2013 Giro D'Italia Field Discussion

[Maaaaaaaarten]

lol wtf nibali ahead of wiggins in this poll?

People really are deluded.

How is a rider who is an inferior tter an inferior climber an inferior gt racer more likely to crack on long mountain stages, with a weaker team, going to beat wiggins?
Ok yes its possible wiggins doesnt prepare right or crashes but thats also possible for Nibali. Its also possible that some guy wins a gc in a 30 minute breakaway. But im guessing the people voting for nibali arent all basing their votes on deus ex machina.

Probably these people don't consider Wiggo a better climber than Nibali.

 

[Eshnar]

lol wtf nibali ahead of wiggins in this poll?

People really are deluded.

How is a rider who is an inferior tter an inferior climber an inferior gt racer more likely to crack on long mountain stages, with a weaker team, going to beat wiggins?

You're talking like Wiggins is the new Merckx or something.
He definitely is a better tter than Nibali. As for the rest, still to prove.
How many times in his career did Wiggins crack on a long mountain stage? Not sure they're that less than those of Nibali...

 

[ILovecycling]

Probably these people don't consider Wiggo a better climber than Nibali.

Exactly,plus(as for me) I think Wiggins won't be at Tour12 level.IMO Nibali will fight for the win with Henao,not with Wiggins

 

[Ferminal]

So Wiggins will go from GT winner last year to off the podium, and Henao will go from 7th or 8th or wherever he finished to top2?

 

[Netserk]

lol wtf nibali ahead of wiggins in this poll?

People really are deluded.

How is a rider who is an inferior tter an inferior climber an inferior gt racer more likely to crack on long mountain stages, with a weaker team, going to beat wiggins?
Ok yes its possible wiggins doesnt prepare right or crashes but thats also possible for Nibali. Its also possible that some guy wins a gc in a 30 minute breakaway. But im guessing the people voting for nibali arent all basing their votes on deus ex machina.

You will look really silly after May.

 

[the sceptic]

You will look really silly after May.

Do you think Nibali has any chance against 2012 level Wiggins?

 

[Pentacycle]

You will look really silly after May.

Wiggins has to fail completely to give Nibali a chance.

And right now he looks good.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

So Wiggins will go from GT winner last year to off the podium, and Henao will go from 7th or 8th or wherever he finished to top2?

You have to remember that Henao is stillyoung, it was the beginning of his first season in Europe, his first GT, he worked a bit for other riders etc.

There's all the reason in the world to expect Henao to do much much better than previous Giro, but yeah, he'll be domestiqueing for Wiggo, I guess, which is only reasonable considering Wiggo won the TDF last year.

 

[Pentacycle]

You have to remember that Henao is stillyoung, it was the beginning of his first season in Europe, his first GT, he worked a bit for other riders etc.

There's all the reason in the world to expect Henao to do much much better than previous Giro, but yeah, he'll be domestiqueing for Wiggo, I guess, which is only reasonable considering Wiggo won the TDF last year.

If Henao so far hasn't really been near his top shape this season, he could be very dangerous to the other contenders next month.

 

[Netserk]

Do you think Nibali has any chance against 2012 level Wiggins?

On this parcours yes.

 

[The Hitch]

You're talking like Wiggins is the new Merckx or something.
He definitely is a better tter than Nibali. As for the rest, still to prove.
How many times in his career did Wiggins crack on a long mountain stage? Not sure they're that less than those of Nibali...

Probably these people don't consider Wiggo a better climber than Nibali.

Ok lets be generous and say Nibali is a better climber than Wiggins (for which there is absolutely no proof, but lets pretend)

He is going to need to be sufficiently better than wiggins to be able to drop him conclusively for time, on several mountain stages.

When have we ever seen that from Nibali. He did it against Kreuziger and Horner in TA last year. Now lets see if he can do it against a team with 5 riders better than those 2.

 

[ebandit]

gimme sunshine

lol wtf nibali ahead of wiggins in this poll?

People really are deluded.

not deluded...................optimistic

Mark L

 

[the sceptic]

On this parcours yes.

Even if he is able to drop Wiggo in the mountains, how is he going to make up for the 3-4 minutes he will lose in the ITT's? I cant see it happening but i would love to be proven wrong.

 

[movingtarget]

Wiggins in a weak team would be a lot more vulnerable but he isn't. I still think the only way Nibali wins is if Wiggins has bad luck at the wrong time like a crash or a mechanical and gets isolated or he bonks and has a horrible stage and loses big time which is unlikely.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Ok lets be generous and say Nibali is a better climber than Wiggins (for which there is absolutely no proof, but lets pretend)

He is going to need to be sufficiently better than wiggins to be able to drop him conclusively for time, on several mountain stages.

