Giro D'Italia thread

furiousox

Some great descending by Nibali today, 80kph in the wet...wow!

RobFowl

Turning into an epic race. Can see any of 10+ riders winning it and 2 weeks into a grand tour that hasn't happened for a while.....

Getting to the point where I prefer the Giro to the TDF

(Apart for the podium dopers, who seem to get caught in Italy :rolleyes:)

thebouldwhacker

furiousox wrote: »

Some great descending by Nibali today, 80kph in the wet...wow!

+1
Amazing he was even losing the camera bike on occasions he was so fast

emtroche

furiousox wrote: »

Some great descending by Nibali today, 80kph in the wet...wow!

On the subject of descending -

Congrats to Janos Kohler from bray wheelers who won the 1st round of the Red Bull Road Rage series on La Redoute in belgium today!

Caroline_ie

emtroche wrote: »

On the subject of descending -

Congrats to Janos Kohler from bray wheelers who won the 1st round of the Red Bull Road Rage series on La Redoute in belgium today!

Well Done Banapants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

karltimber

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

+1
Amazing he was even losing the camera bike on occasions he was so fast

it was so slick going around those hairpins - excellent stage today.

k

abcdggs

Fell asleep at the top of the first climb, worth downloading?

Captain Havoc

abcdggs wrote: »

Fell asleep at the top of the first climb, worth downloading?

Yes

abcdggs

Just watched the end on eurosport, definitely worth it

Raam

From a few days ago...

Scarponi looks bunched.

titan18

RobFowl wrote: »

Turning into an epic race. Can see any of 10+ riders winning it and 2 weeks into a grand tour that hasn't happened for a while.....

Getting to the point where I prefer the Giro to the TDF

(Apart for the podium dopers, who seem to get caught in Italy :rolleyes:)

Really?Can't see anyone other than Nibali,Evans or Basso winning it.The likes of Wiggins and Sastre may have made up time last week, but I don't think they can stick with the others on the mountain top finishes.Might prove me wrong on the Zoncolan tomorrow but so far, they don't seem to be able to match the others in the mountains.

sy

titan18 wrote: »

Really?Can't see anyone other than Nibali,Evans or Basso winning it.The likes of Wiggins and Sastre may have made up time last week, but I don't think they can stick with the others on the mountain top finishes.Might prove me wrong on the Zoncolan tomorrow but so far, they don't seem to be able to match the others in the mountains.

Vinokourov, Scarponi, Arroyo. Gerdemann, Porte and Pinotti plus the five you have mentioned above equals 10+ . I think RobFowl was just generalising and making the point that its great to see such an open Grande Tour

Great stage today, the descending (and its coverage) was some of the best I have seen for a while. It is a skill which some riders just never master. Many years back on one of our club spins I remember chatting to Lawrence Roche (Stephen's brother) about racing on the continent. On asking him what was the most difficult part of racing for him. Without hesitation he replied "the descents off the big mountains". Scared the bejazus out of him and he always struggled just to stay in contact.

Mind you his brother didn't have that problem.

JacksonHeightsOwn

titan18 wrote: »

Really?Can't see anyone other than Nibali,Evans or Basso winning it.The likes of Wiggins and Sastre may have made up time last week, but I don't think they can stick with the others on the mountain top finishes.Might prove me wrong on the Zoncolan tomorrow but so far, they don't seem to be able to match the others in the mountains.

have to agree,

i thought when Wiggins attacked yesterday, he was going to be a force, but alas,it was short lived

the Liguigas team where just mental yesterday, i reckon my Fiat Doblo van would have had a hard time keeping up with their pace yesterday, that was some seriously aggressive riding,

if they keep that crazy pace up threw the week, then i dont think anybody will keep with them

but im still hopefull that Sastre can do something,

fingers crossed anyway

Lumen

chrisbonnie wrote: »

i thought when Wiggins attacked yesterday, he was going to be a force, but alas,it was short lived

Obviously British Eurosport didn't consider that a highlight :rolleyes:

blobbie

And now feckin Tennis and Motor Bikes on Brit ES & Brit ES2 this afternoon :mad:

Does anybody know if ES player has "normal" ES or mushy peas ES ??

Captain Havoc

blobbie wrote: »

And now feckin Tennis and Motor Bikes on Brit ES & Brit ES2 this afternoon :mad:

Does anybody know if ES player has "normal" ES or mushy peas ES ??

There's good news and bad news, you can watch it on Video on Demand but it'll be without commentry and I'm unsure of times etc.... Checked the listings and nothing live.

