In the 1990 Giro, a relatively unknown cyclist named Gianni Bugno lit the cycling world on fire by winning the first stage, thereby taking the Maglia Rossa. That wasn’t so surprising in itself; what was surprising was that the little bugger managed to hold the jersey all the way to Milan, a feat previously only accomplished by Binda and Merckx postwar, and prewar legend Costante Girardengo.
This all happened in the age before smartphones and social media; while these days a stealth strike on the World’s Most Wanted Dude gets live-tweeted, in 1990 it took until well after I knew Greg LeMond had won the Tour de France before I found out that Bugno had won the Giro. Reading about the feat in Winning magazine, Bugno instantly became one of my heros and went on to cast himself into a bronze statue of Rad by being one of the few riders able to challenge Indurain in the following years. (He also possessed the mental frailty that seems to be common among my favorite riders. There’s something Shakespearean about heros with flaws that I simply can’t resist.)
The Giro d’Italia is just prestigious enough to be the maker of champions. It’s isn’t made up of a downgraded field like the Vuelta, but it also ins’t as popular as the Tour where only the best riders on the best teams seem to stand a chance. Every Giro produces a revelation that goes onto great things; that’s one of the key reasons this is my favorite Grand Tour: the field is strong enough to have serious contenders, but weak enough to let an outsider play. It’s perfect.
Aside from a well-balanced field, the geography of Italy lends itself to a better three week race than do France or Spain. Many European companies are defined by natural borders such as mountains or water, which generally means the mountains and great bodies of water lie at the borders with plains in between. (Or, as is the case with the Netherlands, beneath.) Italy is unique in that it is narrow and has mountainous terrain in nearly every region. Whereas the first week(s) of the Tour and Vuelta feature mostly flat stages suited for the sprinters and little else, the Giro’s first week generally contains several mountaintop finishes. The difficulty of a typical Giro’s first week means that riders who ride strongly there typically fade towards the end, while riders who were weak on the first climbs may come on strong as the race closes down. The result is a tight race from start to finish with regular changes in leadership. Except in 1990. And whatever years those other three guys who did what Gianni did.
This year’s Giro will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy by making strong men cry. Forty major climbs, and 7 mountain top finishes, one of which involves climbing Mount Etna twice. (Welcome to Sicily, assholes. You get to ride up the most active volcano on Earth twice.) I have it on the excellent authority of a man down the pub that Contador is stocking up on extra drugs even as I write this in an attempt to quiet the rattle of his skinny little bones in his spanish boots.
With that we kick off the best Grand Tour of the year, and the first test of our Grand Tour VSP Software. The other VSP editions have been a piece of cake. Grand Tours include free “swapping of the picks” logic whenever a rider in a contestent’s pick list drops out. We have rest day swaps for 2 or 4 points each, depending on which rest day it is. Our system is supposed to handle all of this smoothly and seamlessly. We’ll see.
Read the scoring guidelines, work out your strategy, dope up on clairvoyance drugs (alcohol) and chuck your picks up. As usual, the winner of this VSP edition will earn an “Obey the Rules” bumper sticker and all reader’s points qualify towards the final prize of the free personalized Velominati Shop Apron. If you are inclined to enter, simply post your predictions for the top five placings in the designated area above the posts section, bearing in mind that entry/modification of picks closes at 5am Pacific time on the day of the race. You are eligible to swap picks at no penalty for your picked riders who drop out; rest day picks each come at a 2 point penalty for the first rest day, 4 points each for the second.
Good luck.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
@tomb
HTC was conspicuous in their absence as the Garmin-Cervelo and Lampre trains got going. Maybe a tad early on the former's part. At the same time, Cav seemed to be in good shape. Maybe he could have gone a bit earlier, but he's so damn fast he can almost afford to wait for someone else to make the first move.
General question here - Do the other PROS not riding the Giro, who aren't riding other races, watch or follow it?
(I know it probably depends on the dude. And I know some folks, like say artists, don't always like to go to art galleries/museums.)
Just curious what you lads think. Seems like a Grand Tour would be hard to ignore.
@Steampunk
Dot, please just call me Dot for short. As in Polka Dot.
@Ron
Who knows? I would think so. Unless they're not there b/c of a doping ban, in which case, it may cause them to be a bit sour. I bet though, the climbers watch the Mt stages and the sprinters watch the sprint stages at least to size up the competition.
Ah, Cavendish will live to fight another day. I figure karma still owes him a severe beatdown for what he did to Haussler at last year's Tour de Suisse.
@Steampunk
Yeah, but Farrar isn't racing the Giro for top-10 finishes. Plus, he's in good form - that had to be an uncomfortable team meeting after the fact.
@benjamin
Uncomfortable, indeed! Here's what Jonathan Vaughters tweeted as they closed in on the finishing stretch:
And yet Cav was there and Corn-fed was nowhere to be seen. To make matters worse, the turns in toward the finish were of the kind that Farrar claims to like.
@Marko
As in you climb well for your weight?
@Steampunk
Exactly! That team has problems. It's telling that Andreas Klier (who is a badass, by the way) is the main go-to for commentary in this season's Beyond the Peloton. This year has to be considered a disappointment so far - and it's not like it's going to get better for Garmin-Cervelo. As good as they looked in the early season's warmups (Tour of Qatar, Tour of Oman, Tirreno-Adriatico), they've looked equally disorganized over the last two months. (Save, of course, for JVS masterful riding at Paris-Roubaix.)
I really wonder what this team is going to look like next year... Le Mevel could be a GC guy... but you have to think that a lot of personnel changes will happen in the fall.
All that said, I absolutely hold Garmin-Cervelo to an unrealistically high standard. Perhaps my own expectations for them are off-base.
And yet Cav was there and Corn-fed was nowhere to be seen. To make matters worse, the turns in toward the finish were of the kind that Farrar claims to like.
To your point - do you think it's racing instincts that Farrar lacks?
@benjamin
I don't know. He pulled out some impressive results last year, when he had less than ideal support. And while Cav has always enjoyed a superior train, he's also found ways to get himself to the front. It' kind of hard to see how and where riders fade in the final stretch, since the cameras are always following the front of the race.
Re. Garmin-Cervélo: it's important to keep in mind that they're rolling out their GC B team at the Giro. Although, it sounds they might have a schizophrenic line up in July, too, chasing sprint finishes and hoping Hesjedal and VDV can compete for the GC. Like you, I'm holding them to an impossible standard, but this looks like a very special team on paper.