo has a real shot.

Carlos Sastre might be ready to vie for top honors.

However, I think that Alejandro Valverde will be the one to win La
Vuelta this year.

Please take note of the fact that Damiano Cunego will be there, looking for
the GC.
Another Italian who will try to have a shot at it is Francesco Casagrande,
though I think the old fart now has very few arrows still in his arch.

[email hidden] (Isidor Gunsberg) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

It will be interersting to see if "foreign" cyclists Levi Leipheimer
and Michael Rasmussen will give it a serious go this year. Leipheimer
took 3rd in the 2001 VaE.

I was really looking forward to seeing how "foreigner" Tom Danielson
(Fassa Bortolo) fairs since it may be his first serious opportunity to
show his stuff.
Even if he may not be a GC contender, he should be quite visible in
the climbing stages.

I say "was" because of the elimination of Vuelta coverage from the OLN
broadcast schedule.
A 1 hour recap is not coverage.

DR

"Davide Tosi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

(Isidor Gunsberg) said:

Who's gonna win?

Jose Azevedo has a real shot.

Carlos Sastre might be ready to vie for top honors.

However, I think that Alejandro Valverde will be the one to win La
Vuelta this year.

Please take note of the fact that Damiano Cunego will be there, looking

for

Quoted message said:

the GC.
Another Italian who will try to have a shot at it is Francesco Casagrande,
though I think the old fart now has very few arrows still in his arch.

I bet it will make great TV.

(Davide Tosi) said:

Another Italian who will try to have a shot at it is Francesco Casagrande,
though I think the old fart now has very few arrows still in his arch.

Speaking of Italians, what about Frigo, Piepoli, Garzelli or
Savoldelli?

Interesting to see who T-Mobile will send. Zabel defends the points
jersey, and is probably more likely to win it in la Vuelta than in le
Tour.

MJ;

--
..signature necesse est

in article [email hidden], Davide Tosi at
[email hidden] wrote on 8/2/04 7:58 AM:

Quoted message said:

(Isidor Gunsberg) said:

Who's gonna win?

Jose Azevedo has a real shot.

Carlos Sastre might be ready to vie for top honors.

However, I think that Alejandro Valverde will be the one to win La
Vuelta this year.

Please take note of the fact that Damiano Cunego will be there, looking for
the GC.

I thought Saeco didn't want to burn him out, and wasn't going to enter him
in any other Grand Tours, instead having him focus on the World's in Verona
and the autumn classics.

Quoted message said:

Another Italian who will try to have a shot at it is Francesco Casagrande,
though I think the old fart now has very few arrows still in his arch.

And what about Garzelli? He should be there.

-Sonarrat.

in article [email hidden], Sonarrat at
[email hidden] wrote on 8/1/04 8:42 PM:

Quoted message said:

Alejandro Valverde really is a throwback to the old days of cycling - Kelme
doesn't have reliable paychecks for him, so he just goes out and wins
everything he can, from February to November. However, judging by his form
right now, he hasn't recovered well from his hectic spring and probably
won't be in good shape for the Vuelta, unfortunately - although he could be
just playing possum.

LOL... nevermind. He was playing possum.

1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 3.34.35
2 Denis Menchov (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.03
3 Mauricio Albert Ardila (Col) Chocolade Jacques Wincor-Nixdorf
4 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
5 Miguel Angel Martín (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
6 Marcos A. Serrano (Spa) Liberty Seguros
7 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Liberty Seguros
8 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 0.08
9 José Alberto Martínez (Spa) Relax-Bodysol 0.09
10 Juan Carlos Domínguez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
....

24 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Nobili Rubinetterie 1.18
43 Aitor Osa Eizaguirre (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 2.16
66 Isidro Nozal Vega (Spa) Liberty Seguros 4.19
75 Francisco Mancebo Pérez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 6.25
106 Joseba Beloki Dorronsoro (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 8.50

Valverde is ready to rock. I can't wait.

-Sonarrat.

1. Tyler
2. Levi
3. Roberto

Apparenly poor Dario Frigo has some kind of extremely debilitating virus. I
read the season is over for him.

"Mikko J Virtanen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

(Davide Tosi) said:

Another Italian who will try to have a shot at it is Francesco

Casagrande,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

though I think the old fart now has very few arrows still in his arch.

Speaking of Italians, what about Frigo, Piepoli, Garzelli or
Savoldelli?

"Sonarrat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

However, judging by his form
right now, he hasn't recovered well from his hectic spring and probably
won't be in good shape for the Vuelta,

Didn't you learn anything by Lance's defeat on the Ventoux?

in article [email hidden], Tom Kunich
at [email hidden] wrote on 8/2/04 4:18 PM:

Quoted message said:

"Sonarrat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

However, judging by his form
right now, he hasn't recovered well from his hectic spring and probably
won't be in good shape for the Vuelta,

Didn't you learn anything by Lance's defeat on the Ventoux?

Sure, but I didn't think Valverde was Armstrong-grade.

-Sonarrat.

in article [email hidden], alex at
[email hidden] wrote on 8/2/04 3:15 PM:

Quoted message said:

Apparenly poor Dario Frigo has some kind of extremely debilitating virus. I
read the season is over for him.

