It’s down to four seconds between the reigning Tour de France champion and the young “Cobra” Ricco going into an epic weekend that features a brutal mountain stage and final time trial in Milan. This Giro could be one of the closest in memory after a week that featured a brutal uphill time trial.
Riccardo Ricco unleashed his frustrations at Emmanuele Sella and Domenico Pozzovivo when he saw that he missed the Maglia Rosa by only four seconds. Sella and Pozzovivo were defending their GC places and by that effort helped Contador pace back in. Ricco likes to talk and wear his heart on his sleeve which endears him to many Italian cycling fans. The fire is fun to watch especially when so many other cyclist tend to watch what they say and speak in metered tones.
Ricco and DiLuca attacked Contador and now look to be in contention. The next stage features some brutal climbs up the Gavia Pass and the Mortirolo. The problem is that these climbs may not be decisive enough since they are far from the finish.
Ricco and DiLuca need some more time between themselves and Contador for the final TT which favors Contador.
My second year as race promoter for the Syracuse Race Weekend is in the books. The lead-up to the race was more hectic than expected as the wife was admitted to the hospital for fear of pre-term labor. So here I am calling people about things like insurance for firemen and last minute hay-bales while the wife is worrying about having a baby at 31 weeks. It was a hectic time and gave me major burnout to all things cycling for a few days after that.
Luckily the wife is doing well, the baby is still baking and will hopefully go to full term or close to full term. The Syracuse Race Weekend went off well with racers raving about the new Criterium course at the Inner Harbor in Downtown Syracuse.
After getting the hang of running the race last year, I decided to switch up a few things for 2008. This year I added a Time Trial around Song Mountain and switched the Crit course to the Inner Harbor venue. I also changed the race from and Omnium to a stage race format. And I moved the date up one week from Memorial Day weekend to May 17th and 18th. Just a few changes to shake things up…
So to compare, David Millar’s throw seems to have gotten more air, but it is probably a much lighter bike. The Pinarello that Riis had probably weighed 19 pounds while Millar’s bike should weigh in at the UCI standard 16 pounds. Riis seems like such a douche when he throws the bike as opposed to Millar who may have injured the family jewels seems more sympathetic. One other factor is that Riis was probably using EPO and other performance enhancing means when he threw it, while Millar is pretty much clean.
Hmm, maybe David Millar won’t be doing promos for SRAM’s chains anytime soon. Bonus points for getting some good distance on the bike. Bjarne Riis would be proud. After 4 plus hours in a breakaway having your chain snap just as you are about to make a sprint has got to be the most frustrating thing to happen. Add to that how Millar landed on his top tube and I would not be surprised to see him at least try and snap the bike in half before launching it. Better luck in the next stage.
Rain Sicilian roads made for a slick crash filled stage. The processional pace must have been a result of the crashes and recovery from the previous two stages. Passing from Catania to Messina there were many crashes highlighting the Giro coverage. Bradley McGee is the latest early exit from a nasty crash. That is two TT expert racers in two days.
Meanwhile Liquigas had a busy day controlling the tempo as team of race leader Franco Pellizotti and later on setting a high pace for the aspiring Sprint King Daniele Bennati. Benna
Vincenzo Nibali made a brief flyer to make the locals happy. The Sicilian cyclist riding on home roads got some cheers as he attacked 9 km from the finish. The Nibali attack which was more for show since he is a hometown kid, helped to setup the Liquigas train for Bennati.
The Liquigas train will never be mistaken for Petacchi’s Milram trains since attacks were able to get off the front and only a few Liquigas men were able to stay at the front. The front was a mix of Milram, High Road and other teams. Bennati was on Zabel’s wheels and other Milram riders. Going into the final 500 meters Bennati used the Milram train meant for Zabel to launch his final attack. Zabel was well placed but could not get around Bennati.
One of the exciting aspects of the Giro are these brutal climbing circuit finishes that bring out the small Italian sprinting/climbing types. The Davide Rebellin’s Danilo Diluca’s and Paolo Bettini type of racers that can power up brutally steep climbs and sprint to win in a small pack. The new kid on the block is brash and already has a viscious nickname of ‘Il Cobra’ Ricardi Ricco powered his way to a win in Agrigento in front of Davide Rebellin to take a well deserved win.
The day showed that Team LPR is serious in helping Danilo DiLuca defend his Maglia Rosa. LPR has some good racers including Paolo Savoldelli a former Giro winner himself. After Slipstream set the pace for most of the day with big man Magnus Backstedt in the front, LPR took over when the roads started getting steeper.
Slipstream meanwhile is suffering a double whammy mojo loss of the Maglia Rosa off of Christian Vande Velde’s back by a measly one second to Franco “porno Hair” Pellizotti. And David Zabriske could not use his mustache mojo to avoid a bad crash that hurt his vertebrae. The injury is not to serious, but will take some time to recover.
There is a local TV show called Brdige St. which follows the Regis and Kelly format. This is the second year in a row that we were able to get a segment on the show. Sam Sampere of the Onondaga Cycling Club did the on air honors showing some gear and a Trek Madone 6.9 worth $7500 from Syracuse Bicycle. These segments are light and easy, but hopefully get the info out about the Kids Race.
The Giro is upon us once again. The funnest Grand Tour started today in Palermo, Sicily with a Team Time Trial. Twenty years after Andy Hampsten last wore the Maglia Rosa in Milan to win the 1988 Giro D’Italia witha young American 7-Eleven team Christian Vande Velde wears the Maglia at the start with a young American team.
Team Slipstream has been the team to beat in the Team Time Trials. They set an early fast time that teams such as the well oiled CSC and High Road failed to beat. The competition between CSC which was the home of Slipstream racers Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriske must have been intense as the CSC men came down and missed the time of Slipstream by only seconds. The typical hot and sunny Sicilian town presented an overcast day with some ocean breezes helping to slow down the return ride home. Several teams would clock in fast times to the half way point only to lose some time on the way back in.
Slipstream has been preparing for the TTT for over a week and made the first stage one of their main goals. Their win today was not for lack of trying as they already won the Team Time Trial at the Road America course in the Tour de Georgia just a couple of weeks ago. Recently they were training with the Giro team in Spain. So this win was not a big surprise for many who follow the team.
Team High Road had to help nurse their young revelation and Tour de Georgia winner Sistov who was having a hard time staying with the fast pace set by the team. As he dangled back other teammates were seen slowing down and encouragingS istov to stay in contact with the group. Clearly High Road has some bigger ambitions for Sistov during the Giro.
Next few stages go to the sprinters as Daniele Bennati can finally try to take the stage to himself as the next Italian sprint king as Alessandro Petacchi is home serving a one year suspension. Bennati is back into form and with a new team. He won the final stage of the Tour de Romandie. Bennati looks to square off against Mark Cavendish of Team High Road who also had a good result in Romandie with a prologue win. Robbie McEwen has been a regular winner and early abandoner of the Giro in recent years. The Bennati-Canvendish-McEwen battle should be fun to watch.
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Thinking about Milan San Remo, my favs have to be Pozzato and Petacchi. Not sure about Hagen just yet. Cav is still a contender too. 1 hr ago
