While the TdF was exciting in other ways, the GC battle was not entertaining. I believe the opposite will be true for this year’s Vuelta. Starts in 5 days…So many storylines:
If Roglic is in good shape can he be stopped?
Ineos is bringing all the power, who will end up leading the team? Bernal, Carapaz, Yates?
Is Egan Bernal 100% after covid + crashing in Burgos?
Can Movistar (and Lopez) do something right?
Is Landa for real this time? Bahrain might be the strongest team
Pidcock debut in a 3 week race
This is your list of favorites according to the betting public:
Good summary! Hope Roglic and Bernal are both on top form and duking it out. And hopefully this time the Ineos multi-leader attack actually survives the opening weekend and we can see whether Brailsford’s big talk of more exciting and attacking tactics will come to anything. Having Pidcock setting the tempo up a mountain on the front of the bunch certainly seems like it would be a waste of his talents. Though whatever his role is it will be interesting to see how he goes in a 3 week race.
Will he just be working for Landa, or will they ‘free Padun’
However, above all else, I’m very interested to see how Pidcock fares. Hopefully, Ineos are using their brains and have no definitive expectations for him. Maybe just stay safe and finish. Obviously, he is insanely talented and could win stages. We’ll know soon enough.
Roglič stated in an interview for the Slovenian press that he “is going to Vuelta without expecting anything” and “he can’t go there chasing a result with everything that happened”. “I will focus mostly on other things. I have shown that I’m good in TTs, now I’ll try to put together something as a whole. I’m going to Vuelta completely without pressure, everything that happens will be a bonus. We’ll see how it goes”.
Could an interesting Vuelta. Ineos bringing a strong line-up. I just hope it doesn’t end up like the tour, where they drop out of contention early and protect the leaders jersey for the sake of securing a podium place. With this many mountain top finishes it’s rather unpredictable. A lot of opportunities for things to go wrong for anyone.
I looked at the route for the first time yesterday, and I think a pure climber really could win this year if on really good form. While the 7km TT shouldn’t leave big gaps, that final TT could, and 7 mountain top finishes should really sort out the field. Really hard to see past someone from Ineos, but I hope Roglic and Landa are in for a great fight.
grumble. anyone have good VPN recommendations? I pay for GCN+ already, coverage and commentary is way better than NBC…I’d rather pay for a VPN and use GCN
…it appears he’s injured after the crash in Burgos. Big absence.