Junior

It's live on the Eurosport Player and Europsort HD according to the Eurosport Twitter account

EurosportUKTV Stage 15 will still be live on Eurosport HD and those of you with the Eurosport Player (www.eurosportplayer.co.uk) can view the race online

jwshooter

euro sport are seriously pissing me off

IM0

jwshooter wrote: »

euro sport are seriously pissing me off

aye, they give us a load of flat stages with full coverage and when the racing actually gets interesting [a mountain top finish] they pull the plug wtf
shower of CNUTS! :mad:

motogp grrrr..:D :mad:

Captain Havoc

I'm watching it via justin

furiousox

Scant consolation I know but there is a highlights show on eurosport tonight.
Is the Giro going to be bumped now that the french open is on?

zzzzzzzz

Here's a feed with no commentary. A message popped up a while ago that there would be an english commentary feed in an hour at 16.00 CET

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

drogdub

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

Here's a feed with no commentary. A message popped up a while ago that there would be an english commentary feed in an hour at 16.00 CET

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

Its on now in English. Good quality too

blobbie

drogdub wrote: »

Its on now in English. Good quality too

Yep - just in time for the fun & games. Mind you my Italian was improving....

God, Planet Armstrong (well Planet Chechu these days )

Captain Havoc

FORZA DANIEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! can they catch up?

Esroh

Thanks Cap could not see if it was him

Captain Havoc

Esroh wrote: »

Thanks Cap could not see if it was him

LIVE TICKER

Captain Havoc

My boss is wondering why I'm getting jumpy doing "reports"

blobbie

Pure brutal

ednwireland

clean vs dirty evans v basso

Dan martin great ride 3 31 down

Captain Havoc

ednwireland wrote: »

clean vs dirty evans v basso

Dan martin great ride 3 31 down

+1 and +1

delighted with Dan Martins result

bcmf

52 x 34 and up to 27tooth on the rear. Just shows how viscious Mont Zoncolan really is
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/05/road/gearing-for-monte-zoncolan_118163

jwshooter

look at the crowds on the hill side , u wil not get that at tennis .

Diarmuid

Just watched a sweedish capture from Eurosport. Brutal!

Fair play to Evans and Martin. Surprised to see Basso climbing so well.

goldencleric

Bad week for exams ... giro, toc & roland garros ... eurosport is on constantly in the background!!!!!

love tennis but today's giro stage was far more exciting than the first day at a grand slam! Eurosport messed that one up!

colm ó maonaigh

Had to watch this stage online and it sure was some savage racing. I hate the way Eurosport give preference to tennis (and motorsports). Could there really be more tennis fans than cycling, given the crowds that have come out so far in Holland and Italy?
Diarmuid, do you mind if I ask you if you are still living in France (wanted to pick your brain)?

colm ó maonaigh

colm ó maonaigh wrote: »

Had to watch this stage online and it sure was some savage racing. I hate the way Eurosport give preference to tennis (and motorsports). Could there really be more tennis fans than cycling, given the crowds that have come out so far in Holland and Italy?
Diarmuid, do you mind if I ask you if you are still living in France (wanted to pick your brain)?

To be fair, I have often seen cycling on when the schedule says they should be showing golf/swimming/touring cars/WRC or whatever. They just mess up the schedule equally for all sports it seems.

Lumen

colm ó maonaigh wrote: »

Could there really be more tennis fans than cycling

Yes.

Pablo_

I'd say eurosport make it up as they go along, it can literally change schedule as you press the info button on the remote. Definitely a bit too much motorsport though

Chips Lovell

Liquigas had a great weekend. Basso seemed to really benefit from having fresher legs yesterday. He got an armchair ride for the last 40km of Saturday's stage. Evans is one of the few world champions in recent times who's really done the jersey justice. I was surprised to see Scarponi up there. I didn't think it was his kind of territory. For a while I thought he was working for Basso (they're great friends by all accounts), but given that he didn't lose too much time after he lost contact, maybe not. Great ride by Martin. He's been unlucky this past year but he showed again yesterday the potential he has.

It's been a great Giro so far and after so many good stages, it's surprising to see how many tough stages are left. Mountain TT on Tuesday. Mountain top finishes on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Anyone else think that this year's Giro is notable for it's lack of "extraterrestrial" performances? Everyone looks all too human this year, well apart from maybe one rider I'd be a bit suspicious about but who probably won't win. I'm not saying that means they're all doing it totally clean, but no one looks supercharged.

sy

+1 on Dan Martin. Epic performance on a beast of a climb.
Evans must have ridden half of the climb out of the saddle :eek:. His energy expenditure compared to Basso, who sat in the saddle for most of the climb, was incredible.

