Giro d'Italia 2011

honkjelly

From the steephill stats the 2011 route looks even hiller than last year! Zoncalan again and more strade bianche up the Colle delle Finestre - 45 switchbacks and 7.9 kilometres of gravel!!!! Lets hope it rains on May 28th.

http://www.steephill.tv/giro-d-italia/#route-map

TheBlaaMan

I'm contemplating a trip to see a mountain stage on one of the grand tours next year, and the Giro has plenty to choose from! I'd choose to fly/drive as I dont have a camper van:rolleyes:

I've been to a few high-profile motorsports events, and sometimes the "experience" is out-weighed by the hassle, and TV coverage is ultimately better - so what are bike events like?

Now, I'll have some/all of the family in tow, so real hard-core hassle is going to a deal-breaker.............so, if I wanted to see a mountain stage finish in the Giro, say Monte Zoncalan, or the Grossglockner stage (Austria) is it likely to be a big no-no with family tagging along? I'm thinking that for places like Zoncolan, access may be by foot/bike only and I'd need to be in-situ a long, long time before the action came by, so that is likely to severly test the patience of wife/kids...I suspect?

I remember the non-event that was the TdF when it passed thru Waterford - wait two hours and then blink and its gone...:( ...so a flat stage - while easier to spectate - is not particularly attractive to me.

Any advice/guidance welcome.:cool::cool:

sy

The Giro was the best of the Grande Tours last year. A real classic. Remember the stage to Montalcino [FONT=century gothic, verdana, arial, sans-serif]when it rained


and Evans made Vino cry!



[/FONT]

sy

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Now, I'll have some/all of the family in tow, so real hard-core hassle is going to a deal-breaker.............so, if I wanted to see a mountain stage finish in the Giro, say Monte Zoncalan, or the Grossglockner stage (Austria) is it likely to be a big no-no with family tagging along? I'm thinking that for places like Zoncolan, access may be by foot/bike only and I'd need to be in-situ a long, long time before the action came by, so that is likely to severly test the patience of wife/kids...I suspect?



Any advice/guidance welcome.:cool::cool:

Your suspicion is correct!
I think you have answered your question in this extract. The Zoncolan is only by foot or bike as far as I know and most of the big climbs require that you get up in your campervan at least the day before. A lot of waiting and not an easy thing to contend with if the weather is poor and you have a young family. Probably better set them up on a nice campsite and head up on the bike early in the morning with a some food and a few beers:). Remember it can be very cold on the climbs in Italy at that time of the year and you will be hanging around for most of the day. Still the buzz and anticipation would be worth it assuming you love the sport
A better option for the family would be to head to the start of a TT where there is usually a good buzz and you can get up close with the kids to have a look at the bikes and the riders warming up on their rollers. Happy hols

ednwireland

a few to choose from though


There are 409 kilometers of ascent out 3496

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/6137/2011-Giro-dItalia-with-409-kilometers-of-climbing.aspx

honkjelly

Start list announced today and Deignan made the Radioshack team.

http://www.podiumcafe.com/2011/4/21/2124803/giro-startlist#storyjump

C3PO

"COGCOLNAGO - CSF INOX IRL"

Are Colnago registered in Ireland or something?

amjon.

Contadoper is there. Scumbag.

niceonetom

RPL1 wrote: »

"COGCOLNAGO - CSF INOX IRL"

Are Colnago registered in Ireland or something?

Yes. I think a few of the Italian teams are - Dequi-geo-what-you-mccall-it or ISD, I think. Tax purposes.

sy

No mention of Dan Martin, was suppose to be joint leader with Christophe Le Mével. Any more news from his crash on Wednesday?

blorg

@Blaaman- I think cycling is better followed on TV personally. Watching a race in person you really have very little idea of what is going on over the course of the stage, you are waiting all day and the riders just come past very quickly. It is better on a hill as they aren't going quite so fast and you can see them suffering but it is still all over very quickly. If I was there and had a day I'd prefer to DO a mountain stage than watch one.

