Vuelta a Espana 2012: 18 August - 09 September

[Bianchisti]

Game on! Hope to get in some coverage!

[tombeej]

Today:

Teams presentation @ 17h55 on channel 206.

Stage 1 (TTT) @ 18h55 on channel 206

[crasher]

Looking forward to this

['Dale]

Climbers' fest!

[Heckflosse]

Climbers' fest!

Agreed!! Legs,legs, legs.

[Heckflosse]

Good to see Contador back.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Movistar was a surprise winner (at least to me) in the TTT yesterday. Seems like Valverde and Cobo are in good shape and ready to defend the title. Sky went out like a train and were 13 sec's up at the first check, but faded badly near the end, Saxo Tinkoff (or who ever they are now) seemed to also fall into the same trap but to me 'Berto was doing looooooooooong pulls in the front, seems like the team may be "wanting" a little.

 

Either way, nice to see old 'Berto back, I see he says he will just lay low and stay out of trouble in the first week, but has earmarked the two consecutive mountain top finishes in the second week as his point where the race will really start for the GC.

[Kranswurm]

Live now on S6

['Dale]

Movistar, I laaik...

Nice TTT 1st spot reward for them as one of the local teams.

[Cav']

The sprint field is quite interesting. No clear favourites, anyone could win stages here. And which teams will feel confident enough in their sprinter to take the stage? Argos will likely do some work, considering they don't have much of a chance at winning anything else, but besides them, I can't see Liquigas chasing groups to lead out Viviani, Movistar wasting a lot of energy on Rojas, or Sky working for Swift.

['Dale]

Nice in for Argos.

Like it when a smaller team gets a win.

 

Eish! Temp reached 40 in the north of Spain today.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Quite an exciting finish I thought, anything but flat if I was seeing it correctly, but all that aside, what an incredibly beautiful town they finished in, I just love that old architectural feel about the buildings.

 

Anyway, tomorrow should be interesting, they start climbing right from the "Get Go" and it doesn't let up all day. Thats also a bit of a wall at the finish which should suit someone like Rodriguez, maybe even 'Berto will give it a shot.?

 

 

http://www.lavuelta.com/12/imgrecorrido/3_perfil.png

[Capcha]

Nice in for Argos.

Like it when a smaller team gets a win.

 

Eish! Temp reached 40 in the north of Spain today.

When I was there last month, there wasn't a day under 34 degrees. That area is HOT. Explains why I'm sick now in Cape Town

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Very hot in Spain right now, the reflected heat off the road must be extreme. I remember last year was the same, I cant remember the water quantities they dished out but it was huge.

['Dale]

Very hot in Spain right now, the reflected heat off the road must be extreme. I remember last year was the same, I cant remember the water quantities they dished out but it was huge.

 

Yeah, imagine the heat with all the climbing the riders have to do.

At least it should be cooler at altitude... and there'll be lots of altitude on this GT.

[dee jay]

Finally... finally... a tour that is shaping up to be interesting. Grimpeurs with some punch & panache! 'Berto is back and no Team Sky train in sight...