Vincenzo Nibali won the Giro going downhill.
I spy with my little eye a certain Michele Scarponi, who sadly lost his life while out training near his home two weeks ago, in there amongst his teammates after his captain, Nibbles, won the race. I’m torn about a death like Michele’s – we subject ourselves to similar risks every time we climb aboard our bikes and we accept it as part and parcel of our craft. Yet, while every day members of our tribe lose their lives to their trade, it takes a high profile rider to remind us how real that risk is.
But onto lighter topics, Nibali won the Giro last year going downhill, and it happened on the one stage I managed to sleep through which is another way of saying I missed it. But I love waking up to a that WTF feeling only a reshuffled GS can give you.
The race starts Friday morning, which is sooner than I expected, so I’ll stop typing so you can start picking. Get them in by the time the clock goes to zero, and remember that our Grand Tour scoring rules are a little different than the smaller events. So jump on that start list and get prognosticating!
Good luck!
[vsp_results id=”104353″/]
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
@Teocalli
@Frank has also been a bit busy writing a book recently, which probably trumps your VSP outrage.
What have you done for the cycling community lately @ Jansen?
@Jansen
My picks for the Giro were a bit messed up because of the setup. My picks for a previous race simply disappeared, as did those of some other tippers on that day. So fucking what?!
This is a place where you can connect with like-minded folk, read great articles, agree, disagree, praise, condemn, even ridicule, all in the name of fun. Oh, and all of this goodness is brought to you free of charge. The fact that such a place even exists is cause for celebration. Untwist your knickers, pull your socks up, harden the fuck up, and score 5 out of 5 for the remainder of the season, just for bragging rights.
Also, as per rule 43, if you absolutely must be a jackass, be a funny jackass.
@RobSandy
Hopefully it wasn't THE Jan Jansen..........
Incidentally I have a Eroica Limburg poster that he signed for me.
@stooge
Exactly. I've been here for years and my VSP picks are consistently akin to Tom Dumoulin's fragile stomach. The prizes are awesome, there are actually winners, and we get it all for free. Nuff said.
@stooge
Yes indeed @ Stooge, in fact I'm a Giro desaparecido, my entry having been missed. Perhaps I'd be more miffed if I'd got all five in the correct order,,as if that was likely to happen, but with only 3 in the wrong order I think I can afford to be relaxed and enjoy the anonymity.
@Teocalli
No worries, that's Jan Janssen with double "s". But you have to tell me more about "the One who preceded Tom" and how you got his signature. Btw we need to catch up about Eroica 2017....
@KogaLover
Yup I'm booked up to Eroica Limburg, staying over from Friday evening back Monday if you are around for longer than last year we must hook up for an ale or two. He was signing posters down at the event tent after the ride last year. So I just said yes please. Wasn't all that radical really.
@KogaLover
The "one who preceded Tom" would be Joop. Jan preceded Joop.
Janssen was the first Dutch rider to win the Tour (1968) and the Vuelta (1967). In the former he won 7 stages in 7 finishes and the points jersey three times. In the Vuelta he won three stages and the points classification twice.
Great quote from him: We had to be good all the time, from the first of February until the end of October. Because it was my duty to make the most of my sponsor's name, to get publicity. And if you had an off-day, well, you were letting your sponsors down. Now the whole sponsorship of sport has taken off. It has become so interesting to a company, because a company that wants to get its name known, you can buy a good team, with good management, good public relations, and you can get all the big names. I think, too, that the motivation has changed with the professionals as well. You get riders like Steven Rooks and Gert-Jan Theunisse saying that after the Tour they are stopping at home because they can't be bothered with criteriums, and that's not attractive for the public.
As for Hendrik Gerardus Jozef "Joop" Zoetemelk, he won the Tour in 1980. He started, and more importantly, finished all 16 Tours he entered, winning 10 stages over those participations. He finished second six times. He won the Vuelta in 1979 and won three stages during his participations. Winning the Vuelta was arguably the greater of the two wins as he rode for a French team and that was never easy against the Spanish, and in 1980 he won the Tour after Hinault dropped out. To be fair, I don't begrudge Joop his Tour win, but had Hinault been healthy, I doubt he would have been beaten that year.
Both Jan and Joop were Wold RR champs too. The Dutch may not have a grand record in the GTs, but I doubt we've seen the last of Tom D on a GT podium. All we need is for ASO to get their shit together and put some more TTs into the Tour so it makes for a better race. Yeah, yeah, I know it doesn't make for great TV, but the gaps created in a TT are what mandate spicy racing in the mountains.
@wiscot
I agree 100% on the TTs. I would love to see a July 2018 showdown among, Froome, Porte, and Tom D.