Ask and you shall receive. And how much does it suck that VDV is out!!!!
schmalz
It totally sucks. And Farrar was closing on Petacchi at the ends of today’s stage.
Baldwin
Heads uphill tomorrow, seachange coming in GC.
What’s interesting is the stage start/finish groupings. It looks like the race is spending two or sometimes even three days in a region. I wonder if the teams are taking advantage of this break in the logistics and staying in the same hotels for two nights. There were big problems last year and the year before with long transfers.
schmalz
I think teams are complaining about the transfers this year also.
Fignon's Foggy Glasses
that was a pretty crazy finish- i cant see the TDF ever having a circuit finish. dangerous, but it made the finish way more exciting.
farrar’s day is coming- very talentd. and i m sure ala-jet is on something- most sprinters at age 35 are past their prime.
Gluteus Maximus
This is cool.
Sucker
I didn’t catch why Cav was dropped so badly in today’s stage. Did he just blow up on the hills, or in trying to drill it after the crash he burned all his matches 10k from the finish?
Wheelsucker
caught behind big messy crash— one of those full stop wait deals
Sucker
I thought Cav was ahead of the crash.
schmalz
Cav was held up and then guys at the front gunned it – Levi was up there, hoping to maybe get a few seconds. Farrar has been getting some lessons from Petacchi the last two days. Stage 2 Pettachi shouldered him off Cav’s wheel, and today he showed how to win it from the front. Seemed like Tyler was boxed today. Too bad we hit the hills tomorrow.
schmalz
VDV has broken ribs, so that’s not as bad as a collarbone or femur, stills hurts though.
Sucker
So when can we expect a giro di schmalzati?
Also are you going to make it to FBF tomorrow?
Wheelsucker
In the footage of vdv on the tarmac, it looked like he was moving his legs around so when the announcer said broken femur, it just didnt add up. Rib cage makes since. He could still roll the tour perhaps. It sucks though. I wanted to see’em make the selection on stage 4
Tyler is definitely taking notes and from the looks of today (taking second) he seems to be a quick learner. Cav burned alot of matches trying to bridge up. I hope he didnt shot himself for tomorrows stage.
Wheelsucker
“shoot himself” oops,,
It looked like Cav couldnt handle the ups and downs on the circuit after that crazy bridge he attempted with those other guys. I wouldnt be surprised if the DS told’em to just shut it down. If he would’ve made it back, his sprint would’ve been nonexistant and heading into tomorrows stage, the jersey wouldnt be worth potentially getting super shelled on stage 4. It also looked like Cav was doin the lions share of the work in that chase as it seemded everytime the camera went to his group it looked like he was always close to next to takin pulls.
I would contend that vdv was one of the favorites for high GC potential – that said why wasnt he up front with all of the other favorites? I dont get it. who are the riders doing wheel duty for VDV? where were they?
Also – if the TTT was the targeted stage for Slipstream – why didnt they do the due diligence of a proper recon? Yea they got second but is it possible they could have been faster with a little more familiarity? I think so.
Nobody likes a mon. morning qb but c’mon.
Wheelsucker
In all seriousness. This is real bad luck. I was looking forward to Lance or Levi turning back on a hors categorie climb to survey the damage only to find DVD (and Sastre) laughing a them.
i think ale-jet will pull back the 8 plus minutes and win the stage!
Baldwin
isn’t soler the guy who crashed a lot?
schmalz
solar did crash out a bit last year – did he crash out of the Tour?
Wheelsucker
All I got to say about this year’s Giro is: Nice to see the sport has cleaned itself up!
Wheelsucker
It turns out VDV was 20 wheels back which I guess you could say in a field of 180+ was pretty much at the front. It sucks that he’s out of it. I hope Pate and Zabriskie can carry the torch. I understand that Z is climbing pretty good these days!
The Garmin/SS flag still waves on my front porch.
Wheelsucker
Lokvist looks really strong. Did you see fast he closed that gap to solers’ first attack? It was like he was picking his nose – he looked really comfortable.
This kid can TT too.
-lee
Wheelsucker
if Di Luca and Pettachi are winning stages, then the sport has not clean itself up.
Wheelsucker
Uh, that’s what was the joke, idot.
Dr.SuckaDueRuote
what mora you wanta? Hair e fingernaila?
Wheelsucker
why did Liquigas chase so hard? grudge from OP days? they were nowhere after catching Jens…
Wheelsucker
liquigas is something i get after eating at burritoville.
