The first rounds of the riders set to participate in this years Veulta a Espana are being published. These are not yet the final (read: official) startlists, but…
Since this is still just a preliminary list, JustAnotherCyclist has decided to take a decidedly biased, non-objective stab at illustrating the most noteworthy riders on (and not on) the list. Here goes:
- Tyler Farrar – The boy from Wenatchee is set to show us how to sprint – presumable without a broken wrist this time.
- Alberto Contador – Sorry, not there.
- Jens Voigt – Damn. Not there either. Perhaps the Spanish roads were too afraid of the Jens rash they might get if he rode like he did in the Tour de France.
- Mark Cavendish – Notable in that he is present so that he can get whooped by Farrar. OK, so maybe Mark is not that bad. He’s still no Tyler.
- Frank-n-Andy Schleck – With no Contador to induce track-standing behavior on major climbs, what will we see from these boys? Who will be the leader?
- Fabian Cancellara – Apparently the Swiss Time Machine hasn’t yet fast-forwarded to next year when his Saxo contract is up, so we’ll still get a likely stage win whenever the skin suits come out.
- The entire Footon-Servetto team – No race is complete without flesh colored kits these days.
- Mark Renshaw – Not riding, so we’ll have to rely on Cavendish to cut folks off and get relegated or DQ’ed. But he has experience there, so it should be no trouble for him. Hopefully we waits until Farrar beats him a couple of times, though. OK, so maybe Mark is not that bad. He’s still no Tyler.