Allright boys... let's do this. Giro time! Here are my thoughts, riders to watch for, and list of favorites... (in spoilers to save space) Favorites: Spoiler There are three clear, top-tier favorites in this years Giro: Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) - Nibali is apparently looking really lean right now. This usually means the rest of the peloton will be fighting for second place. IMO, he's the clear favorite, even above Valverde and Landa. He is at his best in shitty weather on climbs and descents and the Giro is full of that. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) - He's the wily old vet here who is always in outstanding form. He's a hell of a racer, but he will always be a doper to me. He struggles on the super high altitude, long, steep climbs. To me, that's enough to separate him and Nibali for the overall GC. I expect him to be in the running for a podium spot though. Mikel Landa (Sky) - This is probably Nibali's biggest threat. Remember last year's Giro when he helped Aru finish #2 to Contador, yet finished 3rd himself? Any outsider could see that Landa was clearly stronger than Aru, but Aru was the team leader, so Landa sacraficed himself to fight for Aru. He's on Sky now, so watch out. Second Tier riders: Spoiler Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale) - he loves the Giro and is in top form right now. He could fight for a podium spot, or the overall if something happens to the GC guys. He's probably the best TTer of the group. Dominico Pozzovivo (Ag2R) - not a great TTer, but a great climber. Looking for a top 5 finish. Andrey Amador (Movistar) - he's always in the top form for the Giro and, in my opinion, is better suited for the Giro than Valverde. Rafa Majka (Tinkoff) - doesn't come with a super strong team, but he can do this on his own. Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) - a lot of experts are saying Zakarin could win this whole thing. I'm super skeptical of this guy. He's on a team that has a deep doping past and he's Russian. Fuck this guy. If he wins... ugh. Ryder Hejesdal (Trek) - he's getting long in the tooth, but he loves the Giro and he usually rips this race up. It will be interesting to see how he does on a new team. He was on his own last year with Cannondale-Garmin. more coming soon...
Team Uran here. My other rooting interests: I'm also pulling for Amador, the Costa Rican from Movistar. He's always in this race for support, and he's always super good. The young Americans: Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale), Chad Haga (Giant), Ian Boswell (Sky), Larry Warbasse (IAM-Cycling), Nathan Brown (Cannondale), Joey Rosskopf (BMC). All of these guys are super young and talented. Dombrowski is the only future GC hope, but the other guys are solid TTers and domestiques. Boswell is wasting away at Sky. On a lesser team he could win a stage or two. He's a robot for Froome, Landa, etc... Jean Christophe-Peraud (Ag2R) the 38-year-old frenchman is still around and is still a tough old boot. He could easily finish in the top 10 here, but I wonder if they'll burn him up early in support of Pozzovivo. If Pozzovivo loses tons of time early, he'll have to work for Peraud. I'd love to see that. Merhawi Kudus and Songezo Jim, the two African climbers for Dimension Data, formerly MTN-Qhubeka. I'd love to see them get a stage win, or even fight for a top 10. Davide Formolo (Cannondale) - he's the next great italian hope. He won a stage in the Giro last year after a beautiful breakaway. He's already proven he can deal with the stress of a Grand Tour, and he can climb with the best. He's only 23 years old. Stephen Kruijswijk (Lotto-Jumbo) - he always goes all-in for the Giro, and he always finishes in the top 10. He loves going on suicidal breakaways/attacks once they hit the big mountains.
live coverage for the entire race available here: http://raisport2.web.tv/ watch it in italian... so much better.
No big losers today. Of the top contenders, Landa had the shittiest performance, losing 40 seconds to Doumoulin. Its not too much of a shock though, he's not the best at TTs. He should be able to gain that back pretty easily when the terrain tips uphill. Nibali looks fucking unreal. He only lost 19 seconds to big Tom. I wouldn't be surprised if he wins the giro by 3-4 minutes.
thats one of the other things that makes the Grio so great. Just wait man. Some of these stages look like the landscapes from Game of Thrones.
This link has the elevation for each stage. I'd die on that Mountain TT stage. http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/giro-ditalia/giro-ditalia-route-192184 This is the condensed version:
the first few stages look tame, but don't forget they're in the Netherlands in springtime. That = wet roads, high speeds, crosswinds, and road furniture. Thats a great combination of things for a spring classic, but when you get GC riders and teams aiming for the GC in there, it becomes a shit-storm. Watch for some nasty crashes in the first few stages.
yesterday was a great stage. dunno if you guys watched it. Here's a great podcast that I listen to that recaps each stage and also gives you a peek into the inside of the peloton. http://thecyclingpodcast.com/latest-episode During the grand tours (Giro, Tour, Vuelta) they do a podcast for each day.
Funny to me that Nibali pretty much spring-boarded Dumoulin into that chasing group with his failed attack.
yea. that was weird. when I saw Nibali attack i thought 'oh shit, he must feel amazing to be attacking on a final like this.' Nope, not only did people catch him quickly, but he was dropped immediately on the counter attack. So weird. Nibali is known for his suicidal attacks, but not in GTs, he usually tries them in Milan San Remo, Liege Bastogne Liege, or one of the one-week stage races. It was awesome seeing Doumoulin counter Nibali. Doumoulin is probably going to blow up on some of the super steep climbs later in the race, but maybe not. He was unbelievable last year in the Vuelta. Could he do it again? It would be a definite shock if he ended up on the podium.