TT will be exciting

ROK ON

On lack of "xtraterrestrial perfs" there was something strangely hypnotic about how ugly and painful Evans actually looked in the last 4KM. Man he suffered, kept suffering and then suffered some more. It was brilliant to see. The jersey has imbued him with a belief or responsibility that he did not seem to have heretofore.

Also what about Sastre. Sometimes he just seems to be at a wits end and then pulls something out of the hat. Not sure does he have it, or is he holding a lot in reserve, or is he siomply not yet "match fit" so to speak.

I actually thought some of the fans were way too OTT. Whatever about giving the guys some support, they really should show some respect and give them a little more space.

Martin looked pretty comfortable. Hopefully he finishes well and has a shot of making the TDF team.

godihatedehills

colm ó maonaigh wrote: »

Had to watch this stage online and it sure was some savage racing. I hate the way Eurosport give preference to tennis (and motorsports). Could there really be more tennis fans than cycling, given the crowds that have come out so far in Holland and Italy?
Diarmuid, do you mind if I ask you if you are still living in France (wanted to pick your brain)?

You're watching british eurosport, that's the schedule for the uk and irl. It doesn't matter a hoot how many cycling fans there are in holland and italy.

niceonetom

sy wrote: »

Evans must have ridden half of the climb out of the saddle :eek:. His energy expenditure compared to Basso, who sat in the saddle for most of the climb, was incredible.

Evans does tend to haul the bike from side to side a lot anyway, but I think this might have something to do with it.

With the gearing, all the serious guys rode 'compact' crank sets, usually a 34 in front from what saw. I had a bit of trouble with the large spacing between the gears. Not something that is usually a problem climbing. With yesterday's effort in the legs, I rode a big larger gear than preferred. Not the right way, but when it's the only way..... Second for me today.

Basso's cadence in the last kilometre was very high, I wonder what he was running, maybe the same 36x29 that Nibali's bike had...

I'd love to ride that mountain someday. Probably need a triple though.

Chips Lovell

ROK ON wrote: »

Also what about Sastre. Sometimes he just seems to be at a wits end and then pulls something out of the hat. Not sure does he have it, or is he holding a lot in reserve, or is he siomply not yet "match fit" so to speak.

He's always been a bit like that and the guys on Eurosport go on about it a fair bit. He often just doesn't seem to be able to go when the attacks start but kind of settles into it and climbs at his own pace and will often make up a lot of time. Works for him I guess and fair play. It takes a lot of willpower to get dropped and ride yourself back up into it time and again.

niceonetom wrote: »

I'd love to ride that mountain someday. Probably need a triple though.

One of the McCrossans from Cycling.tv rode up it in 2007, the last year the Giro did it. Laurens Ten Dam rode it with him. The video is hilarious. If you thought Evans was suffering yesterday, he had nothing on this guy. He was dying. Ten Dam meanwhile was twiddling his way up, chatting away.

sy

niceonetom wrote: »

I'd love to ride that mountain someday. Probably need a triple though.

I would too but think I would need a motorbike!

Wonder has any boardsie ridden both the Anglirou and the Zoncolan?
It would be nice to get a comparison in difficulty etc

Funkyzeit

el tonto wrote: »

Evans is one of the few world champions in recent times who's really done the jersey justice.

+1.
Have to hold my hand up and admit I'd little or time for Evans a couple of years ago (mainly based on his apparent droll personality) but he has won me over big time the last 2 years or so - particulary given the lack of decent domestiques (at BMC anyway)

I thought the likes of Flech Wallone, stage 7 to Montaclino and indeed the Zoncolan proved what he lacks in style he more than makes up in grit and determination

NickDrake

What a ride by Dan Martin. That was unreal. He was crossing the line and not a word from Sean Kelly. what is it about this guy. Is he jealous or something?? He never mentions the Irish riders.Shame on him.

On a side note. Do people really believe Liquigas are a nice innocent team. Come on look at Pellozotti ?? Banned before the Giro. The whole team riding well?? and esp two riders??

Basso looked like the Basso of old and we all know thats a problem.

zzzzzzzz

NickDrake wrote: »

What a ride by Dan Martin. That was unreal. He was crossing the line and not a word from Sean Kelly. what is it about this guy. Is he jealous or something?? He never mentions the Irish riders.Shame on him.

He's usually beaten to it by Harmon, but I find they have plenty of time for Irish riders.

NickDrake

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

He's usually beaten to it by Harmon, but I find they have plenty of time for Irish riders.

Not a word from Kelly yesterday. Like it was a stunning ride from the Irish man and he didnt even acknowledge it