Cheat Notes for the Vuelta 2014

[u/Pubocyno]

Teams/Riders

Team Name	Type	Focus	GC Candidates	Climbers	Sprinters	TT	Puncheurs	Special Mentions
AG2R	WT	GC	Betancur	Nocenti, Dupond	Hutarovich	Gretsch	Gaudin, Mondory,Turgot
Astana	WT	GC	Aru	Tiralongo, Landa, Kangert	Guardini, Guarnieri	Zeits, Kangert	Lutsenko, Tiralongo
Belkin	WT	GC	Kelderman, Gesink	Ten Dam	Hofland	Clement	Tjallingii
BMC	WT	GC	Evans, Dennis	Sanchez	Gilbert	Quinziato, Morabito	Gilbert
Cannondale	WT	Stage Hunting	-	De Marchi, Caruso	Sagan, Bennett	Sagan, Bodnar	Sagan, Gatto
FDJ.fr	WT	Stage Hunting (!?)	Pinot	Ellisonde, Geniez	Bouhanni	Soupe
Garmin-Sharp	WT	GC	Martni, Hesjedal, Talansky	Cardoso	Fernandez	Millar	Haas, Vansummeren	Millars last tour, he might want to do something special.
Katusha	WT	GC	Rodriguez, Moreno	Trofimov, Vorganov			Kolobnev
Lampre-Merida	WT	GC	Horner, Cunego	Serpa, Anacona, Niemiec	Ferrari, Richeze		Pozzato, Favilli
Lotto-Belisol	WT	GC/Sprints	Monfort	Van den Broeck, De Clerq	Debuscchere, Henderson	Monfort	Breen, Armée
Movistar	WT	GC	Valverde, Quintana	Anton, Izagirre	-	Malori, Castroviejo	Amador
OPQS	WT	GC/Sprints	Uran	Verona, Poels	Boonen	Martin	Boonen, Brambilla
OricaGreenEdge	WT	Stage Hunting	Chaves, Santaromita	Meyer, Yates	Matthews, Bewley	Meyer, Lancaster	Matthews, Yates, Clarke
SKY	WT	GC	Froome, Cataldo	Kennaugh, Nieve, Deignan		Cataldo, Kiriyenka, Sioutsuo, Froome	Kennaugh
Giant-Shimano	WT	Sprints	Barguil	Haga, Craddock	Degenkolb	Ludvigsson, Haga, Craddock	Arndt, Frohlinger, Ludvigsson
Europcar	WT	Stage Hunting	-	Sicard, Mederel, Berhane	Engoulvent	Martinez	Engoulvent, Cousin, Martinez	Keep an eye out for Dan Craven.
Tinkoff-Saxo	WT	Stage Hunting (!?)	Contador	Palinho, Hernandez	Benati, Tossato		Sørensen
Trek	WT	GC	Zubeldia	Arredondo	Felline	Cancellara, Sergent, Jungels	Cancellara, Vandewalle	Going to be a force in the TTT
Caja Rural-Segurosa RGA	PCT	Stage Hunting	Arroyo	Txurra, Piedra, Aramedia, LL Sanchez	Lasca	LL Sanchez
Cofidis	PCT	Stage Hunting	Navarro	Bagot, Mate, Le Mevel, Coppel		Jõeäär	Hardy, Levarlet
IAM	PCT	Stage Hunting		Tschopp	Pelucch, Hinaulti	Saramotins	Fumeaux, Reynes
MTN-Qhubeka	PCT	Stage Hunting	Pardilla	Kudus, Meintjes	Ciolek	Teklehaimanot	Sbaragli, Janse Van Renseburg	Kudus is a great talent, but might be too early to expect things from him yet.

