Vuelta start list:

To everyone's joy,La Vuelta begins tomorrow evening with a TTT in Sevilla.Here's the start list of the race.

AG2R LA MONDIALE: Kadri, Riblon, Bonnafond, Dupont, Arrieta, Turpin, Roche, Nocentini, Hinault. The French team begins la Vuelta with a decent squad. Turpin is pretty fast, while Riblon has won a stage at the last Tour de France. Nocentini is motivated because he's in Bettini's long-list for the Australian Worlds, while Roche is a rider who can go both for the GC and for the stage victories.
ANDALUCIA CAJA SUR: Marchante, Corbas, Garcia, Ruiz, Bazan, Ocana, Perez, Abeja, Alcolea. Ok,I admit it: the only Andalucia's rider I know is Marchante, who came 5th in La Vuelta's GC in 2006. Actually, the only thing I know about this team is that their website, imo, is a bit too...pink.
ASTANA: Bazayev, Davis, Dyachenko, Fofonov, Gasparotto, V.Iglinsky, Jufre, Renev, Zeits. Astana's squad for la Vuelta doesn't include nor Vinokourov,nor Contador,but is pretty good anyway. Gasparotto is fast and will surely try to go for a stage victory, while Davis is good sprinter. All the Kazakhs on the team then will probably be very motivated because each of them probably wants to be in Melbourne on the 3rd of October.

Anyway, reading the names in Astana's squad, a little silly question has popped into my mind: how can those riders talk between each other? Do Gasparotto and Davis talk Russian, or do the Kazakhs speak English better than their chief Vinokourov does?

BOUYGUES TELECOM: Bichot, Bonnet, Gene, Pichot, Quemeneur, Rolland, Sprick, Vogondy. First thing to notice, in this team there are two guys (Bichot and Pichot) whose surnames are almost the same. Therefore, get ready to confuse them for the next 3 weeks. Bouygues (when will I learn to write this word without looking it up somewhere?) ' team is pretty good, too. Bonnet is pretty fast, Rolland is an interesting young rider, while guys like Vogondy and Sprick are breakaway lovers.
CAISSE D'EPARGNE: Arroyo, Bruseghin, Erviti, Garcia Acosta, Lopez Garcia, Pasamontes Rodriguez, Molina, LL Sanchez, Uran. You must know that, in order to write this start-list, I had to check the websites of every team who's taking part in the race becaue I couldn't find any recently updated start list anywhere. On some websites it was simply impossible for a person of my intelligence to find the Vuelta squad of the teams, so you can imagine my joy when, as soon as I clicked on CDE's website,the words 'Composition du Team Caisse d'Epargne pour le Tour d'Espagne' appeared in front of me. Too bad that those words sent you to a picture of the riders,and not to a decent list of names.

Anyway, CdE's squad is very good. Bruseghin had a lot of bad luck this year, but I think he can show something good in Spain (also because he's in the famous Bettini's long-list as well). LL Sanchez is very strong, although perhaps he'll be a bit tired after the Tour. Arroyo is a solid GC rider, while Uran is one of the strongest young climbers out there.
CERVELO: Bos, Cuesta, Deignan, Denifl, Florencio, Hushovd, Pujol, Tondo, Sastre. This is the last GT for Cervélo test team, who won't continue his activity next year (read Deignan's astonishing explanation of when he was told about the problem on http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/deignan-the-riders-are-always-the-last-to-know ).

Anyway, the team squad for la Vuelta is very good. Bos is very fast,just like Hushovd. Deignan is a strong rider too, while Tondo is a very good climber and will be Sastre's main helper. Talking about Sastre, I must admit I'm a bit sceptical about his podium chances at la Vuelta, although he looks really motivated.

