Velominati Super Prestige: Giro d’Italia 2014
For the simple reason that the Cobbled and Ardennes Classics are behind us, I have not alternative but to get back on my soap box about the Giro being the best of the three Grand Tours. Well, usually, at least. Last year’s race sucked the big one (even if it was supremely Rule #9), but for the most part it is the race that is the most closely contested of the three. There are mountains everywhere Italy meaning there are less bunch sprints, the weather is completely unreliable, and the slightly lower calibre of rider seems hungrier. Or maybe the reduced pressure means riders aren’t quite as stressed out and are able to funnel that extra energy into the race.
My favorite Giro is a hard one to pick out, but its either the 1988 Giro when Andy Hampsten took the win after freezing himself stiff with Erik Breukink on the Gavia or when Pantani took his in 1998. I’ve been watching the ’98 Giro during my morning turbo sessions and Merckx-oh-me, that was an All-Drugs Olympics nail-biter. ’98 is also an interesting contrast to ’88; in just a decade, the technology had changed so much but more than that, the doping atmosphere in the sport transformed completely. From Hampsten’s Giro, EPO went from just being dabbled with on the fringes to being abused by leaders and domestiques alike by the time Pantani won. Hampsten wrote a nice piece about racing against dopers in Tyler Hamilton’s book, The Secret Race. He described the various side-effects that the popular drugs of his era had, such as bloating and a tendency to make the user over-estimate their abilities. Amphetamine made the riders do stupid things, cortisone made them retain water, and steroids made them heavy; a clean rider could use those factors to their advantage. A far cry from the rocket fuel that allowed humble domestiques to big ring up major alpine passes.
Why am I talking about drugs? There’s a race starting in a few days, people! This is our first Grand Tour, and the picks are worth more points, not to mention that strategy starts to play into things with the chance to swap your picks out on either of the rest days – at a certain point penalty. Remember that points are not accumulated; the standings on the last day of the race are what kinds, so keep the long game in mind.
Any points you win count towards the overall prizes plus the winner of this event also gets to post for the rest of the year in the pink jersey badge. So check the start list, review the VSP Grand Tour Scoring Guidelines and get your picks in by the time the countdown clock goes to zero at midnight PDT on Friday, May 9th. If you think we mapped one of your picks wrong, use the dispute system and we’ll review it. Also remember to be precise enough in your description so we know which rider you mean; in other words, if you enter “Martin”, we will use our discretion (read: wild guess) to decide if you mean Tony or Dan – and that choice will not be negotiable once the the countdown clock goes to zero. There has also been a recent scourge of people putting a rider in more than one place. Two words: Piti Principle, people! Don’t make me do a bunch of extra programming to keep you from being allowed to submit such an obviously unsportsmanlike set of picks. We will mercilessly clear out all your entries should we find you have attempted this.
Also don’t forget we’ve got three major prizes for the season-long VSP:
- First place overall wins a Veloforma Strada iR Velominati Edition frame in addition to the customary VSP winner’s VVorkshop Apron
- Second place overall wins a set of hand built CR Wheelworks Arenberg wheelset in a custom Velominati paint scheme laced to orange Chris King hubs. (CR Wheelworks is Café Roubaix’s new wheel goods brand.)
- Third place overall wins a full Velominati V-Kit with accompanying custom orange Bont Vaypor+ road shoes.
Good luck, have fun with it, and don’t lose your Rule #43 spirit.
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@ChrisO
This. I am no scientist, but I think that the level you can push your body to through the use of PED’s, is an adaption that remains after you stop, training is muscle adaption, once you have trained at 11/10 you can probably go there again even when clean.
@piwakawaka
Gents. Still not buying it.
If that were the case, Armstrong would have won 9 TdF’s and Contador would have won several more. We know that there are several confirmed ex dopers in the peleton at the moment and they certainly aren’t a level above.
Blood vector doping is a physiological means to increase the “octane” of your blood. If it aint there, you don’t have it, whatever your brain might be telling you is possible. Hamilton describes the sensation of being doped as your body continuing in spite of what your brain might be saying.
I’m wondering if there isn’t a bit of confirmation bias going on here. Once a doper always a doper is a handy shorthand to paint characters in a certain light. It may not reflect reality of now.
I, once again admit that I don’t know the reality of the situation but I can’t help to feel a bit put off by the line of reasoning going on here.
@brett
Spot on. If you have followed the sport since at least the mid-90’s and you did not think this, then you have drank too much kool-aid. Virenque or Hincapie anyone???
And yes, bummed that Rolland did not quite make the podium, your picks be damned!
@mouse The articles cited relate to steroid use. No reason to think that the same would apply to EPO, etc. But if it does apply to roids, then convicted roid users should be gone for good. And, personally, I would be happy to see those convicted of blood boosting suffer the same fate, on the basis that they are deemed to also have been at the roids.
@G’phant
is totally different J.V. talks about how riders are worse after stoping and sometimes that doesn’t go away, there is a good article in velonews about the long term affects of P.E.D’s. b Steroids have a much longer affect on you body than epo steroids can change you permenently epo looks like it does not! I am to lazy to look up the issue It’s all out there though
@anthony I don’t disagree that the duration of the effects of roids and blood boosters may be different. I simply suggest that, if roid effects are permanent / long-lasting:
1. a permanent ban for deliberate roid use makes sense; and
2. perhaps more controversially (and a little bit Old Testamently), anyone caught deliberately using blood boosters should be considered to have also deliberately used roids and also be banned permanently (on the basis that where there’s smoke there’s fire, and cheating with one drug means you lose the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty re use of others).
