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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@strathlubnaig No comment from the south lest I find my self on my 'rse on what looks like a wet and windy club run tomorrow!
@strathlubnaig
And so easy to microdose the EPO, no trouble mainlining with that vasculature
@ped
althought I will point out (before someone else does) that I aint no oil painting myself....
@frank
Stewards inquiry !!!!!
Already thinking of my first rest day swap, depends on Sunday's stage but it looks like Cadel is for real this year. He is going in my top five, not so sure about Gesink.
@frank
Recount!
@strathlubnaig
One art the top, one at the bottom...
@frank
I'm wondering if Froome maybe didn't ride for a hundred km or more before riding up Mt Ventoux? Was Mayo's time during le Tour? The Sky team would of course have major egg on their faces (especially Brailsford) if it ever comes out that any of them are juiced up.
My thoughts are that all the other teams have now sat up and thought they need a piece of the "marginal gains" pie. My evidence for this is that Sky just don't seem to have as much of an advantage as they did last year, everyone else is catching up. Sure, in cycling the first thought that comes to mind is "they're so dominant they must have found a way to cheat without getting caught, but if we personally want to be treated innocent until proven guilty then we have to give others this benefit. Kimmage says they must be doping but evidently he has some sort of axe to grind with Sky, lets see his evidence, from one interview I've listened to he sounds like a bit of an arse (a very small amount of evidence I agree).
I think we all want cycling to be clean, so maybe we shouldn't be casting aspersions until we have some sort of basis for them.
This was bugging me last night though I realise @frank is possibly just having a bit of fun, in which case I'll get ma coat.
@snoov Hear hear... the marginal gains thing is misleading in my view.
That's certainly part of their philosophy but reading interviews with some riders - particularly those who've been on other teams - the 'magic' that Sky have brought is simply to operate the way I think most of would think a sports team should operate.
Most teams haven't changed their way of working since the days of Merckx. Even now they just leave their riders to get on with their own training - a camp at the beginning of the season which may be the only time they ever train together. As for looking at nutrition, training peaks, planned campaigns, psychology and all the other stuff, forgeddaboudit. Imagine if you worked from home all the time and your boss just called you now and then and said go to this meeting.
There were more than marginal gains to be had for some fairly basic approaches to training and team management so I'm not surprised at the way they emerged so far ahead.
@ChrisO
I suspect a great deal of this philosophy came from Clive Woodwards management of the England rugby team in the 90's. his book is worth a read.