Giro D'Italia thread

Lumen

BikeSnob is blogging about the Giro on Universal Sports. Not sure it's any good though.

Raam

http://twitpic.com/1mqpzt

Slightly NSFW

Decuc500

Great day for cycling yesterday. Roads not suitable for a Grand Tour decimate the field and a smirking, unrepentant drugs cheat is in the pink jersey.

Chips Lovell

I'm loving it. Who would have thought the flat early stages could be so exciting?

Bikerbhoy

Did feel sorry for Evans yesterday though in fairness.....does that guy ever have any team support...like ever ?????

Murph100

+ 1 Big Time !!

Poor bastard, crap luck & feck all support, I'd love to see him with a decent team.

Bikerbhoy wrote: »

Did feel sorry for Evans yesterday though in fairness.....does that guy ever have any team support...like ever ?????

niceonetom

Decuc500 wrote: »

Great day for cycling yesterday. Roads not suitable for a Grand Tour decimate the field and a smirking, unrepentant drugs cheat is in the pink jersey.

What exactly makes the roads "unsuitable for a Grand Tour"? They look like totally standard Dutch roads: constantly changing width, covered with street furniture, winding, windswept and the source of great racing in the first half of the year. It's not surprising, but it is entertaining and although it's a pity that Evans lost his jersey due to a late corner, his chase to limit his losses made for drama, which pro-cycling would be utterly lost without. I'm quite glad that Zomegnan has chosen a challenging course; the alternative would have been deathly boring.

If only we could turn all bike races into the Tour of Qatar.

The route has been public knowledge for a while and surely all the teams are capable doing enough recognisance to use their radios to know where they need to watch out. Are these guys so delicate or incompetent and that they must only be allowed to race on dual carriageways? However will they manage when the time comes to throw themselves down the side of a dolomite at 90kph?

My general rule of thumb is that if some of the riders aren't complaining the race isn't hard enough. I'm with Henri Desgrange on that one.

Edit: there have also only been TWO retirements so far. Collarbones happen.

Decuc500

Yeah, it's great that the stages are exciting and not just a procession to a bunch sprint. The Columbia led Cavendish sprints from last years Tour De France were a snoozefest. But I've never seen the first few days of a big race affected so much by the course.

Obviously cycling is exciting and unpredictable and is about staying on your bike as much as speed and stamina but I just think these roads are a bit much. It's good tv though so I'm sure the organisers are happy.

Chips Lovell

Decuc500 wrote: »

...But I've never seen the first few days of a big race affected so much by the course.

Obviously cycling is exciting and unpredictable and is about staying on your bike as much as speed and stamina but I just think these roads are a bit much. It's good tv though so I'm sure the organisers are happy.

Well pretty much most of the spring classics season is spent dealing with similar conditions: crap roads, street furniture and high winds. They're all part of what makes those races great.

And it's not unknown to happen in a Grand Tour. Third stage of the 2004 Tour de France for example saw them hit the pave of Belgium and Northern France and a crash there put paid to Iban Mayo's chances that year.

The Tour is going back there again this year, so if you think yesterday is bad, just wait till they hit the Arenberg Forest in July.

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

The Tour is going back there again this year, so if you think yesterday is bad, just wait till they hit the Arenberg Forest in July.

I didn't know the Arenberg was on the course of the Tour this year... awesome!

Caroline_ie

what s happening to the live broadcast at the moment ... recorded seals shots?

Raam

Caroline_ie wrote: »

what s happening to the live broadcast at the moment ... recorded seals shots?

It's a rest day

Caroline_ie

Raam wrote: »

It's a rest day

so they decided to broadcast the Gay Parade? ( reference to the people dancing on the roof a pink bus,,,, not the seals )

IM0

Raam wrote: »

It's a rest day

after 3 days of racing!...lightweights...HTFU

I know they are moving from Holland to Italy for the next stage

jwshooter

a day to clean the road rash ,as very few dont have some by now .

L'Enfer du Nord

Tomorrow’s stage which passes through the Marble quarries of Carrara is a tribute to Jacques Anquetil who was the first French man to win the Giro 50 years ago. Shay Elliot was one of Anquetil’s team mates and he also won a stage in the Giro that year.



Elliot and Anquetil

Interesting article with nice pics here:

http://www.tour-racing.co.uk/html/1960_tour_of_italy.html

emtroche

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I didn't know the Arenberg was on the course of the Tour this year... awesome!

Stage is finishing in arenberg. Not going over the cobbles there.
According to the tour website "The finish line will be located at the entrance to the notorious Arenberg Trench"

Bummer!

TinyExplosions

emtroche wrote: »

Stage is finishing in arenberg. Not going over the cobbles there.
According to the tour website "The finish line will be located at the entrance to the notorious Arenberg Trench"

Bummer!

Boo Urns!

AstraMonti

Bit offtopic but is there anywhere I can download the stages from?

zzzzzzzz

AstraMonti wrote: »

Bit offtopic but is there anywhere I can download the stages from?

cyclingtorrents.nl

Chips Lovell

There'll still be seven of the Paris-Roubaix cobbled sections included in that stage.

Funkyzeit

What a finish to yesterdays stage! Thought the game was defintely up 3k or so out. I think the last corner just about saved them..

petethedrummer

Great stuff so far today.

