Off season. We need some Giro 2011 discussion.

[The Hitch]

what about starting a new poll on who will win the Giro? This one is useless now...

Give it a week I say. There could still be some doping news (given whats going on in Italy) or suspensions, injuries etc. Lets see whose going well in Trentino and Ardennes.

For now, (if you speak Spanish) console yourself with this

http://forodeciclismo.mforos.com/30984/9962983-ganador-giro-d-italia/

 

[craig1985]

Christian will know more then me, but Brice Feillu will lead them GC wise (yes, I know). I'm going to guess and say Wegmann and Gerdemann will be picked, they will have more opportunites at the Giro then at the Tour where they will have to work for a certain pair of brothers.

Brice Feillu
Bennati
Wegmann
Gerdemann
Will Clarke
Rohregger
Denifl
Stamsnijder
Weylandt

You could easily throw in Bruno Pires or Robert Wagner if you want to. They have a couple of men for the sprints and enough guys suited to take advantage of the many MTF's in the race, and the stages that guys like Nibali and co. won't bother with. long with two Austrian riders in the race, they will be motivated for the stage to the Großglockner.

With this squad I would back them to win at least a couple of stages, and a guy like Brice Feillu could go after the KOM competition.

 

[craig1985]

It is not yet released, but here is what I know so far, and what I guess:

For certain: Daniele Bennati
Most likely: Davide Vigano
Likely: Linus Gerdemann, Oliver Zaugg
Other possible candidates: Fabian Wegmann, Tom Stamsnijder, Thomas Rohregger

Cerainly not: Joost Posthuma, Anders Lund, Brice Feillu, Wouter Weylandt (to name the most well-known), who will be riding 4 Jours de Dunkerque

I hate you now

I picked Feillu in my squad because IIRC, Feillu stated in an interview that he was wanting to ride the Giro. For mine I would think he would be the token Frenchman on their Tour squad.

 

[Eshnar]

Give it a week I say. There could still be some doping news (given whats going on in Italy) or suspensions, injuries etc. Lets see whose going well in Trentino and Ardennes.

I guess you're right

For now, (if you speak Spanish) console yourself with this
http://forodeciclismo.mforos.com/30984/9962983-ganador-giro-d-italia/

already saw it, but thanks anyway
ps: in foro de ciclismo I expected something like 90% Contador.... I'm surprised :O

 

[roundabout]

I hate you now

I picked Feillu in my squad because IIRC, Feillu stated in an interview that he was wanting to ride the Giro. For mine I would think he would be the token Frenchman on their Tour squad.

I wouldn't pick him for any GT.

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/rider_palm.asp?riderid=5144&year=2011&all=1&current=0

Is the Geox team official or a guess?

 

[The Hitch]

I guess you're right

already saw it, but thanks anyway
ps: in foro de ciclismo I expected something like 90% Contador.... I'm surprised :O

Nah. They seem to like Nibali and Anton there. I recall many wanted Squalo to beat Eze even.

But to be fair, Id expect any poll to be 90% Contador. Hes the overwhelming favourite.

 

[Ferminal]

Give it a week I say. There could still be some doping news (given whats going on in Italy) or suspensions, injuries etc. Lets see whose going well in Trentino and Ardennes.

For now, (if you speak Spanish) console yourself with this

http://forodeciclismo.mforos.com/30984/9962983-ganador-giro-d-italia/

It is almost time for a super Giro thread though. Getting a much better picture of the teams.

Only two and a half weeks out, the "off-season" is kind of behind us now.

Something to look forward to after L-B-L.

New poll entrants (imo):

Contador
Nibali
Anton
Menchov
Scarponi
Rodriguez
Rujano
Kreuziger
Pozzovivo
Di Luca

 

[The Hitch]

It is almost time for a super Giro thread though. Getting a much better picture of the teams.

Only two and a half weeks out, the "off-season" is kind of behind us now.

Something to look forward to after L-B-L.