TheBlaaMan

Provisional start list here http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/giro-ditalia-start-list-1

No Nic Roche, no Dan Martin. Philip Deignan is in there as the only Irish rider. Pity.

Captain Havoc

I see John Gadret has been made team leader for AG2R

corkchef

blorg wrote: »

@Blaaman- I think cycling is better followed on TV personally. Watching a race in person you really have very little idea of what is going on over the course of the stage, you are waiting all day and the riders just come past very quickly. It is better on a hill as they aren't going quite so fast and you can see them suffering but it is still all over very quickly. If I was there and had a day I'd prefer to DO a mountain stage than watch one.

have to agree. went to the tour last year and watched two passes on the col de tourmalet. if you can get to a spot with a good grade you will be able to watch and take pics for a bit. they close the roads to cars very early on the day and you will have to be prepared to do some walking. we walked about 12k up the climb to get our spot.


the craic though is fun and if you understand the local language you will be able to follow the "race radio"

all in all you are looking at investing about 8-12 hours for 30 minutes of cycling on a good hill with the peleton absolutely busted. elsewise it is over in seconds.


we got back to pau just in time to see the lads come in to town


we saw the bordeaux time trial start and a few finishes as well

this year the plan is to catch two stages and climb them.

col de tourmalet and alp d'huez. we are thinking the camper route this year and from what we hear the advice is to get to the climb two to three days ahead. otherwise you are walking in like everyone else. rent or take a bike is a must!

RobFowl

Captain Havoc wrote: »

I see John Gadret has been made team leader for AG2R

I'd love to see him ask for a wheel if he punctures

pprendeville

corkchef wrote: »

have to agree. went to the tour last year and watched two passes on the col de tourmalet. if you can get to a spot with a good grade you will be able to watch and take pics for a bit. they close the roads to cars very early on the day and you will have to be prepared to do some walking. we walked about 12k up the climb to get our spot.


the craic though is fun and if you understand the local language you will be able to follow the "race radio"

all in all you are looking at investing about 8-12 hours for 30 minutes of cycling on a good hill with the peleton absolutely busted. elsewise it is over in seconds.


we got back to pau just in time to see the lads come in to town


we saw the bordeaux time trial start and a few finishes as well

this year the plan is to catch two stages and climb them.

col de tourmalet and alp d'huez. we are thinking the camper route this year and from what we hear the advice is to get to the climb two to three days ahead. otherwise you are walking in like everyone else. rent or take a bike is a must!

gosh they are skinny. they must have absolutely no body fat after that race.

Lemag

Awesome picture of Lance. Did you take that, corkchef?

cormpat

sy wrote: »

The Giro was the best of the Grande Tours last year. A real classic. Remember the stage to Montalcino [FONT=century gothic, verdana, arial, sans-serif]when it rained


and Evans made Vino cry!



[/FONT]

Looks just like Kanturk yesterday!

torturedsoul

Whats the story with Roche,
any idea why he isn't in the giro? Injury?

Lumen

torturedsoul wrote: »

Whats the story with Roche,
any idea why he isn't in the giro? Injury?

I read that he's had a crappy winter with injury and is focused on prep for the TdF. He also crashed in the Flèche Wallonne.

Gasco

Comlpetely off - topic, but whats the story with Vino's front brake cable in the photo with Evans? Or am more blind than i thought

Junior

Gasco wrote: »

Comlpetely off - topic, but whats the story with Vino's front brake cable in the photo with Evans? Or am more blind than i thought

There's a cable and housing there just not in the brake.

Chips Lovell

torturedsoul wrote: »

Whats the story with Roche,
any idea why he isn't in the giro? Injury?

Although there are exceptions, most people aiming to do a good Tour wouldn't ride the Giro. Some guys ride it for Tour preparation, but most feel it's too hard a race for that.

dewindygap

Could anyone clarify if that is just for the Giro (Gadret)? Must say he has been very active in breaks and probably more TV time than Roche.
As for this years Giro, I really am looking forward to it as I found it more compelling than the TdF, especially last year.

pprendeville

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/giro-ditalia-anglophone-invasion

Great story about Roche's 87 victory. Never knew this myself.