Baldwin
Testa della gruppo…that man is the Jean Paul Belmondo of the new century
I love that Levi rides with one teammate, while LA gets dropped and has an Astana armada around him. It’s kinda like the marathons he does, a race is up the road while he dawdles around with a lame entourage.
Andy
Hey, those guys know who’s going to be signing the checks.
LD
It is truly impressive to see.
I believe Armstrong is honest and happy to support Levi. But the Giro is showing where loyalties simply fall naturally.
One good thing about it…, I finally feel a little sympathy for both Contador and Levi.
Wheelsucker
is bottle breaking free from teatstrong?
Wheelsucker
I was watching last night and they said Ted King 1 Minute back…and I did a double take….doesn’t look like that is the case based on results.
Come on people…I am more imrpessed with Lance now than ever, the f’ing guy is out there burying himself at that age…he is super rich…can do whatever he wants. Yet he is humbling dragging his ass over roads and crushing pretty much teh entire field with teh exception of the 10-15 best riders in the world right now. Entourage or no entourage….the guy doesn’t quit.
Wheelsucker
I have to agree with the earlier comment on Lance. The dude really knows how to suffer. Its refreshing to see Mr.7(x) go out and ride support. Levi and Horner are looking pretty good and I think Horner might be in better shape than Levi and Lance right now.
Wheelsucker
the livestrong madone has got to be the worst paint job of all time. Tone it down man…seriously (less is more man…less is more)
This freaking Di Luca… I mean… the CONI spending all their time suspending and investigating Valverde.
Why don’t they do anything about this Di Luca buffoon!!!???
He’s stealing the race, AGAIN!
Wheelsucker
of the masses are so sure that DiLuca is filled to the gills with the goop juice yet the only reason for the disbelief is an outstanding ride. It seems like the LPR team are doing quite the job of keeping shit in check – including Diluca’s legs. I’m not surprised that he’s riding so well. The only rider throwin shit on the wall is Garzelli and he’s friggen mucho minutes down on the leader board. As far as Diluca is concerned – the only thing I’m seeing is a guy & team doing a text book defense of a grand tour leader jersey that nobody seems to be going after despite being inside of 2 min. from takin it from him. The second he opens up the jets everybody screams – doper. I’m not quite convinced.
Guess what folks – Levi doesnt have it. He will not podium this race. Horner has the better shot by far. Levi is just to gassed from the early season and spring campaign. Lance looked pretty pissed off after todays stage. I think he realizes that Astana might be ass out unless the team can get behind Horner (the only Astana rider sittin on good form). The domestiques could be riding well too but Johan has’em all tied up with babysitting mr7x it seems.
Menchov looks pretty good but he will always be cyclings biggest choke artist for races before Sept. I dont see’em riding better than Diluca. We’ll have to see what up in week 3.
Garmin – what can I say. Christian was the only rider I thought had the chance. Now they’re reduced to sprint stages. Jonathan V or Matt W. didnt plan out this race as well as they could have. Not having a good plan b on GC sucks for a team with such a decent bench of players! Seriously – having a rider that could contest the sprint jersey but not having the squad drilled on who does what for said rider is just beyond my understanding.
Highroad – Rogers is the new hopeful to take out Diluca. if he can suck it up in the third week, highroad will be confirmed as the best team in the race – best yng rider, overall GC, and perhaps a couple stage wins from the chiclamina. Konstantin S. enough said.
-lee
Wheelsucker
Riccardo Ricco, Leonardo Pepoli. Definitely eyebrow raising suspicion when these guys stole stages. Especially the Cobra.
I dont think Diluca is stompin like those guys were despite his results in this years Giro.
Wheelsucker
I’m sorry, but take another look at the acceleration starting at about 1:07. That’s special.
we’re 10 days into this, don’t you think they’re letting DiLuca get ahead of himself thinking he’s got this wrapped up, and he’s so great? I agree he ain’t no boy scout, but I am not quite ready to lay on the doper charge. I think DiLuca is going for the pride win, wearing the Jersey for as long as possible from the start of the race, and thinking he’ll wear it all the way to Rome. At the same time wearing his team out to do that.
