vuelta a espana 2011

ednwireland

itv4 to show 2 hours live every afternoon plus highlights

http://www.touchline.tv/cycling/itv4-to-screen-2011-tour-of-spain

http://www.itv.com/itv4/

ITV4 will screen the 2011 Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) – the three week cycling contest, one of the three “Grand Tours” of Europe and part of the UCI World Ranking calendar.

The Tour will take place from August 20 to September 11 with live stages every afternoon on ITV4. The 66th edition of the Spanish race will have 21 stages with an average length of 175 kilometres.

The route of the 2011 Vuelta Espana has been officially unveiled in Benidorm, confirming rumours of a return of the Angliru climb and a visit to the Basque Country for the first time in 33 years.

2010 Vuelta winner Vincenzo Nibali was amongst the riders present in Benidorm, where the race will start on August 20 with a 16km team time trial. The race will end in Madrid on September 11 after a total of 3295km of racing.

Surprisingly the 66th edition of the Vuelta avoids the Catalunya region and the Pyrenees but includes six mountain finishes, two of which have never been climbed before. These are to Estacion de Montaña Manzaneda in Galicia on stage 11 and La Farrapona in the Asturias region on stage 14.

The race returns to Valdepeñas de Jaen in 2011 and to San Lorenzo del Escorial, which ends with a final kilometre at 23%. The race visits the Sierra Nevada near Granada and the infamous Angliru is also back on stage 15, as is the Peña Cabarga, where Igor Anton crashed out last year.

The only time trial is over 40km around Salamanca on stage 10, making the Vuelta a race for the climbers.

The Basque Country will host the final decisive stages before a transfer to Madrid for a 94km circuit finish. Stage 19 from Noja to Bilbao is flat but stage 20 from Bilbao to Vitoria includes four first category climbs.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana

ednwireland

3 tours for cavendish this year (ok 1.5 so far )

Team Sky are set to take a strong team to the Tour of Spain (August 20-September 11).

Bradley Wiggins will lead Team Sky as he goes in search of Vuelta victory; the line-up also includes compatriots Ian Stannard and Chris Froome.

Wiggins can rely on the likes of Froome, Morris Possoni, Dario Cioni and Tour domestique Xabier Zandio for mountain support, as well as the experience of Thomas Lofkvist and Kurt-Asle Arvesen.

Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish will be looking to take several stage wins as he winds up for the world championships in Copenhagen.

The Manxman is joined by Tour teammates Matt Goss and Tony Martin. Promising young sprinters John Degenkolb and Leigh Howard also get outings in HTC-Highroad's valedictory Grand Tour.

Other Vuelta contenders on the provisional start list released today include Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Denis Menchov (Geox-TMC), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Jurgen Vandenbroeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto).

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/529672/cavendish-and-wiggins-on-provisional-vuelta-start-list.html

Kav0777

Dan Martin to lead Garmin Cervelo, and Thor won't be there.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/529687/hushovd-left-out-of-vuelta-dan-martin-to-lead-garmin-cerv-lo.html

Inquitus

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,15264_7105583,00.html

Very unlikely he's going to be in great form, but good to see him back soo soon after his tour catastrophe.

happytramp

Any word on Garmin and Martin's role?

Morrisseeee

Perhaps all this discussion should be moved into the general Vuelta thread.
Anyway, Martin is going to step up a level.

Beasty

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Perhaps all this discussion should be moved into the general Vuelta thread.

Threads merged

Beasty

ednwireland

Inquitus wrote: »

Very unlikely he's going to be in great form, but good to see him back soo soon after his tour catastrophe.

what makes you say that, nicely rested i'd say (race rusty maybe)

Inquitus

ednwireland wrote: »

what makes you say that, nicely rested i'd say (race rusty maybe)

Nico was awful in the tour due to injury disruptions, I would have thought the same would apply to Wiggo.

