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

[Moondance]

Mollema 1 sec behind Sastre.

Impressive.

 

[superconfex]

Well done Bradley

 

[theyoungest]

Brookwater to take an intermediate sprint 2morrow and be virtual pink but hendo will win sprint or be close enough for the jersey

Just saw some footage of brookwater, that guy could have won by 10sec if he wasn't putting so much energy into that swaying he was doing

Bookwalter isn't exactly graceful on a bike, but for some guys that's just the way they can hurt themselves the most. Just look at Contador, who has to move his a$$ back on the saddle every tenth peddle, but that seems to work just fine for him.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Impressive.

I expected more from the great bauke mollema. Evans has sent a mental delivery to all challengers imo.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

auscycle: mollema has never been an outstanding TTist, dunno why you would expect more.

Mollema 1 sec behind Sastre.

That settles it.
Mollema for pink ! You heard it here first

 

[Francois the Postman]

Eurosport fans might want to keep a browser open to the Gazzetta TV feed. I don't have a TV option, so I watched the great Italian feed and had a Eurosport window to click when GTV had the rare commercials. I didn't notice a time when both had commercials at once.

http://videochat.gazzetta.it/index_giro.shtml

Yeah, that's why I did. Thankfully the whole ad-thing as probably more an opening TT irritant than an actual stage one. Usually they get the breaks out of the way before the race climax. Usually.

 

[theyoungest]

Impressive.

Usually, Sastre isn't the benchmark I'd use for an impressive prologue, but you're right, that's not too shabby at all.

 

[theyoungest]

I expected more from the great bauke mollema. Evans has sent a mental delivery to all challengers imo.

Mollema is a pure climber.

 

[auscyclefan94]

@brentbookwalter
wow. still a little speechless. head spinning a bit. thanks so much for all the encouragement and kind words!

Timmy, I was having a joke. I was making fun of your post and others about mollema.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

@brentbookwalter
wow. still a little speechless. head spinning a bit. thanks so much for all the encouragement and kind words!

Timmy, I was having a joke. I was making fun of your post and others about mollema.

sir, you are hilarious! I tip my hat to you.

But really i don't think any of the dutch are expecting too much from mollema. Personally I'd like to see him do well in a few of the mountain stages, and maybe record a top 15-20th place overall.

It will be a real learning point anyway.

 

[Moondance]

I expected more from the great bauke mollema. Evans has sent a mental delivery to all challengers imo.

Well you shouldn't have. He's not a time trialist at all. This is a very good showing from the guy. Its a way better performance than both the TTs he did in Romandie.

Also he finished higher than the great Cameron Meyer....

 

[auscyclefan94]

sir, you are hilarious! I tip my hat to you.
.

I sense some sarcasm there timmy?

Pretty good for a young guy like him.

 

[Moondance]

Usually, Sastre isn't the benchmark I'd use for an impressive prologue, but you're right, that's not too shabby at all.

I think it's a good benchmark for Mollema. And comparing times with a top favorite like Sastre is always ok.

 

[RedheadDane]

Hey... I'm confused... just looked at the live coverate where it said that Greipel opens the sprint wasn't it a TT today?

 

[Francois the Postman]

sir, you are hilarious! I tip my hat to you.

But really i don't think any of the dutch are expecting too much from mollema. Personally I'd like to see him do well in a few of the mountain stages, and maybe record a top 15-20th place overall.

It will be a real learning point anyway.

Snap. But that appears to be quite hard to explain to forum people who aren't used to people being excited about a promising rider from home turf, who can resist the unrealistic temptation to tout him immediately as a the next big thing who will rip apart the field hegemony as we know it.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I expected more from the great bauke mollema. Evans has sent a mental delivery to all challengers imo.

And you prove once again you are pretty ignorant when it comes to cyclists outside Australia, you seem to have no clue whatsoever what their strong points and weaknesses are.
Besides that, a top 20 in the final GC would already be an outstanding result for Mollema, he is no Gesink.

 

[auscyclefan94]

And you prove once again you are pretty ignorant when it comes to cyclists outside Australia, you seem to have no clue whatsoever what their strong points and weaknesses are.
Besides that, a top 20 in the final GC would already be an outstanding result for Mollema, he is no Gesink.

I was having a joke with him as i had been calling him "the great bauke mollema" for a while now. I thought it was a great ride by him.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Evans seriously fills up a widescreen picture.
That ITT did what it was designed for..............nothing much.
All the players inside a minute, most, half that.

BMC will be a force to reckon with, come the TTT.
That will kinda surprise the Eyetalian press, who thought they were good to lose 3 minutes.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Evans seriously fills up a widescreen picture.
That ITT did what it was designed for..............nothing much.
All the players inside a minute, most, half that.

BMC will be a force to reckon with, come the TTT.
That will kinda surprise the Eyetalian press, who thought they were good to lose 3 minutes.

And Matt White, Dan benson etc. Matt white hates evans.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Back to Brad -

I am happy that he won, even if I expected Millar to beat him - Brad does look sooooo fast on a bike.

For the GC, some solid displays - Evans looks really good, as expected. So too did Vino and Basso wasn't bad either. Nibali was a suprise.
But the ride that impressed me was Sastre - he is light on race miles but his form appears to be excellent.

 

[El Imbatido]

And Matt White, Dan benson etc. Matt white hates evans.

Why does Matt White hate Evans??

 

[theyoungest]

The Shark killed a pigeon today, by the way. Seems fitting.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Why does Matt White hate Evans??

Just some comments he has made. I'll try to dig them up.

 

[stefrees]

Evans seriously fills up a widescreen picture.
That ITT did what it was designed for..............nothing much.
All the players inside a minute, most, half that.

BMC will be a force to reckon with, come the TTT.
That will kinda surprise the Eyetalian press, who thought they were good to lose 3 minutes.

not sure theyll necessarily be a force in the ttt? would argue sky garmin htc and liquigas have the top 4 sorted just not sure of the order. saxo bank might be 5th also

 

[Francois the Postman]

But the ride that impressed me was Sastre - he is light on race miles but his form appears to be excellent.

He seems to prefer to be light on race miles this time of year. Was worried a bit when I saw his race fitness earlier last month, but it looks like he knows what works for him.

I'm more confident now than I was with him riding himself into good form during the Giro, to be really ready when it matters. Week 3.