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roundabout said:
Thanks for the map - looks clearer there. The other one I've seen was pretty disorganised.
El Pistolero said:
Thats Scarponi. On his left is maybe Garzelli, dont know for sure though.
This is Menchov
When does he ever wear glasses?
This route just screams 'Gesink' all over. Why oh why Robert, do you chose to skip the GT best suited to your abilities? 
Damn bore the france, as if you have a chance winning against riders with special stuff as Andy
Damn bore the france, as if you have a chance winning against riders with special stuff as Andy
Dekker_Tifosi said:This route just screams 'Gesink' all over. Why oh why Robert, do you chose to skip the GT best suited to your abilities?
Damn bore the france, as if you have a chance winning against riders with special stuff as Andy
Being his number 1 fan have you absolutely no means of contacting him and explaining this to him nicely?
I think I´ll start a online petition to get him to the start line. I expect at least 10 million signatures
The Hitch said:Thats Scarponi. On his left is maybe Garzelli, dont know for sure though.
This is Menchov
When does he ever wear glasses?
When he's riding a bike xD
And I also didn't see him win the Giro last year. Giro always takes place during the exams
Add 10 years and some facial hair to Menchov and he looks like Scarponi to me xD
zomegnan in a mad man
this is the hardest GT ever, ever, the Marmolada stage after three days and after 240 is just one of the 5 hardest mountain stages ever, Zogme wants to make history
It's even too tough for Anton, and Gesink
Anton for Giro and Vuelta right now!!!!!!!!!
this is the hardest GT ever, ever, the Marmolada stage after three days and after 240 is just one of the 5 hardest mountain stages ever, Zogme wants to make history
It's even too tough for Anton, and Gesink
Anton for Giro and Vuelta right now!!!!!!!!!
roundabout said:
Right, I didn't say there weren't any transfers, just that they weren't insanely long. I suppose on the map they don't look 'insanely long', which is why I said that. But I suppose thinking more as a cyclist, and having seen the logistics of GTs, it would probably be a huge pain to finish a hard stage and not be able to go to a hotel, but instead have to sit on a team bus as thousands of vehicles make the slow procession to where you're going to stay. So yes, point taken.
I think Michelle Scarponi has to be installed as the favourite. He will surely ride the route, he has a team, who if they are clever, will do what the other big italian L team did last year and focus entirely on the Giro, whole team behind Scarponi.
Most of the guys who are better than him will focus on the Tour. There are guys who can maybe beat him, but we dont know if they will ride.
And last year, he was 2nd best in the mountains. The only thing that seperated Basso from him was the 1 minute 30 on the Zoncolan. But Basso wont be there next year.
Most of the guys who are better than him will focus on the Tour. There are guys who can maybe beat him, but we dont know if they will ride.
And last year, he was 2nd best in the mountains. The only thing that seperated Basso from him was the 1 minute 30 on the Zoncolan. But Basso wont be there next year.
Maybe not really good for the more explosive climbers like anton and gesink. the diesel engines should be the ones still fighting by week 3. Maybe not all bad for menchov, sastre will like the route. It's crazy hard. And is it stage 12 that's profile looks like the edge of a saw, could b as important as any mtf. I really want to see rujano show up, and that Columbia team. At least we won't have to put up with any weak French teams. Will this route put off garmin even turning up, maybe HTC to.
Just dropping in for confirmation that the Giro is indeed still the only GT to be even more insane on anouncement day than its speculative rumour mill.
Yup. That is one crazy route. If you, like me, prefer your riders truely cooked on arrival than circle most of May 2011 in the diary. (I suspect that stage arrivals might actually be medium to rare instead).
Right now I'm giving this guy a good shot:
I'm really hoping to see Anton in this. And DekkerT, my futile signature for Gesink is in the post too.
It will be awesome if they get anywhere near the 2010 experience. But a plan that tries to beat it will almost certainly turn out to be a plan that tries too hard.
Having seen the official route now, part of me worries. A bit. The other part of me is stocking the fridge for May already, and will make sure that by May, I have no friends left, and no job, so nothing on planet Earth will come up with something idiotic that might interfere.
