Giro 2014 - 'Big Start'

LutherB

Pross wrote:

It's probably just as well Euskatel have disappeared!

tailwindhome

alanp23

Looking forward to it.

Me and my bike are coming over specially.

Richmond Racer

OK, TWH, am trying to decide whether to spend yet more hard-earned and make the trip to your neck of the woods for this - I shouldnt really as I'm going out for the last 10 days.

How flipping good is it going to be in Ireland?

Macaloon

Contributor to post Question Time wireless phone-in re Big Brenda and Irish head of state: "...transformational events such as the tour de Italy"

junglist_matty

Goes right past my in-laws who live in Dunloy, may have to organise a visit!

alanp23

This is my plan... Thoughts from those in the know welcome

1. Arrive at Larne. Thursday. Planning to be a foot passenger and take bike on the train with me into Belfast.
2. Friday - Off out for a gentle ride and then back to watch the TTT. I am not sure where to watch from. Stormont does look attractive.
3. Saturday - I am planning on riding the whole stage 2 route that day and will stop at some point, hopefully up on the coast to watch the race go by. Does anyone know how early the roads get closed to cyclists? Is it better to ride up on a different road?
4. Sunday - Riding over to watch the start at Armagh. Then a gentle ride back.
5. Monday - Home.

Lots of riding, but hopefully lots of chances to sample the Northern Irish hospitality.

I am really looking forward to it.

alan_a

Looks like a good plan, however I think lots of others will have a similar idea about the train from Larne, so make sure you have booked you bike on it.

I plan to ride stage 2 early Friday morning. Anyone want to join me?

ddraver

M&S have the Giro Preview Magazine on sale on the paper stand. Cycling is certainly on the up...no Wiggo Factor this year either

Give me more

Apologies if I missed it anywhere else, this seems as relevant a place as any other to add it though!

http://www.cyclingquotes.com/news/team_ ... h_embassy/

Apparently Miguel Angel Rubiano, Jarlinson Julian Pantano and Carlos Quintero got denied their visas by the British Embarassy so their participation is now in doubt. Hope they can clear it up because that's just silly.

tailwindhome

Cav skipping the Giro

http://www.omegapharma-quickstep.com/en ... mined/1689

Turfle

Provisional entry list released:
http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/no ... p?id=71079

Pro Team Astana
SCARPONI Michele
Valerio AGNOLI
ARU Fabio
BRAJKOVIC Janez
GASPAROTTO Enrico
IGLINSKIY Maxim
LANDA MEANA Mikel
TIRALONGO Paolo
Andrey Zeits

AG2R La Mondiale
POZZOVIVO Domenico
Davide Appollonio
BERARD Julien
Maxime BOUET
DOMONT Axel
Hubert DUPONT
GRETSCH Patrick
Matteo Montaguti
Alexis VUILLERMOZ

Androni-Venezuela Giocattoli
PELLIZOTTI Franco
BELLETTI Manuel
Frapporti Marco
Godoy Yonder
Johnny Hoogerland
OCHOA Jose Carlos
Jackson RODRIGUEZ
ROSA Diego
Emanuele STAMPS

Bardiani-CSF
PIRAZZI Stefano
BATTAGLIN Enrico
BOEM Nicola
Francesco Manuel BONGIORNO
CANOLA Marco
Colbrelli Sonny
LOCATELLI Stefano
Angelo PAGANI
ZARDINI Edoardo

Belkin Pro Cycling Team
KELDERMAN Wilco
BOL Jetse
FLENS Rick
GOOS Marc
Martijn KEIZER
Steven Kruijswijk
TANNER David
Tjallingii Maarten
van Emden Jos

BMC Racing Team
Cadel EVANS
Brent BOOKWALTER
EIJSSEN Yannick
Ben HERMANS
MORABITO Steve
OSS Daniel
QUINZIATO Manuel
SANCHEZ Samuel
WYSS Danilo

Cannondale
BASSO Ivan
GATTO Oscar
Michel KOCH
LONGO BORGHINI Paolo
MARANGONI Alan
Moreno MOSER
RATTO Daniele
VILLELLA Davide
Elia Viviani