NB: does the end of team Cervélo mean that next year the Schleck brothers will probably have the chance of riding that brand of bike?
COFIDIS: Dumoulin, Gallopin, Kern, Labbe, Minard, Moncoutie, Pauriol, Sijmens, Zingle. The team could have been better with Taaramae, but the Estonian had some health problems and was forced to skip la Vuelta. Moncoutié will be the team leader and on his side there will be breakaway guys like Pauriol, Kern, Sijmens and Dumoulin.
EUSKALTEL: Igor Antón, Intxausti, Koldo Fernandez, Gorka Verdugo, Egoi Martínez, Amets Txurruka, Mikel Nieve, Juanjo Oroz, Pablo Urtasun. In spite of Samuel Sanchez's absence, Euskaltel has a good team. Anton is a good rider, Fernandez is fast,the other guys are breakaway experts.
FOOTON-SERVETTO: Benitez, Cardoso, Cheula, Duràn, Gutierrez, Mata, Pedersen, Valls, Vitoria. Cardoso is a very good climber, Cheula is an all-rounder and Valls demonstrated that he's a very promising rider at this year Tour.Talking about Valls, me wonders: isn't it too much, for a 23 year-old rider, to ride 2 Grand Tours in just 2 months time?
FRANCAIS DE JEUX: Bonnaire, Cazaux, Chavanel, Cherel, Hutarovich, Le Mevel, Meersman, Offredo, Vichot. Le Mevel is a good climber,Hutarovich is fast (and has recently got his first pro Tour victory),Offredo was 3rd in Plouay,Vichot is a promising rider,all the other team riders are breakawayers.
GARMIN: Danielson, Dean, Farrar, Kreder, Millar, Peterson, Vandevelde, Wilson, Zabriskie. Very good team that has high chances of winning tomorrow's TTT. Millar, Zabriskie and Vandevelde (welcome back Christian!) are TT specialist, Farrar is one of the strongest sprinters of the world, while Kreder and Peterson are two young riders.
HTC COLUMBIA: Bak, Cavendish, Eisel, Goss, Roulston, Siutsou, Van Garderen, M. & P. Velits. As usual, the whole team will work hard in order to bring Cavendish to victory. Siutsou is a good climber, while Van Garderen is one of my favourite young riders and is in a very good shape.
KATUSHA: Joaquim Rodriguez, Karpets, Pozzato, Caruso, Galimzyanov, Gusev, Horrach, Ignatiev, Kolobnev. Katusha has a very complete and good team. Pozzato is already dreaming of becoming World Championship and get a new commemorative tattoo,Rodriguez will be up there with the best riders on la Bola del Mundo and on the other climbs (imo, if he's recovered from the Tour,he will be a strong GC contender),Gusev is back after a ban (and I remember that he was strong,some years ago), Karpets is a good climber, Ignatiev is a very good all-rounder, just like Kolobnev.Apropos: will Kolo finally get a stage victory in a GT? He would surely deserve it.
LAMPRE: Bole, Furlan, Hondo, Kasheckin, Marzano, Mori, Petacchi, Pietropolli, Righi. Lampre has a very good team, although CONI's judgement about Petacchi's affaire is threatening the race of the Italian sprinter. Everyone knows who Petacchi is, but on this team there are also other fast guys (Hondo and Furlan), good all-rounders, and Vinokourov's secret brother Kasheckin, back after a 2 year ban.
LIQUIGAS: Bennati, Finetto, Guarnieri, Kreuziger, Nibali, Paterski, Santaromita, Willems, Zaugg. Excellent team, this one. Nibali has a lot of pressure because, after the Giro, he's official become the Savior of the Clean Italian Cycling.He said he doesn't like pressure, but he'll have a teammate, Kreuziger, with which he'll share it in the next 3 weeks. Zaugg and Willems are excellent helpers, Santaromita is in good form, Finetto, Guarnieri and Paterski are very young riders. Guarnieri,in particular,is very fast,just like Bennati, who is the eternal promise of the Italian sprint.What health problem is going to trouble Daniele in the next 3 weeks? The survey is open.
MILRAM: Eichler, Foerster, M.Fothen, Roels, Froehlinger, Schroeder, Sentjens, Terpstra, Voss. Foerster is fast, Terpstra is a breakaway expert.
OMEGA PHARMA LOTTO: Bakelandts, Delage, Gilbert, Hoste, Kaisen, Jean-Christophe, Van Avermaet, Van Goolen, Vanendert. Good team this one. Gilbert finally honours with his presence a Grand Tour, Van Avermaet, a few years ago, got some really good results in the Spanish race, everyone knows who Hoste is, and Van Goolen finally gets his GT chance.
QUICK STEP: Barredo, Cataldo, De Weert, Maes, Malacarne, Samoilau, Stauff, Tosatto, Weylandt. Samoilau is a good GC rider, Malacarne is a very promising rider, just like Cataldo, and Barredo is one of my favourite Spanish riders.Too ba that Boonen is still having health problems.
RABOBANK: Ardila Cano, Freire, Garate, Kozontchuk, Langeveld, Martens, Menchov, Ten Dam,Weening. After many years of Rabo-love, Menchov finally decided to change team and so this is his last GT with Rabobank. The chance of saying 'goodbye' with a last victory are high, although I haven't seen many smiley photos of the Russian lately (every time there are too many pics of him smiling during race presentations and so on, it means that Menchov is going to win something important-it's true!). Freire is back after his operation, Langeveld is a very good rider, just like Garate and the other guys on the team,who will surely sacrifice themselves for Menchov once again.
SAXO BANK: Cancellara, Haedo, Klemme, Klostegaard, Larsson, Lund, O'Grady, los Schlecks. Just like this Vuelta will be the last chapter of the Menchov-Rabobank saga, it will also be the last chapter of the Schlecks-Saxo Bank story. I'm obviously sad for that and I hope that the guys will be able to say 'farewell' to each other with a last victory.