@G’phant Fair enough, lets hope they are a bit cleaner these days.
@mouse the reason his nickname is “Dodger” isn’t necessarily just due to his surname…in addition to opening the airways, Clenbuterol is extremely effective at stripping away body fat while not compromising muscle (e.g. very good for one’s power to weight). Interesting he got pinged when the peleton were under the impression that they weren’t being tested for Clen due to coming from China, yet there wasn’t exactly a rash of other positives that would point to tainted food being fed to riders.
Let’s have a look at when he won his 3 TT rainbows:
’03 – Came 2nd to Millar who had it stripped due to EPO use & recorded the same time as Uwe Peschel (from that squeaky clean Gerolsteiner squad)
’04 – Beat Michael Rich (another of Gerolsteiner’s stars) & Vino (we all know his TT tactics)
’05 – Beat Ivan Guttierez & Faboo on his way up
Of those 3, that last one is the only one I’d look at & not question based on his company on the podium.
O and by the way fucking Quintana may have bad taste in fasion but he is so fucking calm and ruthless, that kid fucking rules. He’s a Killer!
Here are some Rogers facts. Make inferences as you will.
Named by Leipheimer in his Reasoned Decision affidavit as being on 2 camps with Ferrari. He says this was a mistake.
Profiled in 2011 by UCI as being a rider in the highest category of likely doping. The category described as containing riders who showed “overwhelming evidence of some kind of doping, due to recurring anomalies, enormous variations in parameters, and even the identification of doping products or methods”. Keep in mind it was the fucking toothless and gormless UCI that said this. To my knowledge, Rogers has never addressed this.
Left Sky at around the time that certain declarations were to be signed.
@G’phant
@Mikael Liddy
@Marcus
@ChrisO
@brett
So, are we going to form a lynch mob?
@mouse
not a lynch mob – but I am not joining in a mutual circle-jerk of congratulation for a guy who if he was say Spanish, the Anglos would generally be a lot more suspicious/ dismissive.
That being said I was barracking for him all the way up. Just like I loved Dicky’s solo wins and yellow jersey (supported by Rogers) at the Tour
@Marcus
What he said ^
@Marcus
Ah, a nuanced and well supported argument that reconciles both sides.
Thanks
@Marcus
As always, I agree with Marcus.
@ChrisO
disappointed that you didn’t raise “mutual circle jerk” as a tautology.
How do you reconcile the lead photo and the madness of Stage 16 this year?
Exhibit A: cycle racer rides in the mountains, it’s snowing, and he’s in summer kit. I’m sure he commented afterwards that it was a challenging day in the day.
Exhibit B: cycle racers ride in the mountains, in snow, and they’re in hi-tech gear from head to toe, snowmobile gloves, neck gaiters, hats, booties, wind/waterproof jackets, shades shielding their eyes. Post-Stage they say they don’t appreciate being treated like animals, they organizers are bastards, and they never want to do that again.
Why is their plight any worse than the conditions and circumstances racers in the past have faced in this very same Grand Tour?
Here’s an interesting coda to the Giro. As you might imagine, ALL the riders will be heading home to rest, recuperate and spend time with loved ones in anticipation of whatever their schedule holds over the next few months. There’s a reason Senor Sexy Boots was celebrating on Saturday – Sunday’s stage was a procession and one for the sprinters after a couple of brutal days in the mountains.
In 1979, things were different. The organizers had a wizard wheeze: a 670 kms epilogue stage that was supposedly for the top 50 riders. You read that right – 670 kilometers. Not 60, not 70, but 670. How could that be done in a single day you ask? Of course it couldn’t and involved the riders racing through the night. Not even Bordeaux – Paris was this crazy (often around 560 kms/350 miles) and they finished with dernys. Nope, 670 kms (418 miles) through the night. It was Milan to Rome. Needless to say the top 10 riders didn’t show up. In fact most riders stayed away. Only 50 took part. That was about the number of spectators who showed up to watch the finish. Sergio Santamaria won it.
This was a year after the Hinault-led protest at Valence D’Agen in the Tour, protesting about split stages and the riders being treated like circus animals. Apparently the Giro organizers missed that one. Changed days we live in, that’s for sure.
@Teocalli
Lovely, timeless shot. Remove the computer and print in B&W or sepia. Beautiful and nice to see the Butler getting some mikes in!
@wiscot Nice idea re the sepia. I guess I should have popped the GPS off but needed it as it was a 170 Km trip down to the ferry and round the island and I didn’t know the route. Nice end to the ride with a huge plate of traditional British Fish and Chips and fine recovery ale.
@Ron
Yeah, we were watching the telecast and all these people were tweetng in, “I don’t know why they are making them ride, they should call this off” etc etc. We all just looked at each other and rationed that this is why we watch professionals, to see them do shit we know hurts, to boggle our minds. Cotaldo descending that day was just fucking unreal! Sure, it was dangerous, but I didn’t read any reports of crashes on the ascent or descent of the Stelvio. Seems like going by this rationale, we’d have no Paris Roubaix or Flanders because the surface isn’t Formula 1 spec tarmac FFS.
Then take out all the epic climbs, even on a good day, because they are too hard? Yawn..
@Teocalli
It’s the back story to that bike that gets me, great to see it ridden again as it was meant to be!
Rigo sense of humor.
@Beers
I’ve said it before. It’s a bike RACE, not a fucking picnic ride. Nobody HAS to go as fast as they can down a mountain in shit weather. They choose to because it’s a race.
And it does seem there were a lot more crashes on FLAT roads in this Giro–regardless of weather conditions–than there were in the mountains.