Whoa Moly, Last Year's Champ Is Outta the Vuelta: the GC Already Shakes Up! #LaVuelta

So, we haven't even hit the start line and already defending #1 Chris Horner is out of the Vuelta a Espana: after being sick for some time with bronchitis, our elder boy has turned up with cortisol levels below the strict some-teams-are-in-some-teams-are-probably-wisely-out MPCC standards, and though UCI-qualified to be in with his Therapetic Use Exemption, he's honor-bound to quit the race. And no, he probably couldn't've stood up to serious assaults by Nairo, Alejandro, Froome, Purito, even a recovering Alberto, but wouldn't it've been fun to watch him do some damage? Suck news for a guy who probably won't be able to take another Grand Tour, but at least he took a doozy--and Pippo Pozzato, with no real replacement for Chris on Lampre, now's the time to step up and dazzle us all on the road as much as you've been doing with all those pretty, pretty pictures! And in insult-to-injury news, here, Alberto Contador time trial trains away: