2004 La Vuelta a Espana

Brunswick_kate

Yes, he's going to Phonak.

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KGnagey

To ride with TH? Please post a web site with this info...

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"Res Firma Mitescere Nescit"

Miguel_garcia83

hey people. if you are interested on la vuelta and as you cant follow it because the oln doesnt broadcast it, i can make copies of the main stages and send them if thats ok for you, the commentators are spanish, thats a bad point for you but still..

Brunswick_kate

From the Phonak Cycling site....

http://www.phonak-cycling.ch/News/A...e-0406ac5fb9ab/

How's that for official?

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donhix1

Pena and Landis are going to Phonak. I don't know anything about Beltran, I thought he was staying.

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gntlmn

Yeah, I think you're right. I had Beltran mixed up with Pena. I knew there were two, and Landis was one of them. I thought the other was Beltran, but it turns out to be Pena.

gntlmn

Petacchi won the sprint today but not the stage win because the 25 year old from USPS, David Zabriskie, won the stage with a brilliant breakaway lasting almost the entire length of the stage. He admits that if it weren't for Valverde's crash within 4 km of Zabriskie's breakaway, he may not have taken the stage win because the peloton slowed while Valverde received medical attention and then got right back into the race. But he ended up with a margin of 1:11 victory, and of course, he is happy to have won after such a long ride in the searing heat.

Does anyone have any news on Valverde? I understand he was taken to the hospital for x-rays after the race. Is he going to show up after tomorrow's rest day? I'd hate to see him have to abandon the Vuelta with only a 9 second gap between him in second place on the GC and the leader, Landis.

Strani

At the press section of the official website it is said that doctor Irigoyen was most worried about Valverde's knee, which won't surprise anyone. Interesting to know is that Irigoyen told Valverde (while treating him during the course) about Tony Rominger who won the Vuelta after almost withdrawing. The doc added that a few km's after the fall, Valverde was looking 'a bit more animated'.

Judging from that, I think he'll be ok.

gntlmn

I bet comparing him with Tony Rominger, the only rider to win the Vuelta 3 times and all consecutive (1992,3,4), was probably a big boost. That doctor knows how to motivate, it seems. I sure hope he stays in the game.

gntlmn

There was a discussion quite a ways back on this thread comparing the difficulty of the Tour de France with the Vuelta. It seemed to be a controversy. Some people think the Tour de France is harder and some the Vuelta.

Well, a scientist has taken this argument apart by actually measuring the intensity of each and comparing the total work loads. His conclusion is that the Tour de France and the Vuelta are equally difficult. While the Tour is longer, the peloton tends not to ride as fast because of the longer distances. Therefore, when you analyze the heart rates of the riders over the course of the race, you find that they are lower than for the Vuelta. What the Vuelta lacks in distance it makes up for by having a more viscious peloton which attacks more often and bathes it's riders in a heavier dose of lactic acid. They seem to push themselves to their limits in both Tours.

The scientist who conducted the study is Dr. Alejandro Lucia of Madrid University. He is a consultant to Banesto. The study was done by analyzing heart rates of the riders and then observing how much time the riders spent in each heart rate zone relative to what the same rider would do in the other tour.

Here's the link to the article: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=1593

Roadrash Dunc

Nice article ,thanks for the link gntlmn.
I am in the camp thinking LA Vuelta is the tougest Tour.That opinion is derived purely from listening to the views of top-class riders that have competed in both on a number of occasions.

Take a look at this years Vuelta and how the mountains aren't packaged into 2 neat sessions : they keep coming at you through the last 2 weeks.No respite , its relentless.Thats commonplace for the Vuelta.

I guess to be truely accurate you need to compare each Tour each year , as no doubt every year either tour can be relatively easier or harder depending on how the course is set.
But this years Vuelta for example is tougher than this years TdF if you compare and contrast the stages and how they come.

gntlmn

Well, according to this scientist, the peloton factor is the big mitigator. When the riders feel relatively refreshed, they thrash the heck out of each other on the flats by relentless attacks, and this can be as rough as climbing mountains if you go hard enough. That's why you can't really tell by looking at the routes. In other words, the biggest factor is not so much the routes but the fact that you're up against the strongest riders in the world, and they're going to make you suffer before they let you get ahead of them no matter what the route is like.

If you had to choose between riding solo the Tour de France or the Vuelta, that would be a different question. It's pretty easy to dog it on the flats when you don't have to worry about competition but not so easy to do that in the mountains. There you have to work just to get over the hill.

I agree with the doctor. I think it's mostly the riders pushing each other, not the route, that matters most.

KGnagey

Yep! That looks official. Good for Landis, I hope he does well.

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donhix1

Probably a French scientist would come to a different conlusion

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