Official thread: Giro d'Italia

[Alpe d'Huez]

i think the mountains in the first few stages has put off a lot of the sprinters

This is actually fairly common in the Giro and happens once every couple of years. One other way to look at it is this, if they can survive through Stage 5, the only other truly difficult stage the sprinters will have is 16 as there are no real major climbs in this edition.

 

[mr. tibbs]

This is actually fairly common in the Giro and happens once every couple of years. One other way to look at it is this, if they can survive through Stage 5, the only other truly difficult stage the sprinters will have is 16 as there are no real major climbs in this edition.

omg Cavendish is going to win the Giro

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I think it's a little telling who teams had cross the line first. Astana had Lance cross first for them. This tells me that they were thinking if they took first place, it would have put Lance in the Maglia Rosa. To me this is not by any chance, but by design. Getting photos of Lance in that jersey would have done wonders for his ego, and possibly helped raise money from new sponsors, he could have given tons of interviews over the next day or three about being the leader.

Now, unless there are some crashes, it's highly likely Cavendish will hold the Maglia Rosa until Stage 4, where Lance will be dropped as well.

 

[tashimi76]

Good post Dim. Thanks.

Love that picture from last page, btw. Yeah, the language must have been interesting. Probably a mishmash of English, French and Italian. Basso speaks pretty good English. I've heard Simoni butcher some English, but I don't know about DiLuca. Does Lance speak any Italian? They all probably speak fair French. Great photo though. Does this mean Levi, Denis, Carlos and Damiano were on the other gondola? Picture that language barrier!

Lance says in It's not about the bike that he can speak some Italian, French, Spanish and even Dutch if he had to. In fact he used to live near Lake Como.

Levi, Carlos and Denis all speak English okay not sure about Damiano though!

 

[Bala Verde]

Lance says in It's not about the bike that he can speak some Italian, French, Spanish and even Dutch if he had to. In fact he used to live near Lake Como.

Levi, Carlos and Denis all speak English okay not sure about Damiano though!

LOL Levi speaks english ok

Denis is fluent in Spanish, and since Levi lives in Cali, he should be as well.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I was joking about the "other gondola".

I know Carlos speaks fair English, from last year's Tour. Though he prefers to be interviewed in Spanish it seems.

I understand Levi speaks some German. Others, I don't know. Only that it seems to me he'd rather not speak English if at all possible.

Did anyone watch the live feed from today's Giro? I loved the way the interviewer asked Gibo questions in mostly French, and Gibo answered in mostly Italian! Then at the end in English "ok, good bye". Amusing.

 

[ingsve]

I know Carlos speaks fair English, from last year's Tour. Though he prefers to be interviewed in Spanish it seems.

Also Cervélo has adopted english as their official language within the team.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Did anyone watch the live feed from today's Giro? I loved the way the interviewer asked Gibo questions in mostly French, and Gibo answered in mostly Italian! Then at the end in English "ok, good bye". Amusing.

Well, he's been to Manchester..........once!
Petacchi can speak modest English, Di Luca, the bare minimum.

Right: Back to stages 4, 5 and the sprinters.
Look at the design of both profiles. They have been adapted to the sprinters, at the expense of the climbers.

Stage 4 will be won by a LBL rider, such as Di Luca, Cunego or even Garzelli.
Not too long and far to shallow (av 5.5%) for the real mountain men.
The sprinters will have more trouble on the first climb, but should easily finish within the time.

Stage 5 is much more of a climber's climb, but look at that stage length again:125kms, mostly downhill.
The peloton will be intact untill the foot of the climb, then it's every man for himself. Non climbers can easily drop 20 minutes or more here and have no worries.

Now, if we had the usual Dolomite stages, at this point in the race, I'd say they had cause to worry.

 

[Leopejo]

Back to the race. Today's TTT wasn't that telling, but cool to see. Tomorrow and Monday will be pretty flat, and perfect for Cavendish to showcase his new favorite color.

I'm expecting a sprinter showdown today, but the final circuit should be the same used in the 2000 Italian National Championship. The Montebello climb comes three times, the last time 4 km from the finish line.

It is true that 9 years ago it was rainy and long, and powerful Mapei shaped the race at their wish, but the results are quite impressive, if you check time differences, number and quality of finishers: Cyclingnews report.

 

[Leopejo]

Right: Back to stages 4, 5 and the sprinters.
Look at the design of both profiles. They have been adapted to the sprinters, at the expense of the climbers.

Stage 4 will be won by a LBL rider, such as Di Luca, Cunego or even Garzelli.
Not too long and far to shallow (av 5.5%) for the real mountain men.
The sprinters will have more trouble on the first climb, but should easily finish within the time.

Stage 5 is much more of a climber's climb, but look at that stage length again:125kms, mostly downhill.
The peloton will be intact untill the foot of the climb, then it's every man for himself. Non climbers can easily drop 20 minutes or more here and have no worries.

Yes, no problems here for the sprinters. Besides, they are all fresh. The biggest problem probably would have been the original Cuneo - Pinerolo, but I guess the gruppetto would have timed it well.

Some sprinters will drop out after the Florence stage on May 22nd. After that they'll only have one, maybe two chances for a stage win. I'm not even sure that the maglia ciclamino (points classification) will be on a sprinter's shoulders in Rome.

This definitely isn't a sprinters' Giro and that's why some sprinters opted out of it (though both Bennati and McEwen had it in their schedules).

 

[Kazistuta]

I was joking about the "other gondola".

I know Carlos speaks fair English, from last year's Tour. Though he prefers to be interviewed in Spanish it seems.

