For the simple reason that the Cobbled and Ardennes Classics are behind us, I have not alternative but to get back on my soap box about the Giro being the best of the three Grand Tours. Well, usually, at least. Last year’s race sucked the big one (even if it was supremely Rule #9), but for the most part it is the race that is the most closely contested of the three. There are mountains everywhere Italy meaning there are less bunch sprints, the weather is completely unreliable, and the slightly lower calibre of rider seems hungrier. Or maybe the reduced pressure means riders aren’t quite as stressed out and are able to funnel that extra energy into the race.
My favorite Giro is a hard one to pick out, but its either the 1988 Giro when Andy Hampsten took the win after freezing himself stiff with Erik Breukink on the Gavia or when Pantani took his in 1998. I’ve been watching the ’98 Giro during my morning turbo sessions and Merckx-oh-me, that was an All-Drugs Olympics nail-biter. ’98 is also an interesting contrast to ’88; in just a decade, the technology had changed so much but more than that, the doping atmosphere in the sport transformed completely. From Hampsten’s Giro, EPO went from just being dabbled with on the fringes to being abused by leaders and domestiques alike by the time Pantani won. Hampsten wrote a nice piece about racing against dopers in Tyler Hamilton’s book, The Secret Race. He described the various side-effects that the popular drugs of his era had, such as bloating and a tendency to make the user over-estimate their abilities. Amphetamine made the riders do stupid things, cortisone made them retain water, and steroids made them heavy; a clean rider could use those factors to their advantage. A far cry from the rocket fuel that allowed humble domestiques to big ring up major alpine passes.
Why am I talking about drugs? There’s a race starting in a few days, people! This is our first Grand Tour, and the picks are worth more points, not to mention that strategy starts to play into things with the chance to swap your picks out on either of the rest days – at a certain point penalty. Remember that points are not accumulated; the standings on the last day of the race are what kinds, so keep the long game in mind.
Any points you win count towards the overall prizes plus the winner of this event also gets to post for the rest of the year in the pink jersey badge. So check the start list, review the VSP Grand Tour Scoring Guidelines and get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on Friday, May 9th. If you think we mapped one of your picks wrong, use the dispute system and we’ll review it. Also remember to be precise enough in your description so we know which rider you mean; in other words, if you enter “Martin”, we will use our discretion (read: wild guess) to decide if you mean Tony or Dan – and that choice will not be negotiable once the the countdown clock goes to zero. There has also been a recent scourge of people putting a rider in more than one place. Two words: Piti Principle, people! Don’t make me do a bunch of extra programming to keep you from being allowed to submit such an obviously unsportsmanlike set of picks. We will mercilessly clear out all your entries should we find you have attempted this.
Also don’t forget we’ve got three major prizes for the season-long VSP:
Good luck, have fun with it, and don’t lose your Rule #43 spirit.
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View Comments
Another nail-biter! Looks like Bad Cadel is making a showing this year, sad to see him slip off the back of the groups so silky smooth.
@Steampunk takes a zero-point lead.
@andrew
David Harmon and Sean had a chat about that yesterday; David seemed to feel he should be riding black or team shorts, and Sean seemed to voice his opinion without saying what he thought.
Goes without saying that to me, the whole matching shorts thing is just so overdone and should be abandoned immediately. Also for the team kits.
@frank
What an awesome race!!! 3rd - 5th within TWO seconds of each other and 3rd - 9th within 2:30 with two REAL stages still to go! Man I love Italy in May!
And come on Steamy!!! Don't let anyone sneak over the top of the climb and start the descent without you!!!
@frank
What an awesome race!!! 3rd - 5th within TWO seconds of each other and 3rd - 9th within 1:30 with two REAL stages still to go! Man I love Italy in May!
And come on Steamy!!! Don't let anyone sneak over the top of the climb and start the descent without you!!!
FUCK Me! I really should not post on sites that do not allow editing!!! Realized that my math was bad and thought that I still had time to fix it. Anyways, Goooooo Steampunk!!!
@Buck Rogers
I think Steamy needs a wee guy on a motorbike with a red flag in front of him. "Depending upon the situation, of course" as the Giro organizers might say . . .
@frank
You can be dam,n sure that if Kelly was riding today and winning the green jersey, he'd be wearing black shorts. If he wore all green he's look like a friggin pedalling leprechaun.
Soo apparently this Stelvio thing is going to be a huge black eye on this year's race and it won't go away. BMC seems to still be at the top of the pissed off list and it can't help their cause anymore that Cadel has begun to slip in the standings. This seems like a long stretch of an idea presented by BMC in this article about a proposed time penalty.
What a ride by Arredondo, great to see him finally getting a stage win after busting his nuts on pretty much every hilly stage to date. Chapeau sir.
Evans on the slide, and my VSP takes yet another hit.
@Geraint
That Arredondo has to be one of the smallest pros ever. That frame of his is tiny! Goes uphill might fast though . . .