Giro d'Italia Stage 1: The Cronosquadre!
by Chris Fontecchio on May 8, 2009 3:06 PM EDT
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As you know, Gavia has a new gig over at Steephill.tv, whose Giro d'Italia dashboard is pretty much everything you need to know (as opposed to the more, um, optional information that we specialize in here). So for each stage preview, while I will add updates and thoughts, I will also grab the key nugget from Gavia's work and suggest that if you want the whole skinny on any race, follow the link provided to read her previews back to front and back again. [And yes, this is an approved arrangement, not me stealing their stuff.]
For the Stage 1 team time trial in Venice, Gavia says:
The Centenary Giro opens with a team time trial on the Lido di Venezia, a narrow, 11 kilometer long sandbar that sits between the laguna di Venezia and the Adriatic Sea. The out-and-back course is completely flat, beginning in town and traveling along white sandy beaches. Assuming normal wind directions, a tailwind will encourage the riders toward the turnaround. On the return trip, they will ride against the wind to the finish.
It doesn't get much simpler. Hell, local amateur races here in the Northwest don't get much simpler than this stage. No tricks and turns, no climbs, just a pure wattage-fest for 20.5km. So technique isn't the variable it might normally be in a TTT. I can rationalize this by admitting that teams spend so little time on this discipline nowadays that maybe it's just as well. Anyway, the time gaps should be minimal.
On the flip: We've got start times!
Start times! For reference, I believe 15.35 is 9.35am US EDT and 6.35am Pacific. Please correct me if I'm wrong. And from Steephill's coverage it appears Universal Sports will be live from the get-go.
15.35: Columbia
15.40: Rabobank
15.45: Barloworld
15.50: Garmin
15.55: AG2R
16.00: Diquigiovanni
16.05: Bouygues Telecom
16.10: Xacobeo
16.15: Silence
16.20: Acqua § Sapone
16.25: Quick Step
16.30: Liquigas
16.35: Fuji
16.40: Cervélo
16.45: Saxo Bank
16.50: Katusha
16.55: ISD
17.00: Milram
17.05: Lampre
17.10: Caisse d'Epargne
17.15: LPR
17.20: Astana
Picks? Garmin are the favorites. Columbia are a possibility but going first, I dunno. Astana would be tough, but they rode poorly last week in Romandie and probably haven't spent as much time preparing for this stage as Garmin. I would also expect the big three Italian teams to do well, with so much at stake. Liquigas have won TTTs occasionally, though the last one was with DiLuca, though that does not in turn make LPR a favorite. La Gazzetta is dreaming of Pippo in Pink, though I don't know why Katusha would be among the strongest. One random thought -- if it's this short and straight, are sprinter types (e.g. Petacchi) just as valuable as your usual crono horses? My picks:
- Garmin
- Lampre
- Liquigas
- Columbia
- Saxo Bank
What say ye?
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holysheitholysheitholysheit!!!
This almost makes me forget how jealous I am that Tifosa is there.
CQRanking.com, you complete me.
by Chris Fontecchio on May 8, 2009 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Hey Oz
It’s saturday already, right? YAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!
CQRanking.com, you complete me.
by Chris Fontecchio on May 8, 2009 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions
Counting down
In 6 minutes it will be officially Saturday in Italy!!! :-)
Does time seem to be in slow motion to you all today? Seems that way to me.
Yes. But...
When the first team starts it will be 25mins shy of bleedin’ SUNDAY. So forgive me if I cannot get excited about it being Saturday. Personally, I think that the riders should start at about 3am (their time). That’s a civilised time (for me). C’mon boys, waaaakey wakey! LOL
At the same time
DZ played the new Wolverine game. Maybe that’s a part of Garmin’s race plan.
Bork, bork, bork!
by TheFigurehead on May 9, 2009 5:22 AM EDT up reply actions
Astana?
How come Astana gets no love? This is a Lance Armstrong team after all (not that he’s the main man, course not, but still). Has a Lance Armstrong team in the post-cancer era ever finished outside of close to the top? I know this isn’t the Tour, but still, they should at least get a nod for the Top 5. I think they’re Top 3 tomorrow.
Oy
too many teams to choose from. I say Saxo nips them for 5th.
CQRanking.com, you complete me.
by Chris Fontecchio on May 8, 2009 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions
also, i think only one rider from romandie is riding the giro for astana, morabito
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
His time
won’t be the issue. It’s Horner’s, or Jani’s, or Popo’s.
