MinnMan

Is ANYbody else following the Vuelta? it's been an unbelievably exciting race, in stark contrast to the TdF. Today's finish on the Mirador de Ézaro (much of the last 2 km is above 15%, and large sections above 20%) was truly exciting.

If you've been missing it, go over to steephill.tv and catch up. really.

Mr. Beanz

The other tours always seem to be more exciting, and tuogher then the TDF as far as climbs etc. The TDF is all commercial now it seems. Oh well.

Thanks for the tip, I didn't realize I could watch it on steephill now that the universal channel was removed from our tv, thanks for the tip.

stapfam

I have a genuine excuse at present to lie on the couch and watch La Vuelta every day right now. Some of those flat days are boring but I still think that the TDF is the ultimate. There are Teams in la Vuelta that are not in the top league whereas the TDF has the top ones.

TDF is the big one and they have the experience to make it work. Still a good race though.

MinnMan

The teams for the Vuelta may not be stacked as deep as at the TdF, but no one can deny that Froome and Contador are world class.[Deleted the rest of this post owing to spoiler content.]

chasm54

Do you think we could confine spoilers to the pro cycling forum, please? Unusually, I had not yet had an opportunity to watch the stage.

MinnMan

You are right. My apologies. Spoiler content deleted in case I was wrecking it for anybody else.

Tom Stormcrowe

And it's moved to Pro Cycling......sorry, but it's the forum for this stuff.

MinnMan

...where it will die. Yeah, I know it's the rules. But the point of the post was to bring the Veulta to an audience which I knew was mostly not paying attention. And after a "Lance Armstrong DID/DID NOT dope thread went on for maybe 100+ posts in the 50+ forum, I figured this could also be slipped in.

It's OK Tom, you are just doing your job and I appreciate those of you who keep bf from devolving into complete chaos.

amit_shah25 

I am not getting chance to see the whole coverage, but definitely watching the stage recaps religiously. And I agree. Vuelta has been lot more interesting to watch and follow than TDF. Really missed contador there !

Commodus

It's been a brilliant race so far. Looking forward to the weekend.

gear

This years Vuelta has been great.

ultraman6970

Awesome vuelta... agree.

Giro was good, TdF so so... vuelta has been awesome and tomorrow will be even better because Contador needs to get time back again, the other guys too and who knows, rodriguez might get time from the other guys again and even win another stage... havent seen such stuff since the golden times of cycling when Hinault and others were racing.

cthenn

And what's so great about this race, is you can just see it's a different kind of racing. No more effortless climbing up 10% grades. These guys are SUFFERING. It's so much more exciting when guys keep passing each other and then falling back. Not like 10 years ago when everyone was marked with ease before the final crushing blow was delivered with a 5k non-stop attack.

But at the same time, the riders in this race are the more attacking style, not the boring monotonous Wiggins style of absolute control by his minions. Only if Andy Schleck was in this race, and on form, would this be better. We need a TdF with Alberto, Purito, Froome (off the Wiggins leash), Schleck, etc. to really make it exciting!

ultraman6970

After seeing how the vuelta is going i really doubt Schlep would have had a chance, even rodriguez would have smoked him in the ITT, in the mountains the war has been such a way that Schlep is really not used to at all. High rolling like sky in the flats and the climbs plus nasty attacks, AS is not used to that at all, besides he only wants to win the tour, no interest in the vuelta or Giro, and now that his bro sure might get a ban, wouldn't surprise me that he might be off the races until brother Frank is back. To much of a wuzzy to race w/o his safety blanket.

The one I would have love to see in this race was the canadian... hesjedal and talansky would have made a good couple for garmin.

Caretaker

I'm watching it everyday live on Eurosport and enjoying it.

It's competitive, the stages are shorter with mountain top finishes on a lot of days and the bonus time for stage places adds to the excitement. Also the weather has been good which is nice.

What does it matter how it compares to the TdF? It's the Grand Tour that's on now and the next TdF is what? Ten months away.

wabbit

i've always really loved the vuelta, but the Giro really is my favourite grand tour....there's nothing like those stages in the dolomites. One reason I always liked the tour and vuelta was No Lance! The tour became so predictable when he was winning all the time, but the giro was always so much fun to watch. It almost never has the same winner from one year to another, except for Simoni, in recent years.

TommyL

I 've never been as impressed watching a race as I was today watching riders cross the line on Bola del Mundo. Usually I turn it off after the stage is won and the favorites have finished. Today I just sat with amazement as every single rider looked ready to fall over as the team support ran out to help them away from the finish. Amazing job by the whole peloton and especially the top 10 overall and guys in the break (Porte, wow). Awesome!