When have we ever seen that from Nibali. He did it against Kreuziger and Horner in TA last year. Now lets see if he can do it against a team with 5 riders better than those 2.

Oh it's pure speculation that Nibali is a better climber, or that he will have the ability to gain a load of time on Wiggins, I'll hand you that. What's mainly been appealing to people is that he rides much more aggressively these days, with reasonable succes (see this years TA and last years TA).

Last year's TDF was the only real time that we got to see the new improved Wiggins against the new attacking Nibali, but the parcours didn't lend itself to attacking and he was the only one trying to attack.

We'll only get a preview in Trentino I guess, of whether Nibali stands a chance. Otherwise we'll just have to wait till the Giro.

 

[movingtarget]

No one is talking about last year's winner either. I guess we will see whether that win was an anomaly or not. He was very consistent last year but of course Sky did not figure nor did Nibali. But Rodriguez's subsequent ride in the Vuelta indicates that it was a great win by Ryder in the Giro.

 

[Pentacycle]

No one is talking about last year's winner either. I guess we will see whether that win was an anomaly or not. He was very consistent last year but of course Sky did not figure nor did Nibali. But Rodriguez's subsequent ride in the Vuelta indicates that it was a great win by Ryder in the Giro.

Rodriguez still sometimes suffered in the cold there though, he was much better in the heat of Spain. Hesjedal, as a quite heavy GC rider, is much more suited to colder weather.

 

[Eshnar]

Now lets see if he can do it against a team with 5 riders better than those 2.

Don't ask me, my crystal ball is under maintenance. I had to give it back when it made me pick Froome for Tirreno.

 

[The Hitch]

Don't ask me, my crystal ball is under maintenance. I had to give it back when it made me pick Froome for Tirreno.

so Nibali is going to win the Giro by taking 30 seconds on a hilly stage, thanks in part to the pulling done by Sagan and Purito.

 

[SafeBet]

Ok lets be generous and say Nibali is a better climber than Wiggins (for which there is absolutely no proof, but lets pretend)

He is going to need to be sufficiently better than wiggins to be able to drop him conclusively for time, on several mountain stages.

When have we ever seen that from Nibali. He did it against Kreuziger and Horner in TA last year. Now lets see if he can do it against a team with 5 riders better than those 2.

He never dropped Contador or Froome in T/A and managed to win the race.
Giro is not only about TTs and big climbs. It's a far more complex parcours than the Tour.
I don't think Nibbles winning the Giro is likely. But it's not as absurd as you make it sound either.

Gesink did have an injury free prep for once. Only in PN he has gotten ill (which is also why he performed badly), then after only 2 good training rides and a lot of rest he still got 6th at Catalunya.

He said today in an interview that a podium is his goal. Main question with Gesink is if he stays injury free for 3 weeks and doesn't lose time in stages you don't expect it. Only then is podium a possibility, there is no room for ****ups in a GT

KEy will be the first week in my opinion. There's a couple of stages where he could **** up big time. I'm trying to stay positive anyway.

 

[The Hitch]

He never dropped Contador or Froome in T/A and managed to win the race.
Giro is not only about TTs and big climbs. It's a far more complex parcours than the Tour.
I don't think Nibbles winning the Giro is likely. But it's not as absurd as you make it sound either.

i dont think nibali winning is absurd. what is absurd is a plurality of the forum expecting that he can beat Wiggins 1 on 1 if they are both on form.

 

[Eshnar]

i dont think nibali winning is absurd. what is absurd is a plurality of the forum expecting that he can beat Wiggins 1 on 1 if they are both on form.

Why did you mention Wiggins team then...

 

[Netserk]

i dont think nibali winning is absurd. what is absurd is a plurality of the forum expecting that he can beat Wiggins 1 on 1 if they are both on form.

If it was 1 on 1, then it would be absurd to think that Wiggins could beat Nibali on this parcours.

 

[The Hitch]

Why did you mention Wiggins team then...

okay not one on one then. 9 on 9, 9 on 1, whatever, the point is Nibali has never shown the ability to beat the current version of Wiggins.

this being sport in the post 1980's era it is of course possible that riders can turn into supermen or back into nobodies overnight. This being cycling it is possible riders can crash or fall ill or get injured etc.

But there is no way fans on the forum can predict that one of those things is going to happen.
the only info the fans have are the previous matchups - namely the Tour last year.
And there is absolutely nothing to suggest that nibali can fly away from mountain stages.

 

[The Hitch]

If it was 1 on 1, then it would be absurd to think that Wiggins could beat Nibali on this parcours.

based on what? on pdbf both wiggins and nibali were in the sky slipstream. That took a lot more out of Nibali than it did out of Wiggins. Why should it be any different if neither was in slipstream?