Velominati Super Prestige: Giro D’Italia 2013

Pink Ryder photo:REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

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.

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Gianni

Gianni has left the building.

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View Comments

Ron says:

May 5 2013 at 6:03 am

Yeah, I took a real flyer on Viviani. I wanted another EYEtalian in my top 5 and just went for him, though I highly doubt he'll go Top 5. Early VSP points are not going to matter much in three weeks.

What a finish in Stage 1. How much more ground did Mr. Cavendish cover going wide around the Radio Shake boys? Damn, and I don't even think he was at his limit. Viviani banging his bars. PRO-move. Try smashing your bars that hard and staying upright. One little push on only one side can totally send you off balance. Try pushing in a loose bar plug sometime and see what it does to your balance.

How did Green Edge blow that? Three guys with 1k to go?

Also, Cobo. Have I ever seen this guy ride a bike?
Ron says:

May 5 2013 at 6:10 am

I happened to watch the finish with my housemate, then showed him a net photo or two of Ms. Peta Todd. He thought the goods looked all natural. My VMH disagrees.

So, for two people (Cav + Peta) who make a living via their body and their physical gifts, I wonder how Cav feels about the possibly "doped" enhancements of his VMH. Isn't that cheating and depriving other models of income?

Is doping not confined just to the sports world?
wiscot says:

May 5 2013 at 7:36 am

@eenies

Stayed up late to watch the highlights after a 2100m ride mostly in the pain cave. Dozed my way thru the 4 days of Dunkirk but was wide awake for the Giro, love those grand tours. Defo worth the wait to see Cav dig deep to win and hilarious to see the bar bashing antics of the 1st loser.

You rode just over 2kms in the pain cave? What gives?
wiscot says:

May 5 2013 at 7:40 am

Ok, saw some pics from he team presentations. First, I hate "podium caps" and most teams were wearing them. However, to the credit of Wiggo, Ryder and Hesink they opted for bare heads. The sartorial travesty of the day went to Viini--Farnese who wore those things golfers wear - the cap without a top - you know, an enhanced visor - as worn by golfers? WTF?
frank says:

May 5 2013 at 8:22 am

Well, those are some time gaps. Amazed Garmin was that far down...Provisional results updated; remember, this is just provisional, what matter is the standings on the last day and these points won't count towards the GC until the race is over.

Provisional Race Results
1. PUCCIO Salvatore

2. WIGGINS Bradley

3. HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis

4. CATALDO Dario

5. URAN URAN Rigoberto

Provisional VSP Standings
1. the Engine (21 points)

2. Dashiell (20 points)

3. San Tonio (20 points)

4. Smithers (18 points)

5. Erik (18 points)

6. napolinige (18 points)

7. El Mateo (18 points)

8. taon24 (18 points)

9. Skip (18 points)

10. sprider (18 points)

11. stickyjumper (18 points)

12. la plaque (16 points)

13. Mikael Liddy (15 points)

14. mouse (15 points)

15. Lukas (15 points)

16. seemunkee (15 points)

17. Nate (15 points)

18. TBONE (15 points)

19. Bianchi Denti (15 points)

20. Noel (15 points)

21. moondance (15 points)

22. Don Amedo (15 points)

23. strathlubnaig (15 points)

24. scaler911 (15 points)

25. Dan_R (15 points)

26. Donnie Bugno (15 points)

27. freddy (15 points)

28. Patrick (15 points)

29. bderw (15 points)

30. Rigid (15 points)

31. Alex (15 points)

32. il ciclista medio (15 points)

33. V-olcano (15 points)

34. King Clydesdale (15 points)

35. Souleur (15 points)

36. MJ Moquin (15 points)

37. leadout (15 points)

38. dancollins (15 points)

39. el gato (15 points)

40. ten B (15 points)

41. Islandbike (15 points)

42. Dr C (11 points)

43. Mike_P (8 points)

44. Tobin (8 points)

45. torrefie (8 points)

46. Chris (8 points)

47. zalamanda (8 points)

48. Benzo (8 points)

49. Ron (8 points)

50. motor city (6 points)

51. Bat Chainpuller (6 points)

52. Al__S (6 points)

53. Nosyt (6 points)

54. DerHoggz (6 points)

55. piwakawaka (6 points)

