(upbeat Spanish music playing)
- Hola! - Hola.
Yeah. Welcome to GCN's Vuelta a España Preview Show
from Tapas Revolution in Bath.
Being the third and final grand tour of the year.
A slot it's held since 1995 where it moved from it's
April slot which was traditional,
to where it sits now in August and September.
But Matt, does that make the
Vuelta an after thought?
- No, it certainly doesn't.
Since the introduction of the shore to more explosive stages
without a shadow of a doubt the Vuelta has become one of the
exciting races of the year.
And this year I don't think will be any different.
- [Dan] Yep, I'd agree with that.
So the 21 stages stack up like this
it all opens up with a short team time trial in France
which we'll get onto later.
There is a longer individual time trial
in the final week of racing.
Then there are five mountain stages, eight hilly stages,
and six apparently flat stages.
Though when you bear in mind that one of these
so called flat stages finished at a high altitude.
- what's that about?
- Yeah, exactly.
Don't expect to see too many sprinters show up this year.
Because it is not a race for them.
- Touch of tapas Dan?
- I'm gonna have a sip of beer.
(upbeat music)
- Let's take a closer look then at some of the
key stages out of those 21.
For the third time it's history the Vuelta starts outside
the boarders of Spain in Nîmes in Franc
to be perfectly precise.
It's a 14 kilometre team timed time trial for stage one.
So there will be some gaps opening up amongst the GC
riders, though being a short team time trial hopefully
those gaps won't be too big.
- [Matt] Stage one stays in France and is one of the few
opportunities for the sprinters in this years
Vuelta to shine.
And then in typical Vuelta fashion
already in stage three we head into the mountains.
Into Andorra, which come to think of it Dan we have
visited Andorra quite a few occasions in the last few years.
In both the tour and the Vuelta,
must be a pretty popular destination.
- Yeah, must be the third or fourth time
over the last couple of years.
Now another thing the Vuelta is known for these days
is the short very punchy climbing finishes.
And one of those comes already on stage five in Alcossebre.
That is only 4.4 kilometres an average gradient of 6.6%
but it is very irregular so there are some pictures at 16%.
I have to say I am a huge fan of those sorts of finishes.
I am very much looking forward to watching that stage.
- [Matt] Definitely and for the same reason
I am really looking forward to stage nine which finishes
at summit of Alto de Puig Licenca.
Now I am not too sure if Puig directly translates into
English as pig.
- Don't think so.
- But it really should because listen to the stats
of this climb, 4.1 kilometres in length
10% average gradient with maximum pitches of 19%.
- 19, that is a puig
- It is a proper puig, now you might actually remember
this climb Dan because back in 2015 it's where
Tom Dumoulin attacked Chris Froome, dropped him, only to
be caught again, and then staged a quite remarkable
comeback to win the stage.
Therefore announcing himself to the world
as a Grand Tour contender.
It is just a shame that he is not here this year actually.
- It is actually, because he just won the Giro of course
and he has just won the BinckBank tour.
So he is on form.
- He is flying
- Stage 11 though finished atop an astronomical observatory
- That's ridiculous.
- Yeah, well it is actually 2,000 metres above sea level
that is at Calar Alto.
There is another mountain top finish on stage 14.
Have a look at this for a brutal stage
the day after on the stage 15.
This is one of those short Vuelta stage
which we talked about earlier on
in our preview on 130 kilometres.
But it finishes up at Sierra Nevada,
now there is a 28 kilometre climb to get to the top
of the Alto Hoya DEeLa Mora.
Definitely something I think we should Lasty
up in the not to distant future.
- This is what I thought was the top.
- And the day after that is a rest day, but straight
after the rest day they've got a long 40 kilometre
individual time trial which is sure to have a big
bearing on the outcome of this years race.
- Right that does sound pretty challenging,
but what about this stage 17 check out this profile
from the Vuelta Espana's twitter feed in relation
to the summit finish at Alto De Los Machucos.
It is absolutely brutal and it should
actually translate to masochistic
- It doesn't on this particular case but the locals
do say the climb has rampas inhumanas
which means inhuman ramps.
