Podium Cafe: All Posts by Chris Fontecchio

Tempo della Responsibilità: The Team Capsules, Revisited!

2013-05-22T23:38:55Z

Do we know who's going to win the 2013 Giro d'Italia? Not exactly. Yes, some people have already chosen a wine pairing for the presumed winner, but with snow falling and the word giro being synonymous with chaos, I think we'll probably hold our tongues a bit longer.

But we have a pretty good sense, 17 stages into this fantastic race, of whose goals have been accomplished. So let's take a trip down Accountability Lane and see which team's predicted goals materialized, morphed, or went unmet.

AG2R

Mission:

Maybe a stage win from Pozzo and some nice riding by Betancur, at least for a couple weeks.

Accomplished?

And how. Well, Pozzovivo is still looking for that stage, and looking less and less like a guy who can win one. But Betancur has come close, and is experiencing the race of his life, sitting a tidy seventh and poised to move up. This is, as Joe Biden would say, a Big F'n Deal for a team without a lot of GC heft. It's also more fun to talk about than Sylvain Georges getting popped.

Androni-Gioccatoli

Mission:

Anywho, Rubiano Chavez and Gavazzi are both stage threats, climber types who (in Gavazzi's case) can wind it up at the end.

Accomplished?

Bah, tourists. I guess Franco Pellizotti's stranglehold on 13th place is as celebratory as it gets with the Andros.

Astana

Mission:

Yes, Wiggins is the putative favorite, but when it comes to Italian teams winning in Italy, Astana look like they know how to do things right. Lots of useful veterans like Tiralongo and Agnoli, who will help Nibali through any trying times.

Accomplished?

Well, Nibali is about to win the race, the first-ever Sicilian winner, and while his train hasn't dominated, it hasn't been found lacking either. On Nibali, did you know he has one single Giro stage win to his name, from three years ago? He doesn't literally need another, but it sure would go a long way toward sealing the legacy of Vincenzo Nibali, Sicilian Cycling Champion.

Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox

Mission:

If Vlaanderen90 isn't all over this team, then he must hate Italians (probably not the case). This is a team of very young, very talented climbers, who may or may not ever amount to something big. That's the thing about the kids... what if they do amount to something big? Like, this month? With all the caveats about patience and realistic expectations, they could be extremely fun to watch.

Accomplished?

Alas, the scalatori-in-training need a little more training, or seasoning, before joining the big show. Locatell, Colbrelli and Bongiorno haven't really been heard from. They are still around, however, and in fact the only DNF was Battaglin, which sucks because he was riding a fantastic race (won stage 4, second in stage 7) and was riding like a younger, stronger, fast-finishing media-montagna ace before crashing out. Distant cousin or not, he carries the Battaglin name well. Pirazzi has a near-lock on the KOM jersey, so there's that too.

Blanco

Mission:

Make-good time, as Blanco trade in their faint Tour de France hopes for something more realistic (maybe). Gesink is the captain, but it was Kruijswijk who added "strong Giro" to his resume two years ago, so any sign of discomfort from Gesink might lead to Kruijswijk getting his shot.

Accomplished?

Dear god no. Gesink has been reduced to stage-hunting, where luck has laughed in his face a few times. Wilco Kelderman is easily their best rider at the Giro, all things considered.

BMC

Mission:

Either Evans is sandbagging or he hasn't really come here to win. If it falls in his lap or his form suddenly materializes, then great, but it sounds like this is more of a warm-up to the Tour for Cadel. Which leaves... nobody. Tourists-plus. Not for lack of love or respect for the Giro. I just don't think they have the horses for most of this race.

Accomplished?

Nolo contendere. Although when Cadel finishes second to Nibali, I will be sure to remind all of you that indeed, I said I didn't think he could win.

Cannondale

Mission:

All about stage wins.

Accomplished?

Viviani 0, Cavendish 4. So no. But I give Viviani credit for at least making Cav break a sweat.

Colombia

Mission:

Not seeing this either. I think they'll be straight-on stage-hunters. Possibly very effective stage-hunters. Duque too, on the funkier possible-sprint stages.

Accomplished?

Yes and no. If you kept the expectations low enough -- that they'd hunt for stages but wouldn't necessarily bag any -- then sure, it's been a good Giro. They've shown the shirt and the aggressiveness needed to ride this race. The experience will do them all a world of good. The marriage between Colombian riders and Italian roads continues to be a happy one.

Euskaltel-Euskadi

Mission:

Sammy Sanchez. At the Giro?! Well, this just got 10% more interesting. I guess it's fair to ask what Sammy has left in the tank nowadays, and his only Giro was in 2005, an anonymous 17th. But since then he's come second in the Vuelta and third in the Tour. So, you know, he can do this. Verdugo and Martinez should lend him solid support.

