Giro 2019 Pre Race Chat 'n Stuff

blazing_saddles

Less than a week to go and a blank week of racing ahead. Might as well start up a thread for all things pink.
As an opener, the English version of the Giro roadbook is available to download, or just browse.

https://static2.giroditalia.it/wp-conte ... ow_res.pdf

gsk82

Moscon also out of the sky team and cycling news comment people reckon no Sosa to.

m.r.m.

Maybe we should merge this thread with the Bernal thread?

sherer

Damn I'm working next weekend, going to have to catch up when I get in

blazing_saddles

From no contract riding holidays to the Giro: Connor Dunne.

D Cimolai
R Plaza
C Dunne
G Boivin
K Neilands
K Sbaragli
A Gebremedhin
G Niv

Dumoulin's Sunweb gang:

Jan Bakelants
Louis Vervaeke
Tom Dumoulin
Sam Oomen
Chad Haga
Chris Hamilton
Jai Hindley
Robert Power

Swiss Toni's boys:

Manuel Belletti
Mattia Cattaneo
Miguel Florez
Marco Frapporti
Francesco Gavazzi
Fausto Masnada
Matteo Montaguti
Andrea Vendrame

blazing_saddles

Quite a few teams have been naming their line ups this morning. Rather than put up a long list, they can be seen here with a green tick besides the team name.

http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html ... d=MjkyNTQ=

I generally find them much more reliable than PCS for instance.
Currently, they do show Sosa in the Ineos line up, plus................Eddie Dunbar.

carbonclem

gsk82 wrote:

Moscon also out of the sky team and cycling news comment people reckon no Sosa to.

Moscon quite the focal point of rumours right now ...

RichN95.

CarbonClem wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

Moscon also out of the sky team and cycling news comment people reckon no Sosa to.

Moscon quite the focal point of rumours right now ...

Based on people adding two and two together and getting an elephant.

The rumours haven't been mentioned by anyone remotely credible and seemed to be constructed from

a) He's apparently been dropped for the Giro (Hint: He's been crap all season)
b) He mysteriously moved to Innsbruck for no apparent reason (Hint: Look at a map. Innsbruck is the closest international airport to were he grew up)
c) An Austrian doping ring was recently busted. (Hint: the doping ring was actually 600km away in Erfurt, Germany)

dolan_driver

Eddie Dunbar is in for Ineos.:D Sosa appears to be riding too. Looks like an interesting team of young climbers from Ineos.

DD.

RichN95.

Dolan Driver wrote:

Eddie Dunbar is in for Ineos.:D Sosa appears to be riding too. Looks like an interesting team of young climbers from Ineos.

DD.

I don't think anything is confirmed. Dunbar said yesterday that he was being considered, nothing more.

dolan_driver

Perhaps not confirmed but there are strong indications that it might be true;

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dunbar- ... e-showing/

&

http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html ... d=MjkyNTQ=

DD.

carbonclem

RichN95 wrote:

CarbonClem wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

Moscon also out of the sky team and cycling news comment people reckon no Sosa to.

Moscon quite the focal point of rumours right now ...

Based on people adding two and two together and getting an elephant.

The rumours haven't been mentioned by anyone remotely credible and seemed to be constructed from

a) He's apparently been dropped for the Giro (Hint: He's been crap all season)
b) He mysteriously moved to Innsbruck for no apparent reason (Hint: Look at a map. Innsbruck is the closest international airport to were he grew up)
c) An Austrian doping ring was recently busted. (Hint: the doping ring was actually 600km away in Erfurt, Germany)

Guilty then

mididoctors

RichN95 wrote:

Dolan Driver wrote:

Eddie Dunbar is in for Ineos.:D Sosa appears to be riding too. Looks like an interesting team of young climbers from Ineos.

DD.

I don't think anything is confirmed. Dunbar said yesterday that he was being considered, nothing more.

Makes me tired just watching them race that route. The giro is bonkers hard. The recovery of these guys is amazing. I get they are lighter faster etc. I can relate to that. But just getting up with your legs that hammered. And I used to ride dispatch for 10 winters on the trot. Going to work with legs is something I know about. That was 30 years ago. Yates Coming back and winning the vuelta after falling to pieces on the finestre last year was true class. How smashed would you be after that.? I hope the youngsters don't spasmofy their season.

mididoctors

RichN95 wrote:

Based on people adding two and two together and getting an elephant.