- [Dan] I think that is the correct translation to that one.
- [Matt] I think it is pretty inhuman.
Plus check out the road surface it is
even big concrete slabs.
- [Dan] I am definitely going to be tuning in
for that stage.
The last opportunity though for a big GC shake up
will come in the the penultimate day of the race.
But what a shake up it could be because that stage
finishes on top of the fearsome L'angliru.
Now a lot of you out there will have heard about this climb
or will have seen it used at the race before.
But regardless of weather you know it or not
this really is a must watch.
The gradient averages 10% for 12.5 kilometres.
But there are pitches of 24% and in fact the last
6 kilometres average 15%.
I have to say no words or gradient numbers can
do this climb justice, just tune in and make sure
that you watch this stage.
Although, I am tempted to use my new favourite
term rampas inhumanas.
I think that describes this climb perfectly.
- Rampas inhumanas
(relaxed Spanish music)
- So, that's the course.
Let's have a look at the contenders.
And we are going to start with one man,
and that is Chris Froome of Team Sky.
Agonisingly he has finished second in the Vuelta
on three separate occasions.
And without a shadow of a doubt the hardest of those
second places to swallow would be last year
where he lost it because of a tactical error
more than pure physical performance.
And this year is the first time that Froome has publicly
stated that he is going for the
Tour De France and Vuelta double.
- No one in the modern era has done the
Tour of Vuelta double.
Especially since the Vuelta has moved
to being after the tour.
It's never been done before so in a way that's
an even bigger challenge for me than just targeting
the Tour De France.
So, motivation couldn't be higher at this point.
- So could we see the first Grand Tour
back to back in the same season since Marco Pantani in 1998?
- [Dan] Well it certainly seems like
it's in the cards doesn't it?
Although he does have a few former winners
of this race to contend with along the way.
Not least Albert Contador, as you well know is doing
his last race here at the Vuelta Espana.
It's a race he has won
on more than one occasion perviously.
It will be very interesting to see
weather he goes out with a bang or not.
We've also got Fabio Aru who won here back in 2015.
He was showing some great signs of climbing
form at the Tour de France a month or so ago.
We then have Romain Bardet who finished on the podium
at the Tour De France for the last two years in succession.
Although we are not really sure weather he is going
for the GC here or looking to pick out stage wins.
Another former winner is Vincenzo Niabali.
I think he is going to have quite a lot of pressure on his
shoulders, because there's been
quite tough first year in the
world tour for Bahrain Merida.
However, despite all those previous winners the two
that I am really looking forward
to watching are the Yates twins.
- [Matt] Yeah this'll be the first grand tour that the
Yates twins have done together since the
2015 Tour De France, and they've come such
a long way since then.
And the Spanish climbs really do suit them.
Especially when you add in
to the mix Esteban Chaves as well.
That'll be a three pronged assault into
the side of Chris Froome and Team Sky.
- Three thorns, prickly.
- Very prickly.
- Prickly team Orica's got.
- Now in the absence of Tom Dumoulin will be
Wilco Kelderman who leads the assault
for the GC for Team Sunweb.
Unless of course Warren Barguil changed his mind and
decides to go for the overall.
And then we've got Rafal Majka who'll be trying to
make ammends for crashing out on the Tour de France
for Bora-Hansgrohe.
- Yeah there are quite a few riders to watch aren't there?
But I am going to throw another on into the mix.
Someone I am really looking forward to watching
actually at this year's Vuelta and that is
Steven Kruijswijk of team Lotto NL-Jumbo.
Now I just never felt like he was quite at his best
at this years Giro d'Italia.
But if he is at his best here at the Vuelta
I really think he's got a decent shot at winning it.
When you think of how well he was going at the 2016
Giro d'Italia plus he's got George Bennet for company
the New Zealander who continues to make improvements
year and year.
- I've got another rider for you to watch, Mark Sawyer.
- [Dan] Who?