Majka is there at :56 seconds back on GC. He's looking good considering he's coming back from a bad crash a few weeks ago. Get your shit together so you can watch it when it hits the big mountains. I have a feeling he's going to go on a rampage.
what a fucking spring by Greipel. the hat trick from Lotto-Soudal. Impressive. Great tactics by them over the past three stages too. About tomorrow... so excited!
Rest day at the Giro today. Tour of California started yesterday and Sagan won stage 1 with a killer sprint. Wonder if he's going for the Overall again this year? In other news:
Tom Dumoulin abandoned today (saddle sores). Thats the reason he lost the pink jersey today, and things are only going to get worse from here. Smart move by him and his team. Get some rest and bring hell come the Tour or Vuelta. EDIT: Dumoulin is aiming for the Olympics this year, so no Grand Tour ambitions the rest of the year.
Greipel again. Kittel won his stages with brute force. Griepel won his stages on different terrains with a combination of strength and incredible tactics/experience. Love that guy. Misc rumors circulating right now: * Also, Nibali has been mentioned with joining a new team backed by $$ from the Middle East (Bahrain I believe). Rafal Majka has been linked with them too. Its long been known that Nibali was leaving Astana, but the though was that he was joining Trek. That might be falling apart. ** Edit to add... apparently that fell apart a month ago and I missed it. * Sagan now linked with Quick-Step and Trek.
Two things have annoyed me about this year's Tour of California: 1. NBC's coverage in the mountains has been terrible. They've constantly lost signal in the mountain segments which leads to commercial-talking over frozen video-commercial cycles that are really annoying. 2. The peloton has done a poor job of managing the break this year. Constantly letting the break get a minute+ more than they should then being unable to bring it back or having to really fight to do it. I think part of the issue is that Tinkoff's been in charge for several of these early stages but their team isn't actually strong enough to do all the work. Maybe also that there's a lot more parity among the riders than in a grand tour.
1. Broadcasters here in the US are experimenting with ways to make coverage more affordable and better quality. The quality has grown leaps and bounds over the first few years... just give it some time. 2. This always happens in the US stage races. The fact that 7 of the 18 teams in the race are not World Tour teams makes it harder to control the breaks. For all the riders on those 7 teams, this is their TdF. Its their chance to shine on TV around the world and try to get a contract with a bigger team next year. Plus, some of the riders on those 7 teams are damn strong.
Transfer Rumors: Degenkolb to Trek is a 'done deal' according to CyclingNews. Sagan is linked to Astana for 5 million Euro a year.
And even with all that, Chaves just needed to be able to stay with Uran, who was trying to ride for him, and he'd still have won. Feel bad for him because he seems like a great dude, but he's got to be able to make that ride.
holy fuck at stage 19 of the giro! yes I am behind and know the winner but damn that was some excitement on the descent.
two things... 1. Peter Sagan is going for gold in Mountain Bike racing at the Rio Olympics. Such a badass. 2. This is Sagan's car.... (article) Spoiler
I've been super busy so I haven't been posting in this thread lately. TdF starts on Saturday. This time its an all out sprint stage instead of a prologue. That means you'll see probably see absolute chaos because literally every team has a shot at the yellow jersey. My rankings for the overall GC: Tier 1 Froome, Contador, and Quintana. Tier 2: Thibault Pinot (FDJ), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), Fabio Aru (Astana), Tier 3: Dan Martin (Etixx-Quick-Step), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale), Richie Porte (BMC), Rohan Dennis (BMC), Romain Bardet (AG2R), Bauke Mollema (Trek), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) The winner is probably going to come from Tier 1, but if I had to pick anyone else from this list to do well, it would be Pinot. He's worked really hard on his TT this offseason and it's showing. He's actually won 2 or 3 time trials this year. He's in blazing form and this might be the year for the frogs. inrng has a great preview of the race overall here . He also posted an article on the Green Jersey competition here
Only 5 Americans to follow in this years Tour. Everyone will be watching Tejay because he has a legit chance for a top 10 finish, but watch Lawson Craddock, the young gun from Cannondale. He's likely at the Tour to be a mountain domestique for Pierre Rolland's overall chances, but he could put up a top 20 finish as a 24 year old. List of Americans: Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) - team GC leader Brett Bookwalter (BMC) - road captain. will give riders on his team their daily tasks while the race is going on. Lawson Craddock (Cannondale) - domestique for Rolland. Can climb and TT really well. Can he survive 3 weeks of insanity, or will he crack like Talansky always does? Alex Howes (Cannondale) - domestique. One to watch for in a 3rd week breakaway if Rolland is out of the GC picture and if Cannondale is looking for a win. Peter Stetina (Trek) - great domestique for Mollema. Was critical during Ryder Hejesdal's Giro win in 2012.