Starts tomorrow…“only” 18 stages, but a crap load of climbing. I am kinda hoping that Rog repays Dumoulin for all the work he did in September, but the course may be too hilly for Tom and without enough TT’ing.
Bold prediction - the race won’t see Madrid anyway, so it won’t matter. 
personally interested in Stage 15, because the route is only about 30 mins from my parents’ hometown, so it’ll be cool to see a few places I’ve been to
really happy they gave the three grand tours a shot this year, but they should definitely pull the plug if it gets risky. just not worth people’s health. other than that, go for it!
Super stoked for this one. Friend of mine (Jannik Steimle) rides his first GT. Hope he does well. Terrain should suite him okayish. Plus a timetrial that could be in his books!
But he is kinda worried as it has multiple tough days in a row. And how knows how the body reacts to that stress…
Really hoping for something special from Froome… unlikely but it would be great to see him at the sharp end of the GC battle!
Wouldn’t count on it…sounds like INEOS and Froome has already laid down the maker for him not doing well.
Dunno if he’ll ever fully recover from that crash last year. ISN may regret signing him.
Well I guess now we know why INEOS didn’t take Froome to the Tour 
Really good start to Vuelta, just hope Jumbo don’t defend the lead all the time! Sepp Kuss attacking was refreshing.
Awesome to see!
Roglic’s gonna need to get a Sepp tattoo after all this.
Sepp’s getting so much good Grand Tour experience with this team. I hope he remains there for a while to develop for a year or two before taking up a leadership role. Being only 20 seconds down after an already important GC day will be huge in the coming weeks too, since he can go on the attack to force others to chase. Hope that means he has a chance at a stage win again!
Hope today was the first and only day they put a camera on Froome off the back.
I know he’s American, but what are his parents ethnicity or background? Strange name. Sorry not strange…unique is a better word
Here’s a good article with some background on him for more info. Mostly a skiing family with ties to national ski programs.
That was a great stage…top notch racing across the board.
Google says that Kuss is a German name from the area around Baden. Sepp is Germanic nickname for Joseph. I’d guess they are German/Austrian-American.
Glad to see Chavez staying with the front group…would love to see him get a result after all his injuries over the years.
That was the best first stage of a grand tour that I’ve seen. I was doing Pinchot whilst watching it too, so I felt some of the pain they were feeling on those final climbs. Roglic is a bloody machine.
He needs the volume of a grand tour in his legs if he’s going to have half a chance next year.
Why would INEOS make people believe they were taking Froome to be their Vuelta contender, when they knew what his shape was? Why would they take him at all? I can only think it was to humiliate him before him leaving for Israel Startup Nation
