Giro d'Italia Stage 1: Amsterdam ITT (8.4km)

[theyoungest]

Boom doesn't ride the Giro. He rides the Tour

Otherwise he'd have won (easy to say now, isn't it)

 

[issoisso]

Boom Boom Pow - gotta get that!!!

Lars Boom to take the opening TT by 5 seconds

Don't go by cyclingnews previews. Boom isn't even riding.

 

[Winterfold]

From recent Cycle Sport interview Wiggins "I'll be going full-on for the prologue." so if he doesn't win, it's not because he didn't want to or try. He doesn't 100% expect to win though, because he then says "I'll want us to do the ttt really well, maybe take the leader's jersey there if haven't got it already."

So, I think it's fair to say the main target is to be in the pink jersey for a few days to get the team more practice at defending the leader's jersey in a big race, after the naive balls-ups in smaller races at the start of the year.

Right now, the less Sastre does or shows, the better for him IMO. With Pellizotti 'busted' this is even more his to lose, much as I enjoy watching the new exciting Cuddles, he is still an embarrassing tool, so I would like to see Sastre take this and the mega-difficult third week has got to be in his favour.

 

[Inner Peace]

Don't go by cyclingnews previews. Boom isn't even riding.

shoulda double checked that one cheers

I'll go with Pinotti then. The old timer should be one of the most motivated to win this one

 

[auscyclefan94]

Boom Boom Pow - gotta get that!!!

Lars Boom to take the opening TT by 5 seconds

- I like that!

Evans will fall on the tram rails

Didn't one of the dutch hope he would fall in the ditch after I ****ed all the dutchies off during Fleche? That was a great night. I was very right and some others were oh so very wrong!

 

[Spare Tyre]

Evans will fall on the tram rails

Actually he might handle them better than some other riders -- we have trams in Melbourne too.

(But wouldn't it just be BMC's luck if he did? )

 

[auscyclefan94]

Actually he might handle them better than some other riders -- we have trams in Melbourne too.

(But wouldn't it just be Evans' luck if he did? )

EDIT BMC's luck has been bad but not as bad as cadel's!

 

[Fourier]

I'd say Pinotti takes it, he has shown that he is in good form.
Vino is a good choice but I think this TT is a bit short for him to really get into it.
To cover all of my bases, I'd tip Gustav Larsson for a top 3 finish.

 

[trompe le monde]

Gustav Larsson for the TT win, which prompts Saxo to entertain notions of defending pink with Chris Anker Sørensen as their GC hope.

If not Larsson, then maybe Svein Tuft strictly for a truly 'wtf?' worthy headline.

 

[Bala Verde]

Near Weesper is fixed at the moment at least I believe. I'll see if I have the time to ride the entire course and will inform you on the state the roads.

But as far as I know Vijzelgracht still looks like:

That's what I thought, so how in the hell are they going to ride bikes through the vijzelgracht. I mean that real Amsterdammers do it on their hand-me-down 'barrel' is one thing, but a 10.000 carbon TT frame would (if it doesn't get stolen prior to the race) break. I also have my concerns about weight; the riders will be seriously slowed down by the 3x5kg bikechains they need to carry around, so that the bike doesn't get stolen when they're done...

When is the opening party, the Gironingen was quite the event

 

[issoisso]

Gustav Larsson for the TT win, which prompts Saxo to entertain notions of defending pink with Chris Anker Sørensen as their GC hope.

If not Larsson, then maybe Svein Tuft strictly for a truly 'wtf?' worthy headline.

To me, Larsson winning anything without devoting most of his season to train to peak specifically for it or without the others being there in a "let's see what happens" capacity would constitute a truly WTF moment.

 

[sportzchick]

Evans will fall on the tram rails

ITs going to be so much fun when Cadel wins

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Too bad that doesn't happen

 

[powderpuff]

3 days to go, fck it!

Btw - why did they make Evans #1 - Too many missing/disgraced from last year's GC?

I thought number 1 went to the last living(whoops racing) winner... Basso ; I don't think the extra media hype about him being #1 will be very beneficial to Cadel.

I think Cadel will have to go as hard as possible to cover some of the time he may lose in the TTT, but I would be surprised if he won it.

Winner... Meyer or Millar?

 

[Cobblestones]

It has to be 1) Vino, 2) Evans just because of Albi.

 

[Moondance]

I'm picking Xavier Tondo.... Because I like to be different, and I like seeing Cervelo win.

 

[hoolaparara]

anybody in australia know why sbs seem to be ignoring the first stage? They have 30 minutes highlights of stage 2 on monday but nothing on stage 1?

 

[stefrees]

wiggins, millar, pinotti or meyer to win.

 

[auscyclefan94]

anybody in australia know why sbs seem to be ignoring the first stage? They have 30 minutes highlights of stage 2 on monday but nothing on stage 1?

Only showing highlights during the week. But they still show Tour of Cali live which is not that excting in comparison to il giro.

 

[Publicus]

Only showing highlights during the week. But they still show Tour of Cali live which is not that excting in comparison to il giro.

Cadel has to been feeling spurned by his native country.... No live coverage of the Giro (where Cadel could be the first Australian to win the overall), but they are covering the Tour of California????? That's just nuts...

 

[blaxland]

Did Amsterdam fix the roads yet? I hope so, these are some of the turns:
Into Weesperstraat:

Towards Ceintuurbaan:

Amstel will also be fun if it rains, mayhem ensured (if I have the right street):

Totally insane.

Gr8 pictures ak-zaaf thanks for bringing back memories................Maybe a set of 28mm tyres would be better for this course...this course looks like fun=Crashes!!!!!!!

 

[Spare Tyre]

Cadel has to been feeling spurned by his native country.... No live coverage of the Giro (where Cadel could be the first Australian to win the overall), but they are covering the Tour of California????? That's just nuts...

According to Mike Tomalaris (from SBS) they can't afford to cover the Giro. ToC is cheaper. SBS is govt funded. It's probably true.



EDIT: Just remembered, they do have some commercial advertising but I think are still primarily govt funded, so have a very tight budget

 

[hfer07]

with the absence of Cancellara, Contador, Menchov & other TT challegers, I believe that Wiggo "must" win the prologue & "resurrect" the Sky team name from a rather disappointing classics campaign

 

[palmerq]

Rabon is riding isn't he? I always guess him for short time trials(i think he's not bad at them)...

Karpets isnt racing though which i thought was a bit strange he seemed to be going good at the tour of romandie... although probably he is too heavy for the big mountains in the giro.

oh wait it says on the start list he is :S I though i read a news article saying he wasnt ...... I dont think he will win this stage though but he could get a high placing.

 

[Kender]

Vino is an aggressive rider, you can bet he's going all out for the win

Cadel will be best served to let him have it. make astana defend the jersey for the first week and tire them out a little. If a BMC rider wins it, Cadels Giro may be compromised by doing to much work early on