from the unofficial Shack Twit. Also, Neil from Road says he heard something to this effect during the Tour of Missouri. I think it’s odd that he’d go back to the Giro, myself. Vediamo.

or given to Mexico to help Cali’s struggling economy. Either one would be fine by me..

they have no business moving it to May. Lance aside, the field will be far less impressive going head-to-head with the Giro.
Bad business decision, bottom line.

I remember reading an interview maybe a month ago in which Armstrong said he wasn’t sure he’d do ToC, because he thought the Giro had been good preparation for the Tour this year. At the time, I thought he was probably just trying to up the bidding on his ToC appearance fee by suggesting he might prefer the Giro, and that’s pretty much what I still think.

For one thing, it’s difficult to imagine RCS ponying up for another two-million-euro appearance fee next year, after Armstrong reportedly instigated the Milan protest (which infuriated Zomegnan), and then refused to speak to the press for the last half of the race.

Also, if rumors of a Giro route chock-full of ridiculously hard climbs are true, Armstrong seems likely to revert to his long-held position that the Giro is too difficult to be used as training for the Tour.

As a side note, several Italians I met at the Giro this year (not press members, but people I met while out riding) attributed the dumbing-down of this year’s Giro course to Armstrong’s presence in the race. Not only did RCS insert the 61k crono to please Armstrong, the theory went, but Lance was responsible for the gutting of the Cuneo to Pinerolo stage, and when he balked at the super-long climb to Blockhaus, suddenly the last six kilometers of the road was deemed unsuitable. Heh.

I’ve had trouble making much sense of the little rumorage I’ve seen so far. It can’t wait to see what you’ve found, and especially, to see it all pulled together into one post :-)

saying that Armstrong is undecided about the Giro ;-)

So yeah, bargaining for fees, I’m thinking.