56. VirenqueForever (6 points)

57. imakecircles (6 points)

58. Jhortua (6 points)

59. Vernwitha_V (6 points)

60. Roberto Marques (6 points)

61. Velodeluded (6 points)

62. m_demartino (6 points)

63. eenies (6 points)

64. NoTubes (6 points)

65. Geordi (6 points)

66. Chica (6 points)

67. Gervais (5 points)

68. sthilzy (3 points)

69. HeinrichHausslersHairstyle (3 points)

70. ped (3 points)

71. gallilano (3 points)

72. TOM.NELS2120 (3 points)

73. mbarston (3 points)

74. Buck Rogers (3 points)

75. Deakus (3 points)

76. SimonH (3 points)

77. Tartan1749 (3 points)

78. RedRanger (3 points)

79. razmaspaz (3 points)

80. Fausto (3 points)

81. PeakInTwoYears (3 points)

82. Steampunk (3 points)

83. The Goat (3 points)

84. LA Dave (3 points)

85. wiscot (3 points)

86. kyle (3 points)

87. roger (3 points)

88. Joe (3 points)

89. eightzero (3 points)

90. Simon (3 points)

91. snoov (3 points)

92. gladoe (3 points)

93. zeitzmar (3 points)

94. JohnB (3 points)

95. brian (3 points)

96. DocBrian (3 points)

97. Duende (3 points)

98. Two Ball Billy (3 points)

99. asyax (3 points)

100. unversio (3 points)

101. Blah (3 points)

102. Gino (3 points)

103. TomC (3 points)

104. Harminator (3 points)

105. Yannersan (3 points)

106. anotherdownunder (3 points)

107. Sauterelle (3 points)

108. 936adl (3 points)

109. Franklin (3 points)

110. RManneck (3 points)

111. VeloVita (3 points)

112. chrismurphy92 (3 points)

113. margc (3 points)

114. Dufferin Sportif (3 points)

115. blue (3 points)

116. brad_the_dean (3 points)

117. CanuckChuck (3 points)

118. Facetious_Jesus (3 points)

119. The Grande Fondue (3 points)

120. sgraha (3 points)

121. pink (3 points)

122. Adrian (3 points)

123. ramenvelo (3 points)

124. sehmis (3 points)

125. Daccordi Rider (3 points)

126. Benny (3 points)

127. girl (3 points)

128. simonsaunders (3 points)

129. ChrisO (3 points)

130. quanyeomans (3 points)

131. Blake (3 points)

132. jeyrod (3 points)

133. tony macaroni (3 points)

134. frank (3 points)

135. R00tdown (3 points)

136. Mirko (3 points)

137. graham d.m. (3 points)

138. paolo (3 points)

139. Russ (3 points)

140. minion (3 points)

141. Jay (3 points)

142. xyxax (3 points)

143. starclimber (3 points)

144. pakrat (3 points)

145. Cyclops (0 points)

146. Heihachi (0 points)

147. Dino (0 points)

148. brett (0 points)

149. oneninefiveninesix (0 points)

150. PT (0 points)
Mikael Liddy says:

May 5 2013 at 8:43 am

Both Garmin & BMC put their respective leaders slightly behind the 8 ball, 22 & 37 seconds I think the gaps were...not really where you want to be after day 2.

Pretty disappointed with Greenedge & Ham too, given they've won a couple of TTT's over the past year. Comical watching the carrot bunch fall apart, especially the one guy continuing to drive the front despite his fifth man being over 500m off the back!
eenies says:

May 5 2013 at 9:17 am

@wiscot 2100m of vertical. Today is a rest day, not for religious reasons but because I'm FKD.
strathlubnaig says:

May 5 2013 at 10:37 am

holy mackinaw....15 pts. Blind hog etc...
Bianchi Denti says:

May 5 2013 at 1:22 pm

@Mikael Liddy

Comical watching the carrot bunch fall apart, especially the one guy continuing to drive the front despite his fifth man being over 500m off the back!

Yes. Slamming Sammy Sanchez has some work to do to get back into many of our top 5s!

On a positive note for this part of the world, all 3 kiwis finished with the Radeopard group. George Bennett should surprise a few people in the mountains, including Kiserlovski..
the Engine says:

May 5 2013 at 3:57 pm

This may be the first time I've led anything in my entire life