2013 Giro d'Italia Stage 8: Gabicce Mare - Saltara 54,8 km ITT

[Carols]

Jerk Kirby just can't quit talking about what a great ride by Wiggins...what did I miss...

 

[Publicus]

Looking forward to Wiggins attacking in the mountains

This. And they don't have the option of sending Henao or Uran up the road as a decoy.

 

[airstream]

Who is feeling foolish now? AIRSTREAM

Lolwhat? You dare accuse me of anything? Grow up, child swimming in flatnesses.

 

[Bala Verde]

Terrible first part, but the second part was on par.

doesn't wiggins always have a relatively slow first part of ITTs?

 

[the asian]

Horrible TTing by the basques.

 

[Richeypen]

Really really hoping that Wiggo has form. He will have to attack and if hes going well there could be some proper fireworks. If he hasnt got form it will now be a procession

 

[Rocksteady]

Race definitely far from over... One mountain day can still win it for all the contenders

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Dowsett is a hemophiliac, that does not sound like a good illness for a cyclist to have.

At least you can trust he won't be playing with needles!

 

[gjb483]

Sadly this Giro already looks over. Nothing against Nibali but it would have been nice to see an exciting race.

there is a lot more racing to go.

this week was just the initial selection.

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

Double win for me

Very good. You can stop quoting yourself now.

 

[Publicus]

Kudos to Scarponi for a top 10 finish--which I honestly thought wasn't possible.

 

[wirral]

Henao proves himself the real team leader. We've seen this before with Froome.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

4 Blanco guys in the top 20 of the ITT.

 

[maxmartin]

Intxausti is the biggest loser.

Wondering what will ASIAN say? he told me Intaxausti is better than Nibali in ITT LOL

 

[hrotha]

Expected a lot more from Intxausti, but for a guy with his objectives this time loss shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

[the sceptic]

Scarponi quietly putting himself in a nice position. Expecting good things from him in the mountains

 

[maxmartin]

4 Blanco guys in the top 20 of the ITT.

They have s strong team, Astana have too many sick guys

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

Wondering what will ASIAN say? he told me Intaxausti is better than Nibali in ITT LOL

Out of curiosity... Do you laugh at your own 'jokes' in real life?

 

[Carols]

Astana not in good shape right now, will be tough to defend the Pink......

Time to change my avatar

 

[SKSemtex]

I am happy for Nibali but more sad because of Hesjedal.
But generally very good Giro. It is gonna be interesting to see "atacking" skyborg train ". But at this time it looks more like "mission completed - first skyborg destroyed".

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Really really hoping that Wiggo has form. He will have to attack and if hes going well there could be some proper fireworks. If he hasnt got form it will now be a procession

The only spin to put on this which works for Wiggins is that he has indeed been ill and is not fully over it, but on the way.

Having said that, I wouldn't be shocked if he gave away a minute in the corners - his 75 yard coasts in and nearly stopping on the apex was bloody awful.

Still, regardless, the middle time sector, and the final climb, show he doesn't have the wattage figures he's claimed, being beaten by Dowsett and Evans in each respectively.

If he is a little ill, and can recover to 2012 form, then the stages remain to take time, but he needs to stop descending like a coward. I was willing to allow that if he thought his worst risk of losing the race was a crash, but now it's clear his legs aren't super either.

 

[seldon71]

Mountains will be exciting - Scarponi usually not shy of attacking and you have guys like Niemiec, Santambrogio, Weening still in broader picture. Action WILL start before final climb and Astana can not only try to control Cadel/Wiggo/Gesink trio.

 

[airstream]

Out of curiosity... Do you laugh at your own 'jokes' in real life?

The man is obviously 13-14 years old, so no reason to argue with him. Let him enjoy what a fanstastic expert he is

 

[webvan]

Looking forward to Wiggins attacking in the mountains

Same here, Tuesday should be interesting with Siutsu, Uran and Henao lighting it up probably...guess we'll see a bit more clearly then...

 

[movingtarget]

Scarponi quietly putting himself in a nice position. Expecting good things from him in the mountains

Great ride. Did not expect that. Evans shows he is not finished yet and Gesink pretty solid as well. All to play for in the mountains.