RobFowl

pprendeville wrote: »

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/giro-ditalia-anglophone-invasion

Great story about Roche's 87 victory. Never knew this myself.

The joke at the time was "whats Stephen Roche's favourite food? Pancakes 'cos it's the only thing he can get under the door of his hotel room.."

(Didn't say it was funny)

cantalach

blorg wrote: »

@Blaaman- I think cycling is better followed on TV personally. Watching a race in person you really have very little idea of what is going on over the course of the stage, you are waiting all day and the riders just come past very quickly.

Unless you can do both. I watched the Ronde on a TV in a beer tent near the top of the Kapelmuur, surrounded by Flemish cycling fans. When the race came by, we walked 10-15 metres to see the action in person, before returning to the tent to watch the last few km on TV. Best of both worlds...with beer on tap for just €2 a glass!

jimbobaloobob

I hope Deignan has a good tour, looking forward to watching it.

corkchef

Lemag wrote: »

Awesome picture of Lance. Did you take that, corkchef?

thanks lemag, i did. we were lucky to choose that spot that lance broke away from the lead group ahead of sandy casar

ednwireland

torturedsoul wrote: »

Whats the story with Roche,
any idea why he isn't in the giro? Injury?

anyone whose thinking of doing a good tour in the overall isnt riding the giro as its too hard, you wont recover to ride well in the tour. as several riders found out last year

cadel, wiggo, schlecks, basso none are riding

only contador (prob cos he wont be in the tour)

niceonetom

ednwireland wrote: »

anyone whose thinking of doing a good tour in the overall isnt riding the giro as its too hard, you wont recover to ride well in the tour. as several riders found out last year

cadel, wiggo, schlecks, basso none are riding

only contador (prob cos he wont be in the tour)

To me that seems like a good thing. The giro has in the past suffered from too many big name riders using it as training and riding conservatively (just as the vuelta continues to suffer from World Championship dropouts). These big name riders hog TV time and can stifle the ambitions of team-mates as everyone has to mark each other - I'd prefer to see teams take chances on younger riders as team-leader or let the climbing specialists go crazy on the monsters of the dolomites. That's why I love the Giro - I would rather see lesser riders in ferocious competition than see Schleck and Contador pussyfooting around the way we've seen in the Tour for the last couple of years.

Zomegnan seems to have made this years giro impossible to ride conservatively. Stages 14 and 15 are INSANE with stage 15 having 6,100m+ of climbing and coming the day after the Zoncolan. That's more climbing in one day than the entire Tour of Romandie. The route sends a message - come to win or don't come at all, this is not for training. Awesome.



That's the kind of profile you will never see in another tour because it would eliminate half the field.

Reconnaissance:

Plastik

niceonetom wrote: »

stage 15 having 6,100m+ of climbing

Jaysus, I'm feeling the pain. 2,400 was enough at the weekend. I can barely comprehend 6,100 in a single sitting.

thebouldwhacker

Any suggestions for whats the best web site to watch the Giro on in the evenings?

TheBlaaMan

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Any suggestions for whats the best web site to watch the Giro on in the evenings?

Presuming that you dont have TV-Eurosport (where there is nightly coverage, albeit at different times each night :mad:) you should be able to catch a delayed transmission on cyclingfans.com where the first banner also suggests they will have it live.

thebouldwhacker

Cheers Blaaman. Just saw this on the site, pretty cool

honkjelly

Some good vids from pez - Indurain sure did push a big gear up them hills.

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=9307&status=True&catname=Latest%20News

along with a preview of stages 10 to 15

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=9308&status=True&catname=Latest%20News

I can't wait!!

kennyb3

Looking foward to the TTT on sat, usually provides some form of comedy or major drama.

Plastik

Bloody hell, stages 14 & 15 scare me.

tippx

Captain Havoc wrote: »

I see John Gadret has been made team leader for AG2R

Dident roche have a bust up with him last year for not giving him a wheel , roche was higher on the GC if rembember and was not impressed with Gadret telling him to Piss off

Morrisseeee

It's really a case of the 'good' (Nibali) versus the 'bad' (Contaspoofer) !!

