[afx237vi]

Originally Posted by swingaleg

Presumably it was just after you posted that he crashed.,...

Damn, did I curse him? I'm not watching. He'll probably still win.

[swingaleg]

Originally Posted by afx237vi

Damn, did I curse him? I'm not watching. He'll probably still win.

He got back up and into the peloton.............

One bloke out on his now from the original breakaway...........about to be caught

On the final climb of the day, 36K to go.............

[grassmarket]

Put a dogleg corner on a narrow Italian street, and you bring the whole peleton down, put one on a wide Californian street and everyone sails round it....

[swingaleg]

Sagan wins again................

[afx237vi]

Originally Posted by swingaleg

Sagan wins again................

Judging by the stage 3 preview on Cyclingnews, he wins again tonight, too...

"The GC guys will be pulling their punches until the real climbing days like Big Bear and Mt Baldy. I think a 40-man group could get over the final climb together. The winner will be a guy who can climb but also sprint."

[grassmarket]

Still more cycling up tonight on ITV4 - they start off their coverage of the Halford Tour series, British city centre cycling. Usually good races and up-and-coming riders - there's a few riding the Giro this week who were doing the Halfords Tour the last couple of years.

[swingaleg]

Originally Posted by grassmarket

Still more cycling up tonight on ITV4 - they start off their coverage of the Halford Tour series, British city centre cycling. Usually good races and up-and-coming riders - there's a few riding the Giro this week who were doing the Halfords Tour the last couple of years.

I was surprised how many Aussies and overseas riders were in these British teams.............what level are these teams ?

You get what they refer to as Division 3 teams popping up in the World Tour races sometimes........I think there might be one in the Giro

Would these british teams be a division below that ?

The most famous name I heard was Ed Clancy from the track pursuit team who was riding

[afx237vi]

Originally Posted by swingaleg

I was surprised how many Aussies and overseas riders were in these British teams.............what level are these teams ?

You get what they refer to as Division 3 teams popping up in the World Tour races sometimes........I think there might be one in the Giro

Would these british teams be a division below that ?

The most famous name I heard was Ed Clancy from the track pursuit team who was riding

There are 3 different levels of professional teams - World Tour, Pro Continental, and Continental. Depending on the level of the race, there are different rules about which teams can ride. The Giro, for example, must invite all the World Tour teams, but can also invite a few Pro Continental teams (Androni, Farnese, Netapp and Colnago this year).

The Tour of California is not a World Tour race, so can invite a mixture of all three levels.

The Halfords Tour Series has a few Continental teams, but the rest are a level below that. But these races aren't sanctioned by the UCI, so I guess they can invite whoever they like. Looking at their website, most of the teams seem to have one or two riders who've ridden professionally in the past... but I would guess most of them have day-jobs...

[grassmarket]

Some are young up and comers. Jack Bauer and Ian Stannard in the Giro at the moment were in it the last couple of years.

[doffer]

Can't say I'm too keen on these cycling-free days

[swingaleg]

Originally Posted by doffer

Can't say I'm too keen on these cycling-free days

Rest of this week should be good in the Giro

thread has died the death a bit recently............even Cav's last stage win went unannounced............

[Cissy Fairfax]

If you were the predict the Sky Tour De France line up now, who would you go for. There seem 5 certainties, two more almost that but the last couple would depend on their strategy.

[grassmarket]

Originally Posted by swingaleg

Rest of this week should be good in the Giro

thread has died the death a bit recently............even Cav's last stage win went unannounced............

What's interesting is that he seems determined to win the sprinter's jersey, he is contesting the early intermediates before the breakaways get established.

[swingaleg]

Originally Posted by grassmarket

What's interesting is that he seems determined to win the sprinter's jersey, he is contesting the early intermediates before the breakaways get established.

do you think he'll finish ?

I was kind of assuming he would climb off this week until he contested that intermediate .........as you say, that would indicate that he's going for the jersey

He's in for a tough week if he continues

[Cissy Fairfax]

Originally Posted by swingaleg

do you think he'll finish ?

I was kind of assuming he would climb off this week until he contested that intermediate .........as you say, that would indicate that he's going for the jersey

He's in for a tough week if he continues

I've never expected him to complete both GTs before the Olympics. The longer he stays in this one the more likely he'll climb off 2/3 through the tour.

