La Vuelta: tell me how it felt-a (out of 10)

[wakemalcolm]

I'm generally a cynical optimist with these things but this edition was a bit of a dud for me.

It's good of ASO to introduce GT racing to a new market like Italy. It's a shame the Italians didn't embrace it by broadcasting it on national TV.
There were some good individual race days but there was little in the way of GC peril.

I'm not sure how to fix it. I've listened to arguments that it belongs in May, but that lends it to a flatter parcours which favours the kind of riders who like to do other races in Spring. I've heard people say every July that a tour made up of medium mountain stages would be great. Perhaps it's something worth leaning in towards for the Vuelta.

I know it's unfashionable, but I'm genuinely stoked for Pidcock. It'll be interesting where his career goes next.
4/10

 

[KingstonGraham]

I'm generally one to give very positive marks to races because there's either a good GC race or good individual stages but I gave up on this one to be honest. I can't think of much positive to say.

Starting in Italy for no apparent reason and going to France before not really finishing in Spain, stages not finishing, another stage changing the finishing line with about two minute's notice, no jeopardy in the GC, no jeopardy in the UAE leadership, no interesting sprints that I can remember. TT reduced to an irrelevance and won by the massive favourite.

 

[stage hunter]

1. Because 0 wasnt an option.

EDIT- Pleased for Pidcock. Though am not a fan of Q36.5 and Ryder

 

[Dogtrousers]

Best chair-towing dog. 11/10 would recommend.

 

[Blazing Saddles]

I have already pretty much forgotten this Vuelta. Once again Spanish tv coverage missed much of what action there was.
Not worth more comment other than to say that I never give 1.
2 out of 10.

 

[NorthernSky]

ruined by the protests which is what then wanted i suppose

 

[Dogtrousers]

I seem to have been outrageously generous with 5/10. I thought it was generally meh. And not really because of protests either. If you were to complete all the truncated stages would that have made it better? A longer TT might have made the GC 1-2 a bit closer I suppose.

The problem was that the GC never caught fire. Jonas seemed off colour, not particularly interested, but still had too much for Almeida, whose team were off stage hunting.

The "battle" for the points jersey wasn't interesting either. Mads worked hard hoovering up intermediate sprints which nullified Jasper's hoovering of bunch finishes.

In fact, if anything, the protests livened it up

 

[Paulus]

I gave it a 3.
For some reason I lost interest after the first week and when I did dip in and out of the coverage I was really waiting for a race to break out.

 

[M.R.M]

1 of 10.
GC battle was influenced by the protests. Not in who finally won, since almost everyone picked Vingegaard in PTP, but possibly the non podium positions and how close it might have gotten with a longer TT calculated against the stage where Pidcock and Vingegaard were off riding for the stage etc. Maybe Hindley would have had to attack earlier and sooner with Pidock possibly winning that stage, leaving Pidock to maybe blow up or even counter him for a more secure podium.
There will be other sliding door moments for the white jersey competition and the GC top 10 as well.

Vine had almost no competition for the KOM jersey.
Pedersen had almost no competition for the points jersey.
Philipsen had very little competition for the sprint stages.

If this isn't a 1 of 10, I don't know what is.

 

[Pross]

3 from me, worst GT I can remember watching. The first few days were promising and I was chuffed for Bernal although even that win was tainted by slight farce. The GC was close throughout whilst also managing to be never in doubt.

 

[wakemalcolm]

There's a part of me that's wondering: is this what it would be like if Chris Froome was Danish?

 

[mjr]

This one made it seem like it hasn't really got the organiser's or the UCI's full support. Lots of things seemed badly-handled and the heads of ASO and UCI left them to suffer.

Meanwhile, the racing mostly seemed 'not quite'. Positions in the various contests seemed to get settled early and what little change there was happened slowly.

It seemed a bit of a gutted GT.

 

[mididoctors]

In parts bit was good if not interesting.... But as contest it was won before it started ..... Pidcock was a high . The stage changes were a major thumb down 👎🏾. It was deeply annoying. The race gets a plus for some perfect racing and speed . The standard was high . The protests were depressing and made watching a chore . The sport did not rise to the challenge of the moment and lost the room. The damage this will do to cycling may be much deeper than we think.


1/10

If it had been stage changes neutralisations for weather or something I would give the race a 6

 

[mididoctors]

It is a edition that will be remembered though

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Racing was around a 3/10.

Not helped by the stage alterations/cancellations etc. It was close, but that's mainly because Vingegaard was ill for a chunk of it in the second week. Had he been well we would have seen more attacking, but also a race-over time-gap. UAE dominated the breaks (yawn), what there were of sprints were a walkover for Philipsen and I always forget what a boring climb Angliru is (it's only ever a TT, you can't actually race on it). The only real entertainment wa watching Mads P fighting for a stage.

But some bonus points from an entirely subjective viewpoint:

• Vingegaard getting his third GT, having been pasted by Pog in the last two Tours and "gifting" the last Vuelta he rode to Kuss, and winning three stages doing it
• Mads P winning his second GT points jersey of the year with his characteristic force of will
• The magnificent impromptu podium ceremony, featuring spraying with random bottles of fizz the soigneurs had rustled up, the Danish anthem blasting out of a boom box with lighting effects, and Pidcock's wee daschunds
• Controversially, the people of Spain, for taking a principled stand

So all in all that's a 7/10 for me. My Men™ won and Mads showed himself a True Heavyweight™. Not a great race but an important one for other reasons and one that will definitely be remembered.