Morrisseeee

What price is Dan the man ? did I see 150/1 somewhere !! Might stick a tenner on it
Will there be a fantasy Vuelta, like we had for the Giro/Tour ?
......oh and that's some finish on stage 8, 1km @ 20% :eek: :pac: :cool:

RobFowl

happytramp wrote: »

Any word on Garmin and Martin's role?

Dan Martin is riding for a good GC position.
An important race for him as Garmin are basically going to make a call as to whether he is a realistic 3 week tour challenger based on this years race....

elduggo

its pretty thin on the ground for serious GC contenders though so anyone putting in a serious effort could end up doing well. And it'd be even thinner on the ground had there not been so many crashes in the first week of the tour. I can't imagine Wiggins or Kloden would have lined up had they finished the tour. No sign of the Ag2R team list yet but all the others are in. From my reading of it these are the GC contenders;

velits
roche
dan martin
wiggins
scarponi
nibali
menchov
sastre
van den brocke
rodriguez
Brajkovic/kloden

Of these you can discount one of Brajkovic/kloden, rodriguez (due to inability to TT) and sastre from mounting a serious overall challenge. I'd expect Roche to get top 10 but no better. Scarponi looks to have slowed in the hills too so I wouldn't expect him to podium. I think Dan will do well (possibly a stage or 2) but can't see him not having a bad day over 3 weeks. I also think Menchov hasn't a good 3 week tour left in his legs, especially after the year that Geox have had (serious light on the longer races). That leaves van den Brocke, wiggins, nibali, velits and (for me) Kloden for the podium spots. I'll put my neck out and say Wiggins for the win, followed by Nibali, followed by Kloden.

Looks to be seriously tough route so this could have makings of the best grand tour of the year (last years was 2nd in my book, after the giro - certainly a lot better than the tour de france).

Kav0777

elduggo wrote: »

No sign of the Ag2R team list yet but all the others are in.

http://www.cyclisme.ag2rlamondiale.fr/calendrier/calendrier-detail.asp?id=957&ret=index.asp&saison=2011

Here you go.

ednwireland

Kav0777 wrote: »

http://www.cyclisme.ag2rlamondiale.fr/calendrier/calendrier-detail.asp?id=957&ret=index.asp&saison=2011

Here you go.

there must have been a TTT crash and they all wore part of their heads off


or is it just the way my mind works

mahoo

Morrisseeee wrote: »

What price is Dan the man ? did I see 150/1 somewhere !! Might stick a tenner on it
Will there be a fantasy Vuelta, like we had for the Giro/Tour ?
......oh and that's some finish on stage 8, 1km @ 20% :eek: :pac: :cool:

velogames is running a fantasy vuelta as per giro/tour

seven stars

ITV4 has been dropped by both UPC and Sky hasn't it? Is Eurosport the only way to get coverage and highlights?

Morrisseeee

seven stars wrote: »

ITV4 has been dropped by both UPC and Sky hasn't it? Is Eurosport the only way to get coverage and highlights?

You can tune it in via 'Other Channels' or it should come up automatically on FreeSat (unless you are on cable!).

retalivity

anyone setting up a league on velogames?
Ive got my team setup there...can create one if enough interest

Morrisseeee

retalivity wrote: »

anyone setting up a league on velogames?
Ive got my team setup there...can create one if enough interest

Yep, go fot it, & set up a new thread, eg > 'Vuelta Fantasy League', so it's highlighted.

happytramp

elduggo wrote: »

From my reading of it these are the GC contenders;

velits
roche
dan martin
wiggins
scarponi
nibali
menchov
sastre
van den brocke
rodriguez
Brajkovic/kloden

I'm going to go with Igor Anton. He has to be in with a shout since this is his big goal for the year and he was 45sec ahead of Nibali last year when he crashed.

elduggo

happytramp wrote: »

I'm going to go with Igor Anton. He has to be in with a shout since this is his big goal for the year and he was 45sec ahead of Nibali last year when he crashed.