CQRanking.com, you complete me.
by Chris Fontecchio on May 8, 2009 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Top 10
1. Garmin
2. Columbia
3. Liquigas
4. Astana
5. ISD
6. LPR
7. Barloworld
8. Katusha
9. Saxo
10. Quickstep
yep, keep the heads down for a while... wait until that all important stage 12 itt
"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind
I think that Liquigas is going to take this for some reason with Quinziato providing a lot of horsepower......
Top 5
1.Leaky Gas
2. Garmin
3. Saxo
4. ISD
5.Columbia
I just hope one of those is right…
I wasn't aware Gavia
was writing stuff for Steephill – yay! I look forward to reading her take on the race, particularly with her incomparable writing style :)
11km?
Just starts his engine and paddle everything out of his wheel
Crashdan: "Veni Vidi Vici beats Wing Kong Exchange... … and I’ll change my signature to a backwards smile for a month."
Franzoi wins Parijs-Roubaix and I win a date with the VDS of Team Txirrindulariak..
Oh! There's going to be polemica now
Girbecco has just commented that he is, in fact, only using the Giro for training and his ultimate goal this year is the Tour de France.
Bad Girbecco!
I heard
he was only using this year’s Tour as training for next year’s Giro.
CQRanking.com, you complete me.
by Chris Fontecchio on May 8, 2009 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Leaky Gas
My top 5:
Liquigas
Garmin
Saxo Bank
Columbia
Astana
Leaky Gas – I think they are a solid pick – Italian team in an Italian race. I think they will have the motivation and the horsepower. I don’t have another Italian team in the top 5, but I think all of them will be super motivated to wear the leader’s jersey.
Garmin should do well. They have set this as a huge goal for the season. They seem to take view any TTT as a race they should win and their exchange of words with Columbia provides some additional incentive. My problem is that the Giro is not a major goal for CVV – its training for the Tour. I’m not sure how many others have the same view.
Saxo Bank – they always have good time trialists. Cance, Voigt, McCartney can turn in top 10 performances when on form. Until looking at the start list I did not realize Cancellara was riding the Giro.
Columbia – I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them show up for a race and not perform well. I think they would try to sweep the top spots in a local group ride. They are loaded with young talent that all seem like they are just waiting for their chance to prove themselves.
Astana has some big names in Levi, Armstrong, Popo, Jani, Horner. I think they have some major horsepower. I don’t get the impression that this race is a big objective for Levi or I would rank them higher. I’m not sure Armstrong or Horner are in top shape after their injuries. If the TTT was later in the race, I think they would be more of a factor.
Columbia on new TT bikes
As a side note, I just saw that Columbia will be riding the new Scott TT bike. We all know the discussion that was had when Sparta brought out the new TT bike.
Pics here: http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/The_new_Scott_Plasma_TT_bike_794.html
3:1 Aero Rule headtube
That head tube doesn’t look 3:1 to me. Is there a special rule for weight bearing, structural strengthening etc in the headtube area? Cancellara’s new rig looks similarly out of spec. I’m sure the UCI caliper & calculator gang will be out in full force….
I doubt there is a rule...I haven't seen a picture of it straight ahead but it does look like
that the head tube is rather thick, across that is. Even though the head tube goes rather far back I think that Scott designed so it was within the 3 to 1 rule otherwise, if the Giro people were sticklers, the wouldn’t even be able to start so the effort for building 2 prototypes would be wasted.
Plus I don’t understand why they gave one of the prototypes to Renshaw and not somebody like Lokvist. Just seems like it would be better to give it to somebody who might need it to get a better GC position…
if it breaks or gets declared illegal
It’s only Renshaw.
Not sure what that says about Rogers though.
The big question for this here TTT thingy
Is which team will lose tome for their GC guy?
Regardless of their exact placing tomorrow, Liquigas and Astana look to gain some time for their GC men against the other contenders. LPR should do well for Killer too.
But Diqui? A&S? Rabobank? Cervelo? Lampre? They could be looking at up to a minute deficit here.
Last year Ricco was 1:02 down after stage one, 33 seconds behind Contador. Menchov spotted Contador 35 seconds. So to me it’s the losers tomorrow who will be most interesting.
Rabo!
But not much. Diqui and A&S won’t be too high up. I think Bruse will drive Lampre on OK.
CQRanking.com, you complete me.
by Chris Fontecchio on May 8, 2009 4:29 PM EDT up reply actions
Diqui is going to be hemorrhaging time...