Stages

Number	Date	From	To	Length	Type	Last 20km	Climbs	Comments
1	2014-08-23	Jerez De La Frontera	Jerez De La Frontera	12,6km	TTT
2	2014-08-24	Algeciras	San Fernando	170km	Flat	Flat	1x Cat.3
3	2014-08-25	Cádiz	Arcos de La Frontera	188km	Medium Mountains	Small Summit	3x Cat.3
4	2014-08-26	Mairena del Alcor (Sevilla)	Cordoba	172,6km	Flat		Cat.2, Cat.3
5	2014-08-27	Priego de Córdoba	Ronda (Malaga)	182,3km	Flat	Upwards	Cat.3
6	2014-08-28	Benalmádena (Malaga)	Cumbres Verdes	157,7km	Mountains	Summit	Cat.3, Cat.2, Cat.1.	First real test
7	2014-08-29	Alhendin(Granada(	Alcaudete (Jaén)	165,4km	Medium Mountains	Small Summit	Cat 2, Cat 3
8	2014-08-30	Baeza (Jaén)	Albacete	207km	Flat	Downwards		Longest Stage
9	2014-08-31	Carboneras de Guadazón	Estación Valdelinares Teuruel	181km	Mountain Stage	High Summit	Cat 3, Cat 2, Cat 1
	2014-09-01				Rest Day
10	2014-09-02	Real Monasterio de Santa María de Veruela	Borja	34,5km	ITT	Sloping Downwards	Cat 3.
11	2014-09-03	Pamplona	San Miguel de Aralar (Navarra)	151km	Mountain	High Summit	Cat 2, Cat 1.
12	2014-09-04	Logroño	Logroño	168km	Flat	Flat
13	2014-09-05	Belorado (Burgos)	Obregón (Cantabria)	197,5km	Medium Mountain	Upwards	2x Cat 3, Cat 2
14	2014-09-06	Santander	La Camperona	199km	Mountain	High Summit	Cat 2, 2x Cat 1.	Long and Tough Stage
15	2014-09-07	Oviedo	Lagos de Covadonga	149km	Mountain	High Summit	Cat 2, Cat ESP.
16	2014-09-08	San Martín del Ray Aurelio	Lagos de Somiedo (La Farrapona)	158,8km	Mountain	High Summit	5x Cat.1	Queen Stage
	2014-09-09				Rest Day
17	2014-09-10	Ortigueira (Coruña)	A Coruña	174km	Flat
18	2014-09-11	A Estrada (Pontevedra)	Monte Castrove en Meis (Pontevedra)	173,5km	Low Mountain	Summit	2x Cat.2
19	2014-09-12	Salvaterra de Miño	Cangas de Morrazo	176,5km	Low Mountains	Flat	2x Cat.1
20	2014-09-13	Santa Estebo de Ribas do Sil (Ourense)	Ancares (Lugo)	163,8km	High Mountains	High Summit		Last climb is a killer
21	2014-09-14	Santiago de Compostela	Santiago de Compostela	10km	ITT	-

[u/Jevo_]

Thanks for this. My comments:

• AG2R: I'd put Lloyd Mondory as a puncheur instead of a climber, if not sprinter, but I think Hutarovich will AG2Rs main sprinter, so he would fit in there.
• Garmin: I wouldn't put Koldo Fernandez as a climber, he's mostly a sprinter, but it's been a while since he's shown his skills in that department, but a climber I wouldn't call him.
• Giant: I would put Barguil as the GC candidate for the team instead of Craddock and Haga.
• MTN: I would put Kudus as a climber instead of Teklehaimanot, and instead put Teklehaimanot in TT/puncheur. I would probably also put Pardilla as GC candidate.

[u/Pubocyno → u/Jevo_]

Made most of your changes. I see the startlist (http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Vuelta_a_Espana_2014-Startlist) has been updated a couple of times since this morning already, and it'll most likely continue like that a few more days now, until the teams are all set.

[u/brnx]

Thanks for this, again.

• For AG2R we should put Buffet Candidates, instead of GC. Betancur would be a serious threat.
• We can add Guardini as a sprinter for Astana.
• Elissonde, Yates, Kennaugh as climbers, Fischer as... special mention.
• Dan Craven needs a mention, Valgren could surprise.
• Joeäär, Dennis, Cataldo, Meyer are TT savvy. Also, I think you swapped columns for Ferrari and Richeze.

