Interesting stage today, as far as guessing the outcome. It's largely a downhill run, after some early ciimbs, dropping into a long valley gallop. But the last 4km have some sort of incline to them. CN says it's gradual... then predicts Ricco or Bettini to win. Only half of that sentence can be right. I'd say watch out for Bennati, if the ramps don't get too severe. Otherwise, the usual Classics suspects. Maybe J-Rod can reel off one last win, before the hills turn to flats, then to mountains. Enjoy!

Since there hasn't been a ton of movement between the favorites, I'll do this a bit on the brief side, and in groupings. This is not in order of likelihood of victory...

Chomping at the Bit

• Riccò -- Excellent one-two work with Piepoli today, demonstrating the Cobra's ongoing aggressiveness (despite his busted wrist) as well as the beauty of having a top lieutenant who can make hay on the climbs. Probably the top Italian contender at this point, depsite his injury sandbagging.
• DiLuca -- Il Killer showed what makes him so interesting today: gritting his teeth in defiance of his own body, willing himself not to crack. This kind of grinta is what makes him a great classics rider. But grinta won't cut it on the Mortirolo, alas. Also, chasing a teammate... it's business time at LPR.
• Menchov -- I'll add him here: he looked like he wanted to try something today. This is encouraging for a GC guy who can also time-trial. If he's approaching his Vuelta-winning form, he's a real threat.
• Suitsou -- Very aggressive. He and Possoni are both right in the midst of the contenders overall. Doesn't make him a favorite, but so far, so good.
• (Anker) Sorensen -- Ditto for him; looking good. Still a solid pick for best young rider.
• Sella! -- Terrific stage today but for the tragic, last KM puncture. Is there any doubting he cares? Ominous sign: hunting stage wins and KOM points doesn't usually translate into GC, though I wouldn't bet against it yet.

Holding Steady

• Simoni -- Careful not to show anything yet. He pretty much rides the same race at the Giro every year, focusing solely on the last week. Sounds odd, but it's worked twice and might one more time.
• Pellizotti -- Disastrous week for him off the bike, once the media discovered his likeness to Jennifer Grey. On the bike, however, he had some fun in pink and held his position just fine. Call it a split.
• Soler -- Crashes made for a miserable start and a two-minute deficit to Contador. Not his fault, and he might still go berserk in the Dolomites. Stay tuned.
• Nibali -- Nice job picking up some time (a minute or thereabouts) on the foreign contenders, save for Contador. He and Pellizotti have been a little more attentive to their GC placing this week, which is smart: like DiLuca and the Dolphin, they'll need those seconds (and more) later.
• Contador -- Aggressive today? More like defensive, just making sure nobody gets any serious amount of time. For his efforts here and earlier, he's managed to put a minute or two into almost everyone except the Chomping list up above. If you're sitting in the peloton, do you feel good about this?
• Kloden -- Quiet. Almost too quiet.
• Leipheimer -- Ditto.
• Pfannberger -- Ditto again. Insurance against Soler's bruises, but most likely just a plan B rider.

Sinking Fast

• Rujano -- because it's nice out and I'm in a good mood, I haven't consigned him to palookaville, where he probably belongs. But he's 14 minutes behind Contador. Game, set...
• Ardila -- nice to see him on the attack, but ultimately lost time to some bigger names, and is now already 3' down on guys he probably wasn't going to beat anyway. Not looking good.
• Karpets -- ditto here too.

Sayonara!

• Perez Cuapio -- Almost an hour out of the maglia rosa. I didn't see what happened. Anyone?

 

Kind of a momentous occasion: today is National Bike to Work Day, not to mention being at the end of Bike to Work Week, in the midst of Bike to Work Month. Read all about it here. The Burke-Gilman trail was a bit of a scene this morning. I scored three sports drinks and a bottle. Talking Rain had a very generous booth at UW; good stuff. Favorite was NUUN, whose booth in the U-district enabled me not only to understand what their name is, but to try some of their very clever sugar-free electrolyte tabs. Excellent idea: tabs mean carrying fewer bottles on long rides, if you know where to get water, and no reason to ever buy Gatorade (yecch) again. They've earned their free pub... and now I've earned my free water bottle. No small matter was that the jet stream cooperated here too, carting off our low pressure to Juneau, where it belongs. [joking, joking...]. Somehow I don't think I'd have seen as many women riding in sun dresses on a normal Seattle spring day.

Anyway, big ups to everyone who joined the celebration and rode in today. Remember, thanks to our hopeless transportation system, you are among the lucky few for whom this is even a slightly realistic option. And negative ups to the guy with the bike-hating dog in his pannier. Surely the city's busiest bike path, on bike2work day, is about the last place you and your angry little friend belong. But hey, big tent and all that. Beats driving, regardless.

