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Who else is up for this? I even have my Magila Nera
Yeah!!! My man crush on Porte is at 100% after is stellar start to the year, I really think he can win this! Here's hoping Sky don't pointlessly try and boss the peloton for 3 weeks!
Previews from The Inner Ring,
http://inrng.com/2015/05/who-will-win-the-giro-2015/
http://inrng.com/2015/05/giro-stage-1-preview-2015/#more-24736
I love a TTT!
A few opportunities for the sprinters but non of the real big names attending, here's also hoping we'll some breaks succeed, could be interesting!
Moar,
http://inrng.com/2015/05/the-giros-sprinters-and-stage-winners/
I'm boringly going for Contador.. Yeah I know but the blokes out to prove something to himself I reckon and even though Porte is my favoured choice I just can't see him lasting 3 weeks of being stuck behind a blockade of Black and light Blue long enough.. On Berties side he is now wearing a Fluro kit and as every Italian knows Fluro Rox. 8)
I am secretly hoping Androni really pop off the front every day and take a long distance stage win... 8)
And.. I hate to say it but Boonan will crash out on stage two with suspected collar bone/tarmac/kerb interface malfunction and as always it'll be left to Uran to ride his ass off on his own, but he's used to that now. So for that I'm wishing him Bon Courage and expect him in the top 3.
Ryder will be a marked man, sorry son. But he will at least try a long distance rouleur shove off the front and get caught 3k from the line.. a la David Millar.
Giro is THE race for me, I'm quite besotted by it all, he says sitting typing in his pink Rapha T'shirt..
8)
Any of you read Tim Moores book when he cycles the 1914 route, it's quite good fun 🙂
careful, youve got REALMAN's TdeF threads to live up to!
I really like Porte- seems to be a genuine, straight talking nice guy- and I hope he has the personality to lead a team through a full 3 week GT and stay healthy. BUT I am also rooting for Bertie, despite his obvious history and his annoying victory celebration he is a beautiful attacking climber, who is wiley enough to attack on flat transitional stages when no one expects it. Also going for the Giro/Tour double and turmoil in the team with losing Riis, so plenty of "backstory" (eugh) to the "narrative" (bleuch).
And the best thing about eurosport; no matter who's commentating it's not Statler and Waldorf. I really wish ITV4 would bin that [s]inane drivel[/s] commentary and use their homegrown team.
Any of you read Tim Moores book when he cycles the 1914 route, it's quite good fun
quite good, yes, but the weakest thing he's ever written (IMHO and all that).
Just found out today that Stage 18 passes right by me. Would be rude not to ride down and watch them go through.
And the best thing about eurosport; no matter who's commentating it's not Statler and Waldorf. I really wish ITV4 would bin that inane drivel commentary and use their homegrown team.
This! Massively this!! Bit of a shame it's not on ITV though.
Looking forward to a drama filled three weeks. Tinkoff saxo and sky have got some serious teams in this. Unfortunately bertie will probably win. Good as porte is i cant see him being as consistent as Contador over three weeks.
I am secretly hoping Androni really pop off the front every day...
I think that will happen.
... and take a long distance stage win...
I don't think that will happen. Check me, going out on a crazy limb, there. 🙂
Is there an STW Velogames league?
Well it's another middle of the night effort so I think I'm going to catch some of the highlights. Hoping for Porte to stay healthy and have a shot at it. Genuine nice bloke from down the road from me. Lets see how it's all looking after week 1 and then we should have some idea.
Well, from the casual observer viewpoint, 27 seconds deficit after the team time trial seems rather a lot to make up. Even with another 3 weeks and 20 stages to go. Unless there is a black and blue hit squad anyway 😉
Will be an interesting race. Curious to see Sky give up so much time in the TTT. Can't see it all not going Contador's way though. Would be good to see Porte up there but he typically has one bad day deep into 3 week tours but reckon he'll hold on to a podium spot. Aru to loose buckets of time in the long ITT. So Contador, Uran Uran and Porte for the podium (shockingly predictable!) hopefully with Contador softened up a bit for the Tour.
Great performance yesterday by OGE, I haven't seen much in the way of form for Richie sort far this year (although I may have just missed it all 🙂
Sprinters day today. But that finish rises slightly. Griepel has had good form this year but i think it's going to be Mathews going into pink by the end of the day. Be intrested to see what Viviani can do.
palmer77 - Member
Great performance yesterday by OGE, I haven't seen much in the way of form for Richie sort far this year (although I may have just missed it all
You missed it all. He won Catalunya, Trentino and Paris-Nice picking up stage wins along the way. He also won the Australian ITT champs too. Having a pretty impressive year so far.