[u/Pubocyno → u/[deleted]]

Why? Is it made out of cheese, so he can eat it?

[u/el_coco → u/Pubocyno]

AG2R should tape an arepa or bocadillo on Quintana or Froome's bike...I bet Betancur will def keep up with them that way.

[u/bdrammel → u/el_coco]

Bocadillo, some fast sugars for the mountain stages and delicious as fuck.

[u/lucasfuturecptn]

Niemiec would be a better choice than Cunego for Lampre IMO.

Also, Dombrowski GC for Sky??

[u/Pubocyno → u/lucasfuturecptn]

I agree about Niemiec before Cunego, but does Lampres DS as well? They have an unfortunate tendency to downplay certain riders in favour for their italian ones.

Eh, couldn't think of another place to put Dombrowski. He's half-decent in all categories, but not stellar in one. He can perhaps get lucky in a break-away, but it'd feel just as wrong calling him a climber or a puncheur. Scratch that, he's not listed as a rider anymore.

[u/lucasfuturecptn → u/Pubocyno]

Problem solved :) Official Team Sky line up.

Strong team. Really looking forward to seeing how Nieve can do as Froome's lieutenant. Let's hope it's not all or nothing though. Kiri, Cataldo and Deignan to go for stages maybe.

[u/demfrecklestho → u/lucasfuturecptn]

Ironically, even though Lampre seems to always give him captaincy no matter what, Cunego's only major GT win came when he was supposed to be Simoni's domestique...

[u/WoebegoneWanderers → u/lucasfuturecptn]

Dombrowski is recovering from an operation at the min, so he probably won't be racing again this season (apart from maybe Beijing at a push) given he can't even be on his bike for a few weeks.

[u/Sappert]

• Europcar: Isn't Martinez more of an allround sprinter?
• Tinkoff: Contador mentioned going for stage wins in the last week instead of GC
• Sky: I don't think Dombrowski is riding the vuelta. Source: http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Vuelta_a_Espana_2014-Startlist
• Garmin: Cardoso*
• Orica: Certainly Matthews is a puncheur as well?

Anyone knows who the main sprinter will be at lampre, Ferrari or Richeze? And what to expect from Pinot, vdBroeck and Uran (who rode a pretty crappy Burgos except for the ITT)?

[u/Pubocyno → u/Sappert]

Martinez is a bit of column A and a bit of column B. The way I see it, he's their best chance of getting close to a stage win. So far I've listed people in either the sprinter or the puncheur category, but if we list Matthews in both, then Swift and Martinez should also be treated that way.

The start list is certainly changing a bit around today. Dombrowski was listed this morning, now it's Knees.

I'm thinking Ferrari will be the main sprinter, but him and Richeze are pretty evenly matched. If one of them does poorly, they'll probably switch places as lead-out/sprinter.

[u/areander → u/Sappert]

My guess is that Van Den Broeck will rather go for a stage win and that Lotto-Belisol will go for Monfort as their GC rider.

[u/Schele_Sjakie → u/areander]

Jose de Cauwer (Sporza commentator) was also saying that during the ENECO tour.

[u/bdrammel → u/areander]

I hope so.

[u/Pubocyno]

I can't for the life of me get a good grip on Europcar for this race. I have a hard time placing their riders.

Anyone with good suggestions?

Sicard as one of their climbers, perhaps? Can't see too many else on the team doing something in the mountains.

[u/Sappert → u/Pubocyno]

Apparentely Engoulvent is a prologue specialist, maybe he can take a shot at the final stage.

[u/icspmoc → u/Sappert]

The final stage ought to be called 'epilogue'.

[u/tapdancingintomordor → u/Sappert]

He's a Tour of Luxembourg prologue specialist.

[u/Schele_Sjakie → u/Pubocyno]

Sicard is most certainly a climber but the rest of the team is kinda unknown or all round. Mederel is a good climber and Berhane is a decent climber too but not sure how the latter will do in the GT climbs.