Change the name to super Giro thread then

 

[Christian]

Brice Feillu
Bennati
Wegmann
Gerdemann
Will Clarke
Rohregger
Denifl
Stamsnijder
Weylandt

You could easily throw in Bruno Pires or Robert Wagner if you want to.

Yes if you take out Feillu, Weylandt and Clarke who are all riding Dunkerque and put in Wagner (hopefully he'll have fully recovered from his broken shinbone) and Vigano for Bennatis train I think you have more or less the right squad. The last spot could likely go to Zaugg rather than Pires.

I would think he would be the token Frenchman on their Tour squad.

Yeah that's probably it. I would have prefered to see him at the Giro as well, not to get a Top-20, but to have a go at one of the tough MTF's, to see if he's still got it. We haven't seen him climbing with the best in a while so it's difficult to say where he stands in comparison. I would have also liked to see Weylandt there, he might have been able to get another stage victory.

 

[dlwssonic]

Omg! how can brice feillu not being doing the giro he surely wants to win and he wont get that chance in the tour. i think it would be a better decision to trade him with linus. Hope bennati gets some wins

 

[Christian]

Omg! how can brice feillu not being doing the giro he surely wants to win and he wont get that chance in the tour. i think it would be a better decision to trade him with linus. Hope bennati gets some wins

From all I've heard from him in the press it was his own wish to do the Tour de France and we all know he is famously abnoxious when he misses out

 

[Jan the Man]

From all I've heard from him in the press it was his own wish to do the Tour de France and we all know he is famously abnoxious when he misses out

What will Leopard be for the be then if Feillu is insistant at riding le Tour?


I would guess the following are guaranteed-

A. Schleck
F. Schleck
J. Fuglslang
F. Cancellara
J. Voigt

Probable-

J. Posthuma
M. Monfort
S. O'Grady
B. Feillu

Outsiders- Gerdemann, Wegmann, Weylandt, Zaugg

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

gerdemann instead of feillu and you have your team

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If you want to back up a Schleck GC bid I see no reason not to include Zaugg considering he's one of the strongest mountain domestiques around.

 

[Christian]

If you want to back up a Schleck GC bid I see no reason not to include Zaugg considering he's one of the strongest mountain domestiques around.

+1

He's also a lot more experienced when it comes to GT's and doing domestique work. Sadly I do believe Feillu will get the spot ...

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

gerdemann instead of feillu and you have your team

Zaugg instead of both imo.

Posthuma, monfort and o'grady will almost certainly make the team.


hey ryo;
how do you rate rujano on the mtt. I was under the impression he was pretty good at these. I was looking at it today and thought maybe he could challange ac for the win here.

I was also thinking about duarte, If he rides anything like he did at basque, I can't see him making even the top 20. He needs to ride a bit more intelligently here. The last week is pretty brutal. I think he will find his first GT a hard one.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

If you want to back up a Schleck GC bid I see no reason not to include Zaugg considering he's one of the strongest mountain domestiques around.

because he sucks for ttt and gerdemann I'm sure of, he's friend of these guys.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Zaugg instead of both imo.

Posthuma, monfort and o'grady will almost certainly make the team.


hey ryo;
how do you rate rujano on the mtt. I was under the impression he was pretty good at these. I was looking at it today and thought maybe he could challange ac for the win here.

I was also thinking about duarte, If he rides anything like he did at basque, I can't see him making even the top 20. He needs to ride a bit more intelligently here. The last week is pretty brutal. I think he will find his first GT a hard one.

duarte has to work for menchov. I hope he crashes or something so he gets his own chance that he deserves because menchov is know for always havign every domestique around him especially when they can climb well. or let's hope he doesn;t listen and attacks anyway

duarte is not a good gc rider so far, in colombia he never was good in more than 1 week without having a bad day. this could cause mainly to him not training that hard and it seemes to have bettered now. it will be a big test to see how consistant he is.

rujano although not style of a pure climber has the body of a pure climber and incredible power. the steeper the better and this giro suits him even better than 2005 one and he is much stronger than in 2005. for mountain itt's this guy is from a different planet and can definetely beat contador.

for me contador is his only enemy in the mountains but rujano has a much stronger team and is much more of an aggresive rider which the giro suits for as saxo can never control the race against his team. if they let a guy like serpa or sella take minutes they are also in trouble. I hope he can survive first 13 stages without losing too much and if he's within a few minutes of contador and nothing bad happen he can win giro. one thing for sure he will only ride to win the giro and nothing else he said.

stay tuned for trentino this week where he will probably put up a show like 2005.

