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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@Chris
Bingo. "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" is another one that is gaining in popularity with the added benefit of making one seem all Bear Grylls-y.
@Buck Rogers
To be more serious, I am curious about infectious disease and pro cycling, as it is not infrequently implicated in ruining a race or a season. It is certainly a high-risk group (constant travel, participating in large groups, riding in all types of weather, extremes of physical exertion, lack of a rule-compliant way to attach hand-sanitizer to the stem) and demonstrates the demands and fragility of Tour-level peak condition.
Perhaps also explains why I am rarely sick. Physically.
I cannot see Twiglet being given preference of Froomedog in the Tour. Although David Brailsford is a dick, he is not stupid. Pippi Longstockings has shown little form so far this year, yet Froome looks to be in good shape. Why would you set your team up for a fail. Skys tactics are now known and people keep putting superglue on Brads saddle so he can't climb for shit. I reckon Vroomey would work well with the Columbians tbh...
In addition it must be very bad for team morale in a team with such depth to make agreements and then break them...not sure it will happen no matter what Sir Brad says or thinks.
My money is on him targeting La Vuelta...
@xyxax
I was just having this discussion yesterday. I think part of the problem is weight, specifically body fat content. While I have no scientific evidence of why, I've noticed that when I drop below a certain Kg, I tend to get respiratory infections a lot easier. Kinda like a Ferrari; goes really fast when it's running, but in the shop a lot.
Looks like Cav's custom Venge has his name written in Velomiskrit.
@scaler911
I remember some article somewhere (how's that for a reference) speaking to this and how pro cyclists are always walking a razors edge between being absolutely as thin as possible bordering on malnourished secondary to extertion and lifestyle and not actually being sick and malnourished. They said that the goal was to be just barely not sick the whole time from their condition but so thin and frail that they were almost constantly getting sick. I wish I remembered where I saw it. Actually think it was a cycling mag and not a scientific journal but it made a great point.
These guys immune systems must be shit, and I would imagine that we will see more sickness in the near future after the recent rule (last year?) where there are no needles allowed at all, not even allowing legit post-race IV's or iron/vitamin shots. (IV rule seems older but the iron/vitamin no needle rule is recent)
@Buck Rogers
Immune systems not shit, just compromised, so pretty shit,really-
"Although elite athletes are not clinically immune deficient, it is possible that the combined effects of small changes in several immune parameters may compromise resistance to common minor illnesses such as URTI. Protracted immune depression linked with prolonged training may determine susceptibility to infection, particularly at times of major competitions. This is obviously a concern because of the potential impact of an infectious episode on exercise performance."
I recall the Tour of Britain field being affected by a stomach bug in 2010, which was thought to be due to ingesting cow shit sprayed up onto the bottles from our crappy roads
@frank Hear, hear. Thanks for what you do. We appreciate it.
I'd be more excited about Cadel if he wasn't wearing the ugly helmet.
Not that I can get a picture of it here. You can see it at cyclingnews. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/giro-ditalia-evans-in-contention-as-alps-loom/265727
@erik
Yep. I've dabbled in a bit of web-related work and am teaching myself to code. I can only guess how much time goes into the site. And for somebody like myself who lives in the Howling Wilderness, the site is a bulging package of motivation, if you'll excuse the inadvertently homoerotic metaphor.
Wow, weird. I can't imagine many saw it coming. Both Wiggins and Ryder DNFs?
What about Cavendish's sprinting the past two days. Yesterday he seemed to be "closing the door" but did he move around too much? It almost seemed like with yesterday he was so tired from that rain + ride he knew he needed some help and moved to the barrier on purpose. Thoughts?