Duuuf, Viviani takes the stage. For once Sky had the right leadout!!
Crashfest at the end, apparently there was a member of the public riding a fixie in amongst the peloton with 10km to go!! ****ing hipsters!
Anyone seen any moar news on the apparent news that Porte is in a motorhome instead of a hotel room? Seems a bit...[insert your own]sketchy/dopey/moody/unsociable...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/porte-to-sleep-in-marginal-gains-motorhome-during-giro-ditalia
I can see the logic. Whether it works in real life, who knows. He'd have been rooming alone anyway.
Flip!!! That must have been an awful impact, I hope Pozzovivo is ok!
I'm not sure he will be 🙁
Missed the crash, but aftermath looked pretty bad.. hope he's ok
CN says he is conscious and moving
Eurosport just stated the race Dr said he is out of life threatening danger.
Had paused it earlier on Eurosport and just catching up now, there wasn't footage of the actual crash. Just Pozzovivo lying in the road. Looked out cold. Did not look good. Hope he's ok. There looked to be a wet patch on the inside of the corner and a barrier on the outside, maybe hit that?
Replays show his front wheel slipped out on a tight right handed and he went over the front onto his face. I was watching it live and initially when the cameras went to it he was slumped on the ground with blood on the road, extremely chilling. Not that j am an expert but looking at it I would suspect some sort of fractured skull. All the best fella...
That was a proper thud he did there. Sure he'll be right though, Team Tweeting he's chatting and lucid enough.. Can't see him riding tomorrow mind 😐
All the best Lad.
As for the finish and the fixie incident, seems the chap didn't look before trying to cross the road... Such an idiot.. Trek riders suitably angry and talks of punchings and a right good slap but that'll calm down once the PR folks have deleted the Tweets..
Another win for Orica.. Seems like such a nice boy does Mathews... Wonder what his mother thinks of him. 😉
Some more news about Pozzovivo here.
[url=http:// http://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/05/pozzovivo-out-of-giro-ditalia-but-not-in-danger-after-serious-crash/ ][/url]
Looked nasty but he seems to be ok.
Blimey that was pretty good today.
Today's stage appears to have been won by a 15 year old 🙂
[img] 
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Just watched the Eurosport highlights, spectacular stage and fantastic job by the fresh faced dude above to stay away 🙂
Lots of interest with aru's strong team and contractor isolated but strong. Uran is gonna struggle to make that back though
Clarke did well to get back into the group on the descent and recover to win the sprint for 2nd. Not sure if he thought he'd won the stage or was celebrating getting the pink jersey...
Amusing article speculating about [url= http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/05/news/contador-laughs-off-bike-motor-rumors-spread-by-cipollini_369990 ]Contador's bike change[/url]. Even more amusing to hear Cipollini accuse someone of [url= http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/07/news/pantini-ullrich-among-1998-tour-riders-positive-for-epo_296750 ]cheating[/url] 😆
A bit naughty of Contador, as it seems it was a pre-planned bike change, rather than a mechanical. I don't think Astana and Sky would have been happy to politely ease off the pace to let him back if they'd known.
This could be rather interesting, the 3 main protagonists seem well matched and up for a fight! Really bloody disappointed to see Uran off the back, here's hoping he can bounce back and cause havoc in the third week.
When's the TT?
TT is next Saturday in Treviso. A long one at 60Km.
Cool cheers, Uran has a rather good TT, here's hoping he can smash Aru out of the water. Not sure he can touch Porte/Contador though.
Yes shame for Uran Uran. He's not been well and it's been a pretty brutal first few days for the GC riders.
Holy moly! That arm did not look good.
Oooof, dear God he looked very poorly indeed 😡
#yuk
[img][url= https://flic.kr/p/sAmcXL ][img] https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8845/174539 [/img]
My god that was a nasty break. In the overhead you can see his arm catch on the barrier. Nasty.
not sure what came first - there was definite contact above his waist height (barrier or maybe a spectator - 2 with cameras that were affected by the impact) but also the tryes seemed to run over the base of the barrier & skip up a bit
🙁
Having had one it looks more like an elbow dislocation.
Contador not looking good either.
As for the sprint the only person i could see despite the commentator realing off names was Greipal. Perfectly timed. The bloke is fast this year.
The bloke is fast this year
Quite probably but it isn't really first class opposition is it? Probably a good decision for him though as GT stages always look good on the palmares.
