Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

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Danilo DiLuca has been looking very ticked lately. He made it to the podium, third place to be exact for the Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallone. The Killer of Spoltore usually does not seem to be the groggy angry type. He usually seems friendlier. Perhaps it is frustration that he did not take the top spot in the races that he dominated just two seasons ago. DiLuca had a dream season in 2005 where he won Amstel and Fleche and followed that up with a fourth place in an epic Giro D’Italia. 2006 saw Diluca struggle to find the same magic.

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The punching salute and growl are probably signs of frustration leaving the body. Just as Diluca rediscovers his form, everyone else find their form too. Stefan Schumacher overcame some stitches in his knee to win Amstel, while Diluca was heavily marked going up the final climb. In Fleche Diluca scores another third after watching a repeat of 2004 when Rebellin won Fleche. Even last year’s Liege champ Valverde was on form. These races are tough enough, but with so many racers on form it was getting frustrating for a man like Diluca to take the lower notches n the podium.

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Next up would be the Giro. With Basso a no-show and possibly others being excluded for Operation Puerto 2 “Operation puertier” the field should once again be wide open givng Diluca another chance to be in the mix.