So we've seen the big 2 stage routes for next year. As usual I am not sure how much drooling and ridiclue is appropriate. I look at them and I guess we all kinda get how they are supposed to unfold, what story they are aiming for. But every year when the route curtain is raised, I feel a bit like being asked to judge a cookbook that gives only 3/5 of the ingredients and some pictures that you cannot reproduce if you follow the instructions to the letter. And you are still left grappling with the "add riders to taste" line at the end.
And face it, it's the riders that will make or break it.
Plus, it is usually some miniscule race event in the early stages, a flapping butterfly in the peleton, that makes the difference between a snooze fest and gawdammmed epicness.
Looking back, more often than not it is often the expected "mere apetisers and route fillers" that sparkle beyond imagination, and the planned climax stages that underwhelm ever so slightly.
Last year, to me, the Giro actually delivered most on the stages that were only meant to lead up to the big hitters. Remember: that crazy first week and the -ahem- white road was envisioned as an interesting diversion before the first real gem, the stage to Monte Terminillo, the day after.
For all these "omg, y'r 'aving a larf" stages they have pencilled in now, to work, other things need to be in place on the day. And that often means a lucky mix of differences between riders that are just right, the sort of weather that spoils the best-laid plans, the general mood of the peloton, one GC rider with most of his team slipping away amongst 50 nobodies from all the other GC contenders... OK, scrap that. Let's just replace that last one with flat tires and crashes in just the right places in its place. Etc.
The bit every route planner tries to deliver in a controlled way, but, predictably, never manages to.
The riders and "events" will make up their own minds en-route to Milan. We all know a tired peleton can soft-peddle killer stages we all sit down for if it comes at the back end of a bit too much fun for our own good. And go bezerk on the day we had eyed up as the perfect day to sneek in that important shopping trip. Throw too much at a peleton and it will impose a way so it can cope. Inject Vacansoleil and even the omnisentient gods will place a side bet, just in case.
Yes, the Giro, as usual, shows much more potential to deliver than the Tour -as it tends to, more recently- but it will be well into the Giro before any of us can judge if it actually was an inspired route, or a dismal failure.
Looking at this route, I really do think they are skirting the edge of make or break. On paper.
I guess it will also scare off some "filler" members on teams who come along, or are sent along, for (part of the) ride. And no way will anyone get away with taking this as a training ride for anything. Some hard commitment choices will have to be made by some of the teams.
Still, I am a big fan of "let's throw this at them and just see what happens". This approach, usually, recently, has worked well for the Giro. I really hope this wasn't a step back to a more manifactured "let's try to out-do 2010", as it does reek of that. That controlled planning approach has a nasty habit of back-firing. Ask the Tour guys.
I do pity the support suckers who find both the Tour and the Vuelta on their 2011 schedule.
And much as I love the man, if someone doesn't sit Sastre down with a 3D profile model of his -what is it- fourth planned GT in a row, then points at those of the other 2 GTs he is lining up for the rest of the year as well, but doesn;t also take him through the book of "Human limitations and reasonable expectations for nutters who ignore it", chapter by chapter, I will throw a real hissy fit.
I might even create a badly thought out poll so others can reinforce the truely justified outrage that floats aboat in my easily excitable system.
Yup. That is one crazy route. If you, like me, prefer your riders truely cooked on arrival than circle most of May 2011 in the diary. (I suspect that stage arrivals might actually be medium to rare instead).
Right now I'm giving this guy a good shot:
I'm really hoping to see Anton in this. And DekkerT, my futile signature for Gesink is in the post too.
It will be awesome if they get anywhere near the 2010 experience. But a plan that tries to beat it will almost certainly turn out to be a plan that tries too hard.
Having seen the official route now, part of me worries. A bit. The other part of me is stocking the fridge for May already, and will make sure that by May, I have no friends left, and no job, so nothing on planet Earth will come up with something idiotic that might interfere.
So we've seen the big 2 stage routes for next year. As usual I am not sure how much drooling and ridiclue is appropriate. I look at them and I guess we all kinda get how they are supposed to unfold, what story they are aiming for. But every year when the route curtain is raised, I feel a bit like being asked to judge a cookbook that gives only 3/5 of the ingredients and some pictures that you cannot reproduce if you follow the instructions to the letter. And you are still left grappling with the "add riders to taste" line at the end.
