Giro Donne – Stage 2 Time Trial

by Monty. on Jul 4, 2009 2:57 PM EDT

Yesterday started out at the glamorous end of the Italian auto-industry, beside the Ferrari test track at Mugello. Today’s time trial begins in Pontedera, home of a much more humble company, Pioggia, makers of the Vespa, and its utilitarian big brother (and a secret favourite of mine) the Ape. From there they head north to Bientina, then east to the finish at S. Maria a Monte, a small volcanic outcrop that the Florentines (who else) annexed and surrounded with walls to protect their western flank. Nowadays the annual cultural highlight is August’s "Sagra della Patata Fritta," the festival of the fried potato. I kid you not. The course is for the most part flat or not noticeably uphill untill the last seven hundred metres which have an average gradient of 4.5% and look very tight and twisty.

This is a lot longer than the prologue, so the TT specialists should be able to get a bit of time over the sprinters digging in extra deep. It could well be another Cervelo 1-2, with Armstrong and Pooley, but expect Noemi Cantele to show off her new Italian champ jersey. They start at 11:45 and leave at one minute intervals . If conditions are good the winner will get round in about 20 minutes.

Rai Sport Piu will have half an hour of coverage at 17:00 local time.

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Piaggio

though it’d be good if it were really Pioggia, since my (limited) Vespa-riding experiences have generally involved getting soaked to the skin somewhere along the line…

Thanks for doing this, as ever.

by civetta on Jul 4, 2009 4:43 PM EDT reply actions

Ha Ha. OK confession time

I’m no expert on this stuff. I try and catch a couple of races a year but if you’re looking for authority and insight then you’ve come to the wrong place. I was just reading up a bit on the race and making a few notes for myself, and it was a small step from there to turn those notes into semi-coherent sentences and a mini preview so that I don’t then feel guilty if al I do for the next six months here is snark. Not that anyone really needs to find an excuse for posting pictures of Mylene Demongeot in a swimsuit.

by Monty. on Jul 5, 2009 4:58 AM EDT up reply actions

thanks so much for covering this race

totally lvoe reading about it!

I’ll take the easy one: Armstrong to win :-)

by Jen See on Jul 4, 2009 9:05 PM EDT reply actions

Nah, Pooley ;-)

Adrenalina Italiana!

by Albertina on Jul 5, 2009 3:52 AM EDT up reply actions

ditto on the grazie

I’m enjoying your posts.

by lyne on Jul 4, 2009 10:04 PM EDT reply actions

Yup

Aware of this race for years, but not concrete appreciation for it. This really helps. Thanks for your work on it.

by Sui Juris on Jul 4, 2009 11:53 PM EDT reply actions

A bit more news from the morning

According to twitter reports (is there an accepted name for these things) the vampires have been out to the hotel this morning.

Amber Neben:

Knock knock knock. Wake up! The UCI is at our hotel doing blood controls. (Nurnberger, Columbia, and Cervelo are here, 4/team.)

Oops, Flexpoint is here, too./ Ouch that hurt. So much for sleeping late.

Liz Hatch:

Eatting breakfast, anti-doping doing controls two tables away. Yum!

It sounds a bit boarding school-ish, all together at the same hotel. Did they all have to queue up last night to clean their teeth in the communal bathroom? Lots of Walton style goodnights?

A very expensive drink:

Liz Hatch:

Made the most boneheaded mistake, going back to the car for water right before a climb. Beg,borrow,steal. Do Not Go Back To Car!

(If anyone else says anything interesting/off-message/beyond the usual “I’d like to thank my sponsors…blah blah” then we’ll gladly steal it. Until the lawyers’ letters start arriving, anyway, and if they’ve said nothing about Tourbecco then we’re probably safely under the radar.)

For thos of you who read Italian, either directly or via Google. Capodacqua has a bit more on his site, along with the expected piece on doping and that scary photo of Tammy Thomas.

by Monty. on Jul 5, 2009 5:16 AM EDT reply actions

It appears they're staying in Montecatini Terme.

I stayed there once on a university choir tour to Tuscany. Our hotel was hilarious. The bathroom flooded, the loo wouldn’t work, there was no air conditioning (it was super hot) and it was full of old people who had nothing better to do than stare at us as if we were aliens. Thankfully there was a nice bar next door that did a mean gin fizz….

Adrenalina Italiana!

by Albertina on Jul 5, 2009 6:50 AM EDT up reply actions

Italian student residences aren't nice

here’s one example I’ve personally seen.

by Monty. on Jul 5, 2009 4:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Not that different from the one I didn't have to live in here in Sweden

Fortunately I got a slightly bigger (and more expensive) one, with a kitchen(ette).

Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.

by TheFigurehead on Jul 5, 2009 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions

When I first moved up here two years ago

I spent 3 weeks in the uni halls of residence over the summer while I found somewhere to live. It was grim & horribly expensive & the corridors smelt so appallingly of teenager + alcohol + industrial strength cleaning products that I had to cover my mouth & nose in order to enter/exit the building. Unless you were very brave, you needed flip-flops for the showers. Wellies would’ve been better.

