Six uphill finishes, 56 km of time trials (16 of which in teams), 37 mountain passes, a total of 21 stages covering 3.300 kilometers from 18 August to 9 September: it is the Vuelta de Espana which this year takes on a very special importance, because it is the first challenging test for Alberto counter, which finished there disqualification on August 5, he returned to the peloton in the Eneco Tour before tackling the most important stage race on the cycling calendar after the Tour and Giro.
A Vuelta entirely concentrated in Northern Spain (the southernmost point will be Madrid where the competition will end), a race designed more for grimpeurs than for long distance sprinters. Come back there World Ball, in the penultimate stage, the climb where Vincenzo Nibali sealed the triumph of 2010. We see the Covadonga Lakes again, we return to the Basque Country after the success of 2011 with the Arrate climb. But there are new names like the Cuitu Negro or Mirador de Ezaro, with ramps approaching the 25% gradient.
Contador has only raced the Vuelta once so far, in 2008. And he won it. The expectation for his return is great, not only in Spain because Contador is a heritage of world cycling. Although absent, his has still been a bulky shadow during the current season that he has seen unreleased winners, by name and nationality, both in the Giro and in the Tour: the Canadian Ryder Hesiedal and the British Bradley Wiggins stamped the two major competitions but their feats – we have asked ourselves several times especially during the soporific stages of the last Grande Boucle – would they have been such with the Iberian champion at the starting line? There is no counter-proof, even if Wiggins immediately after the Tour won gold in the Olympic time trial, sealing a season to remember which began with the triumph at Paris-Nice and then continued with victories at the Tour de Romandie and Dauphiné.
Wiggins will not be at the Vuelta. It's normal that after so much running you refuse. Sky squadron relies on Christopher Froome, who in the Tour, where he finished second, showed such freshness and power as to make even his captain Wiggins uncomfortable. Froome, who already came close to winning the Vuelta last year by finishing behind the winner Cobo, will be one of the opponents who will best be able to measure which Contador gave us back the disqualification for doping. A forced stop that will however remain a stain on his career, even if the Spanish champion has always proudly defended his innocence. But the control machines are unlikely to be wrong once the positivity has been detected. If anything, in Contador's case there is something to complain about the slowness of the times, over a year and a half, from the "crime" (July 2010) to the sentence (February 2012).
pantani, caught with the hematocrit above the norm, drifted away as a man and an athlete. Counter, who for that steak with clenbuterol, lost a Tour and a Giro overwhelmed on the road, he thankfully had a contrite but more composed reaction. Other excellent riders, ended up in the doping network, managed to get back in the saddle and even win again: da Denis Menshov, the Russian first in a Giro and in a Vuelta, a Iván Basso (who won the Giro again in 2010) up to David Millar e Alexandre Vinokourov (who ended his career with gold in the London 2012 road race).
Contador has accustomed us to a continuity of companies that are more reminiscent of the multi-purpose champions of the past than the very specialized ones of the present. In practice, cycling is always expected from him that has not been seen this year, made up of gaps, attacks, uphill sprints, a repertoire that has been almost completely lacking, more in the Tour than in the Giro, where at least the vivacity of “ Purito” Rodriguez moved a few final stages. AND Joaquin Oliver Rodriguez, known as the “cigarillo”, leader of the Katusha, will be with Froome the most dangerous opponent for Contador in the Vuelta which will start on the 18th with the team time trial in Pamplona, in front of Miguel Indurain's house. With him, in the Katusha, there will also be Menchov looking for at least one stage success after the disappointing Tour just as, in Astana, Roman Kreuziger looks to Spain to straighten out a truly disastrous season.
Among the Italians, absent Nibali, two names on the others: Cunego for a good placement in the standings e Pinotti for the time trial. Among the Spaniards, in addition to Rodriguez to counter Contador, Movistar captain Juan José Cobo, yellow jersey 2011, returns with a handful of seconds on Froome.
