ColnagoC40

Would love to see Talansky win, but just because I am bias.

Cavendish may have a few stage wins, but still struggling with his shoulder.

Will be interesting to see how Sagan does.

If I were a gambler, my money would go on Nairo Quintana.

Won't surprise me if we get another DNF from Froomey.

busygizmo

Supposedly Talansky has already said he is going there to support Dan Martin and Ryder. As always though the road decides.

I think Quintana should be the favorite. He is targeting it and has been training accordingly.

Froome is the wildcard IMO. If he has recovered from his crashes and has the form he'll have an advantage over all the GC contenders in the time trials, although since they are shorter than TdF time trial the gaps shouldn't be that big.

I'll be rooting for Horner to defend his title. Hopefully he recovers from the Tour and bronchitis and shows up in geat form. The TTT is there again this year but not as long as last year so not having Cancellara to motor-pace the team like he did last year won't be a huge disadvantage.

Hoping we have the exciting grand tour we've been waiting for this year.

HardyWeinberg

He will need the Sky-macht to help him stay w/ Quintana in the mountains.

busygizmo

True. I'm not sure what the state of their team or Froome are. I think if he is not there or not 100% it makes for a better race. He could take 3-4 minutes out of everyone not named Cancellara or Martin in the time trials. I think Froome took 3:20 out of Quintana in 33Km in last years Tour.

dbf73

when was the last time one rider won two grand tours in the same year?

found the answer to my own question - Contador in 2008 w/ a Giro/Vuelta double and 1998 Pantani w/ a TdF/Giro combo

jyl

Quintana is my pick. He's been training specifically for it and the course is designed to favor climbers over TTers. No Nibali, no Contador, Froome is still wearing a brace. I will root for Horner but I don't think he can stay with Quintana on a long steep climb.

diphthong

not saying he'll win because i think last year was his best chance but purito always makes some waves in the vuelta. in the tour...not so much.

busygizmo

Sounds like Contador is coming but will not contest the GC. Same goes for Betancour.

Uran is listed on the long team for OPQS which could be interesting.

Giacomo 1 

During the Eneco Tour, they mentioned that Froome will be going to the Vuelta and Wiggins will not be there. I haven't seen or heard a peep about Wiggins all season. Where has he been hiding? And why?

I'm rooting for Horner one more time. Great rider, good guy.

Zinger

Quintana

Rodríguez

Would like to see Dan Martin or Hesjedal podium, or at least win a stage, just because I have a Garmin Sharp T shirt. Smart boy Talansky working enthusiastically for the team here.....We'll see more of him later.

Hope to see BMC take a stage win.

Glad to see Craddock on the Giant-Shimano roster although I don't expect him to do much other than support and keep working on some grand tour legs.

diphthong

nice to see contador will be riding. love him or hate him, you can't deny that he animates the gt's he enters..especially the vuelta.

busygizmo

Wiggins was on the track helping England to a silver in the Commonwealth Games and is supposed to defend his title at the Tour of Britain then onto the time trial at Worlds. Pretty clear Team Sky is Team Froome these days.

Quintana just won the Queen stage at Burgos. If Horner get his chest infection cleared up I think those two are going to be in for a great battle in the mountains. Purito should be in with a podium shot, Contador maybe for a late stage win but he only has ten days back on the bike at this point.

dahoss2002

Gambler?? Quintana might be the betting favorite. Definitely no longshot. Good pick though!!

Ken Brown

Rohan Denis is riding for BMC? According to Wikipedia he just moved from Garmin to BMC. I can't remember another rider changing teams mid-season, but I'm sure people here will come up with examples.

Contador not riding for the GC? That's what he says but I wouldn't bet on it, if he is strong enough.

They should have a category for best rider injured in the Tour de France. Could be a great contest between Froome and Contador. I am just kidding, of course.

Gotta put my money on Quintana, unless Froome is in top form, then it is a toss-up.

DiabloScott

Quintana for #4 ... that's some serious company.

Pozzovivo was a longshot who will now DNS with a broken leg.

I'd like to see Gesink or Tendam show well because DUTCH.

jyl

Quintana looked good on the Burgos queen stage, closed on and passed the break and then rode away from Moreno, even though the climb wasn't that steep and hence not perfect terrain for him. And he came in 2nd on the ITT stage.

Horner looked pretty good at the TdF despite being recently back from a very serious injury. If he hadn't babysat Costa he could have done even better.

I doubt Contador will be ready to GC given his recent injury. Froome might be.

Purito and Valverde will be tres motivated too.

I love the Vuelta and think this year will be great.

sprince

Contador "will not contest the GC"? He may say that, or even believe that, but that's just not in his nature. Uran is one of my favorites to win, but I'll be rooting for Horner.

Flekktarn

I think Froome is the favorite nr 1 because Vuelta seems to have a lot of time trials. But it's close with Quintana.

jyl

Horner withdrawn from Vuelta because of low cortisol levels.

Background on cortisol is below. Low levels indicate either a health problem or cortisone use. Horner has been sick (bronchitis contracted at the TdF) and has been taking cortisone with a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), so double whammy.

I'm sad. Horner is the defending champ, and was looking good at the Tour of Utah which is good prep for the Vuelta. He was going to have a tough time of it with the TTs, but in my mind was a good bet for the podium at least.

inrng : mpcc cortisol test
The MPCC “health check” sees riders on member teams tested for their cortisol levels. Like an anti-doping test this is random, there’s little warning and the tests could occur at any race. Low cortisol levels are indicative of cortisone doping (or approved cortisone use by a Therpeutic Use Exemption) or a health problem, perhaps a disease or a concern with the adrenal glands so it’s good to stop them in any case. If the rider were to, say, crash then the body would respond by producing cortisol for the inflammation but a rider with low levels would not and therefore the body’s natural ability to recover is endangered. This is particularly worrying in the case of a head injury where the body cannot produce its own anti-inflammation response to a cranial injury. This testing is above and beyond anything WADA or the UCI do, the use of cortisone is legal these days. It was banned in the past and WADA is monitoring with a view to banning it again but this is far from certain.

Leinster

If Contador isn't racing for gc and Majka and Rogers are in Colorado, who's leading Saxo at the Vuelta? Roche?

Edit; Roche isn't at the Vuelta either. It looks like Bertie is going to do what he can, but he's accepted that he won't be 100%.
https://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racin...-espana-133548

canam73

I think that explains what the plan was all along.

Oleg never seemed too convinced that AC wouldn't be racing, and if everything Contador says was true he would have quit when he got his doping suspension.

Leinster

Yeah, I remembered after posting that Roche was a team leader at the Giro, and he'd hardly be competing in 3 GTs in a year.

I'm sure Oleg's "All along" plan was for Contador to win the Tour/Vuelta double, right up until he fell off his bike, and it's all a bit "make it up as we go" for the rest of the season.

Giacomo 1 

I noticed that the top tier sprinters all seem to be absent for the Veulta.

No Kittel, Cav, Kristoff or Greipel listed. Sagan should really be able to do some damage here, unlike in the TDF, but my money is on Bennati to come up big here in the sprints for Tinkoff...

Monkey D.Luffy

I'd go for Quintana or Valverde.

Giacomo 1 

Well, it's not like your out on a limb with that prediction now that the Team TT is over and Movistar kicked butt...