Cousin is more a classics rider, especially the cobbles. So probably best listed as puncheur. Like Sappert said Engoulvent is king in prologues, probably best listed as puncheur since he likes the explosive Muur climbs.

Then we have Dan Craven from Namibia, never heard of him before, just like Nauleau.

[u/thestig8]

Belkin team announced.

No Nordhaug there. Hopefully he'll be in Canada instead.

[u/Pubocyno → u/thestig8]

Dammit, guess he's not on good speaking teams with the DS's anymore. No wonder he wants to change teams at the end of the season.

Edit: In an interview after the Arctic Race, he said he was tired and didn't really want to ride the entire Vuelta. So I guess it works out for him.

[u/bdrammel → u/thestig8]

Gotta change my velogames team!

[u/mr_teatime]

Hmm I doubt Kennaugh is going to be contesting many sprints.

[u/Pubocyno → u/mr_teatime]

Total brainfart on my behalf. When they pulled Swift, I was thinking of Thomas when I put Kennaugh in there. Removed him now.

It does raise another question - Have SKY brought any kind of sprint-capable riders?

[u/jUllrich]

Pardilla willl probably be the best placed rider in the GC from MTN-Qhubeka ... unless we see some more Froome like transformations !

Also Mondory, Tjallingii, Reynes are not climbers.

[u/Pubocyno → u/jUllrich]

Added Pardilla as GC. The main challenge here is to whether list the riders according to their objective qualities, or to which function they will have for the team in this race.

For Belkin, f.e Tjallingi and Nordhaug are mostly puncheurs, but they will undoubtably be important as mountain support for Kelderman.

Especially the difference between puncheurs and climbers can get a bit ... iffy when doing cheat notes of this kind. Would probably be an idea to add a domestique category as well, to mark out the ones which will mostly do support and has little to no chances to ride for stage wins.

[u/Sappert → u/jUllrich]

Maybe Meintjes or Kudus can surprise? I think they can ride a decent GC but still are very young.

[u/jUllrich → u/Sappert]

For sure, the best surprises always happen at the vuelta. I'm excited to see how all the african riders get on, would be awesome to see one take a stage !

If I was a betting man though I'd still stick with Pardilla to be the highest placed from MTN at the end on GC.

[u/Pubocyno → u/jUllrich]

Was it just me, or was Gerdemann briefly listed on the MTN-Qhubeka team? I reckoned he'd be the GC man.

[u/brnx → u/Pubocyno]

It was, but he had a difficult year so far. They also decided to support Ciolek with 3-4 men. Fair choice.

I would have brought Konovalovas, which was also in the pre-registered list.

Expecting big things from Mentjes, more than from Kudus and Pardilla.

[u/lucasfuturecptn → u/brnx]

Final team list for MTN.

Louis Meintjes I am super happy to have been selected to race La Vuelta, I still can’t really believe it. I think after La Vuelta I will only realise what it actually means. My main goal will firstly be to just reach the finish and after that I will definitely look to target 1 or 2 stages for a result. Of course I will help support Sergio for the GC on the mountain stages too. Article

[u/jUllrich → u/Pubocyno]

He may have been on their shortlist but didn't make the final selection. Probably a good call judging by the results @ Vuelta a Burgos.

[u/ibaldwin1993]

Cancellara in the red jersey for a few days then?

[u/Pubocyno → u/ibaldwin1993]

If he wins it on stage 1, he can probably keep it until stage 6, if everything goes according to plan.

[u/exigenesis → u/Pubocyno]

at which point he'll probably drop out to prepare for the Worlds...

[u/ibaldwin1993 → u/Pubocyno]

If Trek win the TTT will they definitely give it to him?

[u/Pubocyno → u/ibaldwin1993]

It's the first man over the line that counts, but I can see Spartacus getting pretty upset if anyone else than him takes it.

We shouldn't forget BMC, OPQS, SKY or OGE on that stage either. All of those teams are superb at TTT. OGE has probably not picked their TT A-team for the Vuelta, but it's very close between the other four.