And face it, it's the riders that will make or break it.
Plus, it is usually some miniscule race event in the early stages, a flapping butterfly in the peleton, that makes the difference between a snooze fest and gawdammmed epicness.
Looking back, more often than not it is often the expected "mere apetisers and route fillers" that sparkle beyond imagination, and the planned climax stages that underwhelm ever so slightly.
Last year, to me, the Giro actually delivered most on the stages that were only meant to lead up to the big hitters. Remember: that crazy first week and the -ahem- white road was envisioned as an interesting diversion before the first real gem, the stage to Monte Terminillo, the day after.
For all these "omg, y'r 'aving a larf" stages they have pencilled in now, to work, other things need to be in place on the day. And that often means a lucky mix of differences between riders that are just right, the sort of weather that spoils the best-laid plans, the general mood of the peloton, one GC rider with most of his team slipping away amongst 50 nobodies from all the other GC contenders... OK, scrap that. Let's just replace that last one with flat tires and crashes in just the right places in its place. Etc.
The bit every route planner tries to deliver in a controlled way, but, predictably, never manages to.
The riders and "events" will make up their own minds en-route to Milan. We all know a tired peleton can soft-peddle killer stages we all sit down for if it comes at the back end of a bit too much fun for our own good. And go bezerk on the day we had eyed up as the perfect day to sneek in that important shopping trip. Throw too much at a peleton and it will impose a way so it can cope. Inject Vacansoleil and even the omnisentient gods will place a side bet, just in case.
Yes, the Giro, as usual, shows much more potential to deliver than the Tour -as it tends to, more recently- but it will be well into the Giro before any of us can judge if it actually was an inspired route, or a dismal failure.
Looking at this route, I really do think they are skirting the edge of make or break. On paper.
I guess it will also scare off some "filler" members on teams who come along, or are sent along, for (part of the) ride. And no way will anyone get away with taking this as a training ride for anything. Some hard commitment choices will have to be made by some of the teams.
Still, I am a big fan of "let's throw this at them and just see what happens". This approach, usually, recently, has worked well for the Giro. I really hope this wasn't a step back to a more manifactured "let's try to out-do 2010", as it does reek of that. That controlled planning approach has a nasty habit of back-firing. Ask the Tour guys.
I do pity the support suckers who find both the Tour and the Vuelta on their 2011 schedule.
And much as I love the man, if someone doesn't sit Sastre down with a 3D profile model of his -what is it- fourth planned GT in a row, then points at those of the other 2 GTs he is lining up for the rest of the year as well, but doesn;t also take him through the book of "Human limitations and reasonable expectations for nutters who ignore it", chapter by chapter, I will throw a real hissy fit.
I might even create a badly thought out poll so others can reinforce the truely justified outrage that floats aboat in my easily excitable system.
Francois the Postman said:
Even though I did not read your overly drawn out post I will take the advice on!
auscyclefan94 said:
Euskaltel will get an invite. They've got one for the last two years. They've just handed it back. So it's more dependent on whether González de Galdeano wants to do the race or not than whether or not Zomegnan wants them there.
rghysens said:Are you talking about the stages to Zoncolan and that over the fedaia?
No, I'm talking about the GC.
Libertine Seguros said:
He said he wants to be there and he wants Antón there.
Antón then proceeded to refer to the Giro as "my favourite race".
I'd seen that (or the former part anyway). I was just refuting ACF's implication that Euskaltel wouldn't be invited, because they have been invited to the last two, they've just chosen not to attend. They probably will attend in 2011. It's certainly a Euskaltel parcours.
Libertine Seguros said:
If they can get over Stade Bianchi. Big if.
Its a Samu Sanchez parcors. In the Tour 3rd best climber. No Contador, No Schleck. Ricco and Scarponi can challenge him but i think hell make time in ttt and itt, and maybe Strade Bianchi and on a descent.
I reckon Sánchez will do the Tour again. Less TT km, could potentially outdo Menchov and with Contador possibly not there, looking good for a podium. Antón is the man for the Giro - he'll probably have some form for the Ardennes though, which will lead to trouble like Evans saw this year in the final week, perhaps. However, if he climbs like he did in the Vuelta, he'll wreak havoc.
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