Accomplished?

Something in me says not to give up on Sanchez having an impact on this race. Obviously not for the win; he'll be extremely lucky to cut his 8' deficit in half. But he's been riding pretty well of late.

FDJ

Mission:

On the other hand, virtually everyone on this roster is capable of an interesting stage win. I do hope Bouhanni can get into high gear in the bunch finishes. Having Roux away on a climb could be fun too.

Accomplished?

No, alas. Bouhanni showed up in middlin form, got as close as second on stage 12, and went home -- not bad for a young kid coming off a gnarly injury. They lost Jeanneson and Roux early, so once Bouhanni left, it was game over.

Garmin-Sharp

Mission:

Hesjedal will be tested beyond last year's field of climbers who can't crono out of a wet paper bag. In the end it'll be up to the Canadian, but the team is calculated for a strong defense, combining full-on TTT power with experience and climbing ability. Gonna give BMC a run for their money in stage 2, and Sky in the rest of the race.

Accomplished?

Nope. Personally I never loved Hesjedal's chances, but I liked them enough to be interested. The Giro was worse off when he went home. Navardauskas' constant aggression netted a stage win and can fairly be called a breakout for the young Lithuanian mega-diesel.

Katusha

Mission:

Wow do I not really like this team.

Accomplished?

Katusha to Chris: You like apples? Because we got two stages and some pink jersey time. How you like them apples?

Lampre

Mission:

While the top-end talent is nothing special, I do at least like how Lampre have put together a dual sprints-GC squad with some useful helpers for each discipline. A sensible roster is a good place to start.

Accomplished?

For a team sitting fourth and fifth on GC, they haven't really been all that impressive. But high GC placings were their quarry, and I guess that's what they're honing in on. So yay?

Lotto-Belisol

Mission:

Tourists.

Accomplished?

Good things happen to good riders, and so it was that old-skool Adam Hansen stomped away from the break on a very nasty day in Abruzzi to win a pretty exciting stage. That plus having a guy in every single long break is about as good as it was ever gonna get for Lotto.

Movistar

Mission:

Dubious, but JJ Cobo is trying to recapture the magic of his 2011 Vuelta win. Intxausti comes in as co-leader, combining some Giro experience last year, a 10th in the Vuelta, and some fair form this spring. They won't be overly conspicuous, but for a team that's holding onto their cards this is OK.

Accomplished?

Hey, if you wanted the real Movistar preview, you should have checked Podium Cafe Premium:

Giovanni Visconti looks primed to go on a stage-winning binge in northern Italy, particularly in the final week. And don't look past Alex Dowsett for the long ITT. They might even get a win in between from Intxausti, who will be sitting 9th on GC, 5:47 back, heading into the uphill crono.

Really, that PdC Premium is a bargain at any price.

Omega Pharma Quick Step

Mission:

All for Cav, though he's talking down any real chaces, saying there are only a few sprint stages. Sandbag much?

Accomplished?

Cav is within range of a moderately-improbable points title, taking all four of the bunch sprints so far and not likely to lose another, since there's only one left on the final day, and he doesn't lose the easy ones. Not too shabby!

Orica-GreenEdge

Mission:

I would put Durbridge out there for a bit of a white jersey challenge, though he's hardly a favorite. The team's main objective is putting Goss into sprints, and with Goss's abilities, particularly on Italian roads, he might be the man to watch for the points... if a sprinter has a chance. Howard gets in the mix, and they should ride a stonking TTT.

Accomplished?

Um, no. Gossy wasn't well in the end, one of several guys to suffer in the weather, and while he came close before going home, it wasn't enough to make the impression OGE were hoping for. Other than Pieter Weening's long breakaway efforts, they haven't been seen much.

RadioShack-Layopard

Mission:

Not feeling the vibe here. A better bet is some stage-hunting.

Accomplished?

Kiserlovski was once 10th in the Giro, four spots better than where he sits now, so I wouldn't call this a breakout of any sort, but for the Shack to have a guy shadowing Nibali in the Alps is enough to get out of bed in the morning. I'd like to see more of Nizzolo on the tricky/sprint stages but I'd also like a pony. No, wait, I'd like a Westvleteren Ale.

Sky

Mission:

They're going to ruin the Giro, aren't they?

Accomplished?

Sure, by going home. The Wiggins Show was great theater, but for his press following the ending is a bit bland. Unless of course they notice that Sky have the third-overall rider, Rigoberto Uran, and two stages to their credit. Plenty of other teams would like to see their disasters turn out this way.

Argos-Shimano

Mission:

I bet Degenkolb kicks some ass. The points jersey will be a stretch, but stages aren't.

Accomplished?

Aha! That was a little snippet from PdC Premium, copied to the free site. See? It's gold, I tell ya.