I think Eurosport should offer a red button option with a no holes barred commentary given by Bernard Kohl, Jesus Manzano and Christophe Bassons.

petethedrummer

That might be the best stage I've ever seen.

ROK ON

petethedrummer wrote: »

That might be the best stage I've ever seen.

EPIC.

titan18

Pretty sure that was the best Grand Tour stage I've ever seen.Had everything and the riders actually looked wrecked at the end, kinda feel sorry for them for tomorrow's stage and the rest of the Tour.Can imagine some guys will want to get back some time tomorrow, so hopefully Nibali,Evans etc will kick things off again.

papac

Jeebus. I'm knackered after just watching that. Feckin animals.Animals I tell ye.

Historic.

Mountain top finish tomorrow after the bones of 200k. Anything can happen after what everyone gave today. I can't wait.

flyboy1

fantastic stuff ,kelly sounded like he wanted a go out there, great ride by evens looks so strong ,lot of racing left , dont know how they are going to top that though!! again the giro is shaping up to be best race of the year , leaving the tour behind in my opinion , looking forward to moaning from team sky !!

Esroh

I missed today but I see Millar was up there again. Was Dan Martin his minder again today.

IM0

Great stage, kind of sums up how a grand tour should be, and would force all the tour specialists to actually compete year round, if they knew after seeing the stages like this that they would have to do the classics to ensure their victory. Great who ever blinks first racing.

And with a mountaintop finish tomorrow, the giro really is the king of the grand tours. no wonder lance didnt like it!

72hundred

ShevY wrote: »

Or assuming a person has broadband, try using this btv.exe, with VLC media player.



Or just point VLC at http://cctv.ws/1/BritishEurosport

Apparently that program is/contains spyware. Google it.

jautukas87

EuroSport ?? Please. A real euro cyclist is watching only in original language: http://videochat.gazzetta.it/index_giro.shtml

mike12

That was great today how do they get back on the bikes tomorrow was tiring just looking at it.

IM0

That was great today how do they get back on the bikes tomorrow was tiring just looking at it.

believe me I recognise the epicness of the stage today, but seriously it was a road stage with about 14km of strada bianchi (hard packed dirt roads) yes in the rain, most of the dragging their arses across the line looking exhausted was mostly relief rather than actually full on tiredness.

Most of their energy will have been drained from nervous energy coping with the conditions. The Eurosport commentator is way OTT, you could tell this by the dead pan voice of kelly as if to say "there is nothing new here david, just take a look at the ardennes classics on a wet spring day"

ednwireland

http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-df48782c-1af5-4d9c-82d1-7e90e661e803-raisport.html
highlights in italian if anyones inerested


a few km of wet dirt makes it epic hmmm (i think the hammer went down when nibali fell more like)

sy

me@ucd wrote: »

believe me I recognise the epicness of the stage today, but seriously it was a road stage with about 14km of strada bianchi (hard packed dirt roads) yes in the rain, most of the dragging their arses across the line looking exhausted was mostly relief rather than actually full on tiredness....

Hmm, not sure if I agree with you me@ucd
It was a 222km stage and the last 14km had average gradient of 3.6% in pretty sh*** conditions. Pretty tough by any standards. For me an epic stage and one that will be quoted for many years to come.

Agree with your point on the nervous energy expenditure etc

Funkyzeit

Old school stuff today - absolutely superb.
Thought Harmon summed it up saying all that was missing were some spare tyres around the shoulders.

Nice to see Bartali/Coppi's sons reinacting the legendary photo.

petethedrummer

me@ucd wrote: »

Most of their energy will have been drained from nervous energy coping with the conditions. The Eurosport commentator is way OTT, you could tell this by the dead pan voice of kelly as if to say "there is nothing new here david, just take a look at the ardennes classics on a wet spring day"

When have you ever heard Kelly get excited? For most of the stage he was saying how interesting it would be and seemed excited by his standards.

And if it wasn't such a tough stage how come the field was blown apart as it was?

papac

Kelly get excited?

I thought Kelly was positively apoplectic yesterday- by his standards. He must have used the word interesting two hundred times.:)

emtroche

Yep was an epic stage alright. All you had to do was look at the faces on the riders at the finish to realise that. I watched the highlights twice which is highly unusual!

Couldn't help feeling sorry for the mechanics though!

Captain Havoc

chrisfw

flying in to Dublin 29th may, is any cafe/pub etc showing the giro at all in Dublin???

petethedrummer

chrisfw wrote: »

flying in to Dublin 29th may, is any cafe/pub etc showing the giro at all in Dublin???

I seriously doubt it. Cycleogical may have it on in the shop. An empty pub might put it on for you.

Paco Rodriguez

Vinikourov and co really messed up today! Some people were walking home, by the time they finished.

goldencleric

Pippo

you hero! Would it be ultimately fred-ish to get that jersey?

Dave11

Boxing match....deadly!! Where the hell are all his team mates!!! Useless shower of.....

Diarmuid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0R6CRJ1RtA

I liked the comment:
Some pulling on jerseys, some fists missing their target, a typical cyclists' fight.

sy

I prefer this form of defence!

IM0

pippo wining in the national champions jersy..for the first time this giro for an italian..if Carlsberg did the giro it would probably...

ArraMusha

during the race live eurosport with sean kelly commentary from below

http://www.fromsport.com/video-247102.html


..just have to wait 30s for the ads to finish at the start.