In the Pink - The Pre Giro Warm Up Thread. News, Views and General Info.

in Pro race
Same as for the Tour.
The Worlds are over and it's less than a week to the Grande Partenza, in Sicily, where it was due to start in 2021.Covid wise, Italy is still faring a lot better than France was at the same stage.
So, the game is afoot, as some fictitious bloke in a silly hat said.
Be it team info, local flavour, general discussion, chit chat or idle speculation, pictures, posters tweets or clips, feel free to stick it all here, just so long as it is somehow connected to this:

We will start with a short ITT, then an uphill sprint, then a full mountain top finish, so something for almost everybody. Throughout the first two weeks, there are lots of hilly stages and very few clear sprints, before reaching the heavily back loaded third week, with three mountain stages of 200+ km and 5000m altitude gain. Fingers crossed that the weather gods bless the Giro with similar good fortune to that of the Tour.

This will be the first and probably last Giro edition in October, so as such, with the nights drawing in, stages will start a little earlier and are scheduled to finish around 15-30BST.
The Worlds are over and it's less than a week to the Grande Partenza, in Sicily, where it was due to start in 2021.Covid wise, Italy is still faring a lot better than France was at the same stage.
So, the game is afoot, as some fictitious bloke in a silly hat said.
Be it team info, local flavour, general discussion, chit chat or idle speculation, pictures, posters tweets or clips, feel free to stick it all here, just so long as it is somehow connected to this:

We will start with a short ITT, then an uphill sprint, then a full mountain top finish, so something for almost everybody. Throughout the first two weeks, there are lots of hilly stages and very few clear sprints, before reaching the heavily back loaded third week, with three mountain stages of 200+ km and 5000m altitude gain. Fingers crossed that the weather gods bless the Giro with similar good fortune to that of the Tour.

This will be the first and probably last Giro edition in October, so as such, with the nights drawing in, stages will start a little earlier and are scheduled to finish around 15-30BST.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
1
Posts
Can someone tell me where to find who's riding and where I can watch on'tellybox?
http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html?detp=view&_ap=startlijst&editie_idd=Mjk4MDc=
On the telebox it's only on Eurosport and the opening weekend's coverage is shaky, due to live tennis and super bikes. 2pm - 4pm although scheduled finish is around 3-30pm. Etna stage is 11-25am until the finish, so the whole stage.
On the various players it's all whole stage coverage again, at least until Tuesday.
Milan wouldn't be happy with that though, and it's too late now.
I am not sure. You have no chance.
Col d'Agnel (stage 20 on 24 Oct) was closed as from 20 Oct in 2015 , as from 17 Oct in 2017, and as from 22 Oct last year, each time as from a Tuesday. This year, 20 and 27 Oct are Tuesdays.
The recent sharp drop in temperature has caused snowfalls in the Alps and the temporary closure of roughly 10% of all Alpine passes (incl Col d'Agnel). At passes where it hasn't yet snowed enough to cause closure, it's expected to snow again this coming weekend (incl up the Stelvio = stage 18 on 22 Oct) and this may cause further pass closures.
But all these temporary closures will likely only last a week or so, maybe less.
I guess Nibali is there too, although he's been well off the pace...
Are Jumbo Visma riding for Kruijswijk?
Sorry for the repost but it is a very pretty advert for RAI's coverage
the famous bottle pass was in the Tour of course, on Lausanne to Alpe d'Huez stage high on the Galibier pass and was a set-up for the press photographer Carlo Martini. Faustino claims his dad was passing the bottle to Bartali. Fausto's bottle cages are tellingly empty and Bartali's full but why in that case did Bartali need water? If it were the other way around how did Bartali carry the bottle (a glass Perrier bottle)?
Instagramme
I am not sure. You have no chance.
With a bit of luck I'll see them on il Muro di Guardiagrele, and then again near the end of the stage.
Re the bottle pass, a TV film made by RAI about 15 years ago about the incident concluded that Bartali was giving the bottle to Coppi. And I thought it happened on Izouard, not Galibier (as you write).
Also, the bottle may have not been glass. While it doesn't look like a then-common metal bidon, the first plastic bottles did appear in shops during the 1950s (the first plastic cycling bidons in 1954, sponsored by Vittel). As the photo is from 1952, maybe the bottle had been grabbed from a spectator who bought it in a shop?
If a plastic bottle, however, it wouldn't have been Perrier, as Perrier were still only using glass bottles into the mid-1970s, being one of the last French mineral water companies to adopt plastic.
There’s a video on youtube of Wiggins and Millar going up it in the Tirreno a few years ago.
Instagramme
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
Edit: Given it seems to be a year for the youngsters and UAE seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment, I wouldn't be too surprised if Brandon McNulty managed a decent (top 6) finish.
Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
I have just noticed that Lopez is down to ride according to PCS. Fuglsang, Vlasov and Lopez are a pretty strong triumvirate even if Lopez is coming straight from the Tour.
Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
I know there's 3 TTs in the Giro but they are pretty short (2 of them are). I agree Thomas is the favourite but I would have thought Yates should be up there with Fuglsang and Kruijswijk certainly.
I am not sure. You have no chance.
On the other hand Geraint has a load of powerful support but only TGH for the hills and he hasn't been in great form.
Ineos Grenadiers squad for the Giro d’Italia 2020
Geraint Thomas
Tao Geoghegan Hart
Ben Swift
Rohan Dennis
Filippo Ganna
Jonathan Castroviejo
Salvatore Puccio
Jhonatan Narváez
Antwan Tolhoek, Sam Oomen, Tom Dumoulin, Thymen Arensman, Remco Evenepoel, Benoît Cosnefroy, Tom Pidcock, Mark Cavendish, Romain Bardet
As much as I like Ben Swift (former "my man") I think a better lightweight climber would have been a better shot, maybe Dunbar.
Edit - if there's any potential crosswind stages that team looks very capable?
Castraviejo should go well with the lower overall standard at the giro.