Official thread: Giro d'Italia

[Leopejo]

Horner DNS today. Anyone here thinks that certain TDF winner can help Levi?

Are you implying an Astana - Cervelo alliance?

 

[BroDeal]

I read somewhere that it was something like 6,3 w/kg ratio for him (Basso) on Alpe di Siusi.

EDIT: Dr.Ferrari states that the value was 6,13. Not bad, to say the least

Horner DNS today. Anyone here thinks that certain TDF winner can help Levi?

That power/weight says something about how clean the peloton is. Basso was not able to ride people off his wheel even with that power to weight.

Armstrong is riding for himself. He just wants his mug in the media and will do whatever has the best training effect for himself. He could care less about Leipheimer.

Horner is probably a loss, but I posted earler that I suspected that he was seeing how high he could place in the GC, just like he did in the 2007 TdF.

Bruyneel's ship is not as tight as it used to be. It is looking pretty leaky these days.

 

[ingsve]

Not sure we can judge anyone on such an unusual TT based on their past TT performances.

No, but we can make some sort of a judgement based on previous TT performances in combination with current climbing performances and current overall shape.

 

[ingsve]

Bruyneel's ship is not as tight as it used to be. It is looking pretty leaky these days.

Ya, it was more like a Bruyneel/Armstrong ship and with Armstrong not being the main focus then "why bother"?

 

[jaylew]

Does anyone else think it's kinda crazy that of the 11 stages completed, 9 have been won by LPR/Columbia.

And fewer than half of them by Cav/Ale-jet.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I have to admit guys, though I think the course disappoints overall due to the lack of mountains, this has been one of the more interesting and competitive Giros in a little while. I think the international flavor really adds to it. This isn't 2000 when Garzelli was chasing Casagrade down for two weeks, or many other Italian dominated Giros.

We have last year's Tour winner, Sastre; A two-time Vuelta winner in Menchov; a strong American who podiumed in the Tour and Veulta in Levi, Lance and his 7 Tour wins; Plus former winners in Basso, Cunego, Simoni and Garzelli. All of them are chasing a determined and motivated former champion himself who seems to almost be carrying the Italian flag on his shoulders in DiLuca. And most of these guys aren't here only for training but in the mix and trying to win it, or at least give it their all. Great stuff!

 

[Delicato]

Hmm...we only need Cadel here, a pity he is not here.

 

[180mmCrank]

I have to admit guys, though I think the course disappoints overall due to the lack of mountains, this has been one of the more interesting and competitive Giros in a little while. I think the international flavor really adds to it. This isn't 2000 when Garzelli was chasing Casagrade down for two weeks, or many other Italian dominated Giros.

We have last year's Tour winner, Sastre; A two-time Vuelta winner in Menchov; a strong American who podiumed in the Tour and Veulta in Levi, Lance and his 7 Tour wins; Plus former winners in Basso, Cunego, Simoni and Garzelli. All of them are chasing a determined and motivated former champion himself who seems to almost be carrying the Italian flag on his shoulders in DiLuca. And most of these guys aren't here only for training but in the mix and trying to win it, or at least give it their all. Great stuff!

It is great isn't it - we have had a few dull Giro in the past - this is anything but dull

 

[BroDeal]

Hmm...we only need Cadel here, a pity he is not here.

Don't worry. I'm sure someone will come in second.

 

[Zoncolan]

Don't worry. I'm sure someone will come in second.

Harsh! But sadly true

 

[lookkg386]

I have to admit guys, though I think the course disappoints overall due to the lack of mountains, this has been one of the more interesting and competitive Giros in a little while. I think the international flavor really adds to it. This isn't 2000 when Garzelli was chasing Casagrade down for two weeks, or many other Italian dominated Giros.

We have last year's Tour winner, Sastre; A two-time Vuelta winner in Menchov; a strong American who podiumed in the Tour and Veulta in Levi, Lance and his 7 Tour wins; Plus former winners in Basso, Cunego, Simoni and Garzelli. All of them are chasing a determined and motivated former champion himself who seems to almost be carrying the Italian flag on his shoulders in DiLuca. And most of these guys aren't here only for training but in the mix and trying to win it, or at least give it their all. Great stuff!

True, I've really enjoyed it so far. Menchov for one really seems focused on a result here, and Sastre just never puts in a bad race. To be honest the only real dissapointment has been Cunego's poor showing.

 

[Anonymous]

Many people here think that Basso would lose some time to pure TT-ers (Leipheimer, for example) and their main argument is that Basso had some poor results in TTs this year- I have to remind you that he ALWAYS has average results in time trials which he is not interested in(Giro del Trentino, T-A)-yet, in Giro and Tour he always is in Top-5 (see Giro-2005, 2006, Tour-2005). So basically the fact that he lost some time to fellow contenders doesn't mean that he is in bad form to win Cinque Terra stage.

i would be more concerned about his recent lack of tt results as a clean rider.
i don't think reaching back into his days as a doper helps much.
if Rasmussen comes back are you going call him a great climber or wait until he proves he can climb without the dope?
don't get me wrong, i like basso and if levi doesn't win this i hope he does.
which bring up something i haven't seen talked about here.
that being, the tremendous risk lance is taking by coming back. if he doesn't get back to winning, or something close to it he risks being seen as someone who couldn't win without the dope. whether he did or not isn't the point. it will fuel those that think he did if he doesn't win. to me, it adds to my already high regard for lance that he'd take this risk.
does he know he can ride clean because he always has or does he think he can ride clean because he's now riding against other clean riders.
i'm dissapointed landis hasn't done better this year and i see that as evidence that he was guilty after all.
i'll be shocked if Rasmussen ever returns. he'll never go back to being an average rider.
give lance credit for taking the risk.
we'll see what happens in the high mountains in the tof.

