Today's Giro TT Spoiler in progress....

[Argos]

That was really nice to see. There are still alot of fast guys to start, but seeing a minute gap over the previous best time has to be good for his moral. I hope this is a sign of a fierce battle in July.

[e-RICHIE]

That was really nice to see. There are still alot of fast guys to start, but seeing a minute gap over the previous best time has to be good for his moral. I hope this is a sign of a fierce battle in July.


yeah baby i heart this result atmo because
i drink the dinkel acker catulle-aid atmo

[Argos]

16:18 CEST
Jeez, Basso is flying!!


Brevity.

[ergott]

That was really nice to see. There are still alot of fast guys to start, but seeing a minute gap over the previous best time has to be good for his moral. I hope this is a sign of a fierce battle in July.

The only pink Jan will wear is the Telecom jersey.

No pink for him!

[e-RICHIE]

The only pink Jan will wear is the Telecom jersey.

No pink for him!


unless he sees a moile atmo

[Dr. Doofus]

moile

snipped

[ergott]

The Fulcrum disc looks Kool at speed. The red wobbles.

[ergott]

unless he sees a moile atmo

Imagine that there are some cultures that that is a rite of passage at 13. Poor guys.

[93legendti]

unless he sees a moile atmo

MOHEL!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohel

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Moile

[Dr. Doofus]

Imagine that there are some cultures that that is a rite of passage at 13. Poor guys.

why the masai are some mofos

a diet of fresh blood and milk, and circumcision at 13 -- you whine or show any reaction and you're shunned

and you guys thought william was tough

[93legendti]

Imagine that there are some cultures that that is a rite of passage at 13. Poor guys.

And at least one that performs the procedure on girls...

[Fixed]

bro the cream rises to the top
cheers

[fiamme red]

What a ride by Danielson!

[dauwhe]

I'm looking forward to explanations on how Ullrich is terribly out of shape, doesn't have the slightest chance in the tour, etc.

:)

[coylifut]

umm, someone just got served a notice

[bostondrunk]

guess the disco riders won't be making any more comments on Ulrichs weight...

[Argos]

Yeah, that was great. He's still not in top "tour" form either. We need to see some climbing prowess and we are set. I really hope this is his year.

[Dr. Doofus]

2001 -- Der Jan rides the Giro like a turd, finished 2nd at the Tour

2006: Der Jan rides the Italian mountains for training, kicks everyone's butt in the TT.... Der Jan knows what he's doing...July should be good....

[coylifut]

I'm looking forward to explanations on how Ullrich is terribly out of shape, doesn't have the slightest chance in the tour, etc.

:)

as an Ulrich fan, it's so frustrating watching his fits and starts to every season. Consequently, I poke fun at him as a defense mechanism. Considering he just put 30 seconds into a very in-form Basso - WOW - .

[JohnS]

I'm looking forward to explanations on how Ullrich is terribly out of shape, doesn't have the slightest chance in the tour, etc.

:)How 'bout "He's peaking too early"? :banana: :banana: :banana:

[oldguy00]

I'd love to see him win the Tour. But I bet there will be those that will discount his performance today, saying he didn't use as much energy in the previous mountain stages as the other favorites...
Whatever. Great ride today for him!

[ergott]

Discovery will win the Tour one way or another.

[Argos]

guess the disco riders won't be making any more comments on Ulrichs weight...


I think they saw a Pic of me and thought it was Jan, we get mistaken for one another often...

http://upyourtee.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/fg_nofatchicks.jpg

[Dr. Doofus]

I'd love to see him win the Tour. But I bet there will be those that will discount his performance today, saying he didn't use as much energy in the previous mountain stages as the other favorites...
Whatever. Great ride today for him!

and any observer with any sense knows that, duh, of coursde he saved his energy in the mountains. he's riding this thing for training, and only an idiot (usually an idiot who only breaks 24mph when riding downhill and has never raced in his life) would slag him for that.

He might race 1 or 2 mountain stages near the end of the race as a fitness test, or he might sandbag through the whole thing like 2001. his handlers may be sausage-gorging high school dropouts, but they're not stupid.... jan will be there in july..he may not have the gas at his age to win the thng, but he'll be at his best, whatever that is at this stage in his career....

[fiamme red]

Discovery will win the Tour one way or another.Well, LANCE is already scouting Alpe d'Huez!