- [Matt] Marc Soler in the absence of Quintana and Valverde
he may actually get the chance to lead Movistar
in the general classification,
and if you haven't heard of him now mark my words
you will do soon because like these riders before him
Chaves, Quintata, Warren Barguil,
he actually won the Tour de LlAvenir two years ago
and I think he is a mega talent.
- I'm inclined to agree actually I do remember his name now.
There is another rider actually in the race this year who
has previously won the Tour of l'Avenir
and that is team Astana's
Miguele Angel Lopez, superman himself.
Likely it is that he will have to work for his teammate
Fabio Aru but if he comes through unscathed
let's not forget he has had quite a lot of bad luck
the last few years with injuries and crashes but if he
does come through unscathed over those three weeks
he definitely be up there with the best climbers in the
race, and whilst we are on the subject of young riders
let's give another mention to Luxembourg's champion
Bob Jungels of Quickstep who has been up there in the Giro
for the last couple of years.
He is improving with age and is always very consistent so
good bet for the top 10.
- Definitely, BMC have a few options they have
Sammy Sanchez, Tejay Van Garderen, also Rohan Dennis.
And let's give a shout out to the ever consistent
Louis Meintjes as well of UAE Team Emirates.
And what about Ilna Zakarin of Katusha, always seems
like the Russian is close to a grand tour upset.
- Actually you are right, it wouldn't be a surprise
in some ways to see him win the race
he is that kind of talent.
So, those are the many GC contenders for the Vuelta
this year, but what about the sprinters?
Let's get on to them.
- Yeah, what about the sprinters Dan?
- Uh, are there any?
- There's a .... um... not many.
- Well looking down the start list it does appear that
the Spanish steep climbs have put the sprinters off.
But we do have John Degenkolb multiple winner of stage
here at the Vuelta Espana before.
He'll be riding for Trek Segafrado.
And then we've got GCN's head of fashion
Adam Blythe riding for Aqua Blue Sport.
In fact he could be sporting some nice new Aqua Blue
Sport special edition kit for the Vuelta.
I don't think he is in a position to deem it hot
or not because he is going to be wearing it.
So, let's do it ourselves.
Here is a picture of it, hot or not?
- [Matt] For me, that's a hot.
I think that looks very nice indeed.
Especially if it doesn't rain.
- I think he carries it off well.
So those are all of the contenders and the stages
to watch out for this year.
This is the point at which we give the kiss of death
to a couple of the main GC contenders with
GCN's Vuelta predictions.
(upbeat Spanish music)
- Vincenzo Nibali
- Christopher Froome
The reason, Dan, that I'm going with Chris Froome
aside from the obvious one that he is the out and out
favourite I'm playing it safe
is that I just can't see by him.
He won the Tour de France and he wasn't even
in the best of form.
He's had a low key approach to the tour
but he has picked up his form, he has had a training camp
post tour, and the fact that he has gone out
now publicly to say that he wants to do the double.
I think means a lot I think his focus has been different
I think he is going to be sharp.
I can not see past him.
For me he is the out and out clear favourite
and it could only be a tactical error
that he loses the race.
- {dan] Well I am inclined to agree with you
but I had to go with someone different, for obvious reasons.
So I went with Vincenzo Nibali because
I think he is quite the under rated rider in many ways.
Despite how famous he is and the fact that he's won
three grand tours not many riders can claim that
in their palmares, although of course
Alberto Contador has done the same.
But I think the fact that he flies under the radar slightly
with us at GCN and also with the press in someways
could work to his benefit.
Because he is the shark of messina.
He is shark ready to pounce.
- This could be the first time we ever see
a shark pouncing in the Vuelta this year.
- Watch out Chris Froome that is a dangerous rival.
- Definitely, well your heading off
to that Vuelta race soon.
- I am yeah.
- And if you don't want to miss any Vuelta content,
or any cycling content, how about clicking on the globe
to subscribe to the Global Cycling Network.
It is absolutely free, now for a little bit more of
Vuelta Espana content how about clicking just down here
for our top ten riders to watch out for / keep an eye on
essentially the same thing.
- Or if you would like some slightly different content
just down here Matt and I found out weather flat pedals
or clipless pedals are the best out on the open road.