2011...

[mombus]

...the year Tirenno-Adriatico became 10x more exciting than Paris-Nice. The stage today was the a monster. It felt so good to be thrilled by cycling again. Thoughts?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Well I think Omloop Het Nieuwsblad/Volk was pretty exciting but yes yestedays stage was a great one. Tirreno has been really exciting this year. Even the sprint stages.

 

[ingsve]

I only watched the last 20km of Paris-Nice today but I thought it was a pretty good stage there as well eventhough people seemed to think it was a bit of a bore for some reason.

 

[The Hitch]

My friends, my brothers my sisters.

My comrades.

You think Tirreno Adriatico is brilliant? You think the appetiser is great? Well that is good to hear.

Because, my comrades.

Just you wait. Just you wait till May. Just you wait for Il Giro, the Greatest Sporting Event on the planet.
Just you wait, for The Main Course.

Just you wait for Team Time trials for Flat time trials for Mountain time trials.

Just you wait for Mud for Sweat for Tears.

Just you wait for for The Pope for The Killer for The Shark for Purito for Fuji.
For Sella for Roman for Michele for Sastre for Rujano.
For The Great One.

Just you wait for Etna for Finnestre for Nevegal for Sestrieres for Grossglockner.
Just you wait for 8 Mountain top finishes.
Just you wait.

For Monte Zoncolan.

Just you wait. Just you wait...

 

[auscyclefan94]

My friends, my brothers my sisters.

My comrades.

You think Tirreno Adriatico is brilliant? You think the appetiser is great? Well that is good to hear.

Because, my comrades.

Just you wait. Just you wait till May. Just you wait for Il Giro, the Greatest Sporting Event on the planet.
Just you wait, for The Main Course.

Just you wait for Team Time trials for Flat time trials for Mountain time trials.

Just you wait for Mud for Sweat for Tears.

Just you wait for for The Pope for The Killer for The Shark for Purito for Fuji.
For Sella for Roman for Michele for Sastre for Rujano.
For The Great One.

Just you wait for Etna for Finnestre for Nevegal for Sestrieres for Grossglockner.
Just you wait for 8 Mountain top finishes.
Just you wait.

For Monte Zoncolan.

Just you wait. Just you wait...

You didn't actually write that yourself?

 

[The Hitch]

Of course. Well the first line is how Stalin started his speech to the country after Germany invaded.

Since no one ever gets the refference i find it quite poetic. Of course i ommit the "my fellow soviets" bit, but thats understandable

 

[El Pistolero]

Stalin isn't what I'd call poetic

 

[The Hitch]

Romantic then

 

[hfer07]

difficult to judge at this moment, since P-R has been so far a hell of a race with very exiting racing-and yet the overall is up for grasp in tomorrow's last stage. Tirreno has the "Italian" beauty and that alone is reason enough to watch it-and now with the stellar names participating in makes it even more valuable and interesting to the fans....

 

[luckyboy]

This music should be playing when you read The Hitch's post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92OBNsQgxU

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Difficult to say. Paris-Nice has been quite a good race, but the parcours hasn't been the most inspired and rather than judging it against other races in the season (as little has been of genuine consequence thus far) I've been judging it against past editions of Paris-Nice, and it's come up pretty short in comparison.

Tirreno-Adriatico, when we first saw the parcours, was very disappointing, but the short uphills often create some real excitement in Tirreno because such a wide variety of riders can compete for it. This has been a reasonably good Tirreno edition, and as such appears better than Paris-Nice, but with 3 stages remaining, and the always fun stage into Nice itself to come in France, I'm not going to stick my neck out yet. The Macerata finish could be fun though.

 

[ingsve]

Difficult to say. Paris-Nice has been quite a good race, but the parcours hasn't been the most inspired and rather than judging it against other races in the season (as little has been of genuine consequence thus far) I've been judging it against past editions of Paris-Nice, and it's come up pretty short in comparison.

Tirreno-Adriatico, when we first saw the parcours, was very disappointing, but the short uphills often create some real excitement in Tirreno because such a wide variety of riders can compete for it. This has been a reasonably good Tirreno edition, and as such appears better than Paris-Nice, but with 3 stages remaining, and the always fun stage into Nice itself to come in France, I'm not going to stick my neck out yet. The Macerata finish could be fun though.

Another thing is that the T-A ITT is relatively short so riders aren't feeling that the ITT will completely decide who wins which would otherwise kill the action a bit. Also some of the Top riders lost time in the ITT and a split in the peloton that lost some riders 12 seconds so they need to make up time which means more aggressive riding as well.

 

[rxgqgxnyfz]

Stalin isn't what I'd call poetic

Just a small little factoid: Stalin (then Djugashvili) when he was studying in seminary (orthodox christian church school) DID wrote some poetry.

 

[Kwibus]

T-A benefits from the list of big names and when big names like Cancellara and Hushovd decide to attack while they know there will be a 1.5km (12%) ramp ahead then the race is also lucky.

A lot of people showing their faces in Tirreno.

You know I'm happy anyways. First time in my life I'm watching races like P-N/T-A and "Het Omloop". Such nice races that didn't exist on the calendar of an casual cycling follower.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Montepaschi was great too!