Vuelta a España – First Rest Day Velogames Round Up

We’re almost half way through this Vuelta a España and the favourites have well and truly shown themselves and the race has thrown up some revelations as well. So where do we stand with the current Velogames ‘dream team’? Which of your picks have been revolutionary? And conversely, which have been way off the mark? All is revealed below, but remember, we still have 12 stages to go and a lot can change!

All Rounders

As expected, the three most expensive riders are running away with the points. Roglič, Lopez, and Valverde have 1851 points between them, which accounts for nearly 60% of the total points scored in this category. Here’s a run down of the biggest winners and the biggest losers so far.

Winners

Primož Roglič – 677: The most expensive rider and pre-race favourite has the most points (in this category), colour me shocked! But no, in all seriousness, he’s in great form, and he’s coped with some of the steeper slopes admirably so far. Let’s see if he can continue, and he’ll probably start week two off well with the time trial and a stint in red most likely.
Miguel Angel Lopez – 508: Could have been more if he hadn’t crashed in the finale of stage 9. His team did phenomenal work to set him up for the win and a return to the red jersey, but the weather and the gravel had other ideas. Still should be licking his lips with the summit finishes yet to come.
Alejendro Valverde – 666: A slightly ominous total from the world champion and he won’t stop with just the one stage win. If he can keep his top 4 GC spot then a big points haul is on the cards.
Hard to say who else is a winner here. Wilco Kelderman has had a solid race so far and if he can keep plugging away to a top 10 then it’ll be a successful race for him. Dylan Teuns has also been successful so far with a day in red a notable bonus, he won’t be finished yet either in his quest for a stage win.

losers

I’m not going to single anyone out too much here, because that might be a little bit harsh for the riders who aren’t perhaps having the race they were hoping for. Rigoberto Uran is a particular example. He was high in the GC when a hard crash on stage 6 ended his race. A disappointing end to what should have been a good race for the Colombian, I wish him a speedy recovery.
Steven Kruijswijk was also the victim of a crash, his time in the opening TTT, but whilst his teammates all pushed on, Kruijswijk was forced to abandon. Likewise Team INEOS seems to have been beset with an illness in the opening stages. Certainly Tao Geoghegan Hart was struck with it and maybe the same can be said of Wout Poels. The former has definitely been perking up in recent stages though and the latter might fancy a crack at the KOM jersey, we’ll see though.

Climbers

The pre-race roster change from Movistar left the door wide open here and Quintana has taken full advantage. He leads the points standings with 801, a 124 point lead over Roglič and accounts for nearly 1/4 of the points in this category. Here is the rundown.

winners

Nairo Quintana – 801: A great race so far and proving great value in the game as well. A stage win early on and now the red jersey as well. He’ll probably lose it after the time trial, but there are plenty of opportunities left to win it back.
Tadej Pogačar – 481: I wanted to believe he’d have a good race, but I wasn’t prepared to back him. His first grant tour at only 20 years old, but he has more than risen to the challenge with a stage win and now 5th on GC. He has a good time trial about him as well, but can he sustain the effort into week three?
Sergio Higuita – 230: Showing some good promise and stepping up nicely after losing his team leader. Interested to see what he can accomplish.
Rafal Majka has also been quietly going about his business as has Mikel Nieve. Jesús Herrada has his stage win as well and may not be finished there.

losers

Harsh as it may seem, I have to put Esteban Chaves in here, but like the others who are lagging slightly behind in points, his was the result of a mechanical on the hardest stage of the race so far. He fought back bravely, but used up a lot of energy in the process. As a result, he’s slipped back to 14th in GC, but he still has time to claw it back, and there are some folk ahead of him who will surely lose more time.

Sprinters

A brief overview here. Sam Bennett rules the roost, as I expected he would at this point, with 404 points. Fabio Jakobsen follows after a strong showing and Nikias Arndt is in 3rd after an impressive breakaway win on stage 8. Luka Mezgec has been solid as well.
A slightly disappointing race from Fernando Gaviria so far and he’ll be looking to make amends if he survives the coming mountains.

Unclassed

The lowest scoring category, but with plenty of scope for riders to pick up big points in the coming days. Angel Madrazo is a particular success story as he sits on top with a stage win and the KOM jersey. Nicolas Roche is in 2nd, but has since retired from the race. Behind him, the Caja Rural duo of Alex Aranburu and Jon Aberasturi have been really good so far, and Hermann Pernsteiner has had a really good showing in the mountains.

The Dream Team

All this brings us on to the current dream team. The sprinters and unclassed in here stand the most chance of changing, but the all rounders and climbers look pretty set if their form continues. Sadly it isn’t possible to have a dream team with all three of the big all rounders so we have to be selective. Here is what I’ve come up with so far.

Miguel Angel Lopez
Alejandro Valverde
Nairo Quintana
Tadej Pogačar
Sam Bennett
Angel Madrazo
Nicolas Roche
Alex Aranburu
Nikias Arndt

This team will net you 3971 points and the current joint Velogames leaders have 3463, interestingly with pretty different line-ups.
So we already know Nicolas Roche won’t pick up any more points and Nikias Arndt is unlikely to stay here as well. What will this look like in two weeks time I wonder? Who hasn’t shown themselves at all yet and is ready to light up the race? We’ll have to keep watching to find out.