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
@ChrisO this fuckin guy has got me agreeing with you and Minion. Can only guess that I have fucked myself silly?
@Marcus Certainly wasn't me. I have to draw the line somewhere.
Not so sure about Minion though.
@HeinrichHausslersHairstyle
You got to be careful......that limp wrist could get you in all sorts of trouble......(cue semicolon, cloe brackets! )
okay who moved the 4th of July up, i tell ya i step away to take care of that job thing and someone let the nukes go. i hate when i miss a party,
oh and for the record i'm a mech kind of guy, i do not see the rational for ele, ( Snake oil in my book)
@strathlubnaig Strong work on the VSP! chapeau .
@strathlubnaig
Chapeau.
The pink jersey fitted me very well when I wore it for a day at the start - as you know I'm a prologue specialist and no good in the mountains although I Climb Well For My Weight.
What were the odds of the leader's jersey in an international competition being worn by two people from a village in the middle of nowhere? Is Callander the Bogota of the Velominati?
@ChrisO I've got mechanical gears as well...on my tri-bike.
I'm still working on moving all the bikes to 10-s. Then I'll have to take it to 11 before I even consider electronic. Thus, I have plenty of time for the engineers and everyone else to continue riding it before I even need to think about trying out an electronic gruppo.
Been out of favour with cycling for a while and became a bit of a velomivoyeur, got too fat to climb and all of it, but have finally rediscovered the wonder of it all and dragged myself out for a decent ride on Saturday and passed - while feeling "I have good legs today" - a Colnago C59 with EPS and .........disk brakes. Slowed and chatted to the guy about them, he was pretty happy with it but said the bike (and rims) felt heavier - just can't see myself going for either. Disk brakes are just wrong on a road bike.
@ChrisO
Hey Frank. I think you need to change the tag line for the website to DocBrian's prescient description.