Giro starts on Saturday
Yeah, we need a little work to get the cobwebs out.
You stole my tunder on Savoldelli, but I'll get to it. Let's review the opening stage/prologue with a quote I lifted from velonews.com
"Basso could beat the pure climbers by 10-40 seconds in the opening 6.2km time trial at Seraing."
Results:
1) Paolo Savodelli (7:50)
2) Brad McGee (+0:11)
13) Ivan Basso (+0:23)
15) Damiano Cunego (+0:25)
Woops!
Savoldelli gets no respect for a defending champ and 2-time winner. Basso is probably a better Grand Tour athlete now, though Savoldelli's hardware is superior to Basso's. But Savoldelli has another advantage. His team is making his defense of the Giro the central event of the season. Basso, I think, has doubt about what his big event is--does he make the Giro or the Tour the higest priority?
Just how serious is Discovery Channel? Savoldelli's supporting cast includes Beltran, Ekimov, Rubiera, Padernos, plus Tom Danilson. This team is there to dominate the race as though it's Lance Armstong riding the Tour all over again. And I don't think they're at all enthused about the advent of Basso's dominance.
So, experts expected Basso to take an advantage today, but it was Savoldelli picking up 20 seconds cushion on all the climbers. Wow. That's pretty amazing. It was only an 8 minute race and he beat Basso by 23 seconds! Even after reading that I don't think Savoldelli is that much better than his competition.
OK, that was only 6.2 km of racing, so let's not read too much into it. We'll have a few days on the flats in Belgium before a Team Time Trial in Stage 5. Check out the rest of the schedule, though. Six of the last 8 stages are in the mountains. Buckle up for a wild finish.
You stole my tunder on Savoldelli, but I'll get to it. Let's review the opening stage/prologue with a quote I lifted from velonews.com
"Basso could beat the pure climbers by 10-40 seconds in the opening 6.2km time trial at Seraing."
Results:
1) Paolo Savodelli (7:50)
2) Brad McGee (+0:11)
13) Ivan Basso (+0:23)
15) Damiano Cunego (+0:25)
Woops!
Savoldelli gets no respect for a defending champ and 2-time winner. Basso is probably a better Grand Tour athlete now, though Savoldelli's hardware is superior to Basso's. But Savoldelli has another advantage. His team is making his defense of the Giro the central event of the season. Basso, I think, has doubt about what his big event is--does he make the Giro or the Tour the higest priority?
Just how serious is Discovery Channel? Savoldelli's supporting cast includes Beltran, Ekimov, Rubiera, Padernos, plus Tom Danilson. This team is there to dominate the race as though it's Lance Armstong riding the Tour all over again. And I don't think they're at all enthused about the advent of Basso's dominance.
So, experts expected Basso to take an advantage today, but it was Savoldelli picking up 20 seconds cushion on all the climbers. Wow. That's pretty amazing. It was only an 8 minute race and he beat Basso by 23 seconds! Even after reading that I don't think Savoldelli is that much better than his competition.
OK, that was only 6.2 km of racing, so let's not read too much into it. We'll have a few days on the flats in Belgium before a Team Time Trial in Stage 5. Check out the rest of the schedule, though. Six of the last 8 stages are in the mountains. Buckle up for a wild finish.
posted by uberschuck at 12:02 PM
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