Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia
In the 1990 Giro, a relatively unknown cyclist named Gianni Bugno lit the cycling world on fire by winning the first stage, thereby taking the Maglia Rossa. That wasn’t so surprising in itself; what was surprising was that the little bugger managed to hold the jersey all the way to Milan, a feat previously only accomplished by Binda and Merckx postwar, and prewar legend Costante Girardengo.
This all happened in the age before smartphones and social media; while these days a stealth strike on the World’s Most Wanted Dude gets live-tweeted, in 1990 it took until well after I knew Greg LeMond had won the Tour de France before I found out that Bugno had won the Giro. Reading about the feat in Winning magazine, Bugno instantly became one of my heros and went on to cast himself into a bronze statue of Rad by being one of the few riders able to challenge Indurain in the following years. (He also possessed the mental frailty that seems to be common among my favorite riders. There’s something Shakespearean about heros with flaws that I simply can’t resist.)
The Giro d’Italia is just prestigious enough to be the maker of champions. It’s isn’t made up of a downgraded field like the Vuelta, but it also ins’t as popular as the Tour where only the best riders on the best teams seem to stand a chance. Every Giro produces a revelation that goes onto great things; that’s one of the key reasons this is my favorite Grand Tour: the field is strong enough to have serious contenders, but weak enough to let an outsider play. It’s perfect.
Aside from a well-balanced field, the geography of Italy lends itself to a better three week race than do France or Spain. Many European companies are defined by natural borders such as mountains or water, which generally means the mountains and great bodies of water lie at the borders with plains in between. (Or, as is the case with the Netherlands, beneath.) Italy is unique in that it is narrow and has mountainous terrain in nearly every region. Whereas the first week(s) of the Tour and Vuelta feature mostly flat stages suited for the sprinters and little else, the Giro’s first week generally contains several mountaintop finishes. The difficulty of a typical Giro’s first week means that riders who ride strongly there typically fade towards the end, while riders who were weak on the first climbs may come on strong as the race closes down. The result is a tight race from start to finish with regular changes in leadership. Except in 1990. And whatever years those other three guys who did what Gianni did.
This year’s Giro will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy by making strong men cry. Forty major climbs, and 7 mountain top finishes, one of which involves climbing Mount Etna twice. (Welcome to Sicily, assholes. You get to ride up the most active volcano on Earth twice.) I have it on the excellent authority of a man down the pub that Contador is stocking up on extra drugs even as I write this in an attempt to quiet the rattle of his skinny little bones in his spanish boots.
With that we kick off the best Grand Tour of the year, and the first test of our Grand Tour VSP Software. The other VSP editions have been a piece of cake. Grand Tours include free “swapping of the picks” logic whenever a rider in a contestent’s pick list drops out. We have rest day swaps for 2 or 4 points each, depending on which rest day it is. Our system is supposed to handle all of this smoothly and seamlessly. We’ll see.
Read the scoring guidelines, work out your strategy, dope up on clairvoyance drugs (alcohol) and chuck your picks up. As usual, the winner of this VSP edition will earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker and all reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free personalized Velominati Shop Apron. If you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the designated area above the posts section, bearing in mind that entry/modification of picks closes at 5am Pacific time on the day of the race. You are eligible to swap picks at no penalty for your picked riders who drop out; rest day picks each come at a 2 point penalty for the first rest day, 4 points each for the second.
Good luck.
Johnny, Danny D and Carlos all in the break today. ugh I really hate working weekends. enjoy the race!
Who else doesn’t get the Sidi commercial that starts with the skateboarder and the hottie and ends with Basso and Nibali stir-frying cycling shoes? What’s with the skateboarding?
I missed that moto blowing up. Great photo!
For some reason I fucking despise Garzelli – think it is because he is a cheating bastard. Wearing dossard no.1 which pisses me off even more.
And now he is gonna take the Cima Coppi which upsets me greatly.
Looking at Nibali descending is a bit frightening
@Pedale.Forchetta
Nibbles goes down quicker than a Vegas hooker. Could this be the day that contador feels some pressure?
Enjoy 60 minutes tonight fellas. What chance do you think that you will see Ty playing with his golden retriever with the voiceover
@Pedale.Forchetta
Nibbles goes down quicker than a Vegas hooker. Could this be the day that contador feels some pressure?
Enjoy 60 minutes tonight fellas. What chance do you think that you will see Ty playing with his golden retriever with the voiceover “Hamilton lives a quiet life now…”
Fedaia is really a brutal pass.
@Pedale.Forchetta
Have you ridden it?
Beautiful road.
@Marko
Quite spectacular going through those rocks!
@Marko
Yes, the same side of today, I had 39-23, never, never again…
It’s a shame that all the Spaniard looks like teammates of Contador…
@Marcus
Unfortunately not…
New Rule: No matter how cool you think it might look, don’t get animal heads painted onto your helmet. It’s not cool.
@Marko
I agree.
And Garzelli elbows a fat kid. Awesome.
and an old dude. sweet.