Colombia
Fabio Andres Duarte
Juan Esteban Arango
AVILA Alcibiad Edwin
Robinson Chalapud Edua
Leonardo DUKE
SWAMP Jarlinson
QUINTERO Carlos Julian
Jeffry ROMERO Johan
RUBIANO Miguel Angel

FDJ.fr
BOUHANNI Nacer
CHAVANEL Sébastien
Arnaud Courteille
Murilo Antonio FISCHER
GENIEZ Alexandre
LE BON Johan
MOUREY Francis
Laurent PIGEON
Geoffrey SOUPE

Garmin-Sharp
HESJEDAL Ryder
Andre Cardoso
DEKKER Thomas
FARRAR Tyler
Koldo LARREA FERNANDEZ DE
HAAS Nathan
Daniel MARTIN
SLAGTER Tom Jelte
WEGMANN Fabian

Lampre-Merida
CUNEGO Damiano
ANACONA GOMEZ Winner
Matteo BONO
Mattia Cattaneo
Roberto FERRARI
MORI Manuele
NIEMIEC Przemyslaw
POZZATO Filippo
ULISSI Diego

Lotto-Belisol
ARMEE Sander
Lars Ytting BAK
DE HAES Kenny
DOCKX Gert
HANSEN Adam
Maxime Monfort
VAN DER SANDE Tosh
WELLENS Tim
Frederik Willems

Movistar Team
Nairo Quintana
AMADOR Andrey
Igor ANTON
CAPECCHI Eros
CASTROVIEJO Jonathan
Joseph HERRADA
IZAGUIRRE Gorka
LASTRAS Paul
MALORI Adriano

Neri Sottoli
RABOTTINI Matteo
ANDRIATO Rafael
Ramon CARTER
CHICCHI Francesco
Daniele Colli
FEDI Andrea
Mauro Finetto
MONSALVE Jonathan
PONZI Simone

Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Rigoberto Uran
BRAMBILLA Gianluca
OF GENDT Thomas
Michal Golas
Serge Pauwels
PETACCHI Alessandro
POELS Wouter
Pieter SERRY
VERMOTE Julien

Orica-GreenEdge
Ivan Santaromita
DURBRIDGE Luke
HEPBURN Michael
Brett LANCASTER
MATTHEWS Michael
MEYER Cameron
Jens Mouris
TUFT Svein
WEENING Pieter

Team Europcar
ROLLAND Pierre
ARASHIRO Yukiya
BERNAUDEAU Giovanni
HUREL Tony
MALACARNE Davide
MEDEREL Maxime
QUEMENEUR Perrig
SICARD Romain
THURAU Bjorn

Giant-Shimano Team
KITTEL Marcel
DE BACKER Bert
Simon Geschke
LUDVIGSSON Tobias
MEZGEC Luka
PREIDLER Georg
Tom STAMSNIJDER
TIMMER Albert
VEELERS Tom

Team Katusha
Joaquin RODRIGUEZ
Belkov Maxim
CARUSO Giampaolo
GUSEV Vladimir
LOSADA Alberto
MORENO Daniel
Luca Paolini
VICIOUS ARCOS Angel
Eduard Vorganov

Team Sky
Dario Cataldo
BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
Philip Deignan
EISEL Bernhard
Hainaut Sebastian
Peter Kennaugh
PUCCIO Salvatore
SIUTSOU Kanstantsin
Ben SWIFT

Saxo-Tinkoff
ROCHE Nicholas
Christopher JUUL JENSEN
MAJKA Rafal
PETROV Daniel
Poljanski Pawel
Rovný Ivan
SÖRENSEN Chris Anker
SUAREZ Edward
Nikolay Trusov

Trek Factory Racing
Kiserlovski Robert
ALAFACI Eugenio
ARREDONDO Julian David
FELLINE Fabio
Danilo Hondo
NIZZOLO Giacomo
Boy Van Poppel
VANDEWALLE Kristof
Zoidl Riccardo

Turfle

I'm sure the start list will change a fair bit, but picking out some riders from the provisional:

