Which Giro?

josame

I'm know of the classic TdF's in the last 20 years: for example '89, '98 and 2003 but can you recommend the equivalent classic Giro's in the same period so I can have a butchers on DVD. Is Cunego's 2004 win worth a gander?

iainf72

2005 Giro.

Best Grand tour of the last 20 years.

pat1cp

iainf72 wrote:

2005 Giro.

Best Grand tour of the last 20 years.

Was that the year the wee Colombian came on the scene ?? It was great.

The year after was pretty much a procession. I remember watching Basso ride Simoni off his wheel on the way up to Aprica and thinking it was absolutely awesome. And his wife had just had their second child IIRC. He went onto win by quite a margin.

moray_gub

pat1cp wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

2005 Giro.

Best Grand tour of the last 20 years.

Was that the year the wee Colombian came on the scene ?? It was great.

The year after was pretty much a procession. I remember watching Basso ride Simoni off his wheel on the way up to Aprica and thinking it was absolutely awesome. And his wife had just had their second child IIRC. He went onto win by quite a margin.

Yea 2005 i think Basso was set to win that as well but got a stomach bug one day in the mountains and lost 30 mins or so. Stayed in the race recoverd and won two more stages, easily the best Grand Tour of the last decade.

afx237vi

pat1cp wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

2005 Giro.

Best Grand tour of the last 20 years.

Was that the year the wee Colombian came on the scene ?? It was great.

The year after was pretty much a procession. I remember watching Basso ride Simoni off his wheel on the way up to Aprica and thinking it was absolutely awesome. And his wife had just had their second child IIRC. He went onto win by quite a margin.

Venezuelan, but yes.

DaveyL

I think both Jose Rujano and Ivan Parra were quite dominant in the mountains in the 05 Giro.

Art Vandelay

Rujano was 48kg. Lightweight as FF might say

GroupOfOne MkII

Ah yes 2005 is a vintage, I've recently got it on DVD. Was in Italy for the whole race so could watch it every day on Rai 8)

'05 featured the Col de Finestre too and Wim Van Huffel acting as a Discovery Channel tow truck.

afx237vi

DaveyL wrote:

I think both Jose Rujano and Ivan Parra were quite dominant in the mountains in the 05 Giro.

Yeah, Parra (a Colombian) won two major mountain stages in a row, but I took pat1cp to be referring to Rujano (a Venezuelan).

Both had a rather severe dip in form after that Giro! Just had a look and Parra is now riding for Colombia es Pasión.

iainf72

Moray Gub wrote:

Yea 2005 i think Basso was set to win that as well but got a stomach bug one day in the mountains and lost 30 mins or so.

Based on what happened since then I kind of get the impression it wasn't a stomach bug. Wasn't the line at the time he'd drank too much cold water?

Regardless, it was such a fantastic race. I remember the 2nd last stage was on ES delayed but I'd already seen what was going on via the cyclingnews live commentry.

DaveyL

afx237vi wrote:

Both had a rather severe dip in form after that Giro! Just had a look and Parra is now riding for Colombia es Pasión.

Indeed. They both rode for Swiss Toni though, so there most definitely couldn't have been any jiggery-pokery going on. Right?

Remember his "If any of my boys put in such outrageous performances (referring to Ricco at the 2008 TdF) I'd be the first one to spot it, dear reader" pledge in Pro Cycling earlier this year?

andyp

iainf72 wrote:

Based on what happened since then I kind of get the impression it wasn't a stomach bug. Wasn't the line at the time he'd drank too much cold water?

A dodgy omelette was also mentioned.

It couldn't have been dodgy doping products as Saint Ivan only ever considered attempted doping.

dave_1

iainf72 wrote:

2005 Giro.

Best Grand tour of the last 20 years.

a little off topic...but 2003 TDF Ullrich and LA-was a good battle non?

takethehighroad

No arguments about 2005 being the best GT but the 2003 version is a good'un too, the day it snowed especially is fantastic to watch, like going back in time, no stoopid rider protests or anythin

Le Commentateur

I liked the 2000 one, with Casagrande's collapse over the final couple of mountain days after 10 days or so of seemingly being in total control in the pink jersey. If the TdF had such an ending people would call it a classic edition.

mididoctors

Le Commentateur wrote:

I liked the 2000 one, with Casagrande's collapse over the final couple of mountain days after 10 days or so of seemingly being in total control in the pink jersey. If the TdF had such an ending people would call it a classic edition.

what year race was it casagrande spat the dummy and pushed someone off his bike?

blazing_saddles

2002
The same year that Garzelli was pulled for testing pos for a masking agent and "Sweety" Simoni.
Bit of an dramatic edition for all the wrong reasons. Cadel's complete collapse, while in pink, on the final mountain stage, too.

Luckily, we had that nice Mr Hamilton, broken shoulder, gnashing his teeth to the roots, finishing as runner up.

mididoctors

Blazing Saddles wrote:

2002
The same year that Garzelli was pulled for testing pos for a masking agent and "Sweety" Simoni.
Bit of an dramatic edition for all the wrong reasons. Cadel's complete collapse, while in pink, on the final mountain stage, too.

Luckily, we had that nice Mr Hamilton, broken shoulder, gnashing his teeth to the roots, finishing as runner up.

oh yeah.... casagrande the nearly man... his head looked like a horse

cadel finished every race he entered that year in the top 10... no wonder he rides with one knee

mididoctors

1998 crit fest was memorable ...

alex zuelle winning that stage(6ish?)flying past the out of place london double decker bus parked on some appennine mountain was an extraordinary demonstration of POWER...

pantani was overtaken at such a speed i thought the air shockwave was going to knock him off his bike...


then festina and zulle collapsed in the dolomites as Pantani and Guerini(?) rode off dumping zulle for 20 mins..

