You know these races are fixed, right?

Quintana isn't riding the Vuelta..............

Rodrigues and Valverde are

Nibali is...................

I wonder why Nibali missed the Tour?...........OK, he rode the Giro, but most of the top men can ride 2 grand tours a season

There's a difference between riding the Giro and the Vuelta and the Giro and the Tour though - the latter two are much closer together than the Giro/Vuelta are.

Nibali wanted to win the Giro, so focused all his efforts on that. Now that Quintana and Froome aren't riding the Vuelta, he's got a decent chance of a podium in that.

Not to ride to win though, not these days, not without questions being asked.

In the mid 90's the calendar was changed. The perception was the The Giro, starting in late May was 'just' a ride-into-form warm uo for the Tour. Indurain rode and won it as such. Then the start date was put back meaning a bigger gap between the 2 theoretically meant that any form gained in the Giro would be lost in the space between the 2. The Giro as a race became much better.

Similarly, the Vuelta was moved from April to September.

Another complicating factor might be the rise in prominence of the Tour of California (overlaps with the Giro) and the Tour of Colorado (overlaps with the Vuelta).

I guess they had a prior agreement to race!

Quite impressive though.

What we really need is:

- Nibali to win the Vuelta
- Wiggins to decide he wants to put Froome in his place
- Quintana to work on his TT

Huge 4 way showdown in next year's TDF

Well Team Sky don't do two-man leaderships, so I really don't see how Wiggins and Froome could both ride the Tour on the same team unless one of them agrees not to fight for GC.

And I don't see Froome giving up the Tour leadership anytime soon, especially as he's proven himself to be a better climber than Wiggins and almost as good a time-triallist. The route is pretty much guaranteed to suit Froome more than Wiggins.

To win the World Championship in Firenze. Well that's what he said in an interview on Eurosport.

cheers...........I hadn't seen that

I do believe that Firenze is what they call Florence so if they're going in the City for the time trials it should be quite scenic

In the meantime I'm really looking forward to the Vuelta...........it's always been my favourite. Less frenetic and lower profile than the Tour............and I like the scenery, particularly of course the old cities but even the desert and the mountains

It looks like a really tough course this year with 11 summit finishes............highlight could be the Angliru

Well the Vuleta to me is riding down Spanish motorways, no TT's... well 1, and sharp climbs to favour the Spanish riders.

I love the Giro and Le Tour better to be honest.

From Twitter @itvcycling:
"We will be showing highlights of La Vuelta this year, on @ITV4 and online"

So no live coverage on ITV4 this year it would seem.

that's a poor show

even tho' I usually watch on ES it's nice to have ITV4 as a back-up in case ES are stuck showing some boring tennis that is over-running..............

I usually start here for links to watch online....

http://www.steephill.tv/vuelta-a-espana/

Sky are sending a strong team for the Tour of Poland which starts on Saturday................Wiggo, Henao, Uran, Swift, Pate and Rowe

Amongst other big names taking part - Nibali, Scarponi, Hushovd, Phinney, both Sorensons, Basso, Cancellara, Cobo

Also noticed that Davide Rebellin is still riding - he's turning out for a domestic Polish team............he must be in his 40s now ! He's also a throwback to the bad old days along with Basso.........

UCI world rankings.... Wonder who's at number 1?

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/c...052329982.html

Wiggins didn't win it last year - you've got to win stages as well as overall races. Obviously Froome manages both.

Just watching the last stage of the Tour of Wallonie - some vintage tantrums from Kolobnev, who had a mechanical on the last climb, which cost him the overall Tour.

Wiggins won 2 stages in 2012. I suppose according to you Indurain didn't win the Tour either.

Eh? I was just commenting on how that one particular ranking was being scored.

It's like it waited for the 2 women out taking an afternoon stroll to get that bit closer before he threw his bike....

Hardly in Wiggins class, when he threw his bike away, it parked itself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhdVr2Cn1OY

Just heard on the radio news that the Government will be stumping up half the cost of holding the first 3 days of the Tour in England next year - about 10 million quid

I didn't find the fact that they're doing this amazing...........I find the fact that they're announcing it now amazing !

Surely this had to be sorted out before the bid was put in ?.............I mean you don't put a bid in without knowing that you have the money. And the ASO wouldn't have accepted the bid unless the money was guaranteed

Is this just a case of the Government re-announcing something that was settled a year or two ago to try and get a bit of reflected glory from the Tour win?

Or am I just being cynical................

Saxo-Bank Tinkov have lost the Tinkov!

Oleg Tinkov has had enough of Riis and has started his own team.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...8&l=46f0656b0e

Or he could on a p*** take again... You never know with this man.

Isn't this cash for filling up the pot holes in the road?

Benefits the Tour and the good people of Yorkshire at the same time....

Or they could be spending the money on a big fireworks display... I'm hoping for the fireworks display myself!

See conservative MP Julian Smith's report on his website

Technically, they do seem to have gone into this with commitment from the various local councils for the Tour stages, but this latest £10m does seem to be the same one the Government said they were stumping up 4 months ago!