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scozim · Last edited by scozim on Mon May 18, 2009 5:24 am; edited 1 time in total

We live in the country and don't get cable/satellite television by choice. We do have an antenna for over the air broadcasts.

I was very surprised to find that one of the channels we get on the digital broadcast is Universal Sports, which is carrying each stage of the Giro in the U.S. My family knows not to bother me from 8 -10 pm.

Is anyone else keeping close tabs on the race? The last few stages have been fairly routine. The opening days, of course, had a new overall leader every stage.

Personally, I'm really looking forward to the 61 km individual time trial on Thursday. That should start to make things interesting in the GC standings especially if some riders decide to go with standard road bikes vs. specialized TT machines. The course looks very challenging.

Paul Wiseman

I bet you a 1985 Victoire that Leipheimer will win.

sandranian · Site Admin

I have been following it...I have found the racing to be really exciting, whcih is great. Of course my wife chimes in from time to time that they are "all on dope", which, unfortunately, does in fact cloud some of the impressive finishes (i.e. DiLuca's accellerations at the top of mountains!).

scozim

Interesting stage yesterday with the "protest" and neutralization of points/times. As a fan I think I would have been quite perturbed with the way it all went down. I can understand riders being concerned about safety but let's face it, they're professional riders and should be able to handle it. Nobody's protested the rough and tough Paris-Roubaix that I can remember. They're paid good money (unless you're on Astana) to race. Maybe the peloton was just tired of not being able to reel in breakaways on the prior three stages.

sandranian · Site Admin

I'll play devil's advocate on this one:

Paris-Roubaix is one day, and all of the riders go there with full knowledge of how crappy the roads are. That's why you didn't see Lance Armstrong, Basso, Sastre etc. racing it. That isn't a race for them, and only the "strong men" show up (by that I mean the big guys who can get over the cobbles). It is just a completely different race. In other words, people go into it with their eyes wide open.

The Giro, or any "Grand Tour", is a 21 day ordeal. It is impossible to know what the route on every stage will be like, specially one inside of a city, until it is actually set up. Upon riding it, they found it to be extremely dangerous. It would have forced GC contenders to essentially risk breaking their necks in order to stay in contention. And also...if you watched it...the Italians couldn't even get the cars parked along the side of the road towed away! I agree that watching them race all out would have been cool. But I think there might have been carnage on that route. I wouldn't have wanted to be one of the "flag men" warning of obstructions...some of those turns put the peleton right on a collision course, and at speed, it would have been deadly. The Giro (or any grand tour) is partly a race of survival. However, it shouldn't depend on survival during a mid-tour criterium!

verktyg

Most of the "Hell of the North" races over "pave" (cobblestones) are 1 day events.

Chas.

Paul Wiseman

Bah! They're all SOFT!!! Rob McEwen would have killed 'em all if he'd been there. Demon Crit rider. I can still feel the pain in my legs from the early 90s! Wink

sandranian · Site Admin

McWHOwen?

scozim

Wisey

yeah, that scrawney little runt! but damn, he goes fast.

sandranian · Site Admin

Cavendish will pummel him at the tour this year. He is going like crazy.

Wisey

agreed. Cav will win everything if he can get over the mountains within the time limit. I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be able to do that.

Wisey

uh oh, I've seen this look before........

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2009/giro09/?id=/photos/2009/giro09/giro0912/PIC31526841

here.......

http://grahamwatson.com/dublin/misc/image10.html

sandranian · Site Admin

This last part of the Giro will be fun, because Diluca is not going to "go quietly into the night". We may actually get to see some great attacks in a grand tour. Who would have guessed it?!

scozim

I agree. DiLuca actually lost less time yesterday than I thought he might. Menchov was impressive in beating Leipheimer by 20 seconds.

A lot will depend on the strength of the teams - DiLuca's has done a lot of the pace setting, but have they got enough in the tank? Astana hasn't done much so they may be positioned well for Leipheimer.

Interesting seeing the variety of set ups for the bikes yesterday. That was one tough course for a time trial.