Saxo-Tinkoff

Mission:

Breschel! I think he has it in him. If somehow that doesn't work out, I guess Majka is the guy?

Accomplished?

Even the blind pig finds an acorn. Majka's pursuit of the maglia bianca, which is a mere five seconds beyond his grasp at the moment, has been Saxo's main motivation. Breschel, alas, went home early.

Vacansoleil

Mission:

Tourists.

Accomplished?

No shocker, now that the stopper is out of the tub. Bole has been spotted a time or two, but that's really it. At least they will have plenty of time to work on their resumes.

Vini Fantini

Mission:

This could easily be the most fun team of the Giro. Every year one Italian B-level team makes noise, and since these guys are the opposite of moribund Bardiani Androni, they're my pick to bring the CrAzY good times. Like, four-man breakaway in the mountains good times. And the more secondary jerseys they gain, the less neon we have to look at. Can we all join together and root for this?

Accomplished?

With an emphasis at times on cRaZy. They've stuck out, by dressing as highlighters, by going on the attack, or by lousing up a simple 6km climb that cost them a very strong chance at a podium place. What more could you, the fans, ask for?

Giro Stage 17 Results: Look Familiar?

2013-05-22T16:46:32Z

At 214 kilometers long and mostly flat, today looked like a day for the sprinters. Well, it did until you looked at the profile for the final 30 kilometers of the stage, which contained a 5 kilometer climb with sustained ramps over 10% misleadingly labeled as a mere category 4 bump that summited with 18 kilometers to go. Oh Italy, how we love the trickery you bring to race routes.

Still, the sprinters' teams seemed content to keep the day's four-man breakaway composed of Miguel Rubiano (Androni), Maxim Belkov (Katusha), Gert Dockx (Lotto Belisol), and Luke Durbridge (ORICA GreenEdge) on a tight leash. With 80 kilometers left to race, the gap was a mere 5 minutes, spelling certain doom for the escapees who had been on the attack since the first ten kilometers. The quartet became a trio almost as soon as the climb began with Belkov appearing to have lost the climbing legs that garnered him a stage win in the second week.

Behind, Omega Pharma - Quickstep and Cannondale had been driving the pace for Mark Cavendish and Elia Viviani respectively, though other teams began to swarm around the front of the peloton as the climb began. Cavendish started the climb prominently in fourth wheel but almost immediately disappeared from view as punchy climbers decided they wanted the stage for themselves. Danilo di Luca attacked at the base of the climb and pried open a gap in excess of twenty seconds before the pace truly ramped up behind. As di Luca's gap began to tumble, Giovanni Visconti - winner of Sunday's Stage 15 atop the Galibier - shot out of the front of the gruppo Nibali with astonishing speed, riding up to di Luca in less than a kilometer and pausing only for the slightest of moments before continuing on alone.

At the top of the climb, Visconti's gap was 30 seconds, which seemed a bit much to hold with 18 kilometers left to race, even with a technical downhill to tackle that would make organized pursuit for the next several kilometers difficult. But, the chase behind was lacking in coordination and groups of one to four riders kept pinging off the front of what little remained of the peloton rather than cooperating in ernest. Further behind, Cavendish's chances evaporated as he hit the bottom of the descent a minute in arrears of the chasing group and a full 90 seconds behind Visconti with only 10 kilometers to race.

In the end, Visconti held on for a memorable stage win while Garmin-Sharp's Ramunas Navarduaskas led home the chasing group for second some 19 seconds later. In the mix for the sprint for second was Cadel Evans, who finished 10th and garnered several points in the points classification to put him nearly on terms with Cavendish with two mountains stages and an uphill time trial offering him the chance to take home even more points and likely put the nail in the coffin of Cavendish's hopes of taking home the maglia rosso passione. Even if he wins the final flat stage - which is quite likely - Cavendish's only real hopes of winning the competition lie in an unlikely detonation on Evan's part over the next three days.

Stage Results:

Giovanni VIsconti (Movistar)
Ramunas Navarduaskas (Garmin-Sharp), at 19"
Luka Mezgek (Argos - Shimano), at 19"
Filipo Pozzato (Lampre - Merida), at 19"
Danilo Hondo (RadioShack - Leopard), at 19"
Salvatore Puccio (Sky), at 19"
Sacha Modolo (Bardiani Valvore - CSF Inox), at 19"
Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli), at 19"
Francisco Ventoso (Movistar), at 19"
Cadel Evans (BMC), at 19"

Overall Classification

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)
Cadel Evans (BMC), at 1:26
Rigoberto Uran Uran (Sky), at 2:46

Points Classification

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma - Quickstep), 113pts
Cadel Evans (BMC), 109 pts
Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini), 89pts

