94th Giro d'Italia May 7 - 29

[Mellow Velo]

What's the difference?

Nothing at all...........unless there's a pedant, on the back foot, in the room.

 

[hfer07]

Nibali is going to silence a lot of folks here in this thread

 

[Descender]

Nibali is going to disappoint lots of people. This Giro is too hard for him.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

There's not a lot of 25 years old that can get a podium at a tough Giro and win the Vuelta in the same season. Scarponi wasn't this good at Nibali's age.

that's not the point (again)

 

[plooton]

My first 10 previously put on Kreuziger's web:
ok, přidávám se k tipovačce:
1. Pistolero; 2. Menchov; 3 Kreuziger; 4. Purito; 5 Nibali; 6. Anton; 7. Scarponi; 8. Rujano; 9. Garzelli; (10. Mark Cavendish ), ok 10. Roche

 

[The Hitch]

Roche isnt riding.

Hes went hard in the Vuelta so I do wish he tried the Giro once instead of Tour every year but maybe next year.

 

[plooton]

Roche isnt riding.

Hes went hard in the Vuelta so I do wish he tried the Giro once instead of Tour every year but maybe next year.

Hm, so one of French: Gadret, Le Mevel

 

[taiwan]

One thing about Nibali is that the team isn't as strong as either the 2010 Giro or Vuelta. No superdomestiques for him. I don't doubt they'll have a solid plan though. All business, that team. I wonder if Katusha have the balls to use Di Luca tactically as a threat to win? Can't see people being too happy about him getting into pink if it were to happen.

 

[The Hitch]

One thing about Nibali is that the team isn't as strong as either the 2010 Giro or Vuelta. No superdomestiques for him. I don't doubt they'll have a solid plan though. All business, that team. I wonder if Katusha have the balls to use Di Luca tactically as a threat to win? Can't see people being too happy about him getting into pink if it were to happen.

While I thought the logical solution was to leave him for big time Basso duties at the Tour, Liquigas are actually brought THE super domestique himself to this race.

Katusha will do what they got to do but it looks like Killer might not be very good this Giro anyway (maybe maybe not).

And just as I type this I see a Giro advert on Spanish channel ve7.

 

[hfer07]

One thing about Nibali is that the team isn't as strong as either the 2010 Giro or Vuelta. No superdomestiques for him. I don't doubt they'll have a solid plan though. All business, that team. I wonder if Katusha have the balls to use Di Luca tactically as a threat to win? Can't see people being too happy about him getting into pink if it were to happen.

????????????
2010 lineup
131 BASSO Ivan ITA
132 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA
133 AGNOLI Valerio ITA
134 BODNAR Maciej POL
135 DALL'ANTONIA Tiziano ITA
136 KISERLOVSKI Robert CRO
137 SABATINI Fabio ITA
138 SZMYD Sylwester POL
139 VANOTTI Alessandro ITA

2011 lineup

111 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA
112 AGNOLI Valerio ITA
113 CAPECCHI Eros ITA
114 DA DALTO Mauro ITA
115 DALL'ANTONIA Tiziano ITA
116 SABATINI Fabio ITA
117 SALERNO Cristiano ITA
118 SZMYD Sylvester POL
119 VANOTTI Alessandro ITA

....and we all know that SZMYD alone is a beast in the mountains.

 

[ferryman]

Hm, so one of French: Gadret, Le Mevel

Nah no Frenchies. Pozzovivo is a better bet for your tenth man

 

[theyoungest]

????????????
2010 lineup
131 BASSO Ivan ITA
132 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA
133 AGNOLI Valerio ITA
134 BODNAR Maciej POL
135 DALL'ANTONIA Tiziano ITA
136 KISERLOVSKI Robert CRO
137 SABATINI Fabio ITA
138 SZMYD Sylwester POL
139 VANOTTI Alessandro ITA

2011 lineup

111 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA
112 AGNOLI Valerio ITA
113 CAPECCHI Eros ITA
114 DA DALTO Mauro ITA
115 DALL'ANTONIA Tiziano ITA
116 SABATINI Fabio ITA
117 SALERNO Cristiano ITA
118 SZMYD Sylvester POL
119 VANOTTI Alessandro ITA

....and we all know that SZMYD alone is a beast in the mountains.

Last year they had 3 guys in the elite group on most climbs, now it's probably just one, Nibali himself. Maybe Capecchi can surprise.

 

[hfer07]

Last year they had 3 guys in the elite group on most climbs, now it's probably just one, Nibali himself. Maybe Capecchi can surprise.

last year, there were all the names I highlighted + Nibali literally escorting Basso all the way to the finish line (except of course in the Zoncolan & the MITT)- so take out Basso and what we got? the same damn team -this time at Nibali's command plus two new riders

 

[jaylew]

actually vincenzo is one of the most underrated riders in here.remember last year,we all thought he won't win vuelta.and he still did it.

But I dont think so. For a gt winner people have surprisingly low expectations of him.

Even when he had a healthy lead against Mosquera after the time trial, only a few of us predicted he would keep it with most thinking Eze would blow him away.

Agreed. I find him to be underrated around here, not overrated. The guy had a better season than all but maybe 2-3 guys in the world last year and a bunch of people around here treat him like he's a scrub.

Those who say Nibali was the second strongest in the Giro overrate him big time - 3 minutes ttt, but everyone else understands that he will find it hard to beat Scarponi and Menchov on this course.

nibali lost like 3 minutes to scarponi in the mountains right?? and without basos nibali would've never gotten close to podium. but have it your way

We've gone back and forth on this one and there seem to be two school of thought:

One, that he only did as well as he did because of Basso's help and the time he gained in the TTT (2:24 on Scarponi, for example).