I thought of Anton but reckon he might be more out for stage wins in the hills. If not though, he definitely has at least as good a shout as at least half of those I mentioned.

ednwireland

Deignan not in vuelta


RadioShack line up for the Vuelta:
Riders; Jani Brajkovic, Matthew Busche, Markel Irizar, Andreas Klöden, Geoffroy Lequatre, Tiago Machado, Nelson Oliveira, Sérgio Paulinho & Haimar Zubeldia

hes riding the tour of colorado instead

elduggo

anyone know where one can find accurate vuelta route information? Even something like those google maps links that someone did for the tour.

got a rush of blood to the head last night and decided to travel over for the last week of this. The Cantabrian stages from the tuesday to the saturday are all in close proximity to each other so very little travel is required to take in some part of all of them. Fly into Bilbao, it looks like less than an hours drive to Noja which seems to be a resort where rather cheap accommodation is available.

anyone else getting similar bloodrushes who might fancy carpooling gimmie a shout.

TheBlaaMan

...has all the details. Here's the main page link http://www.steephill.tv/vuelta-a-espana/#summary
Follow links on RHS of the page for each stage (eg: http://www.steephill.tv/2011/vuelta-a-espana/previews-results/stage-01/) and a day or two in advance a kml file/Google Earth link becomes available, such as this one for Stage 1. http://www.bikemap.net/route/1188661/export.kml

Enjoy Spain !

elduggo

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

...has all the details. Here's the main page link http://www.steephill.tv/vuelta-a-espana/#summary
Follow links on RHS of the page for each stage (eg: http://www.steephill.tv/2011/vuelta-a-espana/previews-results/stage-01/) and a day or two in advance a kml file/Google Earth link becomes available, such as this one for Stage 1. http://www.bikemap.net/route/1188661/export.kml

Enjoy Spain !

excellent. thanks very much

Idleater

elduggo wrote: »

anyone else getting similar bloodrushes who might fancy carpooling gimmie a shout.

I was only thinking the same thing this morning. I was looking at Thursday - Tuesday flights but am quite easy. Will see later after a feasibility study

Was in Bilbao and Vittoria Gastiz two years ago and it's a lovely part of the world.

Dr.Millah

http://www.oleoletv.com/watch/live/stream/online/free/tv/video/channel/feed/link/broadcast/vivo/gratis/p2p/4/august/20/2011/8/118/v-291849/la-vuelta-a-espana-2011.html

seligehgit

elduggo wrote: »

its pretty thin on the ground for serious GC contenders though so anyone putting in a serious effort could end up doing well. And it'd be even thinner on the ground had there not been so many crashes in the first week of the tour. I can't imagine Wiggins or Kloden would have lined up had they finished the tour. No sign of the Ag2R team list yet but all the others are in. From my reading of it these are the GC contenders;

velits
roche
dan martin
wiggins
scarponi
nibali
menchov
sastre
van den brocke
rodriguez
Brajkovic/kloden

Of these you can discount one of Brajkovic/kloden, rodriguez (due to inability to TT) and sastre from mounting a serious overall challenge. I'd expect Roche to get top 10 but no better. Scarponi looks to have slowed in the hills too so I wouldn't expect him to podium. I think Dan will do well (possibly a stage or 2) but can't see him not having a bad day over 3 weeks. I also think Menchov hasn't a good 3 week tour left in his legs, especially after the year that Geox have had (serious light on the longer races). That leaves van den Brocke, wiggins, nibali, velits and (for me) Kloden for the podium spots. I'll put my neck out and say Wiggins for the win, followed by Nibali, followed by Kloden.

Looks to be seriously tough route so this could have makings of the best grand tour of the year (last years was 2nd in my book, after the giro - certainly a lot better than the tour de france).

Pretty weakened line up with no Evans,Schlecks,Contador,Basso,Sanchez?!Forgive my ignorance that this is the first time I'll tune in for the highlights on ITV4.Who's the favourite and top contender from the homeland?That dude Rodriguez seems to get a lot of mentions?

elduggo

seligehgit wrote: »

Pretty weakened line up with no Evans,Schlecks,Contador,Basso,Sanchez?!Forgive my ignorance that this is the first time I'll tune in for the highlights on ITV4.Who's the favourite and top contender from the homeland?That dude Rodriguez seems to get a lot of mentions?