I understand Levi speaks some German. Others, I don't know. Only that it seems to me he'd rather not speak English if at all possible.

Did anyone watch the live feed from today's Giro? I loved the way the interviewer asked Gibo questions in mostly French, and Gibo answered in mostly Italian! Then at the end in English "ok, good bye". Amusing.

Well, the fact is that there WAS another gondola

But Levi was left out for that media conference, since the four riders in that gondola were Garzelli, Menchov, Sastre and Cunego.

(The eight guys gathered: http://www.cyclingfans.com/2009_gir...ong_simoni_diluca_cunego_garzelli_menchov.jpg )

 

[Mellow Velo]

Report from the morning show.
Weather is glorious all along the coastline.
A real buzz at the deapart. Seemed more crowded, than usual.
Gibo makes a presentation to some chap, who was obviously both very emotional and very ill.
Interviews with all the big names.
Cavendish resplendent in all over pink, rounds off his interview with a bit of Italian. Went down well. Signing the fans autographs.
Lance obviously not used to the "closeness", but deals with it very well.
Mike shoved under his nose, says "Bon giorno." Italian sound malfuction!
I think she told him he was getting a much better reception from the tifosi, than in France.
To which he replied diplomatically, that he couldn't say, as it was his first Giro.

I reckon he's massively helpful in this respect to LL, deflecting all the attention in much the same way as Kloden did, last year, for Contador.

Btw: The morning shows should be available to all, online, via the Rai net streaming.
Currently re-showing the TTT:-
Can't get the actually WMP link on here, for some reason.
Click on the Rai Piu link on here. More or less opening 24/7 now.
More often than not, it's something to do with the Giro.
http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=38269&part=sports

 

[Leopejo]

Gibo makes a presentation to some chap, who was obviously both very emotional and very ill.

A former goalkeeper, diagnosed with fatal 2-months-of-life cancer, but still going strong. He is mentioned in these old news.

Lance obviously not used to the "closeness", but deals with it very well.
Mike shoved under his nose, says "Bon giorno." Italian sound malfuction!
I think she told him he was getting a much better reception from the tifosi, than in France.
To which he replied diplomatically, that he couldn't say, as it was his first Giro.

According to Alessandra De Stefano, the interviewer, there has been much more attention/interest towards him than in all the Tours she has attended, and she tried to ask about that; unfortunately, her English is not wonderful.

 

[Papparrazzi]

Are there time bonuses at Sprints and the Finish?

 

[Leopejo]

Are there time bonuses at Sprints and the Finish?

6", 4", 2" at the sprints (Farrar took second, Cavendish third a few minutes ago).

And more at the finish (20", 12", 8"?!?).

 

[Parrot23]

Don't know about others' views, and how likely this is, LOL, but would like to see Cav get smoked a couple of times by Pettachi and/or, say, Farrar. Not so sure how well he would take losing.

Would be nice to see see some older and other faces getting to the line first. But Cav is formidable, granted.

 

[Anonymous]

what on earth are the

T.V. classification
Azzurri d'Italia classification
Trofeo Super Team classification

?????

 

[BroDeal]

what on earth are the

T.V. classification
Azzurri d'Italia classification
Trofeo Super Team classification

?????

The Giro organizers are fond of making up classifications that no one can understand unless they are a natural born Italian.

 

[Leopejo]

what on earth are the

T.V. classification
Azzurri d'Italia classification
Trofeo Super Team classification

?????

This 2 years old Cyclingnews page does a good job at explaining those.

 

[Anonymous]

what on earth are the

T.V. classification
Azzurri d'Italia classification
Trofeo Super Team classification

?????

oh and the
Trofeo Fuga Cervelo classification
currently led by Leonardo Scarselli

this is all in addition to the usual points, mountains, team, young rider, and um.. fair play awards... its ridiculous..

This 2 years old Cyclingnews page does a good job at explaining those.

ok.. so the TV trophy is for "intermediate sprints" which also count towards the points comp AND the most comabative.. well thats just silly..

the fuga gilera is a normal combative trophy, because the standard giro combative trophy is too ridiculous for words...

the super team is a pts based team competition which is just sillyness...

and the azzuri d'italia is YET ANOTHER points competition with just the top 3 getting points (which makes you wonder what is the point?)

well thats just all frankly stupid..

 

[ElChingon]

Petacchi, gave Cavendish "the Look", ouch! Probably Cavendish is going to complain that Petacchhi disrespected the Magila Rosa, by giving him "the Look" as he blew past him to win.

 

[Parrot23]

Talking about the look...

Armstrong, was looking good today: spinning easily, looking comfortable on the bike and in the pack. Definitely was not at Milan San Remo. Looks like he's coming into racing form nicely (Gila criterium, etc., probably helped). He may be stronger than he's letting on.

 

[Anonymous]

Armstrong, was looking good today: spinning easily, looking comfortable on the bike and in the pack. Definitely was not at Milan San Remo. Looks like he's coming into racing form nicely (Gila criterium, etc., probably helped). He may be stronger than he's letting on.

he did cope very well on the climbs..

 

[ingsve]

T.V. classification
Azzurri d'Italia classification
Trofeo Super Team classification
Trofeo Fuga Cervelo classification

Damn...We should have made predictions for these competitions in the prediction game. We're missing half the competition here people...

 

[tashimi76]

LOL Levi speaks english ok

Denis is fluent in Spanish, and since Levi lives in Cali, he should be as well.

LOL, well obviously he does! Not sure I'd agree with the Californians all speak Spanish though, when I lived there hardly any of my friends and colleagues could speak it unless they were latino! Just because it's offered in school doesn't mean you end up fluent.