Giro D'Italia 2015

[Vino attacks everyone]

Re:

At what stage will Aru shave his head and trade his helmet for a bandana?

my thoughts exactly. Can't wait for the angel to spread his wings and give us the climbing spectacle of the century

 

[Jspear]

1. AC
2. Aru (his climbing advantage will be greater than Uran's tting advantage)
3. Uran
4. Porte
5. Pozzovivo

 

[GP Blanco]

Contador will of course be the main favorite but I am curious of Kruijswijk can make the top-10.

 

[Matt92]

Re:

1 Contador
2 Uran
3 Aru

Porte to lose 20 minutes in the last week
Cunego will surprise everyone and finish just outside the top 5 . Yesterday he rode his best time ever on Passo della Bocchetta in Giro dell'Appennino a few seconds behind Simoni's record

I agree about Cunego being a potential surprise. If I were him, I'd focus more on stage wins; anyway, I expect him to perform significantly better than recent years.

 

[Põhja Konn]

1. Contador
2. Aru
3. Uran/Porte depending on Porte holding his act together for three weeks

Contador putting time into every one of his main rivals in the TT with the possible exception of Uran. Then confirming his superiority the next day at Madonna di Campiglio before finishing them for good after the rest day on Mortirolo. Before and after those stages he is in safe mode, following wheels and spending as little energy as possible.

 

[qwer]

Re:

1. Contador
2. Aru
3. Uran/Porte depending on Porte holding his act together for three weeks

Contador putting time into every one of his main rivals in the TT with the possible exception of Uran. Then confirming his superiority the next day at Madonna di Campiglio before finishing them for good after the rest day on Mortirolo. Before and after those stages he is in safe mode, following wheels and spending as little energy as possible.

I subscribe

 

[The fridge in the blue trees]

1 Uran
2 Contador
3 Porte

Uran ready for the next step, he's gotten better and better every year now in GTs (ok, since 2012). He'll be stronger again this year. And already last year he was kind of unlucky not to win it. 14 dropped on every mountain? Almost. But the way he's dropped counts too. Instead of doing the spectacular but stupid Evans thing, hanging on then blow, he let the others go then went up his own pace. And wasn't dropped on Zoncolan, might be wrong but with all the controversy from the Stelvio downhill I don't think Quintana didn't want to make another point there, show that he indeed was the strongest. Basically Uran got beaten clearly only twice. Val Martello and the TT Monte Grappa. Pay attention on the downhill from Stelvio and... not unlikely he'd won it. Not sure either.
Of course he won't win the same amount of time in the TT against Contador, but he should win time there, Contador is far from his 09 TT performance. And then just a tiny improvement and those 20" he was losing regularly in the mountains are gone too.
And so far this season was promising, while since his first GT result at the Giro 12 he's been in complete training mode until the Giro, this year he had decent results. If it was with the same effort he put in in the last years, he'll win by 20 minutes.... but more likely it will be a pretty close race.
Porte... will be the strongest of the contenders in the TT, then defend with his train. Contador going, Uran in tow... possible.
Aru.. we'll see, I never trust the "second year" on top... often I'm wrong, but for the moment I think Aru will have a slight setback.

Can't see anybody else winning it really. Pozzovivo top 5 max, König the same. Kreuziger wrong team.

 

[qwer]

Re:

1 Uran
2 Contador
3 Porte

Uran ready for the next step, he's gotten better and better every year now in GTs (ok, since 2012). He'll be stronger again this year. And already last year he was kind of unlucky not to win it. 14 dropped on every mountain? Almost. But the way he's dropped counts too. Instead of doing the spectacular but stupid Evans thing, hanging on then blow, he let the others go then went up his own pace. And wasn't dropped on Zoncolan, might be wrong but with all the controversy from the Stelvio downhill I don't think Quintana didn't want to make another point there, show that he indeed was the strongest. Basically Uran got beaten clearly only twice. Val Martello and the TT Monte Grappa. Pay attention on the downhill from Stelvio and... not unlikely he'd won it. Not sure either.
Of course he won't win the same amount of time in the TT against Contador, but he should win time there, Contador is far from his 09 TT performance. And then just a tiny improvement and those 20" he was losing regularly in the mountains are gone too.
And so far this season was promising, while since his first GT result at the Giro 12 he's been in complete training mode until the Giro, this year he had decent results. If it was with the same effort he put in in the last years, he'll win by 20 minutes.... but more likely it will be a pretty close race.
Porte... will be the strongest of the contenders in the TT, then defend with his train. Contador going, Uran in tow... possible.
Aru.. we'll see, I never trust the "second year" on top... often I'm wrong, but for the moment I think Aru will have a slight setback.

Can't see anybody else winning it really. Pozzovivo top 5 max, König the same. Kreuziger wrong team.

and you, stop drinking...

 

[The Hitch]

Do you guys think Darwin Atapuma could finish top 10? Or is top 15 more realistic? He was 17th 2 years ago. The ITT will be a disadvantage for him.