 

[roundabout]

light blue = Cima Coppi
green = MTF
red = cat.1
yellow = cat.2
white = cat.3

Seems there are changes this year.

white = cat.4
green = cat 3

Also MTF have different categories. Montevergine and Sestriere are cat 2, Macugnaga is cat 3

 

[Libertine Seguros]

That's good, they've finally sorted out the mountains category. Sometimes it was ridiculous - the Pescocostanzo finish in the 2008 Giro paid more points (normal MTF despite only being about 3km long) than the Mortirolo, for example. And had they not revamped the old system, Macugnaga would have paid more points than Crostis or Finestre!

I'm assuming this means they're probably bumping everything up one, so the Cima Coppi stays the same, all cat 1 pay 15,10,6,4,2, cat 2 10,6,4,2,1, cat 3 5,3,1 and cat 4 3,2,1.

The other alternative is to keep the same but only give 1pt for cat 4 climbs, but then that eliminates the 15 point bracket entirely.

I always thought the Giro was too stingy with mountain points but at least rewarded the first over them.

Let's see if this makes it easier or harder for somebody to pick up the jersey by collecting the small points like Lloyd did last year and Wegmann in 2004.

 

[Cobblestoned]

That's good, they've finally sorted out the mountains category. Sometimes it was ridiculous - the Pescocostanzo finish in the 2008 Giro paid more points (normal MTF despite only being about 3km long) than the Mortirolo, for example. And had they not revamped the old system, Macugnaga would have paid more points than Crostis or Finestre!

I'm assuming this means they're probably bumping everything up one, so the Cima Coppi stays the same, all cat 1 pay 15,10,6,4,2, cat 2 10,6,4,2,1, cat 3 5,3,1 and cat 4 3,2,1.

The other alternative is to keep the same but only give 1pt for cat 4 climbs, but then that eliminates the 15 point bracket entirely.

I always thought the Giro was too stingy with mountain points but at least rewarded the first over them.

Let's see if this makes it easier or harder for somebody to pick up the jersey by collecting the small points like Lloyd did last year and Wegmann in 2004.

Epic !
Gavia

 

[Parrulo]

lol it looks like he is crying

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Wegmann rode out of his skin for that jersey and absolutely deserved it. He was picking up the 3s and 5s for 2nd and 3rd category climbs and was in the day's breakaway NINE times. He nearly lost the jersey two days from the end (the Bormio 2000 stage that picture comes from) because Cunego won a couple of MTFs, one of which was Montevergine di Mercigliano, sprinting from a group of about 15-20. He was 2nd over the Mortirolo, for Christ's sake (though it was a dreadful misuse of the climb).

 

[c&cfan]

Wegmann rode out of his skin for that jersey and absolutely deserved it. He was picking up the 3s and 5s for 2nd and 3rd category climbs and was in the day's breakaway NINE times. He nearly lost the jersey two days from the end (the Bormio 2000 stage that picture comes from) because Cunego won a couple of MTFs, one of which was Montevergine di Mercigliano, sprinting from a group of about 15-20. He was 2nd over the Mortirolo, for Christ's sake (though it was a dreadful misuse of the climb).

for that i cant call him a champion, but for sure i can call him a warrior. my respect wegmann.

 

[greatking88]

i hope he can top 10. if he doesn't JB will prolly make him another domestic and that would be a shame. too bad he pretty much has no team support. also i think cardoso might be able to win one of the thought sprint stages. robbie should be his lead out man

I'm pretty sure Deignan can support Machado well in the high mountains..