Tirreno-Adriatico 2012 (07.03.-13.03.)

[jens_attacks]

acqua e sapone with a team ready to shock at tirreno-adriatico!
Garzelli, Di Luca, Betancur, Codol, Ginanni, Miholjevic, Napolitano and Taborre
watch out because they will come prepared to win the overall.it's their door for il giro d'italia invitation.

here the two legends

 

[Fetisoff]

acqua e sapone with a team ready to shock at tirreno-adriatico!
Garzelli, Di Luca, Betancur, Codol, Ginanni, Miholjevic, Napolitano and Taborre
watch out because they will come prepared to win the overall.it's their door for il giro d'italia invitation.

here the two legends

Unfortunately, I doubt either one of the will have any sort of form for Tirreno, especially Il Killer. But I'd love to be wrong here, of course.

 

[theyoungest]

Il Killer was pretty strong in the Tirreno last year (just one stage though). But on long climbs he hasn't impressed so far, since his comeback. That's pretty easy to explain, I guess.

 

[jens_attacks]

both of them are in uber form.rumours are that also danilo comes skinnier than ever.it's the new black.
garzelli as we saw he's in great shape,too bad for the flat in strade bianche.
the two stages that will take place in abruzzo,they will surprise lot of people
they trained for the TTT,for this one i'm pretty afraid.

 

[jens_attacks]

Il Killer was pretty strong in the Tirreno last year (just one stage though). But on long climbs he hasn't impressed so far, since his comeback. That's pretty easy to explain, I guess.

you mean medical.i doubt.
danilo's 2 years of ban weren't passed like in valverde or rebellin's cases which were the prove that these two guys are also pretty much mental freaks.
di luca had some business to run,i also heard he used his time in clubs and so on.more like turbo diesel but for an even longer period of time.very little training,you could have seen that he came back in 2011 with a few extra kilos.
he acknowledged just right after tirreno last year that he did a mistake,he was exhausted after one week of racing.

hopefully this time,we'll see the real il killer.he skipped the strade bianche to train on lanciano and prati di tivo and to increase his endurance for the long climbs.

of course i also can be totally wrong,and di luca to go even weaker than last year.but i won't bet on that

 

[jens_attacks]

Well Di Luca is no legend in my eyes. He gets a reduced ban to 9 months and claims then to of not spat in the soup. Come on.

he always had connections at coni.they simply had to find a reason for the reduced ban.they didn't want him banned at all.

 

[hfer07]

I've always loved this race, but more than ever I'm extremely excited to see how my compatriots of Coldeportes & also Betancur from Aqua are going to perform against a very elite group of riders-best wishes to them

 

[jens_attacks]

yep this will be big for corti and his escarabajos.they will set this race on fire.

i just hope the weather will be fine over the weekend.does anyone know something about this?

 

[El Pistolero]

Who will win this race according to you guys?

I wouldn't mind a Scarponi or Garzelli victory.

 

[jens_attacks]

scarponi is the big favourite for me no doubt.
the climbs are a bit too long for cadel's preference so early in the season.
they will drop nibali,horner no way he can come back strong so early.

 

[Fetisoff]

Who will win this race according to you guys?

I wouldn't mind a Scarponi or Garzelli victory.

Evans vs Nibali vs Scarponi. Purito to take a stage or two, but lose 1:00 - 1:30 in the ITT to Evans and Nibbles

 

[TeoSheva]

scarponi is the big favourite for me no doubt.
the climbs are a bit too long for cadel's preference so early in the season.
they will drop nibali,horner no way he can come back strong so early.

instead I'm really confident in Horner

 

[TeoSheva]

Evans vs Nibali vs Scarponi. Purito to take a stage or two, but lose 1:00 - 1:30 in the ITT to Evans and Nibbles

plus one minute in the TTT

 

[Fetisoff]

plus one minute in the TTT

Nah... no way... Last year they only lost 30 seconds to BMC and Liquigas, this year they additionally have Ignatyev, Gusev and Freire in the line-up, so I'll be shocked if they lose more than 15 seconds, and not be surprised at all if they top-5 in the TTT

 

[Ruudz0r]

I really hope A&S to perform really well and that they still get their Giro invite. So im rooting for Di Luca, Garzelli and Betancur. Hopefully Pozzovivo will show himself aswell.

 

[Fetisoff]

On a bit of a side-note, why is everyone talking about A&S getting a Giro invite, if they perform well at T-A. Did I miss something?

 

[Froome19]

On a bit of a side-note, why is everyone talking about A&S getting a Giro invite, if they perform well at T-A. Did I miss something?

If Saxo get chucked out the world tour due to Contador's ban meaning they dont have enough UCI points to be rightfully in, then the favorite to take their place would be A&S, though personally i would doubt Saxo would get DSQ

 

[Ruudz0r]

On a bit of a side-note, why is everyone talking about A&S getting a Giro invite, if they perform well at T-A. Did I miss something?

There were signs that the door is still open for A&S. And Il killer went from almost wanting to go to another team so he was able to ride the Giro to being very motivated for the TA, so there is probably something in there.

 

[Fetisoff]

There were signs that the door is still open for A&S. And Il killer went from almost wanting to go to another team so he was able to ride the Giro to being very motivated for the TA, so there is probably something in there.

OK, I see. I mean they did invite an extra team last year, didn't they? However they announced it right away.

And yeah, if Saxo was to get a boot, I'd think A&S would be in regardless of their results early in the season, but I either don't think that would happen anyway.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

OK, I see. I mean they did invite an extra team last year, didn't they? However they announced it right away.

Yeah, Acquarone didn't want to invite an extra team for safety reasons. That's what he said anyway.

 

[gustienordic]

I really hope A&S to perform really well and that they still get their Giro invite. So im rooting for Di Luca, Garzelli and Betancur. Hopefully Pozzovivo will show himself aswell.

Pozzovivo is a great rider too watch... I've always thought he should race for Lampre of Liquigas though

 

[The Hitch]

OK, I see. I mean they did invite an extra team last year, didn't they? However they announced it right away.

They announced it right away last season but bare in mind the teams were announced in March. Hell even the Tour announced before the Giro last year. This year they decided in January for some reason.

 

[Swede1]

Scarponi is the main favorite. Probably the strongest on both Chieti and the long climb. Evans will get dropped by scarponi and nibbles on the longer climb with scarponi taking the win. Cancellara to take a stage, and di luca to impress and be strong on the hills. Also, since gripel doesnt have henderson to lead him out he won't win more than one stage. and of course cav to take a win.

 

[BillytheKid]

Scarponi is the main favorite. Probably the strongest on both Chieti and the long climb. Evans will get dropped by scarponi and nibbles on the longer climb with scarponi taking the win. Cancellara to take a stage, and di luca to impress and be strong on the hills. Also, since gripel doesnt have henderson to lead him out he won't win more than one stage. and of course cav to take a win.

Of course no mention of Horner here or in CN story. So I will give him a nod. At least you mentioned a few of the favorites unlike the CN story. Sorta lame, but I sure they can ignore the lot.

Interesting that Horner was originally to PN, but appears to be a token GC rider here on a team stack with sprinters. Considering that Horner almost went the way of Woulter Weylandt, the blood clout could have killed him not to mention the blow to head, I think he's a great story in many regards.

I guess you have to win or die to get press.

This site has it's biases, but is the still best overall coverage to be found.

Horner probably won't have great form. He hasn't race much in nine months.
It will be interesting to see how he does. I think he should not worry about the GC. The team has no faith in him at this point.

Lose time Chris, get some race time and and go out on the hunt on Stage 4 or 5. You might just make top 10 on a break