Look who's back

Chips Lovell

Preliminary Vuelta start list. Look who's first reserve rider for Astana. Seems like he's got his way after all. Won't be surprised if he gets bumped up to start either.

blorg

Is there any meaning to the first jersey number in each team (e.g. in the Tour it meant team leader.) As I notice Philip Deignan is first on Cervelo Test Team (61.)

Chips Lovell

It usually means that they are the team leader. However, in some cases a team may be sent out purely to hunt stages and the designation seems less important. I honestly don't know what the case is with Cervelo. The Vuelta would be Deignan's kind of race.

ednwireland

one of the many reasons contador isnt doing the vuelta i guess

SACH Central

blorg wrote: »

Is there any meaning to the first jersey number in each team (e.g. in the Tour it meant team leader.) As I notice Philip Deignan is first on Cervelo Test Team (61.)

Cervelo seem to have listed their team in alphabetical order, some have and some haven't like AG2R. Having said that there doesn't seem to be a GC contender on the team, so who knows? He was going well in Spain last week

Billy Whizz

blorg wrote: »

Is there any meaning to the first jersey number in each team (e.g. in the Tour it meant team leader.) As I notice Philip Deignan is first on Cervelo Test Team (61.)

Looks like alphabetical order to me.

eggie

Freire is listed first for Rabobank, so prob has no meaning who's listed first.

blorg

Billy Whizz wrote: »

Looks like alphabetical order to me.

Cool, as long as Inigo Cuesta stays in reserve Deignan is team leader :pac:

Chips Lovell

eggie wrote: »

Freire is listed first for Rabobank, so prob has no meaning who's listed first.

Freire gets the number one slot because he's a local hero. Gesink would be their GC man.

ROK ON

Given that this has turned into a Vuelta thread, can someone throw some light on the rankings of the major tours.

Obviously TdF is the big cheese, but what is next Vuelta or Giro.
Why do so many cyclists regard the Vuelta as 'easier' to win.

Are teams weaker in general, as there are many major climbs etc in Spain.

I can see that some riders may use Giro to build for the TdF, but is the Vuelta seen as a competition for the also rans?

Chips Lovell

It's all just opinion of course but I'd rate the Giro as only marginally behind the Tour in importance, with the Vuelta lagging a bit behind the two others. The reason the Vuelta is seen as maybe the easier tour is that it has less history than the other two and has suffered from scheduling. It was in April until the 90s but clashed a bit with the spring classics, now its in August, when stage racers are winding down from the Tour and other potential contenders are gearing up for the Worlds. It's usually fairly mountainous, often more so than the Tour, but flat stages in Spain can be a little boring, given the barren landscape you often get.

Zipp101

ROK ON wrote: »

Given that this has turned into a Vuelta thread, can someone throw some light on the rankings of the major tours.

Obviously TdF is the big cheese, but what is next Vuelta or Giro.
Why do so many cyclists regard the Vuelta as 'easier' to win.

Are teams weaker in general, as there are many major climbs etc in Spain.

I can see that some riders may use Giro to build for the TdF, but is the Vuelta seen as a competition for the also rans?

The season is all but over when it comes around.Usually contested between riders who are desperate for a "big-win" for their palmares eg. Evans,Sanchez,Cunego.

The crowds tend to be very small at it too.

SACH Central

ROK ON wrote: »

Given that this has turned into a Vuelta thread, can someone throw some light on the rankings of the major tours.

Obviously TdF is the big cheese, but what is next Vuelta or Giro.
Why do so many cyclists regard the Vuelta as 'easier' to win.

Are teams weaker in general, as there are many major climbs etc in Spain.

I can see that some riders may use Giro to build for the TdF, but is the Vuelta seen as a competition for the also rans?

I think it depends on where you're from. The Italians think the Giro is the best, same with the Spanish.

I think in the last 20 years, certainly with the American involvment, the TdF has become the world's No. 1 race, definitely in Global popularity.

It was not however always the case. Eddy Merckx didn't even contest the 1973 Tour.

Chips Lovell

SACH Central wrote: »

The Italians think the Giro is the best, same with the Spanish.

Italians, yes, but believe me, the Spaniards don't.