Velominati Super Prestige: Giro D’Italia 2013
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″/]
@motor city Thanks for that info.
@Steampunk
Just imagine the fun @frank could have had with this. Today’s stage certainly would have panned out differently…
WooHoo. I’m the leader on the road!
@Chris
All I see is a suitcase and a sign that says bullocks.
@Chris
Oh oh oh! He’s riding with his suitcase of courage.
@frank
One of these riders is wearing rainbow stripes.
@itburns
But Sky haven’t had seven years of near-complete domination.
In fact they’ve had one good season on parcours which suited their metronomic style.
Other teams have started to find them out tactically and their modus operandi hasn’t worked in challenging conditions and routes. Nor did it work in the classics.
When the conditions and the course were right the advantages of their training showed up and physically nobody could match them. But now other teams have begun to erode the advantage tactically, especially in challenging conditions and terrain or in races where the chief weapon is fear, and surprise…
And also, look at Nibali, and to some extent Rodriguez. In the past their teams would have just let them get on with TT training in their own way – now they have spent considerable time and effort in wind tunnels and with specialist trainers and analysts from F1 and MotoGP, and have seen enormous improvements as a result.
@ChrisO I was also thinking this was the case but din’t have the knowledge to say it. Nibali’s TTing has come leaps and bounds from last season. There’s a video about it on CycligNews.com somewhere. If Wiggins wants to win the Giro he’s gonna have to do something we haven’t seen him do yet ATTACK! I’m sure we’d all like to see that whether we like him or not – it’ll make great viewing!
I learnt not to swap last year (the cost is huge particularly on the second day) so I am going to break my own mantra….mainly because I forgot to swap out Basso at the start. Doh!
Unless Twiglet is playing a masterful game of bluff and is about to rip everyones legs off in the mountains, he looks out of sorts to me, I think that little fall might have whacked an elbow or something, he certainly looks less confident than I have seen him before, therefore my insertion is Cuddles who is really looking like a Good Cadel at the moment!
I have a feeling Ryder and Dirty Sanchez are going to cost me on this one, although Sammy did move up as a counter point to Ryder moving down yesterday, but Henao is still looking strong. Only concern is that Sky make Uran the point man if Twiggy folds, in which case Henao will be under team orders….
Have to say it is proving a stonking race!
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibbles
2. Ryder
3. Dirty Sanchez
4. Cuddles
5. Henao
@G’rilla
One of these guys has guns. The other has won the Giro.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibbles
2. Cuddles
3. Hay Sink
4. Hey Now
5. My Little ‘Poni
@G’rilla
No rest day swaps for me. My VSP picks are rubbish but its been a great first week.
Cuddles ftw. Ryder for the… umm… not win. At least I have dual citizenship.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Cuddles
2. Wiggo
3. Nibali
4. Scarponi
5. Gesink
Slight tweak & the addition of Good Cadel.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibbles
2. Cuddles
3. Ryder
4. Wiggo
5. Keep em Gesink
Cycling is such a fun sport to watch when Team Sky doesn’t manage to control the races, isn’t it?
No VSP changes here, although I was probably wrong putting Cuddles only in 5. position. And I still believe in Pozzovivo, his name doesn’t mean “Lord of the Well of Liveliness” for nothing.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Sir Sulkalot Wiggins
2. Il Duce Nibali
3. Digger Cadel
4. Maple Leaf Ryder
5. Gesink don’t stink
Cracking headline in the Cycling News today Merckx: Wiggins descends like a novice well I guess you cant argue with The Prophet.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibbles
2. It’s My Party Wiggins
3. Cuddles
4. Scarpers
5. Wham Bam Santantambrogio
Wee change for me, much as it hurts to do so. I think The Leafs have more chance of winning the Stanley Cup this season than Ryder has of repeating, bummer.
@strathlubnaig
“I think there is something wrong with his material, he has no confidence.” In other words, Eddy thinks Sky should ride Merckx instead of Pinarello.
@strathlubnaig
That is hilarious…plus the bit further down:
Sprinting is for real men
Djamolidin Abdujapaorov, the Taskent Terror, one of the craziest, most fearless sprinters of all time is at this year’s Giro d’Italia, driving one of the RCS Sport technical directors in the race.
‘Abdu’ was famous for his reckless sprinting, his often verbal and even physical clashes with Mario Cipollini and his spectacular high-speed crash on the Champs Elysees at the end of the 1991 Tour de France. His career ended in 1997 when he tested positive for Clenbuterol during the Tour de France.
Now 49 and living in Italy, he shared his thoughts on sprinting with Gazzetta dello Sport.
“This is the first time I’m back at the Giro since I retired. I like it,” he said.
