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.
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Hopefully Ryder has got enough left in the tank for a good TT. Don't see scarponi or De Gendt being able to make that much time up on him if he is riding well tomorrow
@ChrisO
Funny you mention this, have you read Breaking the Chain? It seemed to me much more likely in that context that The Angry Cross mixed drugs he shouldn't have and that caused his off day. His blowup was almost identical to Zulle's in the 98 Giro, and it's well known now that the cocktail caused it.
@Marko
Shaping up for a good argument come December; The Robot and this ride are already great candidates. If he winds up on the podium, it will fuck up everyone's VSP.
Anyone think there was more than a little bit of a resemblance between Ryder's effort today & Cadel's last year up the Galibier?
As long as he's got enough in the tank tomorrow it should really be his...interestingly there was only 3 seconds difference between Ryder & de Gendt in the initial prologue so that time they made up towards the end of the Stelvio could end up being golden for Weight of a Nation.
@Ron
Maybe, but it's a bit like Michael Barry filming his Girona rides. It's awesome because they're PROS and they still care about this stuff and love what they're doing. Hesjedal has the best recorded time up Haleakala; I bet the kid in him just wanted an accurate time for a new PB up the Stelvio...
@frank
Have you seen de Gendt? Monstrous escapes in Paris Nice from last year, good on the Alpe and in Grenoble... That guy has talent. I once said a friend "he's a good breakaway rider, but he can't do it alone." He did it alone. He told me "No worries, he's still not a climber." Alpe d'Huez. I said he could actually be some kind of stage racer: he dissapoints in Paris Nice. After we both decided he was a great stage hunter, he is now taking a GC without proper preparation. Can you imagine what he could do if he focussed on a good GC? He might actually be the next Belgian tour winner.
De Gendt is a fucking madman: Who the f*ck attacks on a 200+ km ride with the Mortirolo and Stelvio on the second to last day of the Giro and gets away with it? Too bad I couldn't see the last 30 km, but I heard he attacked and dropped his breakaway comrades at the foot of the Stelvio and already had 3 minutes. At that point I was speculating over how awesome it would be if De Gendt took the Giro GC.
I have both Scarponi and Rodriquez, and they are correctly mapped, but I have 0 points for them in my VSP. Are they wrongly mapped on the result side or is there a bug?
@Netraam
use the dispute function. franks not gonna reply to these posts.
@RedRanger
I know, I disputed as well, but if there's something wrong with the coding Frank might like to know.