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.
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View Comments
@Steampunk, @benjamin
Cav is one of the few guys who can win with or without support. Impressive. Too bad he's a fucknugget.
I blame Garmin's issues on Vaughters; he was great as the leader of an upstart team, but he's struggling to find his stride as leader of one of the biggest teams in the sport. They need decisive plans, and they need to lead from the front. Vaughters should sit down and watch every video he can find of Merckx racing.
He's already made a mistake for the Tour putting two guys on GC, one for stage wins, and one for sprints. That's 4 riders with divergent goals.
The key to strategic success is the concentration of force and mass; and drive towards consistent, predictable performance.
@mcsqueak
Found a bug; turns out our friend is actually a Gray Order velominatus. There may have been some others as well with artificially reduced level badges, my apologies to each of you.
Go Cavendish I say, without just blatently trolling, he seems to be showing a few more signs of maturity (pulling his punches in the press conference while he was wearing the Maglia Rosa) and getting some game back. Actually I'm really just happy he stayed upright, on his bike, during a sprint. Baby steps.
@Ron
They ALL do. 1. It would be unprofessional not to scope out opposition and watch own team and 2. Invariably they love their sport.
Follow a few riders on twitter and see what they tweet after and during races.
@minion
Agreed, no troll there man. I'm certainly open to the idea that Cav is maturing and gaining class. I know he's a Velominatus in the sense of studying the sport's traditions, legends, and history. Please know that I hesitate to take this analogy too far but, Mohammad Ali had a big mouth and he's one of the greatest athletes of all time. I like that guy. Besides, when it comes down to a sprint between Ale Jet and CavenmaybeIcanreflectandgrowdish, I'll root for Cav every time.
What the fuck is up with Pettachi. Maybe we should start calling him "if six was nine".
@tomb
What race finish were you watching? Ale-jet broke Rule 59 twice, both times causing the Douche to check his path and at least at the first instance, check his speed too.
Whether he should have jumped earlier is a moot point. If this was anywhere other than Italy (or if Petacchi had a surname like McEwen, Brown or Reckshaw), I believe Petacchi would would have been relegated.
@frank
Speaking as someone who carries both the joy and burden of an apostrophe in their last name, let me say that this site isn't the first to lay down in submission against the strength of this punctuation mark. The amount of times I have had my name shoved elsewhere on lists, etc. because a computer thinks that little punctuation mark is some sort of 27th letter of the alphabet... At least Stuey has the same problem...
@Marcus
Pretty disappointing to see the race officials not take action. I warm to Ale-Jet more than I do to Cav. But I warm even more to sporting code enforcement which is, and is seen to be, impartial. I don;t think that's what we got with Stage 2. Only question in my mind is whether Cav was actually impeded - though the fact that he swerved twice (in response to Ale-Jet's swerves) rather suggests he was.
I just think Cav started his sprint a bit too late & got beaten.
I don't think Ale-Jet did too much wrong. Cav needs to be more gracious when
he loses o/w he will lose many fans.
@frank
I really miss Matt White. He was no BS and the riders all really respected him. I don't know what the riders think about JV. They need to start delivering if they want to be called one of the best teams in the world. That means they better start taking TTTs and get a freaking win at the TdF.
After rooting for Garmin for so long, their inability to deliver big wins is grating on my patience. However, I am a Sac Kings fan so I grew up a glutton for punishment and am experienced in the art of being disappointed in one's home team. Last year at the end of the season I was so pissed at VDV's attitude after he crashed out of the Tour and really lacked passion for the sport as he went to ride the Vuelta. I said I was done being a VDV/Garmin fan. But as Frank said, Cavendish is a fucknugget and I find myself still rooting for Garmin. VDV needs to take a lesson from his own name and start dishing out the V. Hopefully Garmin will get a new GC rider next season while developing Talansky who will win the TdF one day. Rambling finished.
@ramenvelo
Totally agree with you about Matt White. I think losing Matt White has shaken GarVelo much more than I expected. I think JV is way too stretched--leading the charge against the UCI, driving and directing from the team car, tweeting, writing public letters and journals, negotiating contracts for next year, negotiating sponsorship contracts, etc. He needs another full-time Matt White. Very soon.