“Would I like to be having a go in the sprints? Well, I wouldn’t be afraid to have a go.”
“Sprinting is always about how ferocious you are, they’re wild moments. Sprinting is for real men. These days riders line up to see the doctor during races to get treatment for a few cuts. I don’t think I ever went to the doctors car during a race. I looked after myself.”
You gotta love Abdu!
@strathlubnaig Headline in the telegraph today: Bradley Wiggins disappointed with Giro form, admitting ‘I descended like a bit of a girl’
He went on to say: “Not to disrespect girls, I have one at home”
Fuck it. Should switch them around a bit but just cannot bring myself to do it. Come on Wiggo you wanker, descend like you have a pair, or at least one!
@Buck Rogers
Agreed. Whatever Vaughter’s Plan B might be, it doesn’t involve swapping Hesjedal out of his team. Rest days swaps smack of anti-V.
@Chris I think his quote was truncated. He really said “I descended like a bit of a G’rilla. That guy could go faster if he used a barrel.”
To swap, or not to swap: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The descents and climbs of outrageous fortune,
Or to take capes against a sea of rains,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That the Giro is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To swap, to hold fast;
To predict correctly: perchance to win: ay, there’s the rub;
@Deakus
Crazy, hard guy, wonder if he refused the medical services after scraping his face down the Champs at 65km/h/.
Although, looking after himself possibly explains ONLY getting popped for clenbuterol
@G’rilla
So the whole quote would be “I descended like a bit of a G’rilla. That guy could go faster if he used a barrel. Not to disrespect G’rillas, I have one at home.” which raises a whole load of other questions.
@wiscot All the world’s but a stage of the Giro.
@Deakus Guy was such a crazyass wingnut! Look at that vid of the last stage of the tour. He totally took himself out. No one even close or pressing him to the outside. Must have been a throw back to the days when everyone was taking “poppers” throughout the stages. Guy was insane!
@wiscot
Chapeau! But I am afraid that there is no method to my madness!
@wiscot
That’s the first…and I hope last time I ever hear Wiggo likened in some way to Hamlet!
One was a mad, petulant and down in the dumps prince….and the other was…er….oh….I see where you are going with this now.
I’m going to stand on my picks. I’m a little worried about Wiggo and Hesjedal. But I’m sticking with Good Cadel. Don’t step on his dog.
Wiggins looked generally uncomfy on his bike all week even before his crash. I can’t decide if I like Vaughters or not, but there may be some truth in his twitter speculation that Wiggns is suffering with the same bug that Cataldo had.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibbles
2. Wiggo
3. C. Evans
4. Hesjedal
5. Uran Uran
Swap Time = Sammy Sanchez out, Good Cadel in.
Yes, gotta make the swap: Gesink for Sanchez.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Gesink
2. Nibali
3. Hesjedahl
4. Evans
5. Wiggins
I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but if I reorder two of my riders does it cost me 5 points earch? i.e. If I move Cuddles from 5-3 and Ryder from 3-5 is that -10?
Abdu was the Black Knight reincarnated
Henao out, Cuddles in.
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibali
2. Wiggins
3. Hesjedal
4. Scarponi
5. Evans
@seemunkee
er…yes…or if not let me know cos I will have some free order shifting to do!
just a tweak
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibbles
2. Evans
3. Scar face
4. Ryder
5. Wiggins
I’m sitting OK right now. I could make a swap, but like someone else mentioned, it seems kinda “anti-V”. If I didn’t have over 30pts right now, I may be more inclined swapping cuddles and Wiggo, and punting the Canook.
Ryder out, Gesink in
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Wiggins
2. Nibali
3. Scarponi
4. Gesink
5. Evans
VSP PICKS (1st Rest Day Swaps):
1. Nibali
2. Wiggins
3. Hesjedal
4. Cadel Evans
5. Henao
@ChrisO
I thought that their chief weapon was ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope!! Or is that just for the Vuelta ??
I make a no swaps….it a smacks of a de anti v. We hold out and press on….
@paolo Well spotted sir…
I’m thinking no on swaps. What I do hope is that Wiggo will show his true mettle and status as a contender, and go crazy on a few stages. Playing cat and mouse with Nibs, Cuddles, Ryder and Gesink won’t do any good. Sky don’t seem to be aware of a “fuck it, let’s give it a go and see where the chips fall” strategy, but I’d sure be happy to see them try. If this bad weather keeps up, every wet day that involves a descent will see every main contender stick it to Sky like a fork in a marshmallow. Wiggo’ mojo is off-kilter and his rivals will no this and take advantage of it – as they should. You don’t exploit punctures, crashes or mechanicals, but a skills/confidence chink in the armor, you bet.