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.
[vsp_results id=”23343″/]
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Nice finish there, was really pullin' for Minnie Finnie to create the upset but Cav was about as likely to lose to him as my chickens are to my puppy if I let her in the coop.
Remember, these are provisional results, so they don't count towards the overal VSP GC until the race is finished in three weeks time. I am floored that anyone has any points, though - who put any of these riders in their top V for the GC?
@wiscot He had to come from pretty far back, wasn't even in the helicopter shot from above. Like him or loath him he's simply the fastest guy out there. Chapeau Cav.
@Gianni
I think its a new trend that whoever puts up the VSP is destined to Delgado it; this is the first one I managed to enter since, oh, well before you were born.
Happy Star Wars Day, everyone. May the Force be with you all.
@frank
@frank
That would be Gervais and Ron.
Shitty shitty mcshitster....I put up my vsp at the getgo to prevent the Delgado i also saw everyone posting about basso not riding but had put my picks in so early I forgot I picked him!
the only consolation is I finally subscribed to Eurosport and watched cavs ludicrously strong finish...not only is he fast...that was one hell of an early start to his sprint!!
@frank
The Force is strong in this one...
Cav is f.awesome! Can I get a bonus point for predicting he would take the opening stage - god knows I need all the help I can get?!! Just hope my overall picks are as accurate...though I very much doubt it.
@pakrat
His bike fit still looks wonky this year...you would thing a Giro winner would get a custom geometry.
@RManneck what's wrong with it?
Stayed up late to watch the highlights after a 2100m ride mostly in the pain cave. Dozed my way thru the 4 days of Dunkirk but was wide awake for the Giro, love those grand tours. Defo worth the wait to see Cav dig deep to win and hilarious to see the bar bashing antics of the 1st loser.