Possible GCers:
Scarponi/Aru/Landa, Pozzovivo, Pellizotti/Rosa, Pirazzi, Kelderman/Kruisjwijk, Evans/Samuel Sanchez, Basso, Duarte, Hesjedal/Dan Martin, Cunego/Niemiec/Ulissi, Monfort, Quintana, Uran, Rolland, JRod, Cataldo, Roche/Majka, Kiserlovski,

Sprints:
Appollonio, Belletti, Battaglin/Colbrelli, Tanner/Van Emden, Viviani, Bouhanni, Farrar, Ferrari, De Haes, Chicchi, Ponzi, Matthews, Arashiro, Kittel/Mezgec, Swift, Trusov, Felline/Van Poppel/Nizzolo

Richmond Racer

Nairo-Purito GC battle, from where I'm sitting, the rest to fight over the last podium spot

Turfle

Yep, those two + Kittel could make it a very predictable three weeks. Hopefully 2011 version of Rolland, 2012 Hesjedal, and 2013 Uran all turn up.

I was going to say Young Rider might be a good contest between Aru, Rosa, Kelderman, Ulissi, Majka, and then I checked Quintana's age. So probably not much of a contest after all!

mulletmaster

Meh that's a bit of a second string GT line up if ever I saw one. TDF is having too much sway on everything else to be healthy IMO now. Vuelta is likely to have more big names than that this year!

Richmond Racer

mulletmaster wrote:

Meh that's a bit of a second string GT line up if ever I saw one. TDF is having too much sway on everything else to be healthy IMO now. Vuelta is likely to have more big names than that this year!

The Giro hasnt had a star-studded GC line-up for years, its not a new thing. Last year's Giro GC line-up of Nibz, Wiggins, Hesjedal, Evans, Sanchez etc was reckoned to be the most stellar field in ages.

And the Vuelta will be as it always is: those who crash out of the Tour, the Spanish GC guys, and the last-chancers

frenchfighter

Visa issues again with the Colombia team.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/team-co ... ro-ditalia

tailwindhome

inseine

I assume it's Sebastian Henao and not the mythical Sebastian Hainaut for SKY?

tailwindhome

The CRC Gran Fondo - basically Stage 2

Quite like that graphic

RoadPainter

Richmond Racer wrote:

OK, TWH, am trying to decide whether to spend yet more hard-earned and make the trip to your neck of the woods for this - I shouldnt really as I'm going out for the last 10 days.

How flipping good is it going to be in Ireland?

I was going to do all 4 weekends but bottled it and now not doing the 3rd one. Are you riding at the end of it or just watching? I'll be on foot probably

frenchfighter

Apparently Uran's visa is still pending.

graeme_s-2

Tickets for the rider's presentation were bookable from 9am this morning. I was late into work, so went to get them at 9:08 and I'm now in a 1 hour 30 minute "queue" on their website (at the end of which I suspect they'll be no tickets left).

graeme_s-2

Sounds like common sense is prevailing as far as the Colombian's visas go:

https://twitter.com/UKinColombia/status ... 9666653184

Richmond Racer

Graeme_S wrote:

Tickets for the rider's presentation were bookable from 9am this morning. I was late into work, so went to get them at 9:08 and I'm now in a 1 hour 30 minute "queue" on their website (at the end of which I suspect they'll be no tickets left).

Hang on in there - a couple of peeps I know have been waiting for the 90 mins, and just got their tickets

graeme_s-2

The original "queue" page I was on still says 1 hour 30 to go (with 1:24 waited so far). I found another link on twitter (one of the other NI tourist pages), and the time left on that one is actually changing, although it's gone up as well as down (currently at 53 minutes). Will keep waiting and see what happens.

graeme_s-2

Got my tickets in the end!

Thanks for the encouragement RR

tailwindhome

Graeme_S wrote:

Got my tickets in the end!

Thanks for the encouragement RR

Be a pet and PM/post your alternative linky

Richmond Racer

Graeme_S wrote:

Got my tickets in the end!

Thanks for the encouragement RR

Nice one