Special Jersey City Points Edition!

I'm in Jersey City tonight, about to drop off my youngest at college, so to help me deal with empty nest syndrome here's my contribution- the first of many Podium Cafe Vuelta previews!

Its interesting. Yeah, this year's Vuelta is all about the climbers.  True true. But check out that startlist again with a mind towards the sprinters and the points competition. Wow. I say that this Grand Tour will have the best points competition of the year- maybe.

Why maybe?  I mean you have Boonen and Bennati. Freire and Zabel. Duque and Napolitano. Rebellin and Bettini. Herrero and Florencio. Vaitkus, and Bazayev and Usov and Haedo.  That's a pretty good lineup and again it compares favorably to what the Giro and Tour had to offer. Breakaways on the flatter stages are gonna have a difficult time staying away as there are multiple teams that will want to run down any break.

So what's the problem?  Simple: no Columbia in general and Cavendish in particular. They have other fish to fry in Ireland and Britain (Cavendish and Eisel) and Deutchland (Greipel and Ciolek)and Poland (more Ciolek and Greipel?)  and Missouri (???). IMO this is a shame and it speaks to the overcrowded cycling calendar. Teams are stretched too thin right now with too many races  and too many tired riders. the result is that we don't get to see the four best sprinters this year, Boonen, Bennati, Cavendish, and Freire, racing at the same time.

Hell I would have been happy with Ciolek instead of Cavendish but there's no way that either of those will race in Spain when Britain and Germany beckon.

Sigh. Its enough to make me want to go through the futile exercise of rationalizing the calendar this offseason.

But enough with the what ifs.... wait- one more:  I'm surprised that JJ Rojas ain't partaking for Caisse d'Epargne. I guess they are serious about contesting the GC? Good luck with that one!   Let's give a Podium Cafe Points Preview on the jump!

The Big Two

Tom Boonen. What a year! Waaaaaaaay back in April Chris wrote a post, Boonen Saves His Spring.  Good reading there- but what about his summer? Tornado Tom um blew his chances for the Tour and so this makes this Vuelta his own personal Redeem Grand Tour. Heaven knows he has serious motivation and he's fresh off two stage wins in the ENECO Tour. so he has to be counted on as the favorite. Still he publicly complained about his leadout train in ENECO and he has no Steegmans for the Vuelta so all is not perfectly swell in the Quickstep camp. Odds: 1: 2

Daniele Bennati. Like Boonen, the Handsome One, has also had a difficult year but unlike Boonen that's because he's been hurt. His fall in last year's Vuelta kept him out of all competition until the Tour of Romandie and he followed up that tune-up race with winning the Points competition over Cavendish in the Giro. With Boonen not able to sniff out the startlist for the Tour, Benna looked like the odds-on favorite to ad a second Points crown to his year but then that darned knee flared up and forced him out until the ENECO where he snagged a stage win. So inquiring minds want to know- will he repeat his Giro win? One factor going for him is that he can handle hills better than Boonen.  Plus he's freakin' gorgeous.  Odds: 1:1