I read somewhere that this year's 3 grand tours are the toughest yet, there's more climbing and mountain top finishes than ever :eek:, bring it on

Leaving out the top 2, who do people fancy to fill the minor placings. Personally I'll be looking out for our Irish interest and also Pinotti, Cav/Farrar in the sprints and Craig Lewis (who you can follow here).

antogz1979

I hope Contador goes out and destoys the field, which I think he will anyway. Nibali won't come anywhere near him. I think its a disgrace how Contadors name is dragged through the **** like this, when its obviously clear he is innocent.
Its pathetic to see all these slang words "contaspoofer" "contadoper" some people are just really narrowminded and jealous. We should be sitting back and looking forward to Contador destroying this field over the next 3 weeks.

Chips Lovell

antogz1979 wrote: »

Its pathetic to see all these slang words "contaspoofer" "contadoper" some people are just really narrowminded and jealous. We should be sitting back and looking forward to Contador destroying this field over the next 3 weeks.

You forgot Clenbutador.

Lumen

Albuterol Contadoper?

amjon.

antogz1979 wrote: »

I hope Contador goes out and destoys the field, which I think he will anyway. Nibali won't come anywhere near him. I think its a disgrace how Contadors name is dragged through the **** like this, when its obviously clear he is innocent.
Its pathetic to see all these slang words "contaspoofer" "contadoper" some people are just really narrowminded and jealous. We should be sitting back and looking forward to Contador destroying this field over the next 3 weeks.

That is absolute nonsense. He is guilty of transgressing the current doping legislation and as such should be serving a two year ban.

TheBlaaMan

antogz1979 wrote: »

I hope Contador goes out and destoys the field, which I think he will anyway. Nibali won't come anywhere near him. I think its a disgrace how Contadors name is dragged through the **** like this, when its obviously clear he is innocent.
Its pathetic to see all these slang words "contaspoofer" "contadoper" some people are just really narrowminded and jealous. We should be sitting back and looking forward to Contador destroying this field over the next 3 weeks.

I presume this is a piss take..................:rolleyes:

GetWithIt

Cav 80/1 for the Points Classification. Does the route contain that many mountain top finishes to justify those odds? I thought his stated aims for the year was to take the Points jersey in all 3 grand tours.

Also, Nibali 8/11 for a podium finish = free money?

ednwireland

antogz1979 wrote: »

I hope Contador goes out and destoys the field, which I think he will anyway. Nibali won't come anywhere near him. I think its a disgrace how Contadors name is dragged through the **** like this, when its obviously clear he is innocent.
Its pathetic to see all these slang words "contaspoofer" "contadoper" some people are just really narrowminded and jealous. We should be sitting back and looking forward to Contador destroying this field over the next 3 weeks.

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

I presume this is a piss take..................:rolleyes:

it is friday after all ..................

Chips Lovell

GetWithIt wrote: »

Cav 80/1 for the Points Classification. Does the route contain that many mountain top finishes to justify those odds? I thought his stated aims for the year was to take the Points jersey in all 3 grand tours.

Points jersey in the Giro is often taken by non-sprinters. The last two were won by Evans and Menchov. Given how hard this year's parcours is, I'd have doubts Cavendish will even finish let alone win the points competition.

antogz1979

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

I presume this is a piss take..................:rolleyes:

How is it a piss take. He was cleared to ride by the spanish riding federation and will be cleared by the world anti doping body as well. Sit back and watch him decimate the field this year. I see your another bitter jealous individual. What has he done so wrong in your eyes?

antogz1979

Cavendish won't finish this. He will try and win a few stages before the big mountains and call it a day. One of the big climbers will win this by default I'd say. Anton has a great chance of a podium finish and 5/1 with sportingbet is massive in my opinion.

Lumen

antogz1979 wrote: »

How is it a piss take. He was cleared to ride by the spanish riding federation and will be cleared by the world anti doping body as well. Sit back and watch him decimate the field this year. I see your another bitter jealous individual. What has he done so wrong in your eyes?

Doping.