Rodriguez and Anton mostly. Its hard to see a big team like Movistar not having some GC ambitions but looking at their start list no one really jumps out as being a contender. Perhaps a new name will emerge. They'll be talking up Sastre too but hes long past his best IMO.

Barredo, Garate and LL Sanchez are with Rabobank. It remains to be seen what their ambitions are. Barredo would be a breakaway specialist. Garate is a good climber and LL a good all-rounder so either could decide to contest GC.

I sincerely doubt there'll be a Spanish victor here. Overall their top contenders are a little behind the best riders in the race.

elduggo

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

...has all the details. Here's the main page link http://www.steephill.tv/vuelta-a-espana/#summary
Follow links on RHS of the page for each stage (eg: http://www.steephill.tv/2011/vuelta-a-espana/previews-results/stage-01/) and a day or two in advance a kml file/Google Earth link becomes available, such as this one for Stage 1. http://www.bikemap.net/route/1188661/export.kml

Enjoy Spain !

this is most helpful. The google maps are there for all stages. If I take the the link you provided for state 1 and substitute the required stage number it'll take me to a map for that stage. Fantastic. I don't know how people were able to follow bike races before the internet! Thanks again.

Morrisseeee

Fuppin Eurosport and their fuppin tennis means my recording gets fupped up :mad:, so I'm left with this highlight .........yiiiiikes.. .......the commentators :eek:

manwithaplan

elduggo wrote: »

anyone know where one can find accurate vuelta route information? Even something like those google maps links that someone did for the tour.

got a rush of blood to the head last night and decided to travel over for the last week of this. The Cantabrian stages from the tuesday to the saturday are all in close proximity to each other so very little travel is required to take in some part of all of them. Fly into Bilbao, it looks like less than an hours drive to Noja which seems to be a resort where rather cheap accommodation is available.

anyone else getting similar bloodrushes who might fancy carpooling gimmie a shout.

I was in Noja on a campsite for a week a couple of years ago as part of a longer holiday. There's some lovely beaches but the town is very modern. If you're looking for character, I'd look somewhere else. On the other hand, if you just want to put your head down for a few hours between stages and the price is right, go for it.

elduggo

manwithaplan wrote: »

I was in Noja on a campsite for a week a couple of years ago as part of a longer holiday. There's some lovely beaches but the town is very modern. If you're looking for character, I'd look somewhere else. On the other hand, if you just want to put your head down for a few hours between stages and the price is right, go for it.

cheers for the info. I read that in some of the hotel reviews on tripadvisor, so I think my expectations are realistic.

In the context of this trip Noja makes a lot of sense. Theres a stage finish there, a depart in the following stage, while its a short drive to both Bilbao and Pena Cabarga.

Beats me why the Vuelta would want to go there but if its good enough for the Vuelta its good enough for me!

elduggo

elduggo wrote: »

Brajkovic/kloden

Make that Brajkovic. Didn't hear what happened but for Kloden to lose 1.18 yesterday in a fairly flat stage isn't a great indicator of form.

There goes any hope I had in the fantasy vuelta too!

happytramp

elduggo wrote: »

Make that Brajkovic. Didn't hear what happened but for Kloden to lose 1.18 yesterday in a fairly flat stage isn't a great indicator of form.

There goes any hope I had in the fantasy vuelta too!

Yeah, just heard the other day from somewhere that Kloden didn't really plan on pushing himself too much at the Vuelta.

Beasty

Post referring to today's stage moved to the specific stage thread;)

bcmf

This is an image of the crash that broke K Arle Averson's bike.
Apperantly a kid ran out onto the road to grab a water bottle. The kids alright.The bike is shafted and K A A retired from the Vuelta