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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@brett
Hey, you can only compete against those who show up or stay until the end. Too many coulda, woulda, shouldas if you start saying, "we;ll, if Wiggins haad stayed in" if Contador/Froome/etc was riding" As unhappy as I am about it, Oscar Pereiro won the Tour. Shoulda? No. But he's in the books as the winner. Nibbles is a damn fine rider. He showed up, has raced smart and stayed healthy. So long as he doesn't fail a test (and he'll begetting tested every day as Maglia Rosa and as a stage winner) he'll be as worthy a winner as there could be.
Gaaaahhh!
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gavia-and-stelvio-cut-from-stage-19-of-the-giro-ditalia
Looks like Cuddles is saved by the storm.
"RCS Sport confirmed that Saturday's final mountain stage is also at risk."
Booo! Was really looking forward to watching them duke it out up the Gavia.
Say it ain't so...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gavia-and-stelvio-cut-from-stage-19-of-the-giro-ditalia
@brett
Still got the lantern. Cant waif for Contador to do the same all over the tour and Bretto to be wildly ecstatic over every stage.
*can't*
@brett
This is how it is designed, actually. You are ranked by how negative your points are (thats how we get the order between the "tied" donuts) but scores don't actually go negative. Same things goes for the overall GC.
I'm glad you were paying attention during our design sessions on this stuff.
@Steampunk just sent in some very interesting ideas for next year. Cool stuff.
@minion
What cracks me up the most is the way he chucks Cuddles into the "classless" can one day and then the next he's the greatest ever Tour champion in the history of time. Then back into the "classless" bin and so forth.
@brett
Last weekend's World Cup XC MTB race, though. Wow! 'Strayans take U23 women's and elite men's races.
There was an Absaloncopter. More of a slam straight onto the ground, breaking the RD. Mud, rain. Excitement! I've watched it three times this week.