By "mutual consent," which is a polite way of saying that "mister Petacchi" accepted his unilateral dismissal with some dignity. [Google translations, anyone?]

Comment away, tho' this is a pretty tired subject. Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) abuse is being nipped in the bud, finally. They had to do something, and Petacchi is no better or worse a symbolic whipping boy than anyone else, I suppose. But I hope the blockhead US mainstream media (the ESPNs of the world) don't call this another doping case.

I think I have this sorted right. This should be the top 20. Enjoy!!! 1-Vamos Alejandro 382 2-Way of the Cross 326 3-Pigs on Wheels 310 4-kCycle 303 5-Stoempers 303 6-Urban Assault Velos 286 7-Fromagerie Duval 251 8-Let Them All Ride 240 9-Echelon of Fools 238 10-RHCP 235 11-Huzunspor 229 12-They Might Be Burritos 228 13-Bottle Runners (Giro) 223 14-Suitcase of Courage 216 15-92ers 213 16-Team Arland 209 17-Didyagetanyonya 198 18-Bulletproof-ish 197 19-Dreaming of Cobbles 195 20-Semprenaroda (Giro) 194

One never quite knows if a stage like this will turn into the barnburner the course would suggest. It's up to the riders to make the race. But I'm thinking it's gonna get hot today, at least at the end. I'm planted for this one. Even got the PC laptop on hand to assure smooth Cycling.TV access. Enjoy!

 
[Headline: metaphor for action; actual forecast looking good.]

Rarely -- or maybe never -- do the Appenines decide the overall winner of the Giro d'Italia, and considering what looms on the horizon, this year won't differ. But tomorrow's stage brings the Giro deep into the mountains of Abruzzo, humping up from sea level to 4770 feet (1454 meters). As you can see, there are a handful of consequential climbs, as well as an uphill finish to destroy the hopes of any sprinters who hang on to Pecocostanzo. The three rated climbs are the Valico del Macerone (3.6km, 5.5% avg, 9% max), the Rionero Sannitico (10km, 6.3%avg, 11%max) and the Pietransieri (9.2km, 6.5%avg, 10%max). Don't look for Mark Cavendish or Robbie McEwen anywhere but the caboose. In fact, we should have some real competition for the mythical maglia nera, the last-place honors. [Go here for some background on the Black Jersey.]

More to the point, however, we might just see a few other jerseys change hands. Giovanni Visconti, current overall leader, has shown enough Classics-level climbing ability to assume that his nine-minute lead over the big names is safe for now. But he's even with Matthias Russ for the maglia rosa and the young rider's jersey, and Russ is vaguely comparable on the hills, so that battle will be joined. Daniele Bennati will have great difficulty keeping Riccardo Riccò's hands off the maglia ciclamena; Riccò ranks as a stage favorite, and somewhere in the top 5 should be enough to overcome Benna's 14-point lead. Emanuele Sella will have to break a sweat to defend his 7-point lead, with some 9 points to be had. As for the stage... Danilo DiLuca always shows himself in Abruzzo, even if this is a few valleys over from his natal Spoltore. The pure climbers won't benefit from the closing slopes, but they'll all be in contact with the Classics-climber types on the streets of Pescocostanzo.

Some notes about the stage:

• The day will be at least partly dedicated to the memory of Vito Taccone, who passed away last fall. Taccone, winner of Lombardia in 1961 and various other races, is considered the patron of Abruzzese cycling, and is known as "il Camoscio d'Abruzzo"... which translates improbably as "the suede of Abruzzi." Maybe he had really interesting skin. He gained notoriety at the 1964 Tour de France for causing crashes... or so the story goes, with reality long since lost to antiquity. Anyway, Taccone influenced his most recent, prominent successor -- Danilo DiLuca -- who says "he believed in me from the beginning." Factor that into your stage handicapping.
• The latter stages of the route passes through Castel di Sangro, made famous by a really fun soccer book, and winds up in a winter/summer resort. Gavia mentioned the possibility of snow on the upper slopes.
• My own ancestors are from the next valley over. Don't get me started. Just know I'll be an interested observer tomorrow morning.

Doodschmakt edition

Rumors abound that Milram will soon deliver the doodshmackt to Petacchi. Confirmation coming soon to an internet near you. Upon the news that TAS threw down a doping suspension, team management is ready to fire the inhaler sucking sprinter. This news is neither especially exciting or surprising. I just wanted to use doodschmakt in a sentence.

Speaking of doodschmackt (and really, I should learn to spell this very essential cycling term), René Mandri of AG2R doodshmakted himself into a guardrail during today's stage. He broke a rib (or two) and perforated his lung. To crash out of a grand tour sucks massively. To pull a Moletta and crash out of the break? Suckage most profondo. Here at the Gossip, we wish him a speedy recovery.

