Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia
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.
@Jeff in PetroMetro
I’m getting it here:
http://www.fromsportcom.com/v-2/6/20/v-262164.html
Just found it here from Eurosport in English.
Hah Frank ya beat me to the line w/that one.
The fromsportcom.com link has 2 “V”s in it. Nice.
@frank @pakrat
Thanks for the link, that’s a nice feed.
I just can’t get riled up about a TTT intro stage. Although HTC was a beauty to watch.
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Could we add last year’s overall VSP points to this year’s? At least I’m still on the podium for the Giro so far…
Three point system aside that looks proper.
WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I in da top 138!
Go K! Go K! Close that gap, gurl, eat it up!!!
Chin up, Girlfriend! It’s just the normal drama. It has ever been thus. Same shit, different day. As Yul his hotness (you can ignore that) the King of Siam would say, “etceteraaah, etceteraaah, etceteraaah!” Or, revel and roll in it (the drama) if you like, that’s part o’ the fun. Either way.
I admit I read that (RE. competing for 2nd) and did a *sigh*roll eyes*. On the other hand, this morning I also read this, which is totally unrelated but for some reason made me smile and feel proud…
“I’ve climbed Etna six times in 11 days and that was only to go back to the hotel…”
– Petacchi, after winning the 4th stage of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey; about training w/Scarponi for the Giro (full quote below)
Ha! I am but a mote in the cycling universe! But I’m lucky enough to be able to appreciate it and even be a part of it. Pull back to the big view. There’s always doping, there’s always dopes. But regardless, HOLY SHIITE these people and what they do – transcendently, consummately, phenomenally unparalleled.
~ ~ ~ ~
Quote source. Just old news, relatively; was wandering around cyclingnews.com avoiding getting out of bed.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/petacchi-leaner-than-ever-after-training-with-scarponi-ahead-of-giro-ditalia
“Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) will once again be the Italian sprinter to watch at the Giro d’Italia, as he showed his great condition by winning the queen stage of the 47th Presidential Tour of Turkey in Pamukkale…
“…’I still don’t know how, but I managed to stay in the first group,’ Petacchi said, amazed by his agility on the climbs. He thought about it for a few seconds and then said, ‘Actually I know the amount of work I’ve done before the Tour of Turkey. I’ve trained a lot on Mount Etna with Michele Scarponi for the Giro d’Italia. I’ve climbed Etna six times in 11 days and that was only to go back to the hotel…we’ve done many other climbs as well. I’ve become leaner. I’ve improved my climbing for sure but I’m probably less explosive in the sprints.’ “
@frank
Is HTC todays TI-Raleigh?
Damn, I missed out on getting my picks in in time… this is my first GT, is there another chance to get picks in before tomorrow’s stage or did I miss the boat?
I’d just like to post because for some reason I have the Maglia Rossa.
Praise the coders!!
@Karolinka
Now there’s optimist’s view point. Well put. This is why we are fans, because at the end of the day, we’re left with something to talk about. But if it ever so happens that people are racing for second that’ll be the first sign of the Anti-V apocalypse and a signal for Merckx to come out of retirement.
@Leroy
Scroll up and read Frank’s posts. He describes how to get back in, but the short of it is you can get in on the rest day, but its gonna cost a few penalty points.
@Marko
Amen, sister. The Return of the Badger at the end of the World.
Amusing (probably only to me): anybody who has anything to say about it (like, all two or three of them) says I’m a cynic/pessimist. Which I argue means I’m a pragmatic realist. Or a realistic pragmatist. But my terrible secret is… that I’m a wannabe optimist. Optimist-in-training.
Is there anyone else out there feeling pretty good about Radioshack? ‘Cause I am. Bruyneel knows how to roll a squad in the TTT. Machado is trending for a breakout, too… and the Giro is a good place to do it.
Katusha:
WTF Katusha. Kuschynski started on a road bike and got shelled 5km in. Sigh. I STILL LOVE YOU, J-ROD.
PS – Give it up to Bjorn Selander. Former US junior ‘cross champ now rocking the Maglia Bianca in his first-ever Grand Tour.
Stybar just podiumed his first road race.
Are these dudes bringing sexy back as well? Those whiskers might be in violation…
@Ron
No violation there…
It’s just that their rules are different. Cowherd disciples of the highest order – Boviminati?
@Ron
I didn’t realise ZZ Top were into cycling?
@Karolinka
I’m really starting to like how you refer to me all the time in the feminine. Makes me feel like one of the gals. Which makes two of us around here now. That’s one way to build Velominata participation. You go…
This has been a surprisingly fun stage to watch for it being so long and flat. Sebastian Lang is a stud. What was that – 3 hours solo off the front?
Gruppo compatto 3k to go. Cmon Robbie! One last big one!
Wow. How did Garmin blow another field sprint? Four guys on the front with 1km to go? You’ve got to deliver better than that.
Ale-jet definitely came across on the Douche – twice! But will be surprised if the home town judges do anything…
Great job by Garmin-Cervelo, controlling the leadout from 1500m to 500m. If there were points for that, they’d be magic. Seventh for Farrar is pretty impressive. Hate to say it, but I think Cav has a legitimate claim there. Ale-Jet was all over the place.
Good on the mouthy Manx cunt. Ale-Jet just giving him a bit of his own.
And what do they expect, its the bloody Giro and an Italian won. They are gonna call that?
@Marcus
people wonder y cav acts up alot, he was DQ’d in the tour with hushovd in 09 for far less, but i agree that nothing will happen about it
Ale doesn’t get relegated- stay tuned for some quality gobbing off from Cav
Pretty lame when you close a guy out and still can only beat him by half a rim width.
No way they’ll overturn it. Dirty dagos. (I’m half Italian, so just a joke.)
I like how Petacchi turned away from Cav. “Yeah, I just cheated to beat you, so I’m going to peek over here, not over your way…”
@Marko
Suck it up, Dorothy.
@benjamin
I loved watching him: so controlled, so concentrated, 80 rpms, just going…
@Steampunk
Perhaps Ale-Jet did get off his line, but he played it fair. Cavendish started on the left, went to the right when Alessandro went to the right and suddenly Mark goes on the left. Cav was by far the fastest, but he didn’t sprint right.
Petacchi claimed he lacked sprinting practice: if he climbs half as good he sprints I’ll put him in the top of my VSP picks. Thumbs up to Ale-Jet!
Petacchi in for the win tomorrow?
Cavendish failed on two counts.
1: Lead out man waited too long to pull off.
2: If he had stayed his line on the far left and kept at it he likely would have won. He is the one that chose to move to a different line.
Love it. Drama after just 2 days.
@tomb
Wrong on both counts.
1: His line was interrupted twice and he still lost by less than the width of a rim.
2: He moved right to avoid a first collision with Petacchi and then back again as the Italian veered back into his path.
@Steampunk
Your opinion. But I argue that the wouldn’t have been bothered by Jet if he had started his sprint earlier. And really, his line was at best “threatened”. No one at that level should be bothered by someone moving towards their line. Especially someone who is perpetually blocking others.
I am guessing that next time it will Manxy that is being agressive.
@Netraam
Possibly, except Ti-Raleigh was a much more well-rounded team than HTC will ever be. And while Peter Post was a dick, he’s nowhere near the massive tool monster fuck that Bob Stapelton is.
@Karolinka
Excellent work; that’s exactly right. It appears there’s still a little bug creeping around here and there…I’ll work to resolve by the first rest day…
I slept through the stage today, but looks like it was a doozy of a sprint. Here are the standings, but I’m guessing a bit on who got 5th (GC). I’ll update the results when I get that info:
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@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?