 

[ingsve]

that being, the tremendous risk lance is taking by coming back. if he doesn't get back to winning, or something close to it he risks being seen as someone who couldn't win without the dope. whether he did or not isn't the point.

Well, he will always have the plausible deniability that he's now just old and tired so of course he's not going to be as good as before.

 

[Anonymous]

Leipheimer and Rogers can TT but they have to take back over 1.5 minutes and then some because Di Luca (to date) is as good as or better on the explosive sharp climbs (end of Stage 14) and the more serious long climbs (Stage 16, 19). Menchov and Sastre too.

It’s going to be extremely interesting to see how Armstrong goes in the TT and the final week. He appears to be getting stronger and with his known TTing ability he may break into the top 10 before the end….


…..
….

the ends of 14 and 16 are way to short to get any kind of advantage on and while 19 looks like close to 1000 meters in 13 k or so.. that's not a big climb by grand tour standards. i don't think levi would be afraid of that climb in the least. team matters big time on final climbs.
levi has astana.
the other guys?
the last climb of stage 2 of the tour of california was 2000 feet in about 8 k up bonnie doon rd of pacific coast highway. astana pushed hard at the bottom and when the rest of the field hit the red levi just danced away of f the front. smoked a strong field.
that last climb of 19 could be real entertaining.

 

[karlboss]

I have to admit guys, though I think the course disappoints overall due to the lack of mountains, this has been one of the more interesting and competitive Giros in a little while. I think the international flavor really adds to it. This isn't 2000 when Garzelli was chasing Casagrade down for two weeks, or many other Italian dominated Giros.

We have last year's Tour winner, Sastre; A two-time Vuelta winner in Menchov; a strong American who podiumed in the Tour and Veulta in Levi, Lance and his 7 Tour wins; Plus former winners in Basso, Cunego, Simoni and Garzelli. All of them are chasing a determined and motivated former champion himself who seems to almost be carrying the Italian flag on his shoulders in DiLuca. And most of these guys aren't here only for training but in the mix and trying to win it, or at least give it their all. Great stuff!

Ever think that the lack of high mountain finishes is what will keep this giro competitive and a great spectacle? I hope the great racing continues and we can see more of the same at the tour.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, he will always have the plausible deniability that he's now just old and tired so of course he's not going to be as good as before.

i'm just saying, if he finishes like 50th in the tof we're going to hear it.
which could be very unfair in cycling terms if ac or levi were to win it and lance played a big role in that.

 

[Escarabajo]

i'm just saying, if he finishes like 50th in the tof we're going to hear it.
which could be very unfair in cycling terms if ac or levi were to win it and lance played a big role in that.

I really don't expect Lance to win. If he wins he is into something big other than racing. Having said that he does not have the pressure anymore. He could pick any excuse he wants: too much time off, too old, he is just riding for the cause, etc.

Now onto the Giro. Nice race. I hope a dark horse blasts from somewhere and give a scare to the top contenders.
Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

Teams will have little to do with who wins this Giro. The strong teams have accomplished nothing. LPR did great during the TTT, and Liquigas did not.

Astana is more interested in showcasing Armstrong than helping Leipheimer. If Armstrong was truly interested in aiding Levi then he would be dropping way off the pace to conserve energy. He and Bruyneel used to get very angry when teammates who were supposed to support Armstrong did what Armstrong is doing this Giro, angry enough to pour their blood down the toilet.

Di Luca will likely lose because there are too many ITT kilometers and not enough klicks climbing. He has raging form in the mountains. On a usual Giro course, he would win. On this crap course, he is at a big disadvantage.

Menchov looks like the man who will win.

conserve engery? i praised astana as the best at "energy conservation" and you scoffed calling it a euphemism.

 

[Seth Bullock]

the last climb of stage 2 of the tour of california was 2000 feet in about 8 k up bonnie doon rd of pacific coast highway. astana pushed hard at the bottom and when the rest of the field hit the red levi just danced away of f the front. smoked a strong field.
that last climb of 19 could be real entertaining.

The other issue that I imagine will come into play is the tiredness of riders - e.g. fresh in Stage 2 of TOC, stuffed in the last week of the Giro. Still all riders in the field will be feeling tired (with variations) and so they'll all be in the same boat in that respect... and so who's been protected and has comparatively fresher legs at that point could be a significant factor e.g. Levi as you say. So I suppose tonight is going to be bl@@dy exciting with perhaps very close GC standings at the end. All the GC contenders are obviously going to go all out but what about Armstrong? Being the TTer he was in the past will he also go all out to relive past glories and to continue to build form or will he take it easier so that he is able to help Leipheimer (now that Horner is out) in the remaining stages?

 

[Mellow Velo]

conserve engery? i praised astana as the best at "energy conservation" and you scoffed calling it a euphemism.

So what were they doing charging up yesterday's small climb, just so Lance could ride on the front on the way down?

You also continue to assume on the last week of the Giro being raced like the last week of a Tour. Wrong assumption.

 

[Anonymous]

You also continue to assume on the last week of the Giro being raced like the last week of a Tour. Wrong assumption.

tell me what you mean.

 

[lookkg386]

Well Menchov now Giro favourite. Will come down to second last day -14km TT for sure!!

 

[Anonymous]

big tt

impressive day for menchov and di luca. i have to admit both did better than i thought they would.
fantastic job. cool race.
levi is right there though.

 

[tifosa]

Menchov will win the Giro. Full stop.

 

[Anonymous]

Teams will have little to do with who wins this Giro. The strong teams have accomplished nothing. LPR did great during the TTT, and Liquigas did not.

let's all remember he said this.. grin.