Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

(pic from eurosport.com)

The Giro started this weekend and may have ended this weekend too. Ivan Basso put down a Lance Armstrong/Miguel Indurain type of performance on the first real mountin top finish of the Giro. As Carlos Sastre set a tempo reminiscent of Discovery Channel/Postal leadout of the past seven years, Basso simply clicked away as contenders drifted off the back of the group.

The first of the contenders to feel the pain was Danilo DiLuca. “The Killer” did not seem to be on form all this weekend. It was reported that DiLuca was suffering some sort of ailment on Saturday which showed. On Sunday his pace was much better, but he was one of the first top contenders to get launched off the back.

Paolo Savoldelli had a good ride, but probably lost one minute more than he would have liked. He was not going to keep up with the top mountainmen in the Giro this year, which may mean that he does not have much of a chance to repeat his win from last year.

Gilberto Simoni could not get launched by his teamate Leonardo Piepoli. The small Italian climber helped Gibo get to the top of the climb on Sunday as Basso simply rode away with the win. Simoni felt that he set a good pace and was frustrated that he could not muster any more speed. Is he getting old? Not really he placed respectably, he is just not as fast as Basso or Cunego.

Damiano Cunego may be the big challenger to Ivan Basso in the next two weeks. “Il Prinicpe” was read to pounce on a win. With 4km to go Cunego launched an attack trying to see if Basso would follow. Basso did and immediately upped the pace. Cunego burned his match and could not stay on Basso’s wheel. David Cassani-RAI Giro commentator stated that the attack was simple inexperience. He attacked too early and probably should have waited until later to attack or win the stage. I think Cunego simply miscalculated how strong Basso was in the mountains as he simply sped away from all of the competitors.

Other riders to look out for in the Giro are Jose Rujano and Jan Ullrich. Rujano and Ullrich were climbing side by side coming into Saturday’s stage. Two out of form riders with different goals. Rujano was a mystery coming into the Giro and was supposed to be a contender for the overall on a course that suits him well. The 48 kg climber is clearly not in form. He was able to claw his way back to the lead group on Sunday after which he launched an attack. The attack was gradually reeled in by Sastre which resulted in the Cunego counter attack. If the 48kg climber was all over his bike trying to get speed up the climb. He performed better than Saturday, which may mean he could chellenge for a stage win later in the Giro, his Maglia Rosa chances look slim.

Jan Ullrich looks to be improving his form each day. Der Kaiser placed respectably on Saturday’s stage and chose a more leisurly pace on Sunday. His weekend performances are not bad considering what many were saying about him earlier in the year.

Ivan Basso clearly has a tight grip on the Maglia Rosa much like he did last year early in the race. After one year of preparation and analysis of what went wrong on the Stelvio stage you can bet that Basso won’t leave much up to chance.