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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View Comments
@strathlubnaig
You are doing something terribly wrong, newer chains last a lot longer than the old ones.
Maybe I'll go electronic when it trickles down to 105 level. I dont know, man. I love nice stuff, but seriously the 105/Rival/Centaur type tier of stuff works so well in my limited experience. I'm fat so saving a pound or so on 105 vs DA isn't worth it and I believe that when tuned right it all works pretty well and doesn't make you go faster.....now some carbon wheel/light wheels on the other hand, that's where I'd blow my load.
@graham d.m. Agreed, I got plenty of weight to lose on my end. and I think you cant go wrong with Ultegra mechanical.
@DocBrian
Yeah, I hate self-opinionated people. Especially those who get offended when others dare to have a differing opinion. I mean, what's up with that?
Why would you only tell living people to stay away from us? Got something against corpses?
Where do you stand on zombies - as they are the living dead, would you say yay or nay?
@Giles
They would be fucking WIN on a rain bike though! Those few seconds pumping the water off the rim before the pads work clenches my buttocks everytime...
@Beers
Aha..but that puts you on carbon rims surely?....those of us on alu rims suffer less...
@DerHoggz
Dunno - our roads are covered in a sort of grinding paste that gets everywhere especially in the wet - 1500kms is not far off my average and I'm cleaning the damn thing constantly. It could be the wattage from our mighty guns causing the chains to wimp out of course...
@the Engine what are you using for chain lube?
@HeinrichHausslersHairstyle
Here, in my opinion are two great reasons to not go the electric route. The second reason speaks for itself. Who wants limp wrists? The first, well the only thing I like about cycling more than riding my bike and spending time in my lbs looking at shiney new stuff or awesome kit is being out in my gagrage and cleaning and tinkering and tuning my bike. Usually with a decent beverage. If I didn't have to tune it what would I do? I get a real sense of satisfaction out on the road when the bike is silent and shifts perfectly...I made it do that.
Actually there's a good third reason and that's that elecy will make you a poorer rider surely? I know enough people who already wait too long to shift gear on a climb...crucn crunch ping...know what I mean? From what I understand on di2 etc you can change under load any time you like. It's like using super wide super side cut skis. Any fool can do it, Where's the skill or art in that?
I'm sticking with my Sram red 10s now but my next build will be campy super record 11s mechanical and I look forward to lots of hours tuning it and giving it love and attetnion.
@DocBrian
I think you need to get a grip and have a word with yourself. As far as for the self opinionated morons you are in disagreement with, as far as I can see, none of them run this site. They just come for entertainment same as me and you. Self opinionated is redundant by the way.