Giro stage 13 *spoiler*
Comments
-
-
Grossglockner is an awesome road, I remember a family holiday in August where my dad insisted on driving up to the glacier... So terrible was the weather we turned back about 8km from the top.
That was the same holiday he took a renault 21 down the Stelvio."In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
disgruntledgoat wrote:Grossglockner is an awesome road, I remember a family holiday in August where my dad insisted on driving up to the glacier... So terrible was the weather we turned back about 8km from the top.
That was the same holiday he took a renault 21 down the Stelvio.
I did a banger rally a couple of years ago in an old Proton which i'd fixed the brakes on myself and had the pleasure of driving down the Stelvio (the side that's always photographed). I'm not religious but every time we braked for a hairpin on the way down I said a little prayer!"I have a lovely photo of a Camargue horse but will not post it now" (Frenchfighter - July 2013)0 -
Going to a fair few DNS I imagine. Cav, PetacchiContador is the Greatest0
-
frenchfighter wrote:Going to a fair few DNS I imagine. Cav, Petacchi
He was in a cab going to the airport and hour ago!"I have a lovely photo of a Camargue horse but will not post it now" (Frenchfighter - July 2013)0 -
DEIA | Alain Laiseka - Castelfidardo. “I’m not giving up,” says Michele Scarponi (Jesi, Italy, 1979) when they suggest a parallel time and turn him into Claudio Chiappucci in the ‘90’s, the willing scourge of Miguel Indurain, in the context of a Giro d’Italia which now, since Sunday, looks to Alberto Contador as “grand patron”.
“If we're going to give up after the first exchange, why continue to Milan?” wonders the Italian, who was roommates with Contador in his first team training camp with Liberty Seguros, for whom he rode for two years.
“In 2005, he was considered a huge talent on the team,” he recalls before taking the start in Tortoreto Lido, beside the calm, turquoise Adriatic, in the Apennines’ stage.
The Apennines, Castelfidardo, your home.
I live near Castelfidardo, tricky ground. Here I became a cyclist. And a climber, because you can’t be anything else. There aren’t any difficult climbs, but neither is there one meter of flats. It’s similar to Basque Country. I still wonder why I became a cyclist. It was my father’s fault, who gave me a racing bike at my first communion. I started to use it and do to this day.
You rode two years at Liberty Seguros and your time on that squad coincided with Contador’s, do you remember that Alberto?
Of course I remember, because at the first team training camp with Liberty, I got to the hotel and they put the two of us in the same room. It was six years ago, in 2005. I didn’t have occasion to know Alberto well because we hardly ever raced together, but I remember that he was already considered a huge talent then. Obviously, maybe few, or nobody, could’ve imagined that he would come as far as he has, but everybody in Spain, on the team, Manolo himself, knew that this kid had something. He had enormous potential, and now he’s the best in the world by a long shot. Nobody could’ve foreseen that.
It was the Liberty of Beloki, Galdeano, David Etxebarria, Marino…
Ah! Wonderful Marino. I did a lot of races with him as director. He was a very nice man. All the riders were happy when they rode with him because he was a great director and a great person. In Italy, he’s beloved. People remember him with joy. Marino has been a character that has left an enormous footprint on cycling, many good things, and people recognize it.
Your experience in the bosom of the Spanish peloton lasted two seasons and you never really took off. What happened?
I went to Spain, to a tremendous team, to ride two years. Everything was fine. The atmosphere was good, the relationships unbeatable, but except for a good Vuelta in 2005, I didn’t get good results. I don’t know why. I trained well, made an effort… Maybe I was too young to be on a such a great team. I dreamt about being a good professional and maybe now I am thanks to those two bad years. The experience with Manolo was good. He was a strong man, tough, who created a special bond with the riders. I had a high regard for him before and I continue to regard him highly now.
In your cycling career you’ve experienced good and bad times, really bad. Have the crises make you tougher?
In cycling, as in life, there are happy moments, when everything’s going well, and others not so happy. When a cyclist manages to get past a difficult time, he feels a different strength inside, a greater courage than he had before. I’d say that the pain makes you tougher for facing difficult times which before would’ve sunk you.
Is that the case with Contador?
For example. But there are many.
Do you learn from your mistakes?
Always.
Were you wrong to seek Contador’s wheel last Sunday?
No, no, I don’t think so.
But you blew up.
But I am in the Giro d’Italia to try to win. That’s how it is in my head. The truth may be that Alberto Contador is the strongest in the world and that I’m only the leader of Lampre-ISD. Inside of me, I think that I was right to try to follow the strongest rider. I lost his wheel, okay, but then neither did I lose much with respect to the other leaders. I was able to verify that Alberto is the most powerful in this Giro, but I don’t regret having followed him.
Can you say that if you find yourself in the same situation again you’ll repeat what you did then?
Sure, I follow him and try to stop him.
They say that you are to Contador what Claudio Chiappucci was to Miguel Indurain.
Maybe. Contador is stronger, like Miguel was, but if we're going to give up after the first exchange, why do we keep riding until Milan? At least I’m going to fight until Milan in order to try to change the direction of this Giro. I’m not giving up.