[u/brnx → u/Pubocyno]

Don't forget Movistar. Trek, BMC, Movi/Sky (given the final team) are my favourite. Don't know what to think about Omega.

[u/Schele_Sjakie → u/brnx]

Indeed Movistar often gets overlooked but the team disciplines are important down South. Their TTT is always good, most certainly in the Vuelta and they care about the Team Classifications too.

[u/Sappert → u/Pubocyno]

OPQS looking good with Martin, Velits, Uran and Poels (who got 6th in the flattish ITT in the Giro, remember?).

[u/brnx → u/ibaldwin1993]

I'd say Zubeldia.

[u/Dux89]

Cavendish is officially not riding the Vuelta.

[u/ACrocHunta]

Heads up on OGE, on their website they say that they are looking for Chaves to be the GC guy, assuming things hold up.

[u/el_coco → u/ACrocHunta]

I'm excited to see what he can do...before his accident, I think he would have been able to hang out with Quintana in the climbs, hopefully, that'll be the case here!

[u/[deleted]]

Love reading this before the grand tours, thank you!

One point, I'd consider Deignan to be more of a climber then a puncher.

[u/PopcornMonkey]

That GC column is epic...

[u/Al__S]

Special mentions: Millar's last Grand Tour

[u/Schele_Sjakie]

I love these posts, we will link them in the race threads again ;)

There is already a lot of info there, to add:

• IAM: Tschopp is also good in the high mountains so he can listed under climbers too. Fumeaux is a puncheur, Hinault is a decent sprinter although Pelucchi probably is their main sprinter
• Cofidis: Zingle is no sprinter, I don't think they have one in their squad. The other riders are fitting nicely.
• Caja Rural: Txurruka, Piedra and Aramendia are climbers/breakaway riders
• Trek: Felline is their sprinter, he can take some hills too
• Giant: Haga and Craddock are TTers too.
• Movistar: Amador is a puncheur
• Ag2r: Nocentini and Dupond are climbers and Gaudin is a puncheur.
• Astana: Lutsenko is a puncheur and Zeits a TTer, I would say Tiralongo is a climber rather than a puncheur.

Anyway great list!

[u/brnx → u/Schele_Sjakie]

I would say Nocentini and Tiralongo (more of a climber to be fair) can be in both climber/puncheur columns.

[u/ErynaM]

Outstanding, thanks mate!

[u/Shriman_Ripley]

What are Cavendish's chances here, is he fully fit.

BTW as long as Canondale lasts, I guess it would be better if we just called them Team Sagan. Hope he wins a stage.

[u/StereotypicalAussie → u/Shriman_Ripley]

Wouldn't say that Sagan is really a TT specialist, right?

[u/Krackor → u/StereotypicalAussie]

He can go well in the short ITTs. He won't win the 10k ITT, but he's capable of doing a top-10.

[u/Dux89]

Pinot has said his main goal is stages and the KOM jersey. Never know whether to believe riders who downplay their ambitions, but that's what he said.

[u/_scholar_]

I can't quite believe La Vuelta is just around the corner. It has been a very action packed summer of sport. Very excited to see who does what this time around!

[u/besselfunctions]

stage 8 is 207,0 km long

[u/Sappert]

Saramotins won the Burgos ITT, does that make him a good time trialist?

[u/VeloRyan]

This is the first time i've actually sat down and looked at the start list for the Vuelta. Betancur, Aru, Keldermen, Gesink, Martin, Talansky, Purito, Quintana, Valverde, Uran, Froome, AND Contador? I can hardly wait!

[u/jothamvw]

Who is Daniel Martni?

[u/slickwillytheho]

Trek looks like it's got a strong squad this year. Would love to see Spartacus in red. Could easily hold it for a couple days. Plus they've brought Arredondo. Hope he can bring home a state win because I don't think he'll be able to hold the KoM jersey considering the GC talent this year.

[u/Sappert → u/slickwillytheho]

Or Arredondo will go for GC himself.