The Prophet crushes fools on the way to the Tre Chime in the '68 Giro
This is the most exciting thing that’s happened in Cycling since April. Yes, that’s a full two weeks with nothing exciting happening and its been killing me. I know its been killing you, too.
I love the Giro, the master alchemist of bad weather and big mountains that keeps the racing exciting from the first day through the last. You can generally count on enough climbing in the first week to see the leadership bounce around like one of those singing ping pong balls on Sesame Street. The race has its fair share of provenance as well, with many a legendary battle fought between legendary riders.
This year’s race is also remarkable for the fact that a GC rider is not only racing both the Giro and the Tour, but for Contador’s publicly stated objective of doing the Giro-Tour double, a feat not matched since Pantani crushed it back in 1998. That is an awesome goal, I just wish it was a goal set forth by a rider I could get enthusiastic about. A quick scan of the start list has me wondering who is made of the same stuff Bertie, and I’m coming up short. Uran Uran and Pozzovivo are the standouts; and I have serious doubts about Porte being able to come up with the goods, not to mention my boy Ryder who, despite having actually won the Giro, does not inspire confidence in his ability to repeat the feat. It is looking like energy bars may be Contador’s biggest rival for the title, like in last year’s Tour.
Now that I’ve given you three paragraphs of useless drivel that you’ve probably already skipped over, I feel comfortable getting down to Road Tacks. This is the Giro, people, lots of points at stake. And those points are going towards amazing prizes including a Jaeger frame and a Café Roubaix wheelset. There is plenty of time for you to Delgado the thing, too, so my advice is that you avoid doing that. Give yourself enough time to enter your picks so if something has gone amuck, you have time to hit “reload” or come back V minutes later to try again before the event closes. Remember, your procrastination in this matter will not result in the only Keeper with database skills diving into the backend to enter your picks for you. (And if you do encounter a problem, please be so kind as to take a screenshot and upload it as the descriptor “it didn’t work” doesn’t help us debug the problem.)
The scoring for the Grand Tours is a tad more involved than the one-day races, so look them over before making your prognostications. (One of the best things about the VSP is that I usually get to use the word “prognostication”, an opportunity one should always relish.)
So get your picks in before the countdown clock goes to zero, hit the go button, and good luck.
[vsp_results id=”32941″/]
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
For some reason I don't know much about Matthews - he just seems to have come out of nowhere the last couple of years. One things for sure though - I like the way he rides. Mixing it up in the sprints when he could be safely in the bunch. Riding on legs and instinct, not on his fucking computer. Kudos to him. I didn't put him in my top 5, maybe I should have now that it looks like Pozzovivo is hurt.
Yep, that didn't look good for the Professor. Hoping he's okay.
As if baseball caps weren't bad enough...backwards + the tucked in ears. Ouch, the women's Tour of California is not looking so slick...Trixi is playing a bad joke on us.
@rfreese888
Mine, too! But I shall persevere. Swap penalties probably aren't worth it but I am developing a V-algorithm to calculate the risk versus reward.
Pozzivivo in serious but stable condition. He has spoken with this wife as well, airlifted to the hospital. Wow, must have been scary for family and friends watching to have to wait to hear about his condition.
And this is very, very classy from MM:
“Unfortunately, I saw Pozzovivo crash because I was four wheels behind him,” Matthews said. “It’s terrible to see something like that and I don’t know what to say. I just hope he’s ok. It breaks your heart to see that, and along with my team, I’d like to dedicate this win to him.”
@Ron
Yup, that was pretty classy. I saw video of Pozzivivo going in the ambulance. The right side of his face was solid red. Thankfully we didn't have another Weylandt/Santisteban outcome.
@Ron
Boy I hope the makes a full recovery. I believe he was also caught up in the fixie crash the day before too. Terrible couple of days for him.
@wiscot
Bling won't go top 5, he's no climber when the hills get big. That being said he's no flash in the pan, won the U-23 worlds in 2010 ahead of Degs & Mini-Phinney. He struggled with Rabo in 11/12 because he was still pretty nervous in a bunch gallop & kept getting boxed out of position (think MSR finish this year). OGE seem to have earmarked him as their next one day man after Gerro & seems to be learning pretty well at the master's feet.
@Mikael Liddy
Correct, no flash in the pan at all ! It was just race craft and age stifling him. Maybe Robbie Mc has instilled a bit of mongrel in him at OGE and he's now surfing the bunch with more confidence.
Playing angry chess at 60km/h surely takes some getting used to !
Aussie Craft brewers ahead of the game with a fine IPA for the man in pink !
@Rob
I'm not whining, I'm just grumpy. Whining is making excuses. I got my wheel fixed, saw my physio, got on the lemsip and am racing tonight. That's not whining, that's Rule #5 motherfucker.