The opening weekend of the Vuelta a España constituted just two stages, serving as the slightest preview of what to expect over the next three weeks. Kicking off with a team time trial on the first stage evidenced how exciting that format can be, absent from the French Grand Tour. A sprinter’s stage followed the time trial, both showcasing who is in form, and which teams and riders need to improve.
Stock Up – Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
The Colombian came into the Vuelta well rested, and the winner of the Giro d’Italia. The slight climber is likely to struggle on the long flat stages, but for now sits second overall. The Movistar team started the event with a victory in the team time trial. Quintana wore the leader’s red jersey on day two, an outfit he’s likely to don again later in the tour. The challenge for Quintana and the Movistar team will be to keep the young rider protected and on pace on the flat stages between the more mountainous days.
Stock Down – Team Garmin Sharp
The American team finished 18th out of 22 teams on the opening team time trial. The result was played down by team management and attributed to bad nerves following the crash during the team time trial at the Giro d’Italia, back in May. In practically the same breath, team sports director Bingen Fernandez said it was to be expected, given the stress caused by the bad crash in Italy. Garmin riders have been involved in big crashes over the past two years which have likely stressed riders. It seems strange that the management have not employed a sports psychologist to address this underlying stress.
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Complicating things further, the Garmin-Sharp and Cannondale teams will merge for the 2015 season, meaning half of the combined roster will have to be trimmed back. It could be the stress of not making that cut that is hampering Garmin’s riders.
Stock Up – Cannondale Team
So far, the Cannondale team has performed well at the Vuelta. They finished second in the time trial, in stark contrast to their teammates to be – Garmin-Sharp. Cannondale has two riders in the top ten; Damiano Caruso and George Bennett. For the moment, Cannondale appears to be in decent shape with Caruso one of the leaders on the team. Peter Sagan handily won the green jersey in France despite not winning a stage. He’ll aim to better than performance while in Spain. Sagan also took time on the opening day of the Vuelta to take part in the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Stock Up – Orica–GreenEDGE Team
During Monday’s stage, the Australian Orica-GreenEDGE team set the pace for much of the stage before sprinter Michael Matthews triumphed in the sprint, taking the leader’s jersey. The team is fairly new to the elite level of the World Tour, and yet has managed to continually impress with strong time trial and sprint performances. Best of all, the team from down under appears to be able to do this while maintaining a light-hearted atmosphere.
Stock Holding – Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo)
The 2012 Vuelta champion and two time Vuelta winner Contador is racing on home soil, and with the same number he wore the last time he won the event. Contador has been quiet so far, but it’s early in the race. Sitting 23 seconds back from the leader, ranked 12th. It’s safe to say that Contador has picked his moments and will wait for them to arrive before attacking.
Stock Up – Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)
Though Quintana is the team leader, Valverde is ranked third overall, just behind his teammate. The top Spanish rider, Valverde is well positioned to challenge for victory provided Movistar management don’t put team orders into place. Such decisions won’t be made during the first week, and possibly the second.
Stock Down – Trek Factory Racing/Cycling in general
Trek Factory Racing has two readers in the top 10 at La Vuelta, but that’s not why they’re marked as stock down. Jens Voigt retired from professional cycling over the weekend. Famous for shouting “Shut Up Legs!” to himself as well as many other quotable comments, Voigt won at least one race in every year of his 17-year career aside from this season.
Voigt closed out his career by racing at the USA Pro Challenge, pushing all the way to the finish line of his last stage.