Giro Stage 16: Intxausti Snatches Sprint; Santambrogio Chunks Climb

2013-05-21T15:27:03Z

Movistar got its second consecutive stage victory in the Giro d'Italia today when its captain Beñat Intxausti jumped a late attack from the maglia rosa group and outwitted Astana's Tanel Kangert and Lampre's Przemyslaw Niemiec in the sprint. The break occurred in the final 5km flat run-in to the stage conclusion in Ivrea, below the Italian Alps, from a group of elite climbers and descenders which separated itself on a small incline in the last 20km. In the sprint, Intxausti took up third wheel behind Kangert, accelerated when Niemiec faltered, and soloed home ahead of a charging Kangert by two bike lengths. For the Basque all-rounder, it was his first victory in a grand tour stage, and improved his overall position slightly from tenth place.

The day proceeded as expected, with a break on the loose for much of the flat section (following an early and calm return from France via Mont Cenis), only to be reeled in on the climb to Andrate. It was never likely to be a sprinters' stage, since this bump in the road was actually 6km of pretty stiff climbing, topping out at 13%, and starting downhill again with a mere 18km to go. The sprinters fell away at the base of the climb, which is about where the break was reeled in, and while the climb consisted mostly of the favorites staying together behind some KOM points skirmishing, the race got hot at the top, when Carlos Betancur of AG2R attacked over the summit. He was quickly joined by Samuel Sanchez of Euskaltel, a legendary descender, and overall leader Vincenzo Nibali of Astana (another crack downhiller) came up to the leaders before long, with Michele Scarponi in tow. That group proceeded to grow as the descent wound on, but Vini Fantini's Mauro Santambrogio and AG2R's Domenico Pozzovivo were not among them. Their ~~descending~~ failure on the climb and descent of the Andrate slope would eventually cost them some 2.23 to their closest GC competitors, a major blow to the podium hopes of Santambrogio in particular.

Results:

Beñat Intxausti, Movistar
Tanel Kangert, Astana, s.t.
Przemyslaw Niemiec, Lampre, s.t.
Ramunas Navardauskas, Garmin-Sharp, at 0.14
Cadel Evans, BMC, s.t.

GC:

Nibali

Giro Rest Day No. 2: Five Up, Five Down

2013-05-20T18:09:06Z

Do I have a problem with lists? Is there such a thing as list-dependency? Should I see someone about it? This and many more questions answered in today's list column!

Five Up

1. Vincenzo Nibali

All that's left is for the Shark to seal the deal. No easy task, but there is plenty of evidence which says he can and will. First off, last time he rode a Giro uphill ITT, he won it. So that's Thursday's stage, tilted in his favor. Friday and Saturday are the standard/extreme array of high mountain passes in the Dolomites where, again, he's had plenty of success. Then there's the fact that right now, he is climbing as well or better than anyone else in the race. Oh, and you want to make up time on him? Plan on doing it on the final climb. Because of his descending skills, it's pointless to get much of a lead earlier in the stage.

Speaking of which, it's funny that this was the decisive factor in Week 1 of the Giro, but promises not to be a factor in the hair-raising descents of the Dolomites. Evans, the closest challenger, is no slouch headed downhill. Sammy Sanchez, creeping back into contention, is another crack downhiller. I wish I could say more about the other guys on the GC (other than that Domenico Pozzovivo apparently isn't so hot at it), but regardless, Vinny's ability just shrinks the real race down to a couple very, very small margins.

2. Carlos Betancur/AG2R

On stage 8's long time trial, Betancur dropped 5.19 to the stage winner and 4.58 to Nibali, dropping him a ways down the general classification. He presently sits 5.15 out of the maglia rosa, unable to gain much time on Nibali (except in a bonus), but check out his performances in the interregnum: second (to Belkov) at Firenze, second (to Uran) at Montasio, third (behind Nibali and Santambrogio) at Bardonecchia, and second (behind Visconti) on the Galibier. Did I say nobody was climbing better than Nibali? Hm, might revise that slightly.

The trick will be for him to nail the uphill time trial, and he doesn't have much history of doing so, but he's also only 24 and that Nevegal ITT (won by Nibali) was when Betancur was a 22-year-old stagiare. He took 15th in the Pais Vasco rolling event, a good sign, so maybe Betancur can at least hold his own on Thursday. Meanwhile, for AG2R it's another triumphant Giro, possibly trumping 2011 when they got John Gadret on the podium (a year later, after Contador was DQ'd). Pozzovivo is doing his usual back-of-the-top-ten thing, so the excitement is all about the young Colombian. But as France's delegate to actually doing something at the Giro, AG2R are padding their resume... and raising a grand tour threat of their own to boot.

