ALESSIO (Gotti)
STEPHEN: They ride for the Giro and then see what they have left for the Tour. Which, as always, will be not much. The French treat the Italian teams like dirt, so the Italians return the favor by treating the Tour as a training ground for next year’s Giro.

JASON: Yep, they’re sending their B-team because Italian teams don’t take the Tour seriously. They bring a couple of pretty good riders in Caucchioli, Noe, and Baldato. If they win a stage it’ll be because someone got in a breakaway and became an opportunist.

STEPHEN: Here's a good time to bust out a chart. Here is the top ten of the Giro:

1. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco 89 hours 32min 09sec
2. Stefano Garzelli (Ita) +7min 06sec
3. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) +7:11
4. Andrea Noe (Ita) +9:24
5. Georg Totschnig (Aut) +9:42
6. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit) +9:50
7. Dario Frigo (Ita) +10:50
8. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr) +14:14
9. Franco Pellizotti (Ita) +14:26
10. Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) +19:21

That's six Italians. And only Frigo takes the Tour seriously (ok, maybe Simoni, that remains to be seen). It's striking that one of the
Three Grand Tours, and there's a good chance only one guy will appear
in the top ten of the first two.

Where have you gone, Claudio Chiappucci?


JASON: Specialization. The contenders are willing to plan their years around one of the big Tours. It's possible to be in fine condition to ride well in two or three of them, but if other elite riders are going to avoid the fatigue of the tough schedule to focus on his race, then the other elite contenders are at a huge disadvantage.