Giro s'Italia - Stage 2 - Utrecht - SPOILER

FJS

Stage 2 is underway for an hour and a bit, but no live broadcasts yet.

Well over 200 km to Utrecht, flat of course, although with mountain jersey points on two of the 'hills' West of Utrecht. Cycling fans should of course know them from Veenendaal-Veenendaal, won by such mountain goats as Kenny van Hummel, Jeroen Blijlevens and Jean-Paul van Poppel. Normally riders would hardly notice them, but with best climbers' jersey points to be gained they could be interesting - more so because who wins the points gets to keep the jersey for at least 3 days! - no points tomorrow, on the rest day, and in the TTT. Perhaps a once in a lifetime chance for riders like Greipel , Petacchi or Farrar to ride a couplle of days in the best climbers' jersey of a Grand Tour!

For the rest, it's dry and not too windy - should be one for the sprinters. Only thing to note is that the last 20 km or so is through Utrecht streets, some parts quite twisting, and the peloton could break there.

FJS

Breakaway of the day is with Voss, Flens, Pirazzi and Facci - 5 minutes after 53 km, 157 km to go. The 'hills' will be after 75 and 100 km, so it looks like one of those 4 will be in the green mountain jersey until Thursday at least.

StefanP

Live feed has now started on Gazetta TV, althought they aren't showing the ACTUAL race yet - just pictures of the finish line :roll:

The peloton is now just 3'42" from the same leading 4 riders at 90km

FJS

live feed with actual race broadcast: http://www.freedocast.com/CTM66#cf

luckao

Gazzetta's live.

Sky pulling the peloton along 8)

takethehighroad

Elsewhere, Thor Hushovd has broken his collar bone in training. Out for 6b weeks so no Cali for him

gsk82

any chance of a link. i can't find the live stuff on gazetta

luckao

gsk82 wrote:

any chance of a link. i can't find the live stuff on gazetta

http://videochat.gazzetta.it/index_giro.shtml

They must be having technical issues. They keep cutting back to the finish line.

afx237vi

Oh how I hate the BLOODY BLACK EYED PEAS.

blazing_saddles

RAI don't have permission to fly, from race radio. So, we won't be having many pictures.
Same thing happened in Belgium in 2006, with them using army frequencies.

afx237vi

Is this volcano related or just a paperwork mishap?

afx237vi

Never mind... live pictures now.

afx237vi

Never mind... spoke too soon.

takethehighroad

This coverage of the finish line "reveals" that Dutch people are a bit crazy

iainf72

Luckao wrote:

Sky pulling the peloton along 8)

Wot? I thought they didn't do things like that?

afx237vi

iainf72 wrote:

Luckao wrote:

Sky pulling the peloton along 8)

Wot? I thought they didn't do things like that?

Maybe it was the feed zone.

blazing_saddles

iainf72 wrote:

Luckao wrote:

Sky pulling the peloton along 8)

Wot? I thought they didn't do things like that?

Well, they are pulling slower than the break is going.
Re heli. Italian organisation.
Re Volcano. Northern Italian airspace is currently......................closed.
Enjoy the transfer, boys.

blazing_saddles

Who is that blonde headed guy, riding shoulder to shoulder with Wiggo? :shock:

iainf72

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Re Volcano. Northern Italian airspace is currently......................closed.
Enjoy the transfer, boys.

Yup. I wonder what they're going to do. Could be a real nightmare.

luckao

iainf72 wrote:

Luckao wrote:

Sky pulling the peloton along 8)

Wot? I thought they didn't do things like that?

As I said elsewhere, they've awoken from their early Spring slumber

rick_chasey

This is a stage better watched on the highlight reel.

Watch the last 3km, with all the assorted replays of the sprint to work out what actually happened, any crashes, and a few token pictures of Dutchies enjoying themselves.

*sigh* week one of grand tours eh?

iainf72

Rick Chasey wrote:

*sigh* week one of grand tours eh?

This Giro is so back heavy that it might be nearly 2 weeks of this.

DaveyL

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

*sigh* week one of grand tours eh?

This Giro is so back heavy that it might be nearly 2 weeks of this.

I was looking at all the stage profiles the other day and yes, it could be seriously dull for a while.

Still, we're cycling fans, we all love nothing better than having a good moan, so win-win...

rick_chasey

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

*sigh* week one of grand tours eh?

This Giro is so back heavy that it might be nearly 2 weeks of this.

TOC starts next week though doesn't it?
8)

luckao

I wonder if they'll follow the Vuelta's example by taking us house hunting through the Dutch suburbs.

DaveyL

Rick Chasey wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

*sigh* week one of grand tours eh?

This Giro is so back heavy that it might be nearly 2 weeks of this.

TOC starts next week though doesn't it?
8)

This could be a problem. How many hours a day of live cycling will there be, Giro and ToC combined?

blazing_saddles

DaveyL wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

*sigh* week one of grand tours eh?

This Giro is so back heavy that it might be nearly 2 weeks of this.

I was looking at all the stage profiles the other day and yes, it could be seriously dull for a while.

Still, we're cycling fans, we all love nothing better than having a good moan, so win-win...

I wondered if and when last year's moan would raise it's head.
My PTP for a big moan,..............next Sunday.
Garmin in the furniture. Tyler Farrar!

rick_chasey

Farrar crash...

DaveyL

I'm sure those Felts must have a bollard homing device in their headset.

FJS

Farrar down - looks OK. should take some energy to get back to the peoloton though...

StefanP

Looked like a bottleneck, think he is ok, guillaume blot isn't however ;(