3. Team Sky/British Cycling

Their Veni, Vidi, Descendere Simile Femina act didn't win Team Sky the dominant sequel to last year's Tour de France they aimed for, but the last week wasn't nearly the disaster for British fans that one might be tempted to assume it was. First off, they re-signed Richie Porte, who will almost certainly deliver the team a grand tour this summer, presumably to someone besides himself. Porte is Levi-Plus right now, a guy who thrives on a strong team in a low-to-medium pressure role. And while it's a bit difficult to picture him off and winning the Tour de France (just yet), it's not that hard to imagine him being completely overlooked while other teams chase down Wiggins and Froome, and occupying a dangerous position. Or at least shredding the field en route to launching the team captain.

And speaking of captains, nobody made out better this week than the British Press. Whether that's a win for anyone else is hard to say, but this, um, institution lives for two things: to catalogue the daily movements of the Royal Family (in case of any signs of human failings) and to make the rest of the world's press look calm and measured. [Want proof? No you don't.] Well, this week we saw the full-on launching of the Wiggins-Froome polemica that -- mark my words -- will devour the 2013 Tour de France. Or at least the media coverage of it. Really, sometimes polemici are a bit oversold... but even that's a win for... wait for it... Team Sky.

As to the merits, Sky have been quite adamant up and down the chain that Froome-dawg is the leader for the Tour. So there you go. Wiggins has consistently gone slightly off the script -- not challenging Froome but not disavowing his own ambitions. And honestly, it's hard to see how he wouldn't. He's the reigning winner. I don't recall him promising Froome this year's win if he gave anything up last year (LeMond, recall, gave up a near-certain win of the '85 Tour for Hinault). Froome certainly deserves his chance but I don't see why Wiggins can't go for it too.

4. Mauro Santambrogio

I've kind of talked him up enough this week, you can see what he's done. Unlike Betancur, Santa's not hitting the time bonuses, which is a bummer for him given that he's one second off the podium at the moment. But there's plenty of cycling left to do.

Is Danilo Di Luca a good teammate? You always want to have a guy up there with you, and I don't know enough about their personal interactions but I assume it's good. Still, when your teammate tends to launch himself alone, I mean, I guess there's some value there if he succeeds in exhausting someone else's guys from the chase. I dunno. Di Luca, in his defense, should be worthless in the high mountains anyway, so whatever you get from him should probably be considered a bonus.

5. Mark Cavendish

Here's what I said about the guy ten days ago:

By my estimation, he needs to get to the line and take a top-two spot in 12, 13 and 21 to be in range of the 150 points it'll take to win this competition. My guess? He falls short.

Here's what he did in stages 12 and 13:

Stage 12: win
Stage 13: win

Any questions? I think they have the bit between their teeth now. Still gonna be close. [See this fanpost for exactly how close.]

Bonus! Samuel Sanchez

He's back from the dead, that much I know. Will the resurgence continue? Will we all be happy if it does? Hell yeah.

Five Down

1. Bradley Wiggins

Apart from the polemics, I do think Sir Bradley took a hit this week... to his credentials as a patron. He came to Italy looking to add another jersey to his collection, like a good patron would and should do. Wiggins' ascension comes a bit late in his career to go on a big run of grand tours which would earn him real patron standing, though he's so powerful that you could maybe picture him putting together a dominant phase. Worse, his own team isn't going to make that easy for him. Worst of all, though, is that the single most compelling story of the Giro is how Wiggo's toolbox apparently doesn't come with a descending widget. You can't be a patron if you show weakness in one of the major elements of cycling.

2. Robert Gesink

Speaking of weakness... WTF? Is it time to downgrade Gesink, the biggest talent of the recent wave of Dutch talent, to one-week and one-day excellence, with a side of meh-ness in the big tours? It's possible he's got one in him, but that all the pieces have to fall perfectly into place. Someday he'll join the list of the Carlos Sastres and JJ Cobos of the world who get their due on a very big stage, perhaps. But it won't be this month.

3. Ryder Hesjedal

Hesjedal is approaching an awkward position in his team, following this Giro where he got sick or something and went home. Did he get sick or did he just burn himself out in week 1? Not sure we'll ever know the details, but let's face it, Hesjedal was always on the cusp of grand tour ability. Thru determination and guile he got his Giro last year, and on a good day the guy kicks some ass. But after this, one has to ask, should Garmin shift its focus significantly toward starting the Talansky Era and away from supporting secondary threats from Hesjedal?

4. Fans/ the Giro

What do Hesjedal, Gesink and Wiggins have in common, besides poor performance? They were the respective reasons we were all so extra excited about this year's Giro GC, anticipated as the most competitive in years. Well, now it's more of a two-man race, and one of them looks like a strong bet to win. Familiar?

