Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spring. Now it’s the seclusion of Mount Doom of Tenerife, his coach and his watt meter his only competition. Team Sky is supporting Wig with a very strong squad, including superman, Kanstantsin Siutsou and with Cav no longer a teammate, it’s all the knights of the round table for Sir Twig.
Will the curse of the god-awful Astana kit continue to haunt non-Kazahk riders? Can Vincenzo’s Italian mojo overpower its powerful pale blue and yellow aura? Roman Kreuziger was finally able to win a big race once he shed that kit and pulled on one of Bjarne’s Saxo jerseys. Maybe it was more Bjarne and less jersey that made the difference.
Ryder gets no respect as the defending champion. His little dance at the end of Liége-Bastogne-Liége showed he is fit and ready for a fight. He can time trial, he can climb. Personally I have to back the local boy. And I always hate the overpowered, overwhelming favorite (read Team Sky here) in any race, unless that racer is Fabian Cancellara. No one can say Fabs has won a race this year surrounded with a team as strong as Sky’s. The Shack is just the Shack or a shack. Once Cancellara leaves for the Swiss “I AM” team, it’s lights out in the shack. Frandy, don’t forget to turn out ’em out when you leave.
If Cavendish wins the first day’s sprinter’s stage he will be in pink. He may be out of it after stage two, a team time trial.
But this is the Giro: crazy, unexpected, beautiful things can happen. The spinning wheels of fortuna are less predictable in Italy as they are in France in July. The betting window is now open. The complete start list is not yet available, an incomplete one is here and shall be updated soon. So sleep on your picks, wait for all the teams to make it official, unless you want to go with the obvious all Sky podium. The race begins Saturday so don’t Delgado away a Grand Tour opportunity.
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@Mike_P
@G'rilla
Not sure who actually shows the entire stage, but you can pick up the live Eurosport feed here but it may be the French one. In the UK they seem to come in at about 100km to go.
@El Mateo
I think the long TT stage on Saturday is going to be really interesting. Losing time at the end of tuesdays stage, the Columbian 'conspiracy', Chris Froome and his whiny bird must mean that Wiggins is totally screwing at the moment. On paper Wiggins should beat Evans, Nibali and Ryder if he can handle the pressure but it could easily all fall apart.
From a VeloNews article on Battaglin's win over some dirty (former?) dopers...
"Di Luca also delivered a urine sample during his 2007 Giro victory that reportedly recorded the hormone levels of a small child, dubbed "pipi degli angeli" (angel's pee), a sign of the use of masking agents. However he ultimately was cleared for that offense, with Italian Olympic Committee anti-doping officials admitting there was "not a sufficient degree of probability" for a doping conviction."
Pipi Degli Angeli - a new Lexicon entry?
@Ron
I'm all for it - that's hilarious! Fucking Di Luca. I'm such a hypocrite because I'll totally fawn over old race footage of guys like Pantani or VDB, but my stomach turned a little the other day when I saw Di Luca go away on that climb.
Its been 2 years today. RIP WW.
Shit. Sky are driving that chase group hard! Nice through and off.
What was all the argument about afterwards - was it Hunter and Gavazzi ? I didn't see anything wrong in the sprint, not up at the pointy end anyway.
Not sure what all the fighting was about, nor why Bouhani was pissed, maybe at Viviani. Nobody cut him off though, he just waited too long to go for it.
Also, for anyone who missed it, Cavendish dedicated the win to Wouter. Also said something along the lines of he's just the noisiest cog in the cassette, meaning he has a great team to help him, he's just lucky enough to be delivered to the line so often.
@Ron Vintage Cav, the finish, the dedication to WW and the appreciation of his team.
Hard to see anyone beating him when his lead out gets it right. Or even half right.