Stop leaching and do your your own fantasy teams

 

[The Hitch]

For the record I have always been one of the biggest hypers of Uran Uran on here (apart from that one irrational dutch guy who believes all Colombians are like 99 Pantani) but I have no idea where this sudden hype for him to win the Giro is coming from. He had one great gt stage in his life when he went mini Indurain for a tt. He won another one by being allowed to attack early on a climb. Other than that he's never even been the 2nd best rider on a mountain, was often worse than that including while defending the pink last year.

I don't see how he will beat Contador.

Even if Contador isn't 100%, he should still beat Uran at least. I mean he beak prime Murito when not on form, and arguably won 2 gts before.

If Uran beats Contador I don't think it will be 1,2, more like 4, 10 or something

 

[SyroboiII]

1. Porte
2. Uran
3. Pozzovivo
4. Zakarin
5. König
6. Niemeic
7. Intxausti
8. Caruso (BMC)
9. Pellizotti
10. Caruso (Katusha)

Contador and Aru DTF.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

Contador, Porte, Uran

This.
And in the same order. I'm afraid Porte vs Contador will be close (Would rather just like to see 2011 Giro reprised ), but eventually there's a reason Contador has stacked up 8 GT wins. He will take it

 

[rghysens]

1) Porte
2) Contador
3) Aru
4) Uran

 

[Cookster15]

1. Contador
2. Aru
3. Porte

Porte will finally confirm he has genuine GT ability over 3 weeks. But he will lack a little in the 3rd week as consequence of holding near top form for most of the season.

Contador will prevail because he is, well Contador. Aru will be another year older and stronger building on his impressive 2014 Giro. Uran will crack on one MTF losing his chance at the podium.

Porte's chance for winning a GT may come next year. He will still draw confidence in making the podium.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Do you guys think Darwin Atapuma could finish top 10? Or is top 15 more realistic? He was 17th 2 years ago. The ITT will be a disadvantage for him.

Stop leaching and do your your own fantasy teams

Hitch my friend, I am wondering what I should expect CQ wise I could have 3 in top 10 with Berto, Porte and El Puma

 

[SafeBet]

Uran will dominate the TT , that's for sure.
Contador is on a league of his own in the mountains though, no chance for anybody else to challenge him. Porte could win the Abetone stage but I reckon he'll eventually lose time in the final week.
Not sure about Aru considering all the circumstances.

Top3 should be Berto, Uran, Porte but I'd love to see Pozzovivo on the podium at last.

 

[ray j willings]

Bertie will dominate. Once Porte gets dropped on a mountain as he will ,he will tumble down the GC.
Uran needs to be consistent to get a podium. I think we could have a lot of excitement with quite a few riders tussling for the podium.

 

[SyroboiII]

Oleg Tinkov to fire Contador and hire Nibali (another fail) after Porte (the Escartin of our times) has kicked his contaminated beef ass.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Oleg Tinkov to fire Contador and hire Nibali (another fail) after Porte (the Escartin of our times) has kicked his contaminated beef ass.

Take it to the clinic

 

[ILovecycling]

Do you guys think Darwin Atapuma could finish top 10? Or is top 15 more realistic? He was 17th 2 years ago. The ITT will be a disadvantage for him.

Stop leaching and do your your own fantasy teams

Hitch my friend, I am wondering what I should expect CQ wise I could have 3 in top 10 with Berto, Porte and El Puma

funny
about your question...I dont think Puma scores top 10, he will lose more than 6 minute in that itt and he is not consistent gt rider (like arredondo and henao).Maybe top 15 but I dont think its his goal.

 

[LaFlorecita]

funny
about your question...I dont think Puma scores top 10, he will lose more than 6 minute in that itt and he is not consistent gt rider (like arredondo and henao).Maybe top 15 but I dont think its his goal.

Don't forget he was the only one who could follow Alberto's attack in Catalunya

 

[ILovecycling]

funny
about your question...I dont think Puma scores top 10, he will lose more than 6 minute in that itt and he is not consistent gt rider (like arredondo and henao).Maybe top 15 but I dont think its his goal.

Don't forget he was the only one who could follow Alberto's attack in Catalunya :eek :

arghh... like you probably know I didnt follow those races early in the spring too closely. Anyway I dont think it changes something,maybe the top 15 but Im not concerned about his recovery.

 

[Escarabajo]

funny
about your question...I dont think Puma scores top 10, he will lose more than 6 minute in that itt and he is not consistent gt rider (like arredondo and henao).Maybe top 15 but I dont think its his goal.

Don't forget he was the only one who could follow Alberto's attack in Catalunya

So did Kiri, but that does not make him a top 10 in a GT.

 

[Ruudz0r]

The field for GC is pretty weak, we have Contador, Porte, Aru, Uran, Pozzovivo, then Kreuziger and Konig as domestics. So we could see some surprises in the final top 10.

 

[Netserk]

The field is better than last year. And '13. And '12.