Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2012 Stage 20

The famous bends of the Stelvio

See that huge mountain over there? The one with the steep, twisty road going up it? The one that is often covered in snow this time of year? Right, race ya to the top.

I don’t know what more there is to say about this year’s Giro; four days from the end, with two of the biggest mountain stages yet to come and the G.C., Mountains, and Points competitions are all wide open. Basso is looking perhaps the freshest of the favorites, but Hope of a Nation is not looking to be weakening, either. Purito hasn’t shown weakness, though he also hasn’t really been able to show the speed he usually has on the uphill finishes; on his trademark uphill finale attacks, the slower men have (usually) been able to contain him. The Pony, on the other hand, showed his scars as he cracked on the way over the last hill on Wednesday’s stage and seems to be on the down side of his good form as we enter the final stretch.

Friday’s stage may well solidify the looks of things, but Saturday’s stage to the top of the Stelvio will be fireworks for sure. Clear your calendars for Friday and Saturday; this is going to be good.

Since this is a Tour stage, point on offer are 5 for first, 4 four second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth, and 1 for 5th. No bonus points for the right rider in the wrong place. Get your picks in by the time the countdown timer goes to zero. Points count towards your overall VSP total but do not effect your Giro VSP total. Good luck.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

motor city says:

May 27 2012 at 12:29 am

@smithers
congratulations man.
il ciclista medio says:

May 27 2012 at 1:08 am

@Mikael Liddy
and you beat me to it!

@smithers
Congratulations. As my wife replies nearly everytime I tell her how hard my ride was - "have you ever given birth?"
So it's 8:00 at Hornsby then smithers?....excellent
Ron says:

May 27 2012 at 4:20 am

@ChrisO

Also BTW, in the 'things we learned' category... Team Sky = Tactically Clueless.

All they had to do yesterday was stop Rodriguez taking fourth place or higher and they failed.

Henao and Uran were even helping make the pace in the chasing group at one point, using up their energy before the climb. Why ? Not to consolidate the Young Riders' jersey - Uran had 5 minutes on Brambilla, who was already dropped.

Thomas, Stannard and Eisel all finished with the gruppetto, and Flecha in between. Surely one or two of them (Thomas, Eisel) could have stayed with the front group for a while to help the climbers.

Wiggo has been doing the PR rounds about his training in the Canary Islands - but you don't win the tour without tactics as well. If Sky can't protect one jersey with no other aims, how can they launch a two-pronged attack with Wiggins and Cavendish.

And had they won the Maglia Rossa Cav might have been less worried about the Tour I suspect, but they've just made the problem worse.

Hmm, that's some nice analysis and a lot to think about! Strong work, bud!
snoov says:

May 27 2012 at 4:45 am

@ChrisO

Also BTW, in the 'things we learned' category... Team Sky = Tactically Clueless.

All they had to do yesterday was stop Rodriguez taking fourth place or higher and they failed.

Henao and Uran were even helping make the pace in the chasing group at one point, using up their energy before the climb. Why ? Not to consolidate the Young Riders' jersey - Uran had 5 minutes on Brambilla, who was already dropped.

Thomas, Stannard and Eisel all finished with the gruppetto, and Flecha in between. Surely one or two of them (Thomas, Eisel) could have stayed with the front group for a while to help the climbers.

Wiggo has been doing the PR rounds about his training in the Canary Islands - but you don't win the tour without tactics as well. If Sky can't protect one jersey with no other aims, how can they launch a two-pronged attack with Wiggins and Cavendish.

And had they won the Maglia Rossa Cav might have been less worried about the Tour I suspect, but they've just made the problem worse.

Exactly, Henao at one point went back to help Uran when he could have shadowed Rodriguez and Sky could have won two jerseys.
Nate says:

May 27 2012 at 8:59 am

@smithers
another velominatus paterfamilias! Chapeau!

@ChrisO
Spot on.
frank says:

May 27 2012 at 11:44 am

@ChrisO

Also BTW, in the 'things we learned' category... Team Sky = Tactically Clueless.

All they had to do yesterday was stop Rodriguez taking fourth place or higher and they failed.

Henao and Uran were even helping make the pace in the chasing group at one point, using up their energy before the climb. Why ? Not to consolidate the Young Riders' jersey - Uran had 5 minutes on Brambilla, who was already dropped.

Thomas, Stannard and Eisel all finished with the gruppetto, and Flecha in between. Surely one or two of them (Thomas, Eisel) could have stayed with the front group for a while to help the climbers.

Wiggo has been doing the PR rounds about his training in the Canary Islands - but you don't win the tour without tactics as well. If Sky can't protect one jersey with no other aims, how can they launch a two-pronged attack with Wiggins and Cavendish.

And had they won the Maglia Rossa Cav might have been less worried about the Tour I suspect, but they've just made the problem worse.

Very interesting thoughts. Personally, my feeling is that the only way to win any of the jerseys is to focus 100% on it. That means either Cav or Wiggo, and commit now. It's *possible* to take both with a perfect race, but even then it means they have one less man working in both the flat and mountain stages. Cav can win sprints without a train, as he proves over and over, but that means one less mountains domestique and also one less rider to work and protect Wiggo on the flats, and its plainly clear that they will need everything firing.

Similarly with the points comp; if they've got Wiggo hiding on the flats, it means less firepower controlling the race and making sure Cav gets the points he needs.

Like I said, its possible to pull off, but they don't have the track record for it and the wiser plan (and, from what I can tell - Braillsford's preference) is to commit now. One gets the Tour, the other the Olympics.

Concentration of force and mass.
Oli says:

May 27 2012 at 2:48 pm

@ChrisO
It sounds like protecting the jersey was (of course) the team plan, but perhaps the plan didn't quite get played out properly on the road. I'm sure Henao and Uran would have stopped Purito taking the points if they could, but, as you say, they seemed to burn too many matches early on to be able to enact the plan. Bit of a shame from Cav's POV, but that's bike racing.
Oli says:

May 27 2012 at 2:52 pm

Fantastic victory for Hesjedal and Canada! What an interesting Giro, especially compared to the procession of last year. Great to see a victory from the Great White North - hopefully it's a massive boost to cycling there...
Smithers says:

May 28 2012 at 12:59 am

@il ciclista medio

@Mikael Liddy and you beat me to it!@smithers Congratulations. As my wife replies nearly everytime I tell her how hard my ride was - "have you ever given birth?" So it's 8:00 at Hornsby then smithers?....excellent

Thanks for kind words and unleashing rule 11 guilt trip. I would give an arm to be there.

My wife however would take it and my legs and my head and feed them to our neighbours puppy.

Chances are so remote they make Tasmania look like downtown new York ...( eh? ) ....

I cannot sit here and pretend that its even possible to go riding all day Subday first weekend home with newborn ( our third child and first girl - YES ) so I'm not going to.

I will and can commit to nefarious 2 hour hitouts at 5.45 am under cover of darkness and "commuting to work" - any one of you is more than welcome to join me. 38 km and 1000 vertical meters, every morning mon - fri.

Convict cogal 2 - IN like Flynn.
Dan_R says:

May 28 2012 at 12:37 pm

@Oli

Fantastic victory for Hesjedal and Canada! What an interesting Giro, especially compared to the procession of last year. Great to see a victory from the Great White North - hopefully it's a massive boost to cycling there...

I friggen' hope it boosts the sport! Eh.