Rain is the primary culprit. It's ironic, the Giro had some new roads built in places like Abruzzo where the smooth tarmac would have been grand tour worthy on a dry day... but instead turned into a skating rink as oil seeped from the fresh surface. Rain made it fun for a bit... for the fans. But the incessant rain has sapped the strength of the race a bit. From what I know, it is simply more depleting to the body to race in cold (especially wet/cold) conditions like this. Not good for business. As great as the first week was, last week was kind of a downer.

And let the record reflect that Jens did not arrive in the region until late Thursday. "It was like that when I got here," he claims.

5. Lists

Let's face it, they're what keep USA Today in business. And that's not a good thing.

Giro Stage 15: Visconti Hangs On

2013-05-19T15:52:15Z

Giovanni Visconti gave his Movistar team a massive boost with a win in stage 15 on the Col du Galibier, while overall leader Vincenzo Nibali remained calm and in charge of this Giro d'Italia. Amid snowbanks and snowflakes, the peloton climbed to the Granges des Galibier with numerous attacks by the top climbers outside the top five of the general classification, but among the leaders of the race it was a day when they all stayed on their respective limits and limited attacks amongst each other.

Visconti survived alone from a long day on the attack, and while various attacks formed on the Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier, the only one which survived was a late grouping led by Carlos Betancur and Przemyslaw Niemiec, which finished 40 seconds behind Visconti and 30" ahead of the gruppo maglia rosa.

For Visconti the win is his first stage triumph in the Giro d'Italia. The multiple Italian Champion and winner of a handful of one-day races had worn the maglia rosa for a week in 2008, but before today had never taken a Giro stage win or a major mountain victory in any grand tour. For Movistar, there had been little to cheer prior to today, but this grand victory on the famous slopes of the Tour de France gives them a day to enjoy. For everyone else, the day simply ended, cold and wet, and leaving everyone grateful for tomorrow's rest day.

Giovanni Visconti, Movistar
Carlos Betancur, AG2R, at ??
Przemyslaw Niemiec, s.t.

Vincenzo Nibali, Astana

Giro Stage 14: Scalatori in the Mist -- Santambrogio, Nibali Profit On Bardonecchia

2013-05-18T16:17:19Z

Vini Fantini's Mauro Santambrogio vastly improved his case for grand tour leadership today with the victory atop the Bardonecchia in the Italian Alps in a shortened Stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia. Santambrogio came home with only maglia rosa Vincenzo Nibali of Astana, who extended his lead over all of his remaining rivals and seems well on course to his first Giro d'Italia victory, albeit with plenty of challenges remaining. Cadel Evans of BMC and Rigoberto Uran of Sky, Nibali's closest challengers, each lost 30 seconds on the stage, as well as another 12 in the form of Nibali's time bonus.

It was an odd and disappointing day for many fans at the Giro.Inclement weather forced the removal of Sestriere from the course, so the two-climb, 168-km course became a single-climb, 180km event. No video was available during the race, prior to the peloton reaching the stationary cameras atop the Bardonecchia, though there was a significant escape for much of the day which succumbed to the heads of state only in the final km.

Before today, Santambrigio, late of BMC and Lampre, had never finished in the top 50 of a grand tour or won a stage, but the latter duck is broken and the former is up next. Granted, there's a long way between Bardonecchia and Brescia, but the Como native lies fourth overall, one second off the podium after today's exploits. More significantly, he is coming off a second-place finish at the Giro tuneup the Giro del Trentino, showing the form -- or at least the results of form -- of his life. Vini Fantini placed him in the leadership role he never had at BMC or Lampre, and Santambrogio has done nothing but justify that decision all season long.

Results:

Mauro Santambrogio, Vini Fantini
Vincenzo Nibali, Astana, s.t.
Carlos Betancur, AG2R, at 0.09
Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel, at 0.26
Rigoberto Uran, Sky, at 0.30
Cadel Evans, BMC, at 0.33
Domenico Pozzovivo, AG2R, s.t.
Robert Kiserlovski, Radio Shack, s.t.
Sonny Colbrelli, Bardiani, at 0.55
Damiano Caruso, Cannondale, at 0.58

Nibali
Evans, at 1.46
Uran, at 2.26
Santambrogio, at 2.27
Michele Scarponi, Lampre, at 3.53
Przemyslaw Niemiec, Lampre, at 4.55
Pozzovivo, at 5.02
Rafal Majka, Saxo-Tinkoff, at 5.32
Betancur, at 5.39
Benat Intxausti, Movistar, at 5.42

Young RIder

Majka
Betancur, at 0.07
Wilco Kelderman, Blanco, at 7.51

Mountains

Stefano Pirazzi, Bardiani, 47 points
Jackson Rodriguez, Androni, 26
Robinson Chalapud, Colombia, 23

Maglia Rosa Competition: And the Winner Is... [Plus a Little History]

2013-05-18T04:33:00Z

Ant1.