Astana doesn’t want to defend the jersey any longer than they have to. They’re eyeing the time trials to win this. Little Levi is staying within striking distance, and not wasting energy except when he sees a shot. Look at Saturday, trying to take time out of DiLuca when he seemed on the ropes, it didn’t hurt that Horner was up the road to help power the break. LPR brought it back, but they probably burned more matches than they needed to, in order to do it. That was Astana testing them, seeing where they were strength wise. Astana is sitting in waiting for LPR to break from defending the jersey.
I agree that Columbia/HighRoad does have a good shot at overall team win, with lots of stage wins and the like, but they are not putting together a single team effort. It is solo breaks, good moves, and putting Cav in the right spot on the 10K race on Sunday.
Wheelsucker
The LPR squad seems to be doing a pretty good job of defending the pink situation on the flats, yet fall a bit short of good domestiques on the hills. Diluca has been doing a fine job of manning up on the hills but as you have stated, we are only 10 stages into this thing. The big question is can the LPR team maintain this ‘strategy’ for the coming stages ahead. I understand your comment about pride victories, however, I think Danilo has done the due diligence on coming into form and recon’ing stages for this race – maybe a bit more than Astana. We’ll see. My gut tells me that Levi is burned and Lance is not quite ramped up yet while Horner is riding quite well, all though I dont know where he was today.
I like your comment about Astana waiting for the right moment. I just hope somebody on that squad can ‘decisively’ take that moment when it reveals itself.
I also agree with the Highroad assessment. They have mucho bullets in the chamber for Rogers on the flats but I’m not sure what kind of back-up arsenal they have for the mountains – maybe Konstantine?
Liquidgas – riding like complete idiots (chasing down breaks for LPR?) c’mon!!
-lee
Wheelsucker
If Saxo,Liq-gas,and Lampre keep bailing out LPR on chasing breaks, Danilo’s odds will get better as the race goes on.
-lee
Wheelsucker
Sorry, lee dude, I agree that liquigas did a terrible job yesterday…
that has just a little to with the fact that Di Luca attacked and dropped anyone else that was also protected — you think Menchov and Sastre just let him go? — they couldn’t follow…
after 6 hours and 250 Km Di Luca was fresh… to attack the descent, to attack the last hill at 3km to go… he was fresh because he’s taking shit…
… and yes… completely unrelated to Di Luca dopping or not… there has to be a throw down at Astana and Liquigas — Liquigas might have wasted insane efforts yesterday… Basso should have attacked as soon as he could after Pelizotti was caught… in any case, depending on where they land after tomorrow’s TT they could at least play the Pelizotti/Basso double… where one (Pelizotti) attacks and the field has to decide to chase and bring the other (Basso) with them.
Wheelsucker
if you don’t think Di Luca is stomping like Ricco or Pepoli, then you didn’t see what happened yesterday…
Wheelsucker
FTW!!
Wheelsucker
Keep in mind that those guys are ‘TOUR GC riders’ while Danilo’s team are banking the whole season on the Giro. Think about it, If Sastre and Menchov had legs to go with a rider specifically gunning for peak form @ the Giro then they pretty much shoot down any hopes of having good punch for what lies waiting for them on late stages at the TOUR. Read the “Out to Get Pink Dark Horses” article on the Cyclingnews front page. Sastre comments about your opinions concerning Diluca – I agree with him.t
But Di Luca – why is this man from Abruzzo riding so strong, seemingly at a level above the rest?
“For [his team] LPR, it is the only opportunity of the whole year – they can not go to the Tour de France, they cannot go to other [important] races outside of Italy,” Sastre says. “[For them], everything is in this moment.”
It makes sense. Diluca has a shady record for sure but in this case I think that he and his compatriot Petacchi are just stompin on peak form right now.
-lee
Wheelsucker
It sucks about Horner today but I was actually surprised to see Astana punchin things up a bit. I wasnt really surprised to see the Astana train gapping Levi for that moment but did anyone see how lance just danced around’em like a club racer.
The argument that Astana is just waiting for LPR to drop the ball held some wieght today. Diluca was isolated when the road went up and Astana, just as was commented here, tested him.
I think when the roads get steeper Diluca’s form could be questionable. He’s a tough fricken bastard though. I remember in 05′ Giro he popped late in the race but he didnt go quietly!!
-lee
Wheelsucker
You have an interesting perspective, Lee. But we disagree… Di Luca is doped, in part because this is his only chance to shine —
I could be wrong, he wouldn’t be first Giro winner that wins simply by having July form in May…
If you looked at Lance’s face after Levi lost time on Tuesday, you could see his frustration. I don’t even think there was much of a throw down in a team meeting. Probably all it took was: “guys, if we are here to win, we can’t let that shit happen.” So they showed their faces today.
