Twiggo is dreaming of a Giro-Tour double. He has sent out mixed messages about his Tour ambitions. Will he use the Giro as the ultimate Tour preparation or will be burn all his matches in May and hope he can find another pack for July? He has abandoned his successful 2012 Tour run-up strategy of winning every stage race he entered the previous spring. Now it’s the seclusion of Mount Doom of Tenerife, his coach and his watt meter his only competition. Team Sky is supporting Wig with a very strong squad, including superman, Kanstantsin Siutsou and with Cav no longer a teammate, it’s all the knights of the round table for Sir Twig.
Will the curse of the god-awful Astana kit continue to haunt non-Kazahk riders? Can Vincenzo’s Italian mojo overpower its powerful pale blue and yellow aura? Roman Kreuziger was finally able to win a big race once he shed that kit and pulled on one of Bjarne’s Saxo jerseys. Maybe it was more Bjarne and less jersey that made the difference.
Ryder gets no respect as the defending champion. His little dance at the end of Liége-Bastogne-Liége showed he is fit and ready for a fight. He can time trial, he can climb. Personally I have to back the local boy. And I always hate the overpowered, overwhelming favorite (read Team Sky here) in any race, unless that racer is Fabian Cancellara. No one can say Fabs has won a race this year surrounded with a team as strong as Sky’s. The Shack is just the Shack or a shack. Once Cancellara leaves for the Swiss “I AM” team, it’s lights out in the shack. Frandy, don’t forget to turn out ’em out when you leave.
If Cavendish wins the first day’s sprinter’s stage he will be in pink. He may be out of it after stage two, a team time trial.
But this is the Giro: crazy, unexpected, beautiful things can happen. The spinning wheels of fortuna are less predictable in Italy as they are in France in July. The betting window is now open. The complete start list is not yet available, an incomplete one is here and shall be updated soon. So sleep on your picks, wait for all the teams to make it official, unless you want to go with the obvious all Sky podium. The race begins Saturday so don’t Delgado away a Grand Tour opportunity.
[vsp_results id=”23343″/]
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
This whole electric it's good/ bad reminds me of clipless vs. toe clips and straps. I loved old school pedals and straps but I would never go back (maybe on the track?). I ride an old Bianchi with down tube shifters and she's just fine for all my regular needs. Last summer I demo-ed a Felt with electronic shifting and as expected the shifting was awesome! But more awesome was the 6 1/2 kilos of felt vs my 9 1/2 kilo 30 year old.
Bottom line when all this stuff costs less than a used car or I get sponsored by Viagra to ride the masters worlds I am happy to lug along and watch the Felts and Storcks from the back of the pace line.
@Giles
Saw this somewhere, and oh so true.
@mouse
RIght, "Velominati, Self-Opinionated Silly Self-Fuckers", stand by for a site update.
I've been on holiday a few days and am amazed to find this out about myself. Particularly since the good Doc appears to be better with a scalpel than his spell checker as I had a job of it sorting out what he'd said. And, the people he appears to have a beef with don't run the site. He attention to detail mirrors his opinion of electronic shifting.
All things being equal, if electronic shifting gets Minion, ChrisO, and Marcus (and me, from the sidelines) agreeing, well, I'd have thrown him out for it if he'd not (apparently) left on his own. Not to mention for calling this place a "blog" - I've never been so insulted in my life.
@Rob I guess it will only be a matter of time though, after all not so long ago only high end cars came with ABS brakes, and I still recall the novelty of autolock seat belts in cars.
@Erik
What is it with the fucking thrones? Its a worse trend than baseball caps on the podium.
@JohnB
Honestly, choosing wheels is like choosing the character for your bike that day...I love being able to swap between machines. For that reason alone, I'll be buying up as much 10spd Campa as I can manage just to resist the investment of buying 11spd for all those bikes.
Besides, having ridden Mektronic killed my love of electronic shifting, though I'm given to understand Mavic Zap! was pretty good. Mektronic made me vow to always keep a cable between my hand and my rear mech.
@strathlubnaig
You look like a fanny with that pink shirt. Don't let the guys on the rig see you in that.
@Deakus
I use rain blocks and they are great; my carbon rims brake better in all circumstances than alu, but they go after brake pads like a fat guy at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
@Marcus
The question is, would you also fake your own orgasms?
@Rob
You are my hero. +1 badge to you.
@Rob
Even when the tech is to make stuff lighter, the tech has to be slowed down by 70 grams here;
I read somewhere a while a go that the UCI regulations on minimum weight was there to make sure the bikes are of solid, 'safe' build. The above pic throws out that theory.