I would question the reliability of that information, because he's currently
racing in the Volta a Portugal. He's not doing too badly, at the moment
he's 36th at 14.57 and Tom Danielson is about 12 minutes behind. It may
"only" be a UCI 2.2 race but it is of serious physical difficulty.

-Sonarrat.

I'd like to see Pablo Lastras or Aitor Osa go for a place, as well as my boy Mancebo (hope the first stage of the Vuelta a Burgos doesn't indicate much, as he came in 75th😕 ). Menchov and Karpets are looking good. I haven't seen a start list. Any CSC riders planning on being there?

in article [email hidden],
gunnar_roadie at [email hidden] wrote
on 8/2/04 5:17 PM:

Quoted message said:

I'd like to see Pablo Lastras or Aitor Osa go for a place, as well as my
boy Mancebo (hope the first stage of the Vuelta a Burgos doesn't
indicate much, as he came in 75th :confused🙂. Menchov and Karpets are
looking good. I haven't seen a start list. Any CSC riders planning on
being there?

Carlos Sastre and, it's a good bet, Peter Lüttenberger, a solid GC guy who
just doesn't seem to have the right motivation. And last year, remember
that big guy, Michael Sandstød, in Danish national colors, doing lengthy
solo breakaways that never got more than 50m ahead of the pack? That's
spirit.

-Sonarrat.

Mikko J Virtanen said:

(Davide Tosi) said:

Another Italian who will try to have a shot at it is Francesco Casagrande,
though I think the old fart now has very few arrows still in his arch.

Speaking of Italians, what about Frigo,

He's presently racing in Portugal and he's announced as a starter in
Saturday's S.Sebastian. If he can get back from the sickness that made him
very tired and weak in the first part of the year, he should be a Vuelta
starter.

Quoted message said:

Piepoli

I don't know much of the present goals of this rider, since I really
dislike his style. But knowing that Saunier Duval aims to play a major role
in the GC, I suppose he'll have to act as a watercarrier to Perdiguero and
Jeker, except maybe for a couple of really steep mountaintop finishes that
really fit his anthropometric features.

Quoted message said:

Garzelli

I don't tbink Vini Caldirola has received a wild card.

Quoted message said:

Savoldelli?

He should be part of the T-Mobile team, as a GC contender. But the Falcon
has been almost completely out of real racing for more than 2 years. At
present he's a big question mark.

Quoted message said:

Interesting to see who T-Mobile will send. Zabel defends the points
jersey, and is probably more likely to win it in la Vuelta than in le
Tour.

I expect them to go with Savoldelli, Evans, Vino, Zabel, a couple of
leadout men for Erik, maybe Botero and Kessler

Umm!

Good for him. I had just read about his illness in a pre-TdF issue of the
spanish magazine "Ciclismo a Fondo". I am glad he is back sooner than
predicted then.

"Sonarrat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in article [email hidden], alex at
[email hidden] wrote on 8/2/04 3:15 PM:

Quoted message said:

Apparenly poor Dario Frigo has some kind of extremely debilitating

virus. I

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

read the season is over for him.

I would question the reliability of that information, because he's

currently

Quoted message said:

racing in the Volta a Portugal. He's not doing too badly, at the moment
he's 36th at 14.57 and Tom Danielson is about 12 minutes behind. It may
"only" be a UCI 2.2 race but it is of serious physical difficulty.

-Sonarrat.

"Sonarrat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in article [email hidden], Tom

Kunich

Quoted message said:

at [email hidden] wrote on 8/2/04 4:18 PM:

Quoted message said:

"Sonarrat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

However, judging by his form
right now, he hasn't recovered well from his hectic spring and probably
won't be in good shape for the Vuelta,

Didn't you learn anything by Lance's defeat on the Ventoux?

Sure, but I didn't think Valverde was Armstrong-grade.

There are a whole slew of new riders coming up and we can't tell for sure
what they're going to be like. But surely Valverde is one to watch closely.

in article [email hidden], Tom Kunich
at [email hidden] wrote on 8/3/04 9:26 PM:

Quoted message said:

"Sonarrat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in article [email hidden], Tom

Kunich

Quoted message said:

at [email hidden] wrote on 8/2/04 4:18 PM:

Quoted message said:

"Sonarrat" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> However, judging by his form
> right now, he hasn't recovered well from his hectic spring and probably
> won't be in good shape for the Vuelta,

Didn't you learn anything by Lance's defeat on the Ventoux?

Sure, but I didn't think Valverde was Armstrong-grade.

There are a whole slew of new riders coming up and we can't tell for sure
what they're going to be like. But surely Valverde is one to watch closely.

I've looked through probably every current rider's palmares at
trap-friis.dk, and the only rider that comes even close to Valverde in terms
of winning abundant quantities of races, of all different kinds, all season
long is Erik Zabel... and Zabel has never been a GC contender. And Valverde
is only 24. Either he's on the best drugs on the planet, or we have a new
Eddy Merckx on our hands...

-Sonarrat.

Valverde is looking good in the Vuelta a Burgos at the moment taking the first two stages.

Gotta put in a plug for Cadel Evans too.