Well know soon about Di Luca, if he wins the TT or doesn’t loose any significant time…, well…
Wheelsucker
“He is an incredibly nice guy and it is a shame to say he is not a super good sprinter,” Cavendish told Cyclingnews after his win in Arenzano. “I don’t think he is at the level of me or [Alessandro] Petacchi.”
Wow!! He can back it up but…wow!
-lee
Wheelsucker
take everything these guys say with a grain of salt. That’s how they get in each others heads.
Baldwin
Does he have anybody to stack up against Armstrong, Rubiera, Popovych and Brajkovic? Looks like Leipheimer has the advantage going forward…..if there are any mountain stages left.
Wheelsucker
Menchov dropped Levi Tuesday and again today. Team means squat if Levi can’t keep up.
Wheelsucker
Lance and Brajkovic are definitely on the upswing of their form. Brajkovic really strung things out Wednesday on that climb just before Armstrong took over just as they crested. Levi surprised me today with his TT. Another surprise _ Rogers! what the hell!!
-lee
Wheelsucker
wasnt Menchof Rasmussen’s trainin “partner” in Mexico, Italy and France?
hmmm…
discuss…
Wheelsucker
FTW!!!
Wheelsucker
After that – no question the king is dead long live the King (Cav)
schmalz
Tyler needs some head butting lessons from McEwen. You can’t let the Hog bounce you off your lead out.
Wheelsucker
perfect setup by highroad.
Baldwin
Watching Cavendish win is becoming kind of boring.
JustinR
I’d take a gobby Scouse Manx over a doping Itai anyday (excuse the racial sterotyping)
Wheelsucker
wasnt Menchof Rasmussen’s trainin “partner” ?
No he wasn’t.
Wheelsucker
Tyler definitely needs to grow a pair in the last 500m. He was in the catbird seat behind J.Dean and all of sudden he just abandoned Dean’s wheel when Highroad went steaming to the front. The Cav leadout is just far more superior than Garmin & LPR.
Of course this is something that happens hundreds of times a year in cycling, nothing special. In fact, a little earlier Basso had his teammate Stangelj drop back from Serge’s breakaway to help him. Maybe Serge didn’t understand, but we let him know a couple of times that he really had to wait. Unfortunately Serge didn’t stop at the top of the last climb, as he was told. If he had done that, he would have rejoined the Sastre group while it was still 40 seconds behind Basso and it would have made perfect sense. Now what happened was that Sastre’s group gets closer to Basso’s group even without the help of Serge. Instead he slowed down at the bottom of the hill, and by that time it wasn’t necessary anymore as the Basso group had been caught already, so it looked silly. Of course, looking back it’s easy to say that if Serge doesn’t get called back he may win the stage, and he certainly looked to have the strength to do that, but at the time the call was made Carlos really thought he needed the help. At the time Serge actually slowed down, the situation had already changed and it was no longer necessary. A tough pill to swallow for the team, especially Serge, but his time will come. “I was so torn”, explains Serge Pauwels. “I know that my job is to help Carlos, that’s what I signed up for when I started this Giro. So I know that I should drop back to help him immediately when he asks, that’s part of the game. But it was so difficult, because I could see that I had a chance to win this stage, and that would have been so amazing. By delaying the moment where I waited, we look pretty stupid. Lesson learned.”
schmalz
Goooo Pate! 7 k to go
schmalz
Noooooooo! Scarponi!
Wheelsucker
did you notice Barloworld dudes ride different bikes today? Why was one in the break on a Bianchi while another one what looked like LPR’s DeRosa? small budget?
by the way, the math Q allows only one digit and my question is __ – seven = three
seatclamp
From June 20-23,(2007) he traveled to the Alps and was in the Pyrenees from June 25 with Rabobank teammate Denis Menchov and a team soigneur. He also said he met personally with team sport director Erik Breukink on June 7 in Bergamo, Italy.
Wheelsucker
unreal scenery today
Baldwin
It’s a volcano. I predict an explosion of attacks.