They have two alright TTers in Bertagnolli and Scarponi…If Gibo or Scarponi want to have any chance to not lose 45 second plus, they are going to have to pull something out of nowhere.
I'll play
My Top 5
1) Saxo
2) Columbia
3) Astana
4) Garmin
5) Barloworld
Leaky + Pressure = Trouble
"I get paid to hurt other people. How good is that? How good is that?
I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, that's good." Jens!
Teams w/GC threats not that interested in TTT top spot, but they will keep it very tight
Garmin
Saxo
Columbia
Astana
Liquigas
pretty sure Garmin wants to dominate TTT
and are not planning to contest the GC
Garmin a second ahead of Columbia, so they can wave the pink jersey in cav's face
oh how I wish, although I do say garmin gets it in front of
Columbia and Leaky. with team Livestrong(oh not yet?)Astana 4th with Levi being only a few seconds behind Basso. And Xacobeo dead last.
In Chauncey we trust!
I've just watched RAI's preview of the stage
and we could be in for a couple of surprises. Firstly, the lido is very very exposed at the far end of the course. In places it’s just a road on a sandbank, two or three metres above the sea. So if a wind does whip up then it could be good news for Rabobank as they could show off their echelon riding skills. And just before the finish there’s an unexpected cobbled section. The snap is blurry for understandable reasons, but trust me, it’s cobbles round the last roundabout. Could that be good for the Belgians?
Who am I trying to kid, my favourites are the same as everyone else’s.
The wind
I’m wondering myself if that will be a factor. Like, will it be stronger as the day goes along, how strong is it, etc.
I didn't see much talk about it
in the team comments. I checked the comments from some of the teams after they pre-rode, and no one said too much about the wind, except the prevailing direction.
Don’t know if the temperature/pressure gradients blow up on-shores in the afternoon around there or not. LOL, no surf reports for that area to check ;-)
You don't get the same sort of Atlantic gales
that you get in Belgium, so it will never be that much of an effect, but there is an outside chance of it doing something.
If you had ever doubted how seriously the Italians took their cycling
ask yourself where else in the world would you see one of these:
i see some ppl choose
Liquigas and i feel a bit confuse. I went check again the startlist and how they can win the TTT tomorrow?! A flat, windy race with ^Pelizzoti, Agnoli, Szmyd…
Okay, maybe in 4th or 5th, but podium?!! Looking for the squads even Rabo seems better than Liquigas…
My pick
Garmin
Columbia
Astana
Saxo Bank
ISD
Leaky has always done surprisingly well in TTT's
even at Romandie they were awesome, setting up the win for Kreuziger. I don’t know what they teach there but it works, I can’t see Leaky anywere outside the top 5.
In Chauncey we trust!
Top 5 Picks
GarMen – If they don’t win, that’s a huge loss for their whole season. I, for one, hope that we get to see CVV or DZ in the maglia rosa after tomorrow.
Cav’s Bitches Columbia – They’re going to ride solidly, and I think Cav especially wants the win… but their roster just isn’t quite at the same level.
Sexy Back – With Tony, Jens!, and Jason McCartney, you know this team won’t be too bad at the crono, but some of the supporting cast is a bit weak (Anders Lund? JJ Haedo?)
Liquigas – Basso and Pellizotti will be looking to gain time on their GC competitors, but I don’t know how good the rest of their team is at TTing to beat Astana, Sexy Back
Astana – Good, but I think they might hold something back. Not the best TTT team, but a good support in the mountains, which are much more important for the overall in the Giro.
3 teams that I could see surprising some with a top spot:
ISD – Italian team with some decent TTers (Grivko, Cioni, and I think Stannard is a former trackie)
Katusha – Some good time trialists, added to the fact that this is a big race for Katusha and their predecessors in Tinkoff)
Quick Step – Always a solid TTT team, period.
Astana may have had a poor Romandie TTT, but that’s like saying the Discovery team in 2005 had a poor Eindhoven showing and therefore shouldn’t be considered favorites in the Tour de France.
I like Garmin until someone knocks them off their top spot. Astana a close second and Saxo Bank third. Columbia has some good riders, but judging from Cav’s remarks, maybe not the motivation to do a super effort tomorrow.
hoping Garmin takes it and in the last 100m
Tommy D attacks his own team from the back of the train and nips CVV at the line. That would be epic…
Ok, so what time does
the Joe Martin Stage race start today?
Anybody?
"I didn't look for him and I didn't see him. If you base your race on another rider, most of the time you lose."
Tom Boonen
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