rlBlimeyrl. 11 summit finishes, penultimate stage ending on the Angliru. All three of the biggies look absolute mofos this year.

Looking at the 3 grand tours I think we're in for a cracking year.

Predictions? The only one I'm prepared to go out on a limb for is Alberto Contador in the Tdf.

As for the Giro and the Vuelta.....I think we're going to see some surprises.

I can see the Vuelta going Purito's way (if Katusha get an invite), on the basis that there won't be many top names doing that so soon after a brutal Tour and the relative lack of time trialling.

I really don't think Rodriquez will be at Katusha for too much longer - expect to see him at either BMC or Lotto shortly.

Not long now. Henao v Nibbles v Valverde v Rodriguez. Vanendert, Roche/Kreuziger, Sammy Sanchez as outsiders.

Well I was spot on with that Alberto Contador prediction...........

Vuelta - looks like it may be Nibbles to lose but with so much climbing perhaps it will be the Columbian cherry on the cake.

Actually - big question mark over Nibbles.

What does he want to achieve this year? Does he want two grand tours or a grand tour and a home world championship win? Either way it would be a superb season for him.

If I was him I'd hang around at the Vuelta and see where he is going into the third week. He claims to be at 75% but he looks far better than that. If he is still in contention by not going too deep then stick around. If he is adrift he'll make up an injury and pull out.

Chris Horner.



Discuss.

Hmm, didn't think we'd still be discussing him this late into the race; incredible ride yesterday and he managed to get himself a decent lead going into tomorrow's time trial. It'll be very close after the TT for the Red Jersey, Horner can certainly ride with more confidence than if he had a 5 or 6 second lead however.

Is it just me or has the Vuelta really not caught fire yet this year? Absolutely loved last year's race with its constant attacks & counter-attacks but with the exception of yesterday's stage & Tony Martin's immense attempt to time-trial 170 KM to a stage victory, there's been very little to get me out of my seat so far.

It would be great if Horner can keep rolling back the years to hold out for the victory & give all us 40 somethings an extra spring in our step. If he can minimise his losses to Nibali tomorrow then who knows.

It's been interesting without being groin-grabbingly thrilling. There's no shortage of people animating the stages, including Sky which is unusual, so each stage retains something, but the overall just looks like a case of when Nibali wants to take control.

I'm sorry but Chris Horners performance is just not credible. He has never (ever) shown this kind of ability before. How can this 41 year old who has never shown this kind of ability plus coming back from a knee injury be putting that kind of performance in and taking time out of Nibali etc?

Sadly,it's inevitable (and also entirely correct) that his performance will come under scrutiny; for all the reasons you mention and also for the fact that his age means he rode through so many of cycling's EPO years. His results (particularly in the Grand Tours) have actually improved as the sport's moved towards a (hopefully) cleaner era. Is this because he's always been clean & he isn't having to ride against a predominantly charged-up peloton any more, or is he a systematic doper who's somehow never been caught?

Of course he could crack in the next few days & slide back into a 12th/13th place finish which wouldn't be a completely unexpected result pre-race & the questions might disappear. Alternatively, he could end up winning the GC & the questions will just get louder & louder as they did for Froome in France. As the saying goes; if you live by the sword, you die by the sword & cycling must understand that because of it's recent history there can no longer be any "fairy-tale" performances or sudden improvements in form that aren't going to be flagged up by a large number of observers as suspicious.

Call me naive but I feel that I have to push these doubts to the back of my mind because otherwise, I'll fall back out of love with the sport (as I did for many years of the last decade). In 10-20 years I may well be kicking myself for being stupid enough to believe in this current peloton but who knows?

Finally seen Horner's ride and some of the rest day press conferences. The fact that only that colossal helmet Valverde is actually raising a question about it makes me think sod it, he was fine.

Unfortunately I think it is our role as fans of the sport to raise the eyebrow of incredulity whenever we see a performance that seems to be too good to be true.

I sometimes wish fans of other sport would do the same.

We all burried our heads in the sand for way too long in the 80's and 90's believing what the stars of that era were telling us. They told us what we wanted to hear and we swallowed it.

I was pleased to see that Chris Horner did not perform in the time trial yesterday. My eyebrow has been lowered but I'll keep an eye on how this story progresses.