Matty McNatty { Imagine if circa 2010 Netflix could have done one of these docudramas on the CRCA scene in those days? Greg Olsen, Colin Prensky, and that... }
{ Great Stuff Dan!!! }
pommespommes { Glad your back to blogging. I wish there was more race reporting/news in the NYC area (other than f*cebook) from both 1st and 3rd person.... }
{ You “gifted” the field the first race of the year. Eddy isn’t pleased. }
Benzina { Schmalz is back. Life is better, somehow. }
schmalz { There's no dignity in amateur bike racing }
Ask and you shall receive. And how much does it suck that VDV is out!!!!
It totally sucks. And Farrar was closing on Petacchi at the ends of today’s stage.
Heads uphill tomorrow, seachange coming in GC.
What’s interesting is the stage start/finish groupings. It looks like the race is spending two or sometimes even three days in a region. I wonder if the teams are taking advantage of this break in the logistics and staying in the same hotels for two nights. There were big problems last year and the year before with long transfers.
I think teams are complaining about the transfers this year also.
that was a pretty crazy finish- i cant see the TDF ever having a circuit finish. dangerous, but it made the finish way more exciting.
farrar’s day is coming- very talentd. and i m sure ala-jet is on something- most sprinters at age 35 are past their prime.
This is cool.
I didn’t catch why Cav was dropped so badly in today’s stage. Did he just blow up on the hills, or in trying to drill it after the crash he burned all his matches 10k from the finish?
caught behind big messy crash— one of those full stop wait deals
I thought Cav was ahead of the crash.
Cav was held up and then guys at the front gunned it – Levi was up there, hoping to maybe get a few seconds. Farrar has been getting some lessons from Petacchi the last two days. Stage 2 Pettachi shouldered him off Cav’s wheel, and today he showed how to win it from the front. Seemed like Tyler was boxed today. Too bad we hit the hills tomorrow.
VDV has broken ribs, so that’s not as bad as a collarbone or femur, stills hurts though.
So when can we expect a giro di schmalzati?
Also are you going to make it to FBF tomorrow?
In the footage of vdv on the tarmac, it looked like he was moving his legs around so when the announcer said broken femur, it just didnt add up. Rib cage makes since. He could still roll the tour perhaps. It sucks though. I wanted to see’em make the selection on stage 4
Tyler is definitely taking notes and from the looks of today (taking second) he seems to be a quick learner. Cav burned alot of matches trying to bridge up. I hope he didnt shot himself for tomorrows stage.
“shoot himself” oops,,
It looked like Cav couldnt handle the ups and downs on the circuit after that crazy bridge he attempted with those other guys. I wouldnt be surprised if the DS told’em to just shut it down. If he would’ve made it back, his sprint would’ve been nonexistant and heading into tomorrows stage, the jersey wouldnt be worth potentially getting super shelled on stage 4. It also looked like Cav was doin the lions share of the work in that chase as it seemded everytime the camera went to his group it looked like he was always close to next to takin pulls.
-lee
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slipstreamsports/sets/72157617752344103/
Any word on how Champ Sys did
I would contend that vdv was one of the favorites for high GC potential – that said why wasnt he up front with all of the other favorites? I dont get it. who are the riders doing wheel duty for VDV? where were they?
Also – if the TTT was the targeted stage for Slipstream – why didnt they do the due diligence of a proper recon? Yea they got second but is it possible they could have been faster with a little more familiarity? I think so.
Nobody likes a mon. morning qb but c’mon.
In all seriousness. This is real bad luck. I was looking forward to Lance or Levi turning back on a hors categorie climb to survey the damage only to find DVD (and Sastre) laughing a them.
I do hope he can recuperate fast enough for TDF.
Get well soon VDV!
rai sport showing on a justintv link
http://www.justin.tv/streampie
Oh Jens…
i fully expect there to be divots in the asphalt
i think ale-jet will pull back the 8 plus minutes and win the stage!
isn’t soler the guy who crashed a lot?
solar did crash out a bit last year – did he crash out of the Tour?
All I got to say about this year’s Giro is: Nice to see the sport has cleaned itself up!
It turns out VDV was 20 wheels back which I guess you could say in a field of 180+ was pretty much at the front. It sucks that he’s out of it. I hope Pate and Zabriskie can carry the torch. I understand that Z is climbing pretty good these days!
The Garmin/SS flag still waves on my front porch.
Lokvist looks really strong. Did you see fast he closed that gap to solers’ first attack? It was like he was picking his nose – he looked really comfortable.
This kid can TT too.