The Italian word for rib, costola, also means cutlet. Mandri broke his cutlet. But I'm am being digressing.

Moletta, not content to make the Gossip for last year's caduta, has rebounded to give us this piccolo story. He and his team mates went to the podium for the teams classification (or one of them, aren't there like a dozen of these things at the Giro? I can't keep up.) There, Moletta set his eyes on the most beautiful podium girl ever. After the official festivities, Moletta went back to the podium to sneak a second look. He proved less than stealthy, and very nearly slipped and fell. Fortunately, he regained his equilibrium, saving himself the necessity of explaining to his DS how he managed to crash out the Giro while nowhere near his bici.

At Chez Tinkoff, Haircut 100's victory on yesterday's stage was met with much rejoicing. But alas, no vodka. A nice supper with my team mates is celebration enough, said Brutt. Such the party animal. So not living up to the Hair.

Vincenzo Di Falco who rode for Mercatone Uno back when Mercatone Uno was a team (which we're having a very hard time remembering) just got arrested for possessing large quantities of pot. But since we don't really know who he is, do we really care? Alas, no.

Lastly, Pellizotti tells the press that he can't understand Bettini these days. Pellizotti, Robbie Mac, and Dani D all agreed that today's stage to Peschici should be shortened. Bettini? He wanted to ride the whole damn thing. Pellizotti said that this year, Bettini has taken many "strange" positions. "We don't really understand him," said the ex-Rosa. Bettini gone batty? Wanting to ride 260km during the first week of a grand tour, well it must be said, normal people just don't act that way.

And, because it's fun for a girl and a boy, I leave you with this lovely shot of Bennati and his podium girls. Ooh là, là, What's not to like about Italia?

More points intrigue, as the stage concludes with 1.3km of climbing, up to a 10% grade. Or as they say over there, "alla Bettini." The stage has been shortened and the riders should be reasonably spry when they reach the end. Also, another successful breakaway isn't overly likely, given the short course. Enjoy!

The Points Competition is the story this week at the Giro d'Italia, so it's a good time to piggyback on Tifosa's points comp preview from last week and see how the big names stand. Recall, Tifosa's preview skipped over the GC guys and focused on the guys not already celebrated. Scroll down for some of those guys. 

Paolo Bettini ↔

19 points so far puts him in the thick of the long-haul Ciclamena contenders, but is he really back to form? Mine eyes don't believe it, but I didn't see him lead in the peloton today. Can't write him off yet. 

Daniele Bennati ↑

In the lead, riding pretty consistently, all systems a go. I wouldn't expect him to keep the ciclamena all the way to Milan, but he's doing his part.

Erik Zabel ↔

Same ol Zabel... right in it, as always. But if a sprinter type is gonna get it, Zabel has to catch Bennati. Meh...

Maximiliano Richeze ↓

Oh Richeze... you won't see him no more.

Robbie McEwen ↓

Hm, wasn't likely to make it over the mountains anyway, and now he's not winning or coming close in the sprints. See you in France.

Mark Cavendish ↑

Looking mighty fast, at least. Also looks like his next climb could be his last. Eventually, one of them will.

Robert Forster ↔

Hanging around with the sprinter pack. Not at the head. About as expected.

Mirco Lorenzetto ↓

Hasn't taken advantage in the early sprints. Makes it hard to expect a big points push.

as for those GC guys:

Franco Pellizotti ↔

Can't complain about the start he's off to. Of course, part of the calculus in this competition comes down to whether the rider is focused on another competition or not, and of the guys here I'm guessing Pellizotti will direct his energies toward the maglia rosa longer. So he'll probably limit his own chances here.

Danilo DiLuca ↑

My pick to win the points. He's looking fast and determined... nothing new there. But I think he's got two more things that help him greatly: incentive and consistency. Re: the latter, there aren't many stages off the flats where he can be counted out, and the handful of little uphill finishes are sure to be to his liking. Re: the latter, two of those little uphills are in or near his Abruzzese home; big chances to win. If he gets creamed in the Urbino ITT or the first climb, he could conceivably switch over to focusing on points before some of the others do. Or, I could be wrong and he'll win the Giro.

Davide Rebellin ↔

Matched DiLuca in Agrigento, the only big stage for the points-hunting semi-climber Classics type. Didn't win though, and he's got a lot more miles in those legs this year than DiLuca... so I don't love his chances to get to Milan or score points in week 3. But so far so good.

Riccardo Riccò ↔

Mopped the floor with the previous three names in Agrigento, a terrific turn of speed. Then crashed and messed up his wrist, which he claims could be a problem when the hills start. 7th today suggests he could be sandbagging.