Tomorrow's TTT clearly suits this team,which has guys like Cancellara, Larsson and O'Grady. Haedo is the team's sprinter, Klemme and Klostegaard are all-rounders,Lund will help the Schlecks on the climbs. Then, last but not least, the Schleck brothers. Frank has recovered from his TdF's crash, while Andy is always Andy,aka 'the guy who lost this Tour just because of a fucking chain'.Otherwise, he would have won, no doubts about that.
SKY: John-Lee Augustyn, Carlstrom, Gerrans, Kennaugh, Lovkvist,Nordhaug, Stannard, Swift. Augustyn is a good rider, Gerrans is one of my favourites climbing sprinters (he's considered a sprinter but won stages with an uphill finish both in the Tour and in the Giro), Nordhaug is a former mtb rider, Swift is one of the most promising young sprinters of the peloton, Stannard is just 23 and is a track rider just like the 21 year-old (!) Peter Kennaugh (look out for him!).As far as Lovely Lovkvist is concerned, well, I just hope he'll get better stage results than in the Tour.
XACOBEO GALICIA: Mosquera, Veloso, Cruz, Dapena, Fernandez, Isaichez, Serafin Martinez, Rabunal, Rodriguez Iglesias. This unknown team (whose website isn't in Spanish, but in Galician) features my favourite Spanish rider, Ezequiel Mosquera. The man can climb and,imo, it's a pity that he can take part just in la Vuelta but not in other GTs.

So,these are the Vuelta riders.It's been hard to find the most recent start list, but finally I made it. Now,it's time of podium predictions!

According to miss Fede's magic powers, the 2010 Vuelta's podium will be formed by Frank Schleck, Menchov and Nibali (the order has been chosen by Fangirl, read it the other way and you get Logic's prediction).Anyway,look out also for Mosquera, Kreuziger and,if he races as he used to do 2 years ago,also to Sastre. As far as Andy Schleck is concerned, don't cut him out of your prediction either.

PS: looking at the quality of some of the teams teams taking part in the race, a little question appeared into my mind: why didn't Vacansoleil get invited? If someone has an answer,please tell me.