-lee
if Di Luca and Pettachi are winning stages, then the sport has not clean itself up.
Uh, that’s what was the joke, idot.
what mora you wanta? Hair e fingernaila?
why did Liquigas chase so hard? grudge from OP days? they were nowhere after catching Jens…
liquigas is something i get after eating at burritoville.
Testa della gruppo…that man is the Jean Paul Belmondo of the new century
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/7393/2005805386043649943_rs.jpg
I love that Levi rides with one teammate, while LA gets dropped and has an Astana armada around him. It’s kinda like the marathons he does, a race is up the road while he dawdles around with a lame entourage.
Hey, those guys know who’s going to be signing the checks.
It is truly impressive to see.
I believe Armstrong is honest and happy to support Levi. But the Giro is showing where loyalties simply fall naturally.
One good thing about it…, I finally feel a little sympathy for both Contador and Levi.
is bottle breaking free from teatstrong?
I was watching last night and they said Ted King 1 Minute back…and I did a double take….doesn’t look like that is the case based on results.
Come on people…I am more imrpessed with Lance now than ever, the f’ing guy is out there burying himself at that age…he is super rich…can do whatever he wants. Yet he is humbling dragging his ass over roads and crushing pretty much teh entire field with teh exception of the 10-15 best riders in the world right now. Entourage or no entourage….the guy doesn’t quit.
I have to agree with the earlier comment on Lance. The dude really knows how to suffer. Its refreshing to see Mr.7(x) go out and ride support. Levi and Horner are looking pretty good and I think Horner might be in better shape than Levi and Lance right now.
the livestrong madone has got to be the worst paint job of all time. Tone it down man…seriously (less is more man…less is more)
less is a bore
The pedro horrillo crash is the most insane ever/
http://cyclingnews.com/photos/2009/giro09/giro098/bettiniphoto_0038816_1_full.jpg
that was absolutely ridiculous.
to his EYEBALLS.
This freaking Di Luca… I mean… the CONI spending all their time suspending and investigating Valverde.
Why don’t they do anything about this Di Luca buffoon!!!???
He’s stealing the race, AGAIN!
of the masses are so sure that DiLuca is filled to the gills with the goop juice yet the only reason for the disbelief is an outstanding ride. It seems like the LPR team are doing quite the job of keeping shit in check – including Diluca’s legs. I’m not surprised that he’s riding so well. The only rider throwin shit on the wall is Garzelli and he’s friggen mucho minutes down on the leader board. As far as Diluca is concerned – the only thing I’m seeing is a guy & team doing a text book defense of a grand tour leader jersey that nobody seems to be going after despite being inside of 2 min. from takin it from him. The second he opens up the jets everybody screams – doper. I’m not quite convinced.
Guess what folks – Levi doesnt have it. He will not podium this race. Horner has the better shot by far. Levi is just to gassed from the early season and spring campaign. Lance looked pretty pissed off after todays stage. I think he realizes that Astana might be ass out unless the team can get behind Horner (the only Astana rider sittin on good form). The domestiques could be riding well too but Johan has’em all tied up with babysitting mr7x it seems.
Menchov looks pretty good but he will always be cyclings biggest choke artist for races before Sept. I dont see’em riding better than Diluca. We’ll have to see what up in week 3.
Garmin – what can I say. Christian was the only rider I thought had the chance. Now they’re reduced to sprint stages. Jonathan V or Matt W. didnt plan out this race as well as they could have. Not having a good plan b on GC sucks for a team with such a decent bench of players! Seriously – having a rider that could contest the sprint jersey but not having the squad drilled on who does what for said rider is just beyond my understanding.
Highroad – Rogers is the new hopeful to take out Diluca. if he can suck it up in the third week, highroad will be confirmed as the best team in the race – best yng rider, overall GC, and perhaps a couple stage wins from the chiclamina. Konstantin S. enough said.
-lee
Riccardo Ricco, Leonardo Pepoli. Definitely eyebrow raising suspicion when these guys stole stages. Especially the Cobra.
I dont think Diluca is stompin like those guys were despite his results in this years Giro.
I’m sorry, but take another look at the acceleration starting at about 1:07. That’s special.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A98z7WInTRY
Wait,
we’re 10 days into this, don’t you think they’re letting DiLuca get ahead of himself thinking he’s got this wrapped up, and he’s so great? I agree he ain’t no boy scout, but I am not quite ready to lay on the doper charge. I think DiLuca is going for the pride win, wearing the Jersey for as long as possible from the start of the race, and thinking he’ll wear it all the way to Rome. At the same time wearing his team out to do that.
