With only a few hours left until the start of the (earlier than usual) Tour of Spain, enter your predictions for this years Vuelta:
The Red Jersey for the general individual time classification - top three
The Green Jersey for the general points classification - top three
The Polka Dot Jersey for the best climber classification - top three
The White Jersey for the best allrounder - top three
Team classification - top three teams overall
The Lanterne Rouge - last placed finisher overall
If you predict someone in a top three, and predict their place correctly in that top three, you get 2 points for that rider.
If you predict someone in a top three but predict their place incorrectly in that top three, you get 1 point for that rider.
Team classification is also on the same basis.
If you manage to miraculously pick the Lanterne Rouge, you'll get 5 points, and should remember to buy a lottery ticket every week.
The riders list is on the Vuelta website:
http://www.lavuelta.com/11/en/equipos/participantes.html?e=1
Closing deadline for entries is the start of the race on Saturday.
Live TV coverage on both ITV4 and Eurosport, plus highlights in the evening too.
Cycling results are notoriously hard to predict, but it's only for fun.
If you think you've done well enough to win overall, post your total points score on this thread after the end of the race on September 11th, and I'll verify to confirm the winner asap afterwards.
Good luck!
Tour of Spain 2011 - your predictions?
posted on 19/8/11
sorry mate, i aint no good with the prediction malarky but i live in alfaz del pi , so tomorrow im bobbing down to benidrom to catch the TTT. might go up to la nucia on sunday also for the start of the second stage.
posted on 20/8/11
Nice one Senor Cheese - wish I could be there to see a few stages, and the TTT looks so good with everyone all in their aero gear.
O.k, entries closing soon, so here's mine:
Red
Anton
Nibali
Wiggins
Green
Cavendish
Farrar
Petacchi
Polka
Montcoutie
Anton
Rodriguez
White
Anton
Nibali
Rodriguez
Team
Euskaltel
Movistar
Garmin-Cervelo
Lanterne Rouge
Doi
posted on 20/8/11
took over 800 fotos earlier. didnt go into benidorm, just headed up near terra natura, perfect spot at the hairpin, caught 2 of the crashes. super hot day though, and tomorrow is hotter!!! dont know how they can cope to be honest.
anyway, perfectly pleasurable 2 hours spent this avo watching that.
best of luck.
posted on 3/9/11
I think Wiggins will win now. I hope so anyway for a couple of reasons. Firstly i have £25 quid on him to win at 2-1( although wish i had put it on when he was 14-1) Secondly he is a genuinely decent bloke and a great cyclist. If he wins he will become the first brit to ever win a grand tour and will take over from the great Robert Millar as the greatest cyclist Britain has ever produced.
posted on 5/9/11
Some of the ramps up that Angliru climb were pure murder - not even the motorbikes doing the TV coverage could cope!
Anyhow...Wiggo could still win it, maybe even Froome could - but they need to play their cards well and hope Cobo cracks under pressure.
Froome's been awesome so far and could very well be in the red jersey right now if he hadn't spent so much time working for Wiggins.
Do you blame Sky for backing BW exclusively rather than letting Froome play a free role?
Tough tactical decisions - reminded me a bit of all the work Pierre Rolland put in to defend Voeckler's yellow jersey in this year's TDF when Rolland clearly had so much more in his legs.
posted on 6/9/11
thems the team rules.
posted on 7/9/11
They're not team 'rules', they're decisions that have to be made by the tam's sporting director.
Hindsight may say otherwise, but ultimately I think it was the right thing to do because I don't think anyone would've expected Froome to perform to the level he has done.
It's going to be very hard to make up that time with the stages remaining, but having two riders so close behind Cobo opens up Sky's options much more.
Incidentally, less than a year ago Cobo wanted to pack cycling in. Even after his win on the Angliru he said that cycling was not his passion, but his sport and his profession.
posted on 6/5/15
September 2002: Salman Khan's car runs over five people sleeping on a Mumbai street, killing a homeless man and injuring four others
October 2002: Khan charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder - arrested but granted bail
May 2003: Court rejects his plea to drop culpable homicide charge
June 2003: Mumbai high court drops culpable homicide charge; actor is then tried for rash and negligent driving
October 2007: Prime witness, a constable who served in his security detail, dies
March 2015: Khan tells the court he was not drunk and his driver was behind the wheel
May 2015: Khan found guilty