I think zuelle's comment was "bad day"

mididoctors

josame wrote:

. Is Cunego's 2004 win worth a gander?

no most boring GT ever

moray_gub

mididoctors wrote:

josame wrote:

. Is Cunego's 2004 win worth a gander?

no most boring GT ever

I think that honour goes to Contador's 2008 Giro win or 2008 Vuelta.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz = El Pistolero sending us all to sleep.

type:epyt

the 08 Vuleta was worth it for Contador getting all pissy that Levi finished second while going all out to help AC ... that's where it all started to go wrong for him ...

blazing_saddles

mididoctors wrote:

no most boring GT ever

My Vote goes to Lance's 2002 walkover.
The only surprise was that USPS didn't give Heras a bit of time off domestique duties, so that he could try for the RU spot.
Dull as ditch water.

2003 was an excellent vintage for the Giro/Tour double. First appearance of the Zoncolan and the last of Marco Pantani.
Plus, IMO Lance's finest hour. Won it the real hard way.

2004, as a year, was awful, though. Add to Cunego's Giro, a poor Tour course and another ridiculously one sided race.

Coma Central.

Agree that the 1998 and 2000 Giros are well worth a look.

pat1cp

afx237vi wrote:

DaveyL wrote:

I think both Jose Rujano and Ivan Parra were quite dominant in the mountains in the 05 Giro.

Yeah, Parra (a Colombian) won two major mountain stages in a row, but I took pat1cp to be referring to Rujano (a Venezuelan).

Both had a rather severe dip in form after that Giro! Just had a look and Parra is now riding for Colombia es Pasión.

you're perfectly correct about Rujano AFX. And he was tiny. His bike loked bonkers, the wheels looked twice the size of anyone else.

mididoctors

Moray Gub wrote:

I think that honour goes to Contador's 2008 Giro win or 2008 Vuelta.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz = El Pistolero sending us all to sleep.

those were pretty dull... but dullest?

2008 vuelta was mighty predictable but at least the winner had to drop everyone to win.. +levi drama (as mentioned)

In 2004 cunego wasn't even chased!!!!! just went off on a long training ride while his own team did nothing to liven the race up. Simioni didn't even kick up much of a fuss for Drama value considering he was mugged.. bit underrated Simioni in hindsight. thou I think Simioni wasn't firing on all cylinders

2008 giro had a few moments ... DDL pulling faces is always a laugh.. plus Ricco drama. we loved to hate him etc...

mididoctors

Blazing Saddles wrote:

My Vote goes to Lance's 2002 walkover.
The only surprise was that USPS didn't give Heras a bit of time off domestique duties, so that he could try for the RU spot.
Dull as ditch water.
.

the tour has a "get out of jail free card" because it always has a bit of drama somewhere

josame

Thanks for all the replies - off sick so watched 5 hrs of 2005 Giro yesterday,

Questions...

Does Savoldelli ever smile or is he just shy - he won the Giro - fgs!

Sorry to add this bit but (I needzz tooo know) considering his Savo's opponents and shall we say their 'very good' performances. Do we have to raise are eyebrows a little at Mr Yates current role. I don't mean to be this cynical but watching these races doesn't help.

iainf72

Savo got into Discovery via his prepatore, one Michele Ferrari.

Make of that what you will.

teagar

Moray Gub wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

josame wrote:

. Is Cunego's 2004 win worth a gander?

no most boring GT ever

I think that honour goes to Contador's 2008 Giro win or 2008 Vuelta.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz = El Pistolero sending us all to sleep.

I enjoyed the 2008 Giro.


Contador really didn't look like he was up to much at all untill the final week, and even then some dan dare attacking from Di Luca kept the mountain stages interesting...

Speaking of boring races, such as the Vuelta this year (the viewing figures apparantly agree), I thought the procycling comment this month was interesting. Seemed to suggest that perhaps Valvarde's success this year was partly because he was racing as conservatively as possible. No stage wins from anyone who neded up on the podium. No stinging mountain attacks.
Makes me wonder if it would be better to have them juiced up (safely!).

deejay

mididoctors wrote:

In 2004 cunego wasn't even chased!!!!! just went off on a long training ride while his own team did nothing to liven the race up. Simioni didn't even kick up much of a fuss for Drama value considering he was mugged.. bit underrated Simioni in hindsight. thou I think Simioni wasn't firing on all cylinders

2004 Giro
Gilberto SIMONI was mugged when he attacked and his so called Team mate caught up with him by wheel sucking.
Simoni was certainly the Sucker in that race.
The management put a Hold on Gilberto as they thought they now had a Young Gun that would go far.
We all know better now.??

knedlicky

Le Commentateur wrote:

I liked the 2000 one, with Casagrande's collapse over the final couple of mountain days after 10 days or so of seemingly being in total control in the pink jersey. If the TdF had such an ending people would call it a classic edition.

I liked the 2000 Giro too. I was in Italy the last week of that Giro and was really pleased for Garzelli - one of those riders who should have kept clear of doping as they would have done well enough without, like Virenque and Basso.

The best Giro is probably further back than 20 years, I've seen a film about it - the year Fuente almost beat Merckx and Baronchelli was only 12 seconds behind Merckx at the end (1974?).