Astana doesn’t want to defend the jersey any longer than they have to. They’re eyeing the time trials to win this. Little Levi is staying within striking distance, and not wasting energy except when he sees a shot. Look at Saturday, trying to take time out of DiLuca when he seemed on the ropes, it didn’t hurt that Horner was up the road to help power the break. LPR brought it back, but they probably burned more matches than they needed to, in order to do it. That was Astana testing them, seeing where they were strength wise. Astana is sitting in waiting for LPR to break from defending the jersey.
I agree that Columbia/HighRoad does have a good shot at overall team win, with lots of stage wins and the like, but they are not putting together a single team effort. It is solo breaks, good moves, and putting Cav in the right spot on the 10K race on Sunday.
The LPR squad seems to be doing a pretty good job of defending the pink situation on the flats, yet fall a bit short of good domestiques on the hills. Diluca has been doing a fine job of manning up on the hills but as you have stated, we are only 10 stages into this thing. The big question is can the LPR team maintain this ‘strategy’ for the coming stages ahead. I understand your comment about pride victories, however, I think Danilo has done the due diligence on coming into form and recon’ing stages for this race – maybe a bit more than Astana. We’ll see. My gut tells me that Levi is burned and Lance is not quite ramped up yet while Horner is riding quite well, all though I dont know where he was today.
I like your comment about Astana waiting for the right moment. I just hope somebody on that squad can ‘decisively’ take that moment when it reveals itself.
I also agree with the Highroad assessment. They have mucho bullets in the chamber for Rogers on the flats but I’m not sure what kind of back-up arsenal they have for the mountains – maybe Konstantine?
Liquidgas – riding like complete idiots (chasing down breaks for LPR?) c’mon!!
-lee
If Saxo,Liq-gas,and Lampre keep bailing out LPR on chasing breaks, Danilo’s odds will get better as the race goes on.
-lee
Sorry, lee dude, I agree that liquigas did a terrible job yesterday…
that has just a little to with the fact that Di Luca attacked and dropped anyone else that was also protected — you think Menchov and Sastre just let him go? — they couldn’t follow…
after 6 hours and 250 Km Di Luca was fresh… to attack the descent, to attack the last hill at 3km to go… he was fresh because he’s taking shit…
… and yes… completely unrelated to Di Luca dopping or not… there has to be a throw down at Astana and Liquigas — Liquigas might have wasted insane efforts yesterday… Basso should have attacked as soon as he could after Pelizotti was caught… in any case, depending on where they land after tomorrow’s TT they could at least play the Pelizotti/Basso double… where one (Pelizotti) attacks and the field has to decide to chase and bring the other (Basso) with them.
if you don’t think Di Luca is stomping like Ricco or Pepoli, then you didn’t see what happened yesterday…
FTW!!
Keep in mind that those guys are ‘TOUR GC riders’ while Danilo’s team are banking the whole season on the Giro. Think about it, If Sastre and Menchov had legs to go with a rider specifically gunning for peak form @ the Giro then they pretty much shoot down any hopes of having good punch for what lies waiting for them on late stages at the TOUR. Read the “Out to Get Pink Dark Horses” article on the Cyclingnews front page. Sastre comments about your opinions concerning Diluca – I agree with him.t
But Di Luca – why is this man from Abruzzo riding so strong, seemingly at a level above the rest?
“For [his team] LPR, it is the only opportunity of the whole year – they can not go to the Tour de France, they cannot go to other [important] races outside of Italy,” Sastre says. “[For them], everything is in this moment.”
It makes sense. Diluca has a shady record for sure but in this case I think that he and his compatriot Petacchi are just stompin on peak form right now.
-lee
It sucks about Horner today but I was actually surprised to see Astana punchin things up a bit. I wasnt really surprised to see the Astana train gapping Levi for that moment but did anyone see how lance just danced around’em like a club racer.
The argument that Astana is just waiting for LPR to drop the ball held some wieght today. Diluca was isolated when the road went up and Astana, just as was commented here, tested him.
I think when the roads get steeper Diluca’s form could be questionable. He’s a tough fricken bastard though. I remember in 05′ Giro he popped late in the race but he didnt go quietly!!