Could an Italian alliance be the biggest problem in Contador’s way?
No Italian alliance exists. It’s a myth. It never existed and never will exist. Each person rides for his team. And does it his own way. Some people are more calculated and others are more instinctive, like I am.
Do they take Igor Antón into account?
Of course, sure. He’s a really great climber and in this Giro there are many, many climbs. I’ve raced with him, but never at a time when he or I were in great shape. I saw him in last year’s Vuelta. He was really strong. If he hadn’t crashed, he could’ve won the Vuelta. If his form improves like I think it is improving, he’s going to compete for a really great Giro.
Is he a rival for the podium?
I see him on it if I’m not. There are only three places, and we don’t all fit.Contador is the Greatest0 -
-
rujano may just get into a break"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0
-
I heard Hondo, Renshaw, Belletti and Ventoso are DNS too.inkyfingers wrote:
He was in a cab going to the airport and hour ago!frenchfighter wrote:Going to a fair few DNS I imagine. Cav, Petacchi
Sivtsov and Scarponi will be pleased.0 -
knedlicky wrote:
I heard Hondo, Renshaw, Belletti and Ventoso are DNS too.inkyfingers wrote:
He was in a cab going to the airport and hour ago!frenchfighter wrote:Going to a fair few DNS I imagine. Cav, Petacchi
TBH I can't blame them. Would be nice to see them flogging themselves all the way to Milan but as a pro sportsman you're not going to ruin the rest of your season just to prove a point. Maybe it would be worth it if your're a young pro trying to get GT experience or if you can do some really useful work for the team."I have a lovely photo of a Camargue horse but will not post it now" (Frenchfighter - July 2013)0 -
So it looks like a massive split with a large group not including contador already almost 2 minutes up - no news on the ticker of who's in the front group.Jibbering Sports Stuff: http://jibbering.com/sports/0
-
Oh no appears to just be a group of 12 away, still few details of who's in it.
LASTRAS,SPEZIALETTI, MEYER, SAMOILAU
at least.Jibbering Sports Stuff: http://jibbering.com/sports/0 -
Best-placed is Lastras @ 6:58. Also there: Weening, Kiserlovski, Sarmiento, Valls, Samoilau, Losada, Vicioso, Lewis, Petter, old man Noe, Hoogerland, Nocentini, Vandwalle, Meyer and Spezialetti .0
-
knedlicky wrote:Best-placed is Lastras @ 6:58. Also there: Weening, Kiserlovski, Sarmiento, Valls, Samoilau, Losada, Vicioso, Lewis, Petter, old man Noe, Hoogerland, Nocentini, Vandwalle, Meyer and Spezialetti .
I think there is an article in the Italian constitution that breakaways on Giro mountain stages must include Nocentini'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'0 -
Blimey... Noe in the breakaway. He makes Horner look like a young whippersnapper.0
-
42. BELLETTI Manuel COG DNS
71. CAVENDISH Mark THR DNS
78. RENSHAW Mark THR DNS
92. PETACCHI Alessandro LAM DNS
95. HONDO Danilo LAM DNS
129. VENTOSO ALBERDI Francisco José MOV DNS
He does, Noè is 42 - 42! Racing since 1993 or something.0 -
Live coverage about to start on eurosport.PTP winner 2015.0
-
Live Eurosport started now.
I'd been thinking of a holiday in Grossglockner, but having seen that "postcard" montage I think I'll skip. That was the worst tourist showcase I have ever seen. All the graphic quality of an 80s Eastern European music vid....Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
No tA Doctor wrote:Live Eurosport started now.
I'd been thinking of a holiday in Grossglockner, but having seen that "postcard" montage I think I'll skip. That was the worst tourist showcase I have ever seen. All the graphic quality of an 80s Eastern European music vid....
Austria always sruck me as a less sophisticated version of Essen or some equally terrible German industrial town. But with better scenery and more mullets.
Innsbruck is ok though."In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
I noticed some livestock for contador.
PTP winner 2015.0 -
Rabon & seeldrayers on the floor.PTP winner 2015.0
-
Euskaltel and Saxo stringing it out. Maybe 15 riders single file on the front.Contador is the Greatest0
-
frenchfighter wrote:Euskaltel and Saxo stringing it out. Maybe 15 riders single file on the front.
Well if the beef didn't bring Contador down maybe the carrots will...Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Russ Downing in big trouble to get dropped this early.0
-
Weening in the break...PTP stage points now please.Half man, Half bike0
-
Ridgerider wrote:Weening in the break...PTP stage points now please.
Still got that Rabo love....Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
Ridgerider wrote:Weening in the break...PTP stage points now please.
A fan of the Rabo boys this Giro aren't you?0 -
iainf72 wrote:afx237vi wrote:Russ Downing in big trouble to get dropped this early.
Where there a car, there's a way....
But seriously, yes. But again, his first grand tour and it's been hard until now.
I wonder if the commissaires will be more strict on that kind of thing today. It doesn't exactly reflect well on them either when you hear stories of Chicchi et al climbing Etna 1 minute slower than Contador.
But yes, there's no shame in missing the time limit on your first GT. Especially this one.0 -
