Giro di Lombardia

[thwart]

Should be an interesting race.

Among the favorites: Contador, Nibali, Rodriguez, and of course, Gilbert.

Contador, on the steep Muro di Sormano climb, which was re-introduced to the course this year:

"The Muro is very hard and descent is testing too. On Saturday a small group of 10-15 riders could go away and the race will be over for everyone else," Contador predicted to Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We might use a 36 chain ring at the front and a 28 or even a 30 behind."

Riis did not ride the Sormano but joined Contador on the bike for the final 70km of the race route. The moody Dane told Gazzetta that he thought the Sormano was too hard to be used in a major race.

"It's going to be a shock for anyone who doesn't know the climb. I think it's too hard, it's excessive," Riis said.

[esldude]

A climb of more than 15% with some parts of more than 25%...YIKES!. When that route was last used in 1962 competitors had to walk up parts of it.

Hope I can find video of it when it happens. Should be something for climbers to show what they can do.

[thwart]

A shot of the Muro by Jered Gruber:

[Fixed]

Thanks for the heads up I forgot about racing after the w.c.'s
Cheers looks like an 8:30am start for video feeds
Thanks again :)

[choke]

A climb of more than 15% with some parts of more than 25%...YIKES!. It's not only steep it's quite narrow. You can ride along with 3 Lampre riders at http://www.teamlampreisd.com/videos/ricognizione-giro-di-lombardia-2012/; the Muro starts at 3:52. According to Italian Cycling Journal (http://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2012/09/recon-of-muro-di-sormano-by-team-lampre.html) they were using a 36x29.

And from ICJ the profile....

[Louis]

All I can say is WOW. That is brutal.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

But that climb is 90k from the finish. So although I think it will cause a major selection, it will not decide the winner. That will probably be on the Villa Vergano, 9k from the finish, or, more boldly, the Ghisallo climb 46k from the finish. Can't wait to see it.

[jpw]

'Muro' as in 'wall'? Gulp.

I think Riis suffers from spells of acute depression.

[oldpotatoe]

Should be an interesting race.

Among the favorites: Contador, Nibali, Rodriguez, and of course, Gilbert.

Contador, on the steep Muro di Sormano climb, which was re-introduced to the course this year:

"The Muro is very hard and descent is testing too. On Saturday a small group of 10-15 riders could go away and the race will be over for everyone else," Contador predicted to Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We might use a 36 chain ring at the front and a 28 or even a 30 behind."

Riis did not ride the Sormano but joined Contador on the bike for the final 70km of the race route. The moody Dane told Gazzetta that he thought the Sormano was too hard to be used in a major race.

"It's going to be a shock for anyone who doesn't know the climb. I think it's too hard, it's excessive," Riis said.

'Too hard'??

nancy

For the final race of the season, I think the route is perfect...only hard men need apply...

[merlincustom1]

'Too hard'??

nancy

For the final race of the season, I think the route is perfect...only hard men need apply...

Agreed, it's only 2K.

[oldpotatoe]

Agreed, it's only 2K.

anybody got a link? EuroSport?

[jpw]

anybody got a link? EuroSport?

http://sports-livez.com/channel/ch-5.php

not English

[Alan]

See:

http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/6670

[Fixed]

Crap in German :confused:
Cheers

[efuentes]

In Gazzetta TV is in italian, almost spanish :)

[CunegoFan]

Accck! Nibali just crashed.

[Fixed]

He has been strong in many races glad to see him win a big one
Cheers

[monkeybanana86]

He has been strong in many races glad to see him win a big one
Cheers

Yes must be a nice relief!

[regularguy412]

He has been strong in many races glad to see him win a big one
Cheers

... he beats Wiggo for Pro Championship points. ( if I got that part of the German feed correct)

Mike in AR:beer:

[1centaur]

Watching foreign streams when the satellite feed gets cut off by the rain almost felt like reading Velo News three weeks after the race. Shall I guess what's happening because a Belgian commentator says a guy's name? And all because of the pissing contest between Comcast and Universal Sports that is clearly designed to marginalize Universal Sports so that it dies (and along with it tons of niche sports coverage that is undoubtedly precious to a few and they would pay for it). The effect for now (for Comcast subscribers) is that Comcast's subsidiary paid for US distribution rights to cycle races so that US cycling fans could NOT get major races even if they wanted to pay for them. Brilliant! Paying good money to hurt your customers is dumb, dumb, dumb. Just don't bid on Euro cycling TV rights next year guys, and we'll watch British Eurosport feeds without georestrictions. You obviously don't care about our tiny niche, so save yourself some money.

Maybe some day in this amazing Internet world, people who want to watch something can actually pay for a stream/taped combo just like we did, oh, years ago for the Giro. Pathetic.

[jpw]

Watching foreign streams when the satellite feed gets cut off by the rain almost felt like reading Velo News three weeks after the race. Shall I guess what's happening because a Belgian commentator says a guy's name? And all because of the pissing contest between Comcast and Universal Sports that is clearly designed to marginalize Universal Sports so that it dies (and along with it tons of niche sports coverage that is undoubtedly precious to a few and they would pay for it). The effect for now (for Comcast subscribers) is that Comcast's subsidiary paid for US distribution rights to cycle races so that US cycling fans could NOT get major races even if they wanted to pay for them. Brilliant! Paying good money to hurt your customers is dumb, dumb, dumb. Just don't bid on Euro cycling TV rights next year guys, and we'll watch British Eurosport feeds without georestrictions. You obviously don't care about our tiny niche, so save yourself some money.

Maybe some day in this amazing Internet world, people who want to watch something can actually pay for a stream/taped combo just like we did, oh, years ago for the Giro. Pathetic.

Try using a proxy server to evade any online geo restrictions.

[1centaur]

Gray market hoop jumping may work, but it's not the way the world should be.

[MattTuck]

Gray market hoop jumping may work, but it's not the way the world should be.

You know, it is funny how much the commentators really provide. I've done the foreign feed thing also, and I have to say, I have a general idea of what's going on, but i really prefer the commentators.

Not sure if it is access to race radio, better quality video, some other systems, plain old experience, or whatever.... but it is definitely better to watch it with commentary that you understand.

[MattTuck]

He has been strong in many races glad to see him win a big one
Cheers

Since this thread doesn't have spoilers listed, here's a link to the pic of the winner. facial expression says it all.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/giro-di-lombardia-2012/photos/240439

[wpod]

On US tv last nite via DISH.tv...

[noonan1970]

This is a great video of the climb

It's not the race. Fantastic road and would not want to come down it with all that paint on the road in the rain!


http://www.steephill.tv/players/vimeo720/?title=Muro+di+Sormano+recon&dashboard=giro-di-lombardia&id=50335883&yr=2012&fb_action_ids=4155375757127&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=246965925417366

[Grant McLean]

You know, it is funny how much the commentators really provide. I've done the foreign feed thing also, and I have to say, I have a general idea of what's going on, but i really prefer the commentators.
.

I agree, so much so i'll trade an HD picture on a big screen for a pixilated
sketchy and jerky feed that has Sean Kelly and David Harmon every time.

The only exception is that I watched most of the olympic velodrome events
on the web with no commentators, no commercials, just the sound of the indoor
arena, and it was fantastic. But i'd take good commentators over nothing,
but prefer nothing to Phil and Paul.

-g