The Poggio. It’s probably one of the most famous easy climbs in the world; going through old cycling photographs, I rarely come across one where the leaders haven’t moved Sur La Plaque. It has a reputation, however, for being a real leg breaker, mostly because any climb is a big climb once you cross its summit after a paltry 291 kilometers. And the descent provides one of the twistiest, most exhilarating finales in the sport.
This race stands apart as the longest on the calendar, and represents the only of the five Monuments where the sprinters have a chance at final glory. But this can have it all: the long, solo break routinely makes it to the finish uncaught. The final attacks on the Poggio regularly stick. The attack that goes away on the climb often gets caught on the descent. And, sometimes the whole thing stays together for a bunch gallop. Essentially, any ride who is on form has a chance at glory. This is a unique race.
The question on everyone’s mind is wether Cavendish can get over the Poggio in position to make it to the finish in the first group. If he does, then you can jot down the winner right now. He’s lost some significant weight in the last few weeks, so his climbing should be good; we also have it on good authority from our eyes and ears on the roads in Italy that the Manx Mouth has been spotted training in the hills of Italy with the express intention of making it over the last bump. If, on the other hand, he gets spat out the back like a rainbow turd when the road points uphill, it will be a free-for-all. The fast semi-climbers with descending skills like Nibbles are talking big about their chances. And who in their right minds would ever discount Faboo with his brommer or Gilbert once he fires the howitzers.
So rub your lucky rabbit’s foot and throw some salt over your shoulder; you’re going to need some divine intervention on this one. This year’s VSP is also the first year where we’ll be offering a special badge to the winner of the monuments. We can’t unveil the MSR Badge yet, but the winner of this VSP event will have the honor of posting with the badge until next year’s event. The winner will also receive a free Symbol Pack. Check the start list and get your picks in by 5am Pacific on Saturday morning; if timezone arithmetic isn’t your strong suit, just watch the countdown timer in the banner at the top of the site. As usual, your points go towards the overall VSP as well.
Good luck.
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What a world, what a world. I thought Cav would at least make it to the Poggio. Liquigas was smart to put the hammer down and get Nibali in the final break. And Gerrans even smarter to tuck in behind the big Swiss fucking 777. MSR is not as good a race for Fabian as both RVV and P-R. Big Tommeke crashed badly. Correction: not Tommeke? Well his teammate crashed badly, that must have hurt. Fuck me.
Gerro did what any other racer with a brain and legs would do if he found himself 3 up with Cancellara. Liquigas were probably hoping it would come back together which would have been very well set up for Sagan. That very nearly happened.
Where was Sky and Cav? I wasn't able to watch any of it live. From the highlights I just saw seemed like there were quite a few crashes.
@frank & @ChrisO:
1. A win is a win. Gerrans did well to read and follow Nibali's move and then descended brilliantly to stay close to Cancellara.
2. You can win normally or you can win with panache. As fans, we can long for the romantic win"”JVS soloing against all odds into the Roubaix velodrome"”and we can admire the hardmen who put the hammer down as Cancellara does in every race. No one would deny that Spartacus was the strongest rider today.
3. Based on 2, did Cancellara deserve to win? Perhaps. But take nothing away from Gerrans who beat 200+ riders to the line after racing for more than 300km.
4. This is why I balk at the whole "first loser" nonsense that comes up on this site from time to time. What a great race. If I had my druthers, Spartacus would have got some distance from Gerrans and Nibali at the bottom of the Poggio and won, but win or lose, he's consistently one of the most amazing animators of a bike race I have ever witnessed. And that's why I watch. As a true fan, I'm less intent on marking the results on my wall and take more pleasure in reveling in the process of the unfolding drama, which is the whole race.
Oh sweet, a grey cog.
@DerHoggz
He bonked on La Manie. Just not his day, it seemed.
@ChrisO
+1
Fabian is a great racer, serious hardman, and I have a ton of resprect for the guy. But he didn't play his cards perfectly to win.
If he wanted to win he really needed to either separate himself from the others on the climb before the decent, or make the others take pulls on the flat.
And seriously why are we giving Gerrans such a hard time? Nibali sucked more wheel by the time things were said and done. Sure he attacked first but then just rode wheels to the finale, where he did nothing.
Gerrans knew he could beat the three in the sprint. If the break didn't make it then Gerrans and Nibali would be to blame. But the break did make it and Gerrans has the speed. Cards well played and a great win. The finish was plenty exciting and a runner-up spot for Fabian is a good result. His target races will come soon and his form looks good. I'm sure he's happy enough.
@frank
C'mon Frank - you gotta own up that you do have an unfounded mild dislike for Gerro. You have bagged him in the past and your initial comment did say something about a career of wheel sucking - which is wrong given Gerro wins only in breakaways. A passenger in the last few ks? Maybe. But thats the game and he jumped beautifully with Nibbles.
All I know is that it's another Australian victory - and a Victorian one at that. So you can all go fuck yourselves. I'm off for a ride on Beach Road. Woohoo!
@Marcus
I'm with Frank on this one. Gerrans was a much better rider when he still went by Van Gerrans...
Busy all day and missed it, but sounds like a corker - one to watch whilst supping a cold one later. What I didn't expect was for my picking to work so well and find I'm now (joint) leader of the G.C! Awesome!
At least if it all goes to rats from here I'll have had the digi-jersey briefly. Now would you all quit slipstreaming me?!