Spain is an awesome country. It has amazing scenery, culture, cities and chicas… oh, the chicas. Its football competition features the world’s best players, their national team are the reigning World Cup holders, and they boast world champions in tennis, Moto GP, Superbikes and Formula 1. They regularly kick the collective asses of France and Italy, and a lot of other European countries when it comes to bicycle racing, although most of their recent heroes have somewhat of a cloud hanging over them. So why does their Grand Tour hardly raise an eyebrow when compared to the other two big tours, and why the fuck do they still allow cowards on horses armed with poison darts to taunt and kill a beast as noble as el toro for ‘entertainment’?
I can’t really answer the last one, but the fact that La Vuelta is treated like the road racing equivalent of a red-headed stepchild is about as fair as the Corrida itself. To me, and to many pros, it is seen as a tour of redemption. Those who, for one reason or another, either due to bad luck, bad management or bad form suffered a less-than-stellar Tour de France, now get a chance to make something of their season and add a ‘major’ to their palmares. Riders like Jan Ullrich, who in 1999 took the amarillo jersey after sitting out Le Tour with a dicky knee. 2008 saw Contador make amends after his Astana team was prevented from starting le Grande Boucle under a doping cloud. In fact, La Vuelta and doping have more than a passing aquaintance, with Valverde winning while under a pending hearing in 2009, and of course little Robbie Heras getting stripped of his 05 title after an EPO positive. Last year wasn’t without its own scandal, with a positive for 2nd place ‘sensation’ Ezequiel Mosquera dragging La Vuelta’s name through the red dust again. It could well be the dirtiest tour of them all, a race that itself seeks atonement as much as those who race it.
This year’s edition has the same sense of redemption written all over it, with some of Le Tour’s unfortunates having a crack at it. There’s Wiggo, who was in the self-proclaimed form of his life before snapping his twig-like collarbone early on. Can he show us what he had promised on the roads of France in the Dauphine, or will the Spanish heat and steep, long climbs be too much for him? How about Jurgen Van den Broeck, also looking great before his own clavicle calamity ended his July. Invisible Denis will also be there, his Geox team considered not good enough for the Tour, out to show that he’s still a force and add to his two Spanish victories. Other battered old warhorses who will never give up easily are Andreas Klöden and Carlos Sastre, but father time may have finally taken its toll on this duo.
In reality, it’ll probably come down to the younger brigade made up of last year’s winner Vinnie Nibali, J-Rod, Scarponi, and Anton. It could be a blow-out, or one of the best races of the year. We may even get another drug controversy to keep up the status quo of years gone by. Whatever happens is anybody’s guess, which is why this race is one of the hardest to pick for VSP contenders, and one that might even be as exciting, vibrant and colourful as the country it traverses for three hot weeks.
So pour yourself a glass of Sangria, give the start list a long or glancing look, and post your picks before 5am Pacific time (yeah, I don’t know when the hell that is either…) and if you have any doubts, confusion or questions, head to the VSP page for clarification, rules and/or rebuttals. No horsing around, no bullshit.
Buena suerte!
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Okay, okay! What do you want from me??
@all
This better than reading the paper with my coffee!
@Dr C
Power socket? Rule 5 for fucks sake! Cold water and a straight razor!
I did suggest to Mrs Chris the other day that I should shave the guns, she was not massively impressed with the idea and suggested it may not go down too well in terms of the team dynamic as it were. She was also rather dismissive about the advantages of smooth guns, pointing out that there wouldn't be any sort of massage malarkey going on.
@frank
From the bits I've seen, I'm getting into it. There was a moment of panic when Mrs Chris said it was a shame she couldn't catch up on eastenders because she'd switched the Sky+ box of before holiday. Fortunately, the kids had switched it back on.
@ChrisO
Cricket test point 1, a minor correction would be that only the English are any good at it. It's surprisingly popular in at a more grass roots level in the rest of the UK. The England cricket team is really England and Wales. There's more cricket played in Scotland than rugby and the main touring side each summer will usually play a one day match against Scotland (who used to play in the Minor Counties competition, league two as it were of the club competition)
Cricket test point 2, recent disastrous Indian and Australian results and a lack of any future plans after the retirement of their greats are pointing at the occasional ray of English sunlight lasting somewhat longer.
@ChrisO
now that would be a sport...
@ChrisO
After 12 years here I am not sure I've reached this point. I've stopped actually hoping they lose all sports they participate in, but only because I've realised the number of sports I am actually interested in is actually 3. One of them is cycling, where there are other nationalities to worry about. And the other two ... well, suffice to say we aren't the force we used to be.
When I am imagining a match between Victoria Pendleton and Anna Meares, Victoria Pendleton always wins. Mind you, my imagining's involve pump shaped objects rather than pumps.
I've lived the last 44 years in New Zealand but - if a Kiwi side isn't involved - I still sometimes support Mother England, my country of birth.
I say "sometimes" because (God help me) I'd rather see the Convicts win than the Poms, although oddly it's the opposite in the cricket.
@Oli
Awesome, Number 20 was a hardman, bonking into unconsciousness and an ambulance but staying sur la plaque till the death!
@Nof Landrien
It's having kids that pushed me past the Anyone But England tipping point.
Partly because through that you get involved with national federations e.g. they go to a kids cycling club which is part of British Cycling, and inevitably the kids get BC jerseys and start to support British cyclists.
The other part is that although it is unlikely they will ever pull on a national uniform, it isn't impossible (in the case of our eldest, who could be a national-level swimmer or triathlete/pentathlete if he could keep his head screwed on, which isn't going to happen). So while I would love him to compete for Australia it would just be wrong to have grown up in the UK and had all the training and development and then switch.
It isn't fair on the kids to make out that 'their' team is at the bottom of the pile.
Just second-best and make sure they don't forget it :-)
@ChrisO
Chris,
Didn't Tebbit (truly a Prince of Darkness in the Dick Cheney mold) suggest that anyone who didn't have a job "should get on their bike" to look for one? Alas, I don't think he was suggesting la vie velominatus . . .
Chris Anker Sorrenson has got to be one of the ugliest riders on the planet. Wowzers.
What an attack by Froome! Looks Like Cobo is pulling him back though - too bad.
What an awesome finish. Froome and Cobo slugging it out. Incredible comeback to take the win.