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Cobo and Lillraggsjöns CK take Vuelta win |
Team Geox's Juan Jose Cobo took the biggest win of his career by taking down the 2011 Vuelta a Espana.
Before the race even started, commentators were predicting that the stage up the harsh climb of the Angliru would be the crucial day of the race, and those predictions came to fruition with the Spaniard's winning attack up those slopes.
Team Sky's Chris Froome has demonstrated his talents as a Grand Tour rider and could well be seen in a team leader role in future editions - in fact he would most likely have won this race if he was not tied down to domestique duties for Bradley Wiggins during the first week.
In the Fantasy Vuelta, Lillraggsjöns CK, directed by Fredrik Tag of Sweden, took the win, with a fine team selection that included Cobo along with the combative Katusha pairing of Joaquin Rodriguez and Daniel Moreno.
Add to that the likes of Nibali, Kittel, Sagan and Dan Martin and we have a very worthy winner of the final Fantasy Grand Tour of 2011.
Stay tuned for future Velogames events, I may sneak in one or two more games between now and the end of the year!
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Fantasy Vuelta Information |
The final Grand Tour of the season gets underway on Saturday 20th August with a short team time trial blast around the streets of sunny Benidorm!
This year's Spanish Tour has a host of contenders, with defending champion Vincenzo Nibali leading the list of favourites for the red jersey after his winning performance at the Giro d'Italia earlier this season.
Joaquin Rodriguez also lines up on the start-line after a similar season schedule to Nibali, after resting up during the month of July while other rivals contested the Tour de France.
The Vuelta marks a major consolation target for two of the big name riders who crashed out early during the chaotic opening stages of this year's Tour.
Bradley Wiggins had built his season around the French race before a broken collarbone put paid to his hopes for July.
And Jurgen van den Broeck is also on the start-list despite his high speed crash in France, seemingly recovered in record time from his broken shoulder blade and collapsed lung.
This year's Vuelta looks like it will be decided in the mountainous terrain of Northern Spain, with the fearsome Angliru back on the agenda along with an historic foray into the hilly Basque Country, where the Euskaltel duo of Igor Antón and Mikel Nieve will be looking to shine on home roads.
And the list of favourites is completed by veteran stage racers Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov, who will be keen to show themselves at the head of the race after the Geox team missed out on entry to the Tour de France.