Seriously. Is it almost September? This was not the agreement, this was supposed to be an endless summer. And all you A-Holes down there in the Antipodes are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, enjoying longer days and shorter nights. I don’t need to tell you where you can take that, but it’s dark and it smells. I have no patience for the changing of seasons when it means I’m going to be benching Number One and busting out the headlight.
I’m not going to lie to you; the Vuelta is my least-favorite race of the year. Part of it is the parcours-it’s hard enough to get excited about flat sprint stages in the Tour, but these stages in central Spain that go down a straight freeway for hours are just too much for my brain to find interesting. Hey look! There’s another shrub! Wasn’t he a President at one point? There will be some redeeming points of the race, I’m sure, and the shit-steep climbs they dot along the route are certain to be highlights of the season. But after you do the math, this is the grand tour with the weakest field, the worst route, and-most damning-the strongest signal that Summer is coming to an end on the half of the world that matters.
I can’t be bothered to sort out the route and what stages are going to matter, but I’ll tell you this: for the last few years, the winner of the Vuelta VSP has won the VSP GC. A few years back, @Marcus complained that he only lost the VSP because @Nate used the second Rest Day Swaps to his advantage to take the win, but after heavily increasing the penalties, he kept losing. Typical of a man who posts photos of his todger on a Cycling site. (@Nate, your win was clean according to the VCI.) Speaking of which, at worst the Vuelta will distract from Pat McQuaid and his bid for losing the UCI Presidency.
He has a strong lead in the 2013 Anti-V competition, however.
Check the start list, get your picks in, and don’t Delgado this baby; it could be your ticket to the shop apron. Bon chance.
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Dan Martin is hard as fuck. Tumbled, looked really shaken and in a lot of pain (pretty much staggering around like a lost sheep). New bike, back and working on catching the peloton which is going full gas!! Chapeau!
@Deakus
Is he back on yet??? They are flying from what the live update ticker is saying!
@Buck Rogers
He was back on the bike within 2 or 3 minutes but there was only 11kms to go. He had team mates to pace him back but it was never really going to happen which makes it even more impressive that he gave it his all...
Whew! Another great escape to watch at the end there. That finish couldn't have been much closer. Hopefully, today was a sign Gilbert is getting back where he needs to be. I'd hate to see him go winless this year.
@Deakus
Fuck'in live updates, painful! So how much time did D Martin end up losing today?
@Buck Rogers Don't know yet...the one irritating thing about the Vuelta coverage is they finish the program about 3 minutes after the finish. You don't get any interviews, GC standings or even see the podium awards...
I would imagine he lost between 2 and 6 minutes but that is put guesswork....
@Deakus
Yeah. Cyclingnews just signed off on their LiveUpdate ticker without saying how much D Martin lost today, which, in the grand scheme of the overall for this Grand Tour is probably the most important thing to date!
D Martin "only" lost 1:33 but now sits between Slammy Sammy Dirty Sanchez and Hay-Now or however the fuck you say it. Not great company in my opinion.
@Buck Rogers
Tell me about it! I have Danny Boy at #3 on my VSP.
I do hope Gilbert gets a win this year. He's a deserving, quality rider and I don't want to read a whole lot of "curse of the rainbow jersey" articles. Pipped by Stybar today but it was damn close and you've got to admit, the man gave it a helluva shot.
This Vuelta's producing some pretty good racing so far. The lead picture bugs the hell out of me though, as I can't look at Cobo and not see someone who somehow managed to avoid a positive test. The socks don't win him any credit either.
I'm assuming most of you kids read this, which sounds like it's going to be a helluva good read: http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/sean-kelly-hunger if this excerpt is any indication. Lots of great juicy tidbits!
@Mirko
They say if he loses 4kg he could be a contender 4kg!!