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″/]
@ped
I ordered it off ebay and it was shipped from the states…it was a little pricey but I figured if it works as well as stated it would be worth it. The N+1 has a brand new chain so I have been living with the factory wax but am about to do a strip down and re-lube so I will be cracking the seal on the Dumonde any day now…
Hope I’m not gonna get a DocB thrashing regarding this, from Velo-
The fastest bike lube isn’t designed for your bike at
all. In every measure, the most efficient chain lubricant is simple paraffin wax, sold in solid blocks
at any hardware store. In the efficiency test it was
faster than the best bike lube by 0.24 watts and the
worst by 3.05 watts under ideal conditions. Following an hour covered in dirt, sand, and water, the
paraffin was nearly 6 watts faster than the worstperforming lube.
That’s similar to changing from a low-quality
training tire to a super-thin race tire, or from a
cheap aero wheelset to the best available. Best of all,
paraffin wax costs less than $10 for a few blocks,
which will last months, if not years
More here – http://www.friction-facts.com/ which includes a home recipe for waxing your precious bits!
@ped
How do we know that you’re not just a puppet of the paraffin wax cartels?
Its Fenwick Stealth Lube for me. Lovely stuff.
@motor city that just sounds the dog’s ‘nads. I am a marketer’s dream, I’d buy it without your recommendation with a name like that…
@mouse BUSTED! Damn, where’s my mood altering Yankee Candle, need to chill out now
@ped
In the interests of health and safety and not blowing up my house, I am not going to spend any time melting down parafin wax…..as they say….a fool and his house are soon parted!
@Deakus The fact that my first thought was, “Can it really be that dangerous?” possibly shows that I am not the right person to be doing this either
@the Engine I dont know what part of the world you are in but if things are very wet you may want to try Pedros Syn lube.
I use their Ice wax on both my road and mountain bikes, but it only rains here 2 weeks the entire year, and I have to contend with all the dust and sand that gets into everything.
@ped
Apparently it is not the wax catching fire that is a worry (although that can happen too) it is the fumes that are extremely flammable and explosive. You need some sort of low heat burner…i.e. a cadle or hex tab might do it. Do not try and light it up with a pinch of C4!
Can i get a clarification?
My picks for the VSP get 9 (3 placed wherever)
But my pick for Giro stage 10 – got 7
Were these independently added and the total on here just the score for the overall.
Anyone…..?
@simonsaunders
They should have been independently added on the day. I can not remember which stage was the “one off” where a VSP were run on a single day for that stage only, but if it was stage 10 they were all added on the day. Your 9 points for the finish should then have been added a day or so ago…
@strathlubnaig
That link is dead, presumably due to a wee overstatement. He only raced over 1,000 km with a broken bone in his hand. Ridiculously tough enough, imho.
@Deakus
There was a study done similar to this which had Dumonde Tech as the worst performer. I don’t generally use it on a rain bike because it is a real oil-based lube. On the other hand, in clean conditions, nothing runs smoother and quieter and I still use it and love it.
And it smells fantastic.
@simonsaunders, @Deakus
Yes, consider the Stage VSP independent from the Giro VSP. Points from the Stage go into the overall VSP, not the Giro VSP.
@starclimber
Ah so no broken ankle then, just the wrist, well good effort anyway, probably just severely twisted. These GTs always bring out the best in Rule #5 behaviour. Inspiration indeed.
@Dr C
Staying in Amadores this year. This will be the 4th year in the past few I’ll be in GC, spent a couple in Lanzarore and Tenerife. Just not the same. I know that Ojeda climb well, it was one of the first I discovered and the one I look forward to most every time I’m back. There are options to continue for a whole day run taking in the 1949m of Pico de las Nieves or return via Soria or Ayacata if its a couple or 3 hours. Free Motion do great hire bikes, no need to risk my own to a Ryanair baggage handler. It does get a bit cooler up high, but still sharpens the tan lines nicely. Plenty local options to sample an espresso and top up the bottles. Going to have a closer look at the north of the island this year.
Purple Extreme lube on the #1. I get over 2000km out of a Dura Ace 10 speed before the chain checker says .75. Change before 1.0 and cassette is good for 3 chains. Shimano wet lube on the winter/ rain bike.
@JohnB
and the unimaginatively named Seafood Pasta dish at Atacaya makes all the suffering worthwhile!
Ditto the Papaya Juice in Soria
For me, I’m off to not ride up the Stelvio this sunday, as the friggin place is still sowed up!
….it’ll have to be the Motirolo then!!
Sad reality is I actually won’t be able to get up that beast in my current shape, but I’ll give it a lash – fail reports next week
Enjoy GC
@piwakawaka
Fuglsang, who’ll be lucky to finish at all, let alone in the top 10!
20-30 million Euros per year, I think.
@Dr C
Kill it and spill the glory! There is no V in “sand bagging”.
Fucking Eyetalian twats. Arrivederci Vini Santini…..
@JohnB
Just stripped down chains on N1 & 2 and then applied Dumonde Tech….man that stuff smells awesome….I will be sorely tempted to smother the VMH in it tonight!
@Deakus
Lube
Ride
Repeat
@strathlubnaig
@Sauterelle
yip…knowing what we know now, that just drips irony.
@Sauterelle
Popping like grapes!
Yes it is way early (way early), but picking a winner of the Giro d’Italia 97Ëš now — Rigoberto Uran.
A holiday classic that had to be posted. (not my work)
I like the look of this training — Giro d’Italia winning training.
@unversio
Very confident of this upcoming winner of Giro d’Italia 97Ëš