The other, that he could have performed even better if he hadn't been put in the Giro at the last minute to replace Delphino and if he hadn't put in so much work for Basso.

 

[ferryman]

last year, there were all the names I highlighted + Nibali literally escorting Basso all the way to the finish line (except of course in the Zoncolan & the MITT)- so take out Basso and what we got? the same damn team -this time at Nibali's command plus two new riders

Kiserlovski is a strong loss though.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

One thing about Nibali is that the team isn't as strong as either the 2010 Giro or Vuelta. No superdomestiques for him. I don't doubt they'll have a solid plan though. All business, that team. I wonder if Katusha have the balls to use Di Luca tactically as a threat to win? Can't see people being too happy about him getting into pink if it were to happen.

he isn't good enough anymore anyway.

He was 6th at LBL.

Menchov needs time trials to win This Giro is nothing but climbs and uphill time trials. Last year's Tour was short on time trials as usual.

menchov is an underrated climber by many.

So a lot was expected of Nibali. Fewer people (only me and Cipo) expected Scarponi to be that awesome in the mountains.

I can't speak for others, but scarponi's performance didn't really surprise me in that field. I expected a top 5 result considering his abilities. Wasn't that genius
I was more impressed with how much heart he rode with (stage 7 i loved him). He won me over last giro.

nibali has to be the most overrated cyclist on this forum.

I tend to agree. I certainly have trouble knowing he is a GT winner considering some of the riders that aren't.
Vuelta also had a weak field.

But to be fair to nibali. Stage 7 he was forced to pull for basso the whole time, certain he could have done 1-2 min better otherwise. Basso sucked there.

And people forget he wasn't even schedueled to ride the giro. I'm sure he is thrilled with how things turned out tho.
Another thing, people act like basso helped nibali a lot. But it went two ways. Nibali did his fair share (the stage when he got away and won, basso had to do no work, just follow the others chasing.)

Nope.

Belletti>Modolo, by the way.

The outsider people will really be watching is Guardini if he goes.

i fear the distance will be a bit much on the stages he could contend. He is still pretty young. Such a talent tho.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Guardini climbs worse than Furlan and Quaranta. He was outclimbed by Van Hummel the other day. I think it's likely a bit too soon for him.

Then again, one of Farnese Vini's slots was going to have been Sinkewitz, so they have a space where somebody with name value and recognition would have been, and Guardini has been making a big name for himself so far this year...

 

[Winterfold]

Nibali is definitely better than he gets credit for here.

The team is strong - Smyzd is such a beast - but it really depends on how much Contador wants it and if Saxo put the full A team out. That's a bet dependent on what you think CAS will rule.

Also this parcours is just insane and anything could happen. The Zoncolan stage is utterly bonkers - it's like the middle 2/3 of Ventoux - then you must do Zoncolan. Anything could happen. Well except a 75kg rouleur winning

 

[ferryman]

nibali has to be the most overrated cyclist on this forum.

Sometimes you just have to reply to an idiotic/trolling post:

How many riders would like this on their palmares so far on GTs, starting at age 23:

Giro 2007 - 19th
Giro 2008 - 11th, Le Tour 20th
Le Tour 2009 - 7th
Giro - 3rd, Vuelta 1st

 

[Parrulo]

Sometimes you just have to reply to an idiotic/trolling post:

How many riders would like this on their palmares so far on GTs, starting at age 23:

Giro 2007 - 19th
Giro 2008 - 11th, Le Tour 20th
Le Tour 2009 - 7th
Giro - 3rd, Vuelta 1st

better yet!!1 some people on this forum say nibali will never win another GT yet they also say such proven climbers as porte and martin are no doubt future GT contenders.

p.s. i do agree that nibali is massively underrated on this forum.

 

[c&cfan]

better yet!!1 some people on this forum say nibali will never win another GT yet they also say such proven climbers as porte and martin are no doubt future GT contenders.

p.s. i do agree that nibali is massively underrated on this forum.

parrulo,
nibali has talent, there's no doubt about it.
the point (at least my point) is that actually, it's a little "insane" to consider him better than scarponi and specially menchov.

then you have anton, that is much better on climbs than him.

and for last, you have the big favorite to win the giro. everybody knows that machado is better in everything.

oh and contador..

 

[El Pistolero]

that's not the point (again)

It's MY point. Seeing as this discussion started because I think what Nibali did at the Giro impressed me more than what Scarponi did.

Considering his age Nibali impressed me more than Scarponi in the Giro even though Scarponi climbed better at most mountain stages. + He can time trial well(not superb, but enough to win GTs)

 

[Parrulo]

did i said something about nibali being better then scarponi or menchov? i only said that most people here underrate him . . .

and i think he is on the same level of menchov, anton, scarponi and purito as threats to contador.

menchov is inconsistent
anton crashs a lot
purito loses a lot of time on itt's and its hard to make up that up against climbers like contador
about scarponi i have nothing against him he is consistent knows how to suffer a great climber and one of my fav riders
nibali is very consistent, really knows how to suffer on a bike (bola del mundo) is one of the top descenders in the current peloton and i doubt the rest of the contenders can follow him on a all out descend and has a decent time trial. he also seems to have a great recovering capacity.

for me those guys are all at the same level. some are better climbers but have flaws that make them threats at the same level.

 

[taiwan]

Re: Liquigas, Szmyd is obviously awesome, but he tends to do his thing on the early part of climbs to thin out the group. Last year there was Basso, and Kiserlovski was good too. At the Vuelta, there was Kreuziger, on paper at least. Not this time.

One of the new guys could impress though, you never know.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Szymd is more valuable to basso then nibali.
I'm not so sure nibali would want a crazy pace at the start of a climb.