[afx237vi]

Originally Posted by Cissy Fairfax

If you were the predict the Sky Tour De France line up now, who would you go for. There seem 5 certainties, two more almost that but the last couple would depend on their strategy.

Wiggins
Rogers
Porte
Siutsou
Zandio
Barry
Boasson Hagen
Eisel
Cavendish

...would be my team.

[afx237vi]

Originally Posted by swingaleg

do you think he'll finish ?

I was kind of assuming he would climb off this week until he contested that intermediate .........as you say, that would indicate that he's going for the jersey

He's in for a tough week if he continues

If he was going to climb off, he would have done it with Goss, Renshaw et al on Saturday morning.

The only danger now in Rodriguez winning a couple of stages and nicking the points jersey in the process. It'd be a shame really, because you have to admire his grit after that big crash in Denmark. Hopefully more breakaways will succeed this week and scoop up the points.

[sherer]

Originally Posted by afx237vi

Wiggins
Rogers
Porte
Siutsou
Zandio
Barry
Boasson Hagen
Eisel
Cavendish

...would be my team.

No Froome in there ? I'd have him in but not sure who to leave out. if Cav isn't really going for green i'd swap him for Cav. Crazy I know but overall that could be a better bet for GV rather than take a rider who won't make Paris

[sherer]

Originally Posted by afx237vi

Wiggins
Rogers
Porte
Siutsou
Zandio
Barry
Boasson Hagen
Eisel
Cavendish

...would be my team.

No Froome in there ? I'd have him in but not sure who to leave out. if Cav isn't really going for green i'd swap him for Cav. Crazy I know but overall that could be a better bet for GV rather than take a rider who won't make Paris

[Cissy Fairfax]

Originally Posted by sherer

No Froome in there ? I'd have him in but not sure who to leave out. if Cav isn't really going for green i'd swap him for Cav. Crazy I know but overall that could be a better bet for GV rather than take a rider who won't make Paris

Brad, Froome and Porte are certainties. So are Cav and Eisel if fit. Cav could win 5 of the first 7 stages.

The rest depend on strategy. EBH doesn't fit directly into either but is too good not to go, Rogers could do jobs for both.


That leaves 2, at least one will be part of the Cav train. Suitsov should go.

[afx237vi]

Originally Posted by Cissy Fairfax

Brad, Froome and Porte are certainties. So are Cav and Eisel if fit. Cav could win 5 of the first 7 stages.

The rest depend on strategy. EBH doesn't fit directly into either but is too good not to go, Rogers could do jobs for both.


That leaves 2, at least one will be part of the Cav train. Suitsov should go.

I agree about EBH, he doesn't really fit as a helper for Wiggins, but he doesn't really have the race-smarts to position Cav for a sprint either... but he's so strong I couldn't really leave him out.

Regarding Froome... I know he's good, but he's been ill again this year and hasn't really done enough racing to justify a Tour spot IMO. Sioutsou is consistent as a rider and work in the mountains and on the flat.

[swingaleg]

Bit of a non event stage in the Giro today as the riders took another unofficial 'rest day' before the big mountains

10 man breakaway allowed more than 10 minutes plus with the closest one 30 minutes down on GC...........peloton rolled along in their own time

[swingaleg]

The Giro hasn't really caught on this year, has it ?

Maybe we were spoiled with 3 fantastic grand tours last year

Anyway, for the record, Cav got outsprinted today !...........

The guys, David and Sean, had a good chat about the likely Sky selection for the Tour. Their feeling was that this years parcours is tailor made for Brad with a lot of time trialling and this year probably represents the best chance he'll ever have of a win. As such they'll probably pick the team around Brad and Cav will climb off after a 10 days or so and go home to prepare for the Olympics

[doffer]

Enjoyed the discussion about whether the points jersey is a sprinters jersey

[Omraf]

Just coming on to comment about the Cav discussion. Although he will have finished the Giro arguably he hasn't extended himself in order to win the points jersey. Most of the challengers have given up early. Whether he can genuinely compete at the Tour and then the Olympics remains to be seen. Whether Sky will be so keen to put all eggs in one basket after last year is another question.

The Giro just seems to be a warm up for the Tour and apart from the Italians there are none of the big name riders in it. A shame because it has been fairly open this year but difficult to work out where it is going i.e. who is going to win it and when.