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:
Good luck, have fun with it, and don’t lose your Rule #43 spirit.
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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!