The rumours haven't been mentioned by anyone remotely credible and seemed to be constructed from

a) He's apparently been dropped for the Giro (Hint: He's been crap all season)
b) He mysteriously moved to Innsbruck for no apparent reason (Hint: Look at a map. Innsbruck is the closest international airport to were he grew up)
c) An Austrian doping ring was recently busted. (Hint: the doping ring was actually 600km away in Erfurt, Germany)

Quite the slur . No one likes him anyway I guess. Should have got the boot ages ago.

tailwindhome

RichN95 wrote:

Dolan Driver wrote:

Eddie Dunbar is in for Ineos.:D Sosa appears to be riding too. Looks like an interesting team of young climbers from Ineos.

DD.

I don't think anything is confirmed. Dunbar said yesterday that he was being considered, nothing more.

Has he attacked yet?

No_Ta_Doctor

Inner Ring Giro guide is here

http://inrng.com/2019/05/giro-italia-2019-guide

rick_chasey

Very excited for the prologue and the final week.

blazing_saddles

I notice that neither Michael Woods or David Gaudu, who were penciled in to ride, prior to Romandie, are not in their team's final selection. Betancur surprisingly not riding for Movistar, either, given his form and the fact that the Giro once was his happy hunting ground.
While the French teams (Ag2r I'm looking at you) can be expected to send their leftovers, it's EF who take the weak team prize with their collection of dometiques and an out of form, third rate sprinter.

No_Ta_Doctor

Rick Chasey wrote:

Very excited for the prologue and the final week.

Masterful backhanded compliment.

It does look a bit of a sprint-fest in between.

No_Ta_Doctor

Ineos lineup, Tao and Sivakov joint leaders

https://www.teamineos.com/article/geogh ... o-d-italia

Geoghegan Hart (24) and Sivakov (21) will be joined on the start line in Bologna on May 11th by Eddie Dunbar, Sebastian Henao, Christian Knees, Jhonatan Narvaez, Salvatore Puccio and Ivan Sosa.

Average age is 25, which given that Knees is included must make some of them about 12.

kingstongraham

Stages 16 and 20 look like days to set aside to spend the whole day with great scenery and racing.

It's definitely a two sprinter course for fantasy cycling though.

ocdupalais

Glad to see it’s going to Croce D’Aune - after which that gloriously exotic and most coveted Campapg groupset was named after..


I say coveted, but after finally getting to hold one in my arms, I realised that only the likes of LeMond and Induráin in their prime produced enough power to haul this stuff up mountains.

RichN95.

James Knox is starting his first GT for Quick Step, in support of Jungels and Viviani. Mostly the former in his case I guess.

mididoctors

OCDuPalais wrote:

Glad to see it’s going to Croce D’Aune - after which that gloriously exotic and most coveted Campapg groupset was named after..


I say coveted, but after finally getting to hold one in my arms, I realised that only the likes of LeMond and Induráin in their prime produced enough power to haul this stuff up mountains.

Those delta brakes weighed a ton and were crap. Looked cool.

salsiccia1

mididoctors wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

Glad to see it’s going to Croce D’Aune - after which that gloriously exotic and most coveted Campapg groupset was named after..
I say coveted, but after finally getting to hold one in my arms, I realised that only the likes of LeMond and Induráin in their prime produced enough power to haul this stuff up mountains.

Those delta brakes weighed a ton and were crap. Looked cool.

And, at the end of the day, that is all that really matters 8)

No_Ta_Doctor

https://twitter.com/taogeoghegan/status ... 8347422720

davidof

Huge amounts of snow in the Alps at the moment could make the high mountains interesting.

kingstongraham

davidof wrote:

Huge amounts of snow in the Alps at the moment could make the high mountains interesting.

Webcam at the Gavia looks quite unwelcoming just now.

blazing_saddles

Going on the forecast, from Sunday, it's going to be warmer in the UK than central Italy, too. Looks like the peloton will experience some of those super slick urban roads during the first week. Not the greatest field depth in terms of genuine GC contenders, so lets hope we don't lose any before the mountains.

TheBigBean

I've read a few comments about how weak the field is, and I'm really not sure that is true: S Yates, Doumoulin, Nibali, Lopez, Landa, Aru, Zakarin and this year's favourite Roglic.

Missing: Froome, Thomas, A Yates, Bardet, Valverde, Quintana, Bernal, Porte, Fugslang and Uran. Not sure how many of those could have been expected to ride.

blazing_saddles

First the good news: There will be a free option to watch each stage of the Giro live on tv in the UK.
Now the bad news: In Welsh, as it will be on S4C.
No idea whether they will have the red button option for English language commentary.