If you’re a girl in Italy, you’re a bit better off with the nuns, though the 10:30 curfews & total lack of the opposite sex lose their novelty pretty sharpish. Still, students seem to keep a lot of nuns in business over there…

by civetta on Jul 5, 2009 4:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Ah, the nuns

It’s like being 8 years old again. “Can xxxxx come out to play?” Semi-discreetly supervised visiting hours.

by Monty. on Jul 5, 2009 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions

The first year I rented a room from an older couple

75-80ish. He was cool, she was… Let’s say I understand the situation with the nuns.

Staring at the swim team gets you killed by a gang of dancing ninja men who know how to twirl.

by TheFigurehead on Jul 5, 2009 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions

The official timekeepers' site

is here. the link somehow got stripped out of yesterday’s post leaving just some red text.

by Monty. on Jul 5, 2009 5:33 AM EDT reply actions

How freakin's awesome....Neben in pink!!!

from Amber’s tweet today:

I won the stage today! Pink too. My first stage win at a Giro. Cool! Was a hard ITT. Glad I drove it before. My FUJI D6 and Di2 were fantastic

She said earlier this year that repeat Worlds is her main goal….wow!…she is well on her way!

by steph- on Jul 5, 2009 1:31 PM EDT reply actions

Full day's results

available here and G.C.

Top 10:

1 86 NEBEN AMBER NUR Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung 20’39.26

2 11 ARMSTRONG KRISTIN CWT Cervelo Test Team 20’53.62 14.36

3 15 POOLEY EMMA CWT Cervelo Test Team 21’09.49 30.23

4 21 BUBNENKOVA SVETLANA FEN Fenixs Edilsavino 21’18.04 38.78

5 63 ARNDT JUDITH TCW Team Columbia Highroad Woman 21’24.77 45.51

6 162 CANTELE NOEMI BCT Bigla Cycling Team 21’25.62 46.36

7 14 HAUSLER CLAUDIA CWT Cervelo Test Team 21’30.14 50.88

8 131 ANTOSHINA TATIANA GAU Gauss Rdz Ormu Colnago 21’35.90 56.64

9 136 PUCINSKAITE EDITA GAU Gauss Rdz Ormu Colnago 21’37.01 57.75

10 67 VILLUMSEN LINDA MELANIE TCW Team Columbia Highroad Woman 21’46.85 1’07.59

Overall top 10

1 86 NEBEN AMBER NUR Equipe Nurnberger Versicherung 3:10’18

2 11 ARMSTRONG KRISTIN CWT Cervelo Test Team 3:10’40 22

3 15 POOLEY EMMA CWT Cervelo Test Team 3:10’49 31

4 63 ARNDT JUDITH TCW Team Columbia Highroad Woman 3:10’53 35

5 162 CANTELE NOEMI BCT Bigla Cycling Team 3:11’02 44

6 21 BUBNENKOVA SVETLANA FEN Fenixs Edilsavino 3:11’04 46

7 136 PUCINSKAITE EDITA GAU Gauss Rdz Ormu Colnago 3:11’05 47

8 14 HAUSLER CLAUDIA CWT Cervelo Test Team 3:11’29 1’11

9 161 BRANDLI NICOLE BCT Bigla Cycling Team 3:11’30 1’12

10 148 ZILIUTE DIANA SAF Safi Pasta Zara Titanedi 3:11’33 1’15

Luperini dropped nearly 2 minutes (and was narrowly beaten by Tiff Cromwell). I wonder whether there are enough mountains this year for her to make up for that. Columbia are now clearly riding for Judith Arndt (in case anyone ever doubted that), and Cervelo still have three in with a serious chance. Neben in pink, but tomorrow’s stage is the one that killed off her chances last year. Will she be able to sleep tonight.

by Monty. on Jul 5, 2009 3:42 PM EDT reply actions

Rai Sport coverage now on

by Monty. on Jul 5, 2009 4:57 PM EDT reply actions

cheers - was just going to say that...

I know more about Italian volleyball than I ever thought possible.

by civetta on Jul 5, 2009 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Interesting

but the Rai coverage still finds way to irritate from time to time. The crash barriers at the start didn’t extend much beyond the actual ramp, but they often don’t in the men’s race either.

Coverage of the earlier finishers showed some very tired cyclists crossing the line, while the commentators spoke of stretches up to 17% in the climb into town. How about a shot of those 17% bits. Time and time again we got this instead.

Lots of shade out on the road today. If the temperatures were anything like yesterday then this was a relief.

Armstrong was clearly the strongest of the riders we saw out on the course. That’s partly because they didn’t catch Neben and Pooley out on the course.

Try to film random strangers and they may start sending you subliminal messages.

I hate to celebrate other’s misfortune, but a mechanical problem for Diana Ziliute at teh start of the ramp into town was good news for us as we finally got to see the really nasty stretches at the finish.

by Monty. on Jul 5, 2009 5:56 PM EDT reply actions

It wasn't nice at all

up to the first hairpin, doesn’t seem too bad:

What you still can’t see can’t hurt you, eh. Take the sharp right at the top

The locals bring out their knitting

I love the idea that not only do they come out to watch, they bring out chairs too.

If you stretch out here you can almost touch both sides of the street:

If you breathe out here you can almost touch both sides of the street.

The podium and GC top 3. Amber Neben has all three jersies.

by Monty. on Jul 5, 2009 6:07 PM EDT reply actions

D'oh wrong button

The podium

She hasn’t got the white one though. That went to Lotto rider and recent Silver medallist in the British Nationals, Lizzie Armistead. Is that good enough for her to get a mention on the BBC website?