As you no doubt recall, this competition started Wednesday and asked you the following questions:

Who is the Eagle of the Canavese?
Who was the Lion of Mugello?
Who is the Spider of the Dolomites? and
In what year did this photo occur?

We had ten qualified entries via the post and Twitter: Fergs01, Andrewp, RMc, brunoP, Fausto Coppis Handsaw, bought with blood, ant1, wannabescattista, bulldogpuncheur, and sebastiandeluded. They each answered the following:

Franco Balmamion
Gastone Nencini
Imerio Massignan
1956

There was some slight confusion about the third question, because a well-known rock climber named Cesare Maestri also acquired the nickname "Spider of the Dolomites." In the end, I ruled against including those guesses, on the theory that my fourth cousin Angelo might also be known to his friends as "Spider of the Dolomites," and you have to draw the line somewhere. Anyway, Massignan was both a great climber and a skinny, long-limbed guy (probably still is the latter), and the quiz was meant to celebrate the awesomeness of Massignan's moniker.

Balmamion is well-known around here, thanks to Sykes' book "The Eagle of the Canavese," which I recommend. Balmamion is the last man to win two consecutive Giri d'Italia, though as grand tour winners go his career was otherwise remarkably unremarkable. Nencini is a more charismatic character. Not only is he a Giro and Tour de France winner, but there is a famous quote about him by Rafael Geminiani, noting Nencini's legendary descending skills: "The only reason to follow Nencini downhill is if you had a death wish." This almost became a prophecy when Roger Riviere followed Nencini downhill one day and went off the road, breaking his spine. For his part, Nencini didn't live out his days in splendor, being nabbed in the midst of a blood transfusion in 1960, and dying at age 50.

Finally, the story of the 1956 Giro and the climb of Monte Bondone is pure legend. The Bondone was the fourth and final climb of an epic day in South Tyrol, the penultimate stage of the race, and it began in a steady rain that soaked the riders to their skin at the lower elevations, and got nastier as the day wore on. Charly Gaul attacked on the second climb, the Passo Rolle, with the big names in pursuit as they climbed #3, the Brocon, where it started to hail. By the top, the hail and rain turned to snow, which by the conclusion was a blizzard on Monte Bondone.

Hands, feet, brakes... things stopped working. Guys braked on the treacherous Brocon descent by wedging their feet between the front fork and the rim. The saner ones walked down on occasion. Riders abandoned left and right. Those who soldiered on to the summit of Monte Bondone arrived in a shocking state. Gaul, the stage (and Giro) winner, was carried from the line, off his bike, and into a hot bath where he struggled to remain conscious. Fornara, the maglia rosa, abandoned at the urging of his father. The finishers expressed varying stages of delirium, including one Guido Santi, who got in the tub in a frozen, starved state and accidentally tried to eat the soap.

Maglia Rosa covers this epic day from several angles. It's just one of the great stories you can find therein. Order here.

Notes from the Giro Desk... Big Withdrawals, and a Teams Power Poll!

2013-05-17T06:18:18Z

Ugh, I'm having one of those weeks. You know the kind: when work becomes paralyzing (and worse, deprives you of wifi) while one of your co-workers goes to Italy to ride his bike and shout at racers and wear a cow costume? Yeah, that kind of week...

Before we get to the main course, a few bites of antipasti.

We will officially have a new winner of the Giro in 2013 -- Garmin-Sharp's Ryder Hesjedal announced his withdrawal from the Giro d'Italia moments ago. Via email from the Garmin-Sharp team:

"It's heartbreaking," said Hesjedal. "I want to be here for my team and for all the people who have supported me to get me here to this point. I built my entire season around the Giro and I came here feeling great, but I have been suffering since the TT. We're working on it, but we're not sure what's wrong. There's a virus that's been going around, so it could be that, or severe allergies, or going too deep on the TT combined with both – whatever it is, I'm only getting worse. Yesterday's stage was just too much for me, I fought to get through it and I know everyone suffered but after seeing the medical staff last night, I also know that its time for me to go home, get some tests done and get healthy again."

[Update] And now it appears Bradley Wiggins will withdraw today as well. No statement yet but everyone seems sure.

UCI president Pat McQuaid has taken advantage of the poor Swiss nation in which he's made his new residence to gain nomination for a third term as UCI president. McQuaid's nomination ran into trouble back in Ireland -- apparently any candidate for UCI president must first be nominated by his home federation. The Irish Federation had nominated McQuaid, but then reversed itself on procedural grounds. There's a lot more to the story, and you should ask Irish Peloton for details, but McQuaid insisted the holdup was purely procedural, while others who pushed for the reversal claimed there was more to it than that. No matter, though, because McQuaid duped the Swiss Federation into saving his ass.