-lee
You have an interesting perspective, Lee. But we disagree… Di Luca is doped, in part because this is his only chance to shine —
I could be wrong, he wouldn’t be first Giro winner that wins simply by having July form in May…
If you looked at Lance’s face after Levi lost time on Tuesday, you could see his frustration. I don’t even think there was much of a throw down in a team meeting. Probably all it took was: “guys, if we are here to win, we can’t let that shit happen.” So they showed their faces today.
Well know soon about Di Luca, if he wins the TT or doesn’t loose any significant time…, well…
“He is an incredibly nice guy and it is a shame to say he is not a super good sprinter,” Cavendish told Cyclingnews after his win in Arenzano. “I don’t think he is at the level of me or [Alessandro] Petacchi.”
Wow!! He can back it up but…wow!
-lee
take everything these guys say with a grain of salt. That’s how they get in each others heads.
Does he have anybody to stack up against Armstrong, Rubiera, Popovych and Brajkovic? Looks like Leipheimer has the advantage going forward…..if there are any mountain stages left.
Menchov dropped Levi Tuesday and again today. Team means squat if Levi can’t keep up.
Lance and Brajkovic are definitely on the upswing of their form. Brajkovic really strung things out Wednesday on that climb just before Armstrong took over just as they crested. Levi surprised me today with his TT. Another surprise _ Rogers! what the hell!!
-lee
wasnt Menchof Rasmussen’s trainin “partner” in Mexico, Italy and France?
hmmm…
discuss…
FTW!!!
After that – no question the king is dead long live the King (Cav)
Tyler needs some head butting lessons from McEwen. You can’t let the Hog bounce you off your lead out.
perfect setup by highroad.
Watching Cavendish win is becoming kind of boring.
I’d take a gobby Scouse Manx over a doping Itai anyday (excuse the racial sterotyping)
wasnt Menchof Rasmussen’s trainin “partner” ?
No he wasn’t.
Tyler definitely needs to grow a pair in the last 500m. He was in the catbird seat behind J.Dean and all of sudden he just abandoned Dean’s wheel when Highroad went steaming to the front. The Cav leadout is just far more superior than Garmin & LPR.
Levi kind of fits into the screen — resized by https://www.nyvelocity.com
How pissed do you think Serge Pauwels is at his director today?
And who is this ahole Giovanni that the commentors keep calling a dick weed?
Pauwels – that was some baaad director-in today.
At that time, Basso had escaped and Carlos asked Serge to wait.
Of course this is something that happens hundreds of times a year in cycling, nothing special. In fact, a little earlier Basso had his teammate Stangelj drop back from Serge’s breakaway to help him. Maybe Serge didn’t understand, but we let him know a couple of times that he really had to wait. Unfortunately Serge didn’t stop at the top of the last climb, as he was told. If he had done that, he would have rejoined the Sastre group while it was still 40 seconds behind Basso and it would have made perfect sense. Now what happened was that Sastre’s group gets closer to Basso’s group even without the help of Serge. Instead he slowed down at the bottom of the hill, and by that time it wasn’t necessary anymore as the Basso group had been caught already, so it looked silly. Of course, looking back it’s easy to say that if Serge doesn’t get called back he may win the stage, and he certainly looked to have the strength to do that, but at the time the call was made Carlos really thought he needed the help. At the time Serge actually slowed down, the situation had already changed and it was no longer necessary. A tough pill to swallow for the team, especially Serge, but his time will come. “I was so torn”, explains Serge Pauwels. “I know that my job is to help Carlos, that’s what I signed up for when I started this Giro. So I know that I should drop back to help him immediately when he asks, that’s part of the game. But it was so difficult, because I could see that I had a chance to win this stage, and that would have been so amazing. By delaying the moment where I waited, we look pretty stupid. Lesson learned.”
Goooo Pate! 7 k to go
Noooooooo! Scarponi!
did you notice Barloworld dudes ride different bikes today? Why was one in the break on a Bianchi while another one what looked like LPR’s DeRosa? small budget?
by the way, the math Q allows only one digit and my question is __ – seven = three
From June 20-23,(2007) he traveled to the Alps and was in the Pyrenees from June 25 with Rabobank teammate Denis Menchov and a team soigneur. He also said he met personally with team sport director Erik Breukink on June 7 in Bergamo, Italy.
unreal scenery today
It’s a volcano. I predict an explosion of attacks.
http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/alfonsina/alfonsina_inglese.html