@Marko
I can’t stand that kind of ‘tifosi’
@Marko
He had to elbow that old sonofabitch twice…
Nibbles isn’t going to die wondering…balls of steel on that descent, now attacking Cuntador again.
David Harmon on Eurosport said it perfectly: it’s a proper battle.
Best stage of the Giro, just what we’ve all been waiting for.
Keep up those updates. Filling scripts for
Old bastards in walgreens is all I have to look forward to today.
@RedRanger
Scarponi raised the pace and Contador and Gadret followed, Berti then attacked and is riding away, Nibbles under pressure with other fave’s.
Kelly: “Contador is just blowing them to pieces”
meanwhile 5 mins ahead Nieve chased for 40kms to catch Garzelli and is now riding to the stage victory…
“Contador is riding like its the first climb of the day – its amazing how does he do it? He doesn’t even look the same as the other guys climbing …”
I have a suspicion that I know how it works and its spoiling the race for me :(
@RedRanger
oh yeah, its also raining on this last climb again
@RedRanger
there’s a wet gravel section coming in the last km
@RedRanger
And there’s a tifosi holding up a sign advertising Dirk Hoffman Motorhomes.
Garzelli being caught at 1km to go, Scarponi has dropped Gadret and is coming back to Berti
Nieve starting to paper boy.
@Marko
yeah I loved that sign!
Nieve 300m to go, 240km stage over 5 mountain passes, rain and hail, hits gravel at 16%
Nieve gets it, 1:50 back Garzelli only meters ahead of Berti and Scarponi just behind. Gadret then Rujano at 2:39 and Nibbles at 3:35 with J Rod and then Kreuziger.
Nice effort today by Nibbles. Spain is controlling Italy right now in stage wins and GC.
Scarponi now 2nd on GC ahead of Nibbles, Gadret up to 4th, Anton 5th.
Wow, props to Nibbles for wanting to win more than wanting to secure second place. He paid for it, but that was awesome. Poor ol’ Garzelli…but you can’ help but love the Nieve managing to deliver the mail AND the win!
I know I’ve been Bertie bashing, and I’ll keep doing that, but his move to drop Nibbles after the catch was a crafty, clean move.
I did, however, notice that Contador chose the exact moment that Scarponi, sitting on the front, was taking off his racing cape to attack him.
Douche commentator on Universal: “I think Contador just figures, tomorrow’s a rest day, why not pad the lead and rest up tomorrow.”
Yeah, we’ve got a nice little day planned. Get some fresh blood, have a nice steak, maybe even a touch of testosterone! I don’t know! I don’t know if we’ll have enough time!
Standings for today, changes in the leaderboard as @G’Phant takes his first Maglia Rosa.
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Just wow. Seven and a half hours. Five mountains. Rain. Gravel. Great showing by the Euskaltel riders the last couple of days; this one even more impressive than yesterday.
@frank
Fill it up again.
Well damn, how about Judas Gadret? It’s a toss-up between him and Pocket Grimpeur in the “Breakout Performer” category.
@Marko
‘DIrk Hofman Motorhomes’ on my next jersey!
Gadret just keeps getting better. I am pulling for him as a podium dark horse.
Is the Pocket Grimpeur a Popeel product?
Correction to the standings; the result update appears to have have a bit of spanish beef. @MikeyEyesore takes the lead, not G’Phant. Sorry, mate.
Bit of an error with the GC standings, Frank. You’ve got Nibali on the second and third step. I’m happy to take my 25 points, but I think I should be down to 16.
Brave riding from Nibbles today. And what a beautiful descent. I’m a bit surprised and sorry he didn’t have more in the tank after that to really press the issue, but it’s the first time Contador looked mortal. One more reason why the Crostis being cut yesterday will work against Nibali.
I’m thinking 2012 TT, though: 20k uphill and then 20k down the other side. That would be pretty cool (and play into Nibali’s strengths…).
@Steampunk
Love it. I’m with you – totally loved seeing him make a bold move. The great thing about it is it was all or nothing; it didn’t work, and he got shat out the back. But, the only step on the podium worth fighting for it the top one. I love that he put it on the line and dropped a step. Respect.
Scarponi is coming together; we could still see an interesting last week; very tough. But Bertie looks unbelievably solid. Literally unbelievably.
That should be a new lexicon entry
Do you believe that Contador would continue to dope when he’s under this much scrutiny? At this point, I think the man is running on superior legs and a whole lotta anger. I think Merckx once said he always made sure he was good and angry before a race. He would then go on to tear the legs off of everyone around him. This is why Andy will be the bridesmaid at Le Tour as long as AC is around; he’s too easygoing (that and his horrendous TT skills).
Beautiful stage Nibbles was channeling Valentino on that descent, some of the angles he was cranking. Picking ‘er up over the damp stuff and slamming it back in. Contador did a classic steady on with more juice to drop scarponi, it was a class break. I’m staggered that he’s maintained that strength since Etna…incredible.