OK, on to more pleasant subjects... the continuing technical problems plaguing the SBNation servers! Like the McQuaid story, this is about corruption (of files) and power (outages). Unlike the McQuaid story, this one is actually going to have a happy ending:

As SB Nation users, you have certainly noticed the significant performance drop across the network this week. The SB Nation team and all of Vox Media sincerely apologize for the site performance problems affecting your experience on our sites and communities over the past few days. We understand how frustrating it is for you. Given the nature of the issue, it is taking several days to fully restore performance completely. We have been working around the clock, taking incremental and comprehensive measures, to restore performance to normal levels.

Our approach to correcting the issues affecting the network has been two pronged: 1) improve performance as much as possible incrementally and 2) restore long-term stability to the system.

The first prong has been focused on improving the performance of logged-in users as these users have experienced the biggest drop in performance. Some of the improvements that we have pushed out to this point include:

Page load performance for logged-in users, including lower error rates

Commenting performance Logging-in

Publishing content, including Fanposts and Fanshots

Some of these errors, specifically for logged-in users, may appear intermittently until we complete the necessary infrastructure work, but performance should be greatly improved from Tuesday evening and Wednesday.

We have all hands on deck to complete this work and will be performing maintenance after hours this weekend to restore full service to the network. Of course, we would like to do this work sooner, but we need to be extra careful and thorough in making these changes, so as to not risk new problems.

Again, we completely understand the frustration our users have felt over the past few days and will continue to do everything in our power to restore full service to the network and ease your frustration. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding as we've worked through these issues and bring long term stability to the network. Thank you for your dedication to and support of SB Nation and Vox Media.

OK... now to the main course! It's been a revelatory week at the Giro d'Italia, or at least last week was. This week has mostly been about licking various wounds from last week and embedding the ongoing storylines a little deeper. Consequently, we know a good deal more about who's positioned to put the smack down over the weekend. Tomorrow is the annual OMIGOD It's Fausto's House! stage, but from there it's all business, so having a team intact is as crucial as ever. Your top five..

1. Astana

Completely intact? Check. Overall leader looking unperturbed at all times? Check. No major problems of any kind whatsoever? Check. OK, Agnolli and Aru both had their low moments, and Kangert's ability in the high mountains will be severely tested. But for the most part Astana have taken the front when they felt like it, and Nibali doesn't need everyone to be super awesome at all times.

2. Sky

OK, compared to expectations, it's been a dreary couple of weeks. Who knew that Brits could be undone by rain? I blame the excessive comforts of the team bus. Still, Sky have a great deal going for them, and if you subtract the top line from each team, they're probably stronger than Astana. [But you don't subtract the top line. That would be the guy they want to win, which is sort of the point.]

With Wiggins sinking fast, Uran inherits the team leadership, with Henao waiting in the wings. Uran has been plenty strong enough to justify his place (for now), and he has at his disposal not only his countryman (lying 11th) but useful Dario Cataldo and superdomestique Kanstantin Siutsou, who has wounded many a rival with his wicked uphill pacemaking. And who knows, ~~if Wiggins ever conquers his sniffles, he could be quite a help too~~.

3. BMC

Raise your hand if you saw this coming.

[waiting]

Liar. Nobody saw this coming. Nobody. Of course, by this I mean the remarkable challenge of Cadel Evans to Vincenzo Nibali's supremacy, whom he trails by a mere 41 seconds. And we all know that when Cadel is that close in a grand tour, he never loses.

What?

OK, but it's been a stellar effort for the Aussie veteran, and there's no reason he can't will himself over the familiar terrain of the Alps in excellent shape this weekend. He has Santaromita and Albasini for uphill company most of the time, and Daniel Oss is totally awesome, for reasons that have nothing to do with the GC, but merit a mention anyway.

4. Lampre

Mickey Scarponi is part of the chasing mini-peloton, unable to touch Evans and Nibali at the moment but still very much in contention. He's also got a nice group of homeboys in Stortoni, Jose Serpa and of course Przemyslaw Niemiec, who at 33 is on pace for his best grand tour performance ever. Lying seventh, and having handled the crono with aplomb, Niemiec moves into the dual-threat role for Lampre, provided anyone can believe that an Italian team with an Italian captain is willing to unleash a Polish guy on the Giro d'Italia.

5. AG2R

Obviously there are a half-dozen teams doing something interesting, or with at least one GC story to tell, like Blanco, Movistar, Vini Fantini, etc. But AG2R have that little something extra. I'm talking, of course, of a Colombian climbing ace, this time Carlos Betancur. Oh, and Domenico Pozzovivo hasn't DNF'd, which means he's a lock for a top... oh, seven place. Hubert Dupont hangs around just long enough to remind us that we are watching a French team do well at the Giro d'Italia. Really, it's remarkable enough that they've made blue and brown look good together. This is almost too much.

A voi!