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.
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View Comments
@PT
Sheep droppings come to mind?
@Teocalli
If it's sheep droppings, then it'll be an Anheuser-Busch product or possibly a Miller product. Actually, I take that back, sheep droppings might give their beers some flavor.
@Nate
I still have Pozz showing up in 4th place. Ghostly.
@Steampunk
I was just thinking about Zakarin, because one does, and looked to check on his placing. If he was trying to deflect any suspicion from his Romandie exploits, he's done a good job.
I read some commentary that said that Aru should attack these opening stages because he risks losing so much on the TT. To the extent that Uran was not really ready yet to hit the gas this early in the proceeding seems like a payoff for that strategy. Thankfully he only dropped a bit relative to final GC guys but it is not a good sign for my #2 as it also isn't likely to be his only bad day.
@xyxax
I have Uran for second as well. I'm confident that he can make up Zakarin-like deficits against Aru in the TT. But I'm more concerned about how he is supposed to leapfrog Porte. Unless Porte becomes Porte and has a whale of a bad day...
Yeah I reckon Jagger will struggle jumping jack flashing (sorry had to do it) over the Tasmanian Devil. Espesh coz he's lost his Keith Richards and is relying on Woods and Watts like riders to stay in it.
Wildly impressed that Port and Aru could respond to Contador's attack there. And then both had the matches left to attack.
Not to mention that Aru got a teammate back.
Didn't see that coming.
Now its a party! Lots of points for lots of folks!
Finally! A race where it looks I might have picked the right contenders (Pozzovivo's unfortunate faceplant aside, but at least he's ok), cracking stage today although I'm still stuck in the age-old rut of looking at teams putting in strong performances and wondering just how genuine it is.
I'm looking at you Astana...
@xyxax
I suspect the issue is that I had a brainwave when I entered my picks, and put in the names with a Wodehousian twist. E.g., Bertie Wooster, "Gussie" Porte-Bottle, and, in the case of my missing rider, Catsmeat Pozzovivo-Pirbright. Amazingly, the VSP database successfully processed four of my five eccentric entries, but it must have choked on my entry for Pozzovivo. In the event, it makes no difference, as I had him 4th and could at best break even by subbing him for another rider on the first rest day swap.
Nice jersey, by the way.
Finally on the board. Yay me.