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
"I think there is something wrong with his material, he has no confidence." In other words, Eddy thinks Sky should ride Merckx instead of Pinarello.
@strathlubnaig
That is hilarious...plus the bit further down:
Sprinting is for real men
Djamolidin Abdujapaorov, the Taskent Terror, one of the craziest, most fearless sprinters of all time is at this year's Giro d'Italia, driving one of the RCS Sport technical directors in the race.
'Abdu' was famous for his reckless sprinting, his often verbal and even physical clashes with Mario Cipollini and his spectacular high-speed crash on the Champs Elysees at the end of the 1991 Tour de France. His career ended in 1997 when he tested positive for Clenbuterol during the Tour de France.
Now 49 and living in Italy, he shared his thoughts on sprinting with Gazzetta dello Sport.
"This is the first time I'm back at the Giro since I retired. I like it," he said.
"Would I like to be having a go in the sprints? Well, I wouldn't be afraid to have a go."
"Sprinting is always about how ferocious you are, they're wild moments. Sprinting is for real men. These days riders line up to see the doctor during races to get treatment for a few cuts. I don't think I ever went to the doctors car during a race. I looked after myself."
You gotta love Abdu!
@strathlubnaig Headline in the telegraph today: Bradley Wiggins disappointed with Giro form, admitting 'I descended like a bit of a girl'
He went on to say: "Not to disrespect girls, I have one at home"
Fuck it. Should switch them around a bit but just cannot bring myself to do it. Come on Wiggo you wanker, descend like you have a pair, or at least one!
@Buck Rogers
Agreed. Whatever Vaughter's Plan B might be, it doesn't involve swapping Hesjedal out of his team. Rest days swaps smack of anti-V.
@Chris I think his quote was truncated. He really said "I descended like a bit of a G'rilla. That guy could go faster if he used a barrel."
To swap, or not to swap: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The descents and climbs of outrageous fortune,
Or to take capes against a sea of rains,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That the Giro is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To swap, to hold fast;
To predict correctly: perchance to win: ay, there's the rub;
@Deakus
Crazy, hard guy, wonder if he refused the medical services after scraping his face down the Champs at 65km/h/.
Although, looking after himself possibly explains ONLY getting popped for clenbuterol
@G'rilla
So the whole quote would be "I descended like a bit of a G'rilla. That guy could go faster if he used a barrel. Not to disrespect G'rillas, I have one at home." which raises a whole load of other questions.
@wiscot All the world's but a stage of the Giro.