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″/]
For precisely three weeks of the year, this has to be the coolest car on the roads. As for the other forty-nine weeks…
Anyone know of a Pantone color formula used for Giro d’Italia PINK?
Buh bye, Watto. Has he started issuing polemica about how Uran is not the team leader, or threatened to drop out of the Giro to get ready for the Tour?
@Nate
Not yet, but none of this is good news for Froome. I’m already looking forward to inter-Sky fighting in France. It’s not like Froome won’t get a job somewhere else if Sky fire him!
@Bianchi Denti
unfortunate part of last night is that Uran’s g/f (if he has one) doesn’t appear to be on twitter…was kinda looking forward to #wagwars version 2.
@Mikael Liddy Uran says “We are not like Froome.”
@Nate
Can we get an edit? Sub in the Colombians, and Balocco for LCL.
Also, mullets
@DerHoggz
These are not the droids you are looking for.
Long, sloppy hair /= a mullet.
@Ron
While “long sloppy hair != mullet” may be a true statement, if “mullet == short on top && short in front && long in back” then Duran Duran here is looking like “mullet = true.” Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Lots of interesting hair styles on that page.
This is getting on my nerves. Have them fight it out on the bikes Badger-LeMond-style.
@Ron
Mullet = Business at the front, party at the back
@Deakus
Wild Boys is a clear example of why my parents believed MTV to be the spawn of satan.
Jens was at it again in the TOC. Best quote of the day:
“Once I go I’m committed, and yeah, I actually have, sometimes I have confidence beyond reason, you know you can’t beat that out, I’m motherf*cking Jens Voigt, their not gonna catch me, right?”
@LA Dave
http://www.bicycling.com/video/jens-voigt-attacking-confidence#/video/all/created/d/1?cm_mmc=Twitter-_-Bicycling-_-Content-Video-_-jens-attacks
todays “5 reasons” in Paved was about Hampsten. Some good video of him racing in the ’85 and ’88 Giros:
http://www.pavedmag.com/featured/5-reasons-why-he's-andy-hampsten-and-you're-not/
@LA Dave
Reminds me of the movie Bottle Rocket and the line “They’ll never catch me” by Owen Wilson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QihI3ORsFn0
Long ass clip but skip to 2:00 for the line. Just classic and I can just imagine Jensie saying this.
@LA Dave
Wow! Awesome vids! Worthy of a permanent tag to revisit for sure.
Shit! Wiggo off the back again. Will he drop out tonight, I wonder?
@Buck Rogers
leave the poor wee lad alone, he has a cold apparently.
@strathlubnaig
Hell, I’m not beating on him, just amazed that he is off the back on today’s stage and now all of his team have left him on the road. I do wonder if he’ll pack it in tonight?
@Buck Rogers
hey ! beat away by all means. I cant see him abandoning, that would be lacking in character. Ryder didnt abandon after all. Froome must be lapping this up though.
@strathlubnaig
Definitely makes July a lot more interesting for Sky, no doubt! Do not think that FroomeDog will be too pleased as Wiggo will be out for a solid result in July now.
Damn! Today’s stage is turning out to be a real nail biter. Suppsodely Duran Duran is not with the Nibali group either! Sky is imploding on the road.
@Buck Rogers @strathlubnaig If the reports of him having a chest infection are true it wouldn’t be a surprise if he did pull out tonight. Might be lacking in character but riding without oxygen is a bit of a bitch and he won’t get better if the weather carries on like it is.
@Buck Rogers Apparently Duran Duran and Crowded House are with nibbles, mis communication from Race Radio Ga Ga I think.
Fuck – Cav is as mega today as Wiggo is poor(ly)…I bet Froome will be sick when Wiggins drops out and decides he wants to go for TdF again to make up for this.
That felt slightly funereal, the amount of time time they gave to footage of Wiggo being brought in by his team rather than replays of Cav making everyone else look slow.
@Patrick
Agree on both points.
@Chris
Ahh, so much for cyclingnews’ live ticker.
Nobody tell me that flat stages aren’t interesting.
I love seeing a break out for hours and then it comes down to the last few hundred metres.
Hard, hard work all round.
You gotta give it to Cav – he brings home the goods. Clean pair of heels to the bunch today. That looked like a hard chase to get the break back.
@Buck Rogers
So good….such a great movie and scene. I’ll need to find that DVD and watch again.
@Chris
If it weren’t for the clock in the corner, I would have thought Sky were out for an easy Sunday cruise for the last 5km.
Almost forgot the results were updated today. Wiggins is almost as fucked as Ryder.
Hot damn, pass me the retrospect-oscope, if only i’d swapped out Ryder for Cuddles
After another boring stage of tour of CA fuck me Jensy goes off the front again and nails it……quote from his team DS “retirement is frightened of Jensy”
classic!
So the next rest day will allow everyone who (like me) got sucked in by the Wiggins Bandwagon to trade him out for Uran. A chest infection has been cited (maybe he tried to lose too much weight to get into the best climbing shape of his life ?) And Ryder has bailed too.
Hardly a surprise but Wiggo has pulled the plug.
Maybe it’ll stop raining and dry up now.
So two out of my five out on the same day. As with many I guess.
Mod worshipping fanny, he needs to HTFU and get on with it.
Wiggo’s got bigger fish to fry…
Bwadley’s got a vewy bad cowd.
@brett Froome and his gobshite lass?!
Wiggins and the Sky masterplan were doomed when he didn’t smash the ITT and put himself into the Maglia Rosa. I don’t think he likes to take risks and race…
@brett
So what’s the odds twig let now tries to oust froomedog tourmaline his tour spot?
@Deakus
Fucking iPad auto shit…..froomedog from his
Oh dear. A rest day swap? It may be the only way to salvage my VSP. Two of my picks DNF. And I chose the wrong SKY Columbian. I went with Henao instead of Uran.
Bugger. Good Cadel must win! A swap would be too costly, methinks.
Go Good Cadel. Ride faster.
And Wiggo should just let Froome botch Le Tour on his own.
Bradley is a mod. That means he likes skinny ties. That was important for us to know while he was winning. So maybe it is now.