Tweet mentioning dislocated shoulder for Bertie. I thought that as he stood on the podium, as that's how I was standing after I did mine. It might temper his standing up climbing style if he continues.
there's a slow motion replay on cycling news that seems to show some cock in the crowd with a telephoto lens caused it
Subluxation apparently, so not as bad. Though tomorrow is the longest stage of the race, and day after a big mountain top finish.
FFS! Just caught up. Urgh.
Just watched it on the TiVo. Ouch.
surprised that I'm happy about this but Contador is starting today.
if he lasts I hope they attack him and put some time into him before he has a chance to recover.
Unlikely that Aru or Porte will directly attack him today, but Astana will probably make sure it's a long hard day. Then try and break him tomorrow.
Happy that Bertie's starting too. Not a big fan of his but the race would be worse off without him. Wouldn't be surprised to see him climb off during the stage though.
surprised that I'm happy about this but Contador is starting today.
if he lasts I hope they attack him and put some time into him before he has a chance to recover.
I'm not a fan but I'm hoping for the opposite. Beat the man not the injury.
Yep. I fear Birtie will be in for some old fashioned Eastern Blok suffering from the likes of Scarponi (grrr). I hope he sticks it to them to be honest.
On that note this is the second high profile crash caused by a spectator in as many months in the last 500 metres, time for double barriers I think. The fans are clearly dick heads.
the enemy of my enemy is my friend...
Contador is lucky that Astana are Team Evil at the moment.
Hmm not sure about that brakes - can't say that I see Dirty Bertie's Tinkoff "win at any cost" team as any better than Astana or even Katusha it's seem strange that Ekimov seems to avoid the flack that both LA and Veino get.
I have to admit that Bertie's does tend to liven up a race
That there Ulissi is a very happy man.
Good final 15 mins of an otherwise pretty dull stage. Tomorrows should be a lot more interesting!
A strange result and a very messy sprint.
7 hours and 22 minutes in the saddle today for Contador with his bad shoulder. It's a tough sport!
Ooof a two minute time penalty for Porte for an illegal wheel change, on top of the time be lost in the chase back. Seems harsh but them's the rules. Over 3 mins back from Contador and Aru now, difficult to see how he'd make that back.
He might have gotten away with it too had he not tweeted his thanks to a rider from OGE giving him their wheel.
Ahhh yeah but there are no Italians in the top 3 are there??
Oh, suddenly there are.
Rock on Aru 🙄
It's a c#$p rule, who cares where the wheel came from. As much as possible the race should be decided by the riders not the rule book.
****waffles/**** the UCI/etc etc/shit rule
Can't be long until that ugly ****er Aru gets popped for doping...amazing he managed such a recovery...one month since losing 5kg from dysentery, remarkable skillz! Nice to see him getting Lancey too.
Yes, whatever you think of Aru, Contador, Porte, et al, it's disappointing for the race for a major contender to pretty much be eliminated from the GC for something pretty trivial. Fine him a mountain of cash if they must, but two minutes is pretty bloody harsh when grand tours are often decided by seconds.
#italiancyclingontherise
Bloody RCS.
So an act of sportmanship gets penalised whilst two teams spanking the dope big time get away scott free?
Bravo UCI , not!
Seems to me the big bucks from Astana and Tinkoff are going to "buy" another Grand Tour win with a dopeur on top of the podium.
Nibali, Aru, Contador, cheeting bar stewards the lot of them.
Well thats a bit shit. By applying that rule they've massively reduced the competetive potential of the race. Way to penalise good sportsmanship. Wonder if they'd have done the same to Aru?
Astana keeps licence for repeated doping violations.
Porte gets docked for accepting sportsmanlike gesture.Way to go pro cycling. Really winning admirers.
It's important to keep in mind that the Astana riders only got doping products from their own teammates. This rule would only apply if they got them from other teams.
I lol'd at this from the Road.cc comments!
Not only time penalty, (according to road.cc) commissaries also blocked the team cars to stop Porte getting a tow back on
Is there a hiighlights programme I can view anywhere?
Eurosport 2, 7am
Not only time penalty, (according to road.cc) commissaries also blocked the team cars to stop Porte getting a tow back on
Read that too, just watching the highlights, 21km to go so it'll kick off soon. Why not punish him twice eh. ****s.
I'm a Porte fan buoy in case anyone hadn't noticed...
How much time can Porte realistically claw back in the ITT? Always enjoy watching the Giro but feel a bit sorry for Porte here, so would now like to see him pull it back and beating Aru.