[Dr. Doofus]

Discovery will win the Tour one way or another.

maybe the Tour of the Limosin


its CSC's race to lose...Basso is the clear favorite, then Jan, then there are about six guys who are more of less equal and could finish in any order depending on luck and how the tactics of the race play out. and big george is not one of them...niether is PS...and Danielson needs more burritos before he has a shot at the Tour....

[fiamme red]

he's riding this thing for training, and only an idiot (usually an idiot who only breaks 24mph when riding downhill and has never raced in his life) would slag him for that.I broke 24mph this morning drafting behind a truck. Does that count?

[ergott]

maybe the Tour of the Limosin


its CSC's race to lose...Basso is the clear favorite, then Jan, then there are about six guys who are more of less equal and could finish in any order depending on luck and how the tactics of the race play out. and big george is not one of them...niether is PS...and Danielson needs more burritos before he has a shot at the Tour....

I'm still sticking to my guess. I know there are better favorites, but no team has ridden the Tour mountains like Disco. There are a number of quality riders that could win with that kind of backing. They have to TT well and Disco have some good contenders. I also like that fact that they are underdogs this year.

[Argos]

Bold predictions, ergott-san. I wonder if they are truly going to back George, or if either a Paolo/Yaroslav combo might make the better horse to bet upon. I do hope George can at least show promise....

That said, back to today, Danielson still has some years to go, but it is nice to see he's in 5th overall at this point. If he can limit his losses and maintains a top ten overall at the finish, it would be very nice in his development.

This is a very different Giro then last year, so far, but still very good racing. I do not, per se, want to see Basso in trouble, but it would be nice to see him recieve some head to head challange on some of these climbs.

[Dr. Doofus]

I'm still sticking to my guess. I know there are better favorites, but no team has ridden the Tour mountains like Disco. There are a number of quality riders that could win with that kind of backing. They have to TT well and Disco have some good contenders. I also like that fact that they are underdogs this year.

if doof was Disco's PR guy, that's exactly what he'd say

and he'd be wrong -- dead wrong

disco is sort of the 1989-92 Cleveland Cavaliers. A team full of stars with no superstar, no big gun that can take them to the top. Cycling is a team sport, but a team with lots of very good riders cannot beat a team with one great rider for the overall in a grand tour. What happened to disco in flanders and roubaix will happen a lot this year -- lots of placings, but no big (non forum) banana. you got to have the big gun for the big banana.

[MartyE]

Jan can still rock a time trial, no question.
I just don't think he will be able to put enough time into
any of the serious tour contenders to stave off mountain
attacks, not anymore. As the good Dr. said I don't think he
has the gas to pull it off.

amazing TT today, what stunned me was Cuenego averaging
50kph and still losing time.
As said yesterday in another thread (paraphrase)
"there are pros and then there are all the rest of us".

marty

[ergott]

What happened to disco in flanders and roubaix will happen a lot this year -- lots of placings, but no big (non forum) banana. you got to have the big gun for the big banana.

P-R would have been another race without that famous mechanical.

[Dr. Doofus]

P-R would have been another race without that famous mechanical.

yeah

GH would have waited for the train

[Argos]

P-R would have been another race without that famous mechanical.

Agreed. My moday morning QB'ing had George in the mix to hold on to Cancellera's move and winning the race.

I'm surprised you did not see the memo. It was stapled to the cover page with the TPI report.

:D

:beer:

[ClutchCargo]

amazing TT today, what stunned me was Cuenego averaging
50kph and still losing time.


marty

amazing! although Cunego's actual average was 46 and change, I believe. still, that's much rapido . . . and imagine what he was thinking as Basso passed him after he started off with a five minute lead!

some interesting results for sure. some random thoughts:

Tommy D. showed another good TT, following his second to Floyd in TdG. and how about ol' man Ekimov beating Danielson and taking 10th. what is he, like 53 years old?!?

given Basso's fitness and talent and the strength of his team, this race may be over unless he has a bad day, but I'd like to see someone compete against him.

and pretty impressive TT for Fat Jan, of course. of course Bjarne Riis has already brushed it off, saying Jan's extra weight gave him an unfair advantage rolling off the start ramp. ;) But we'll see come July, maybe (although I rather like ergott's prediction myself . . . maybe the Discos are really the '03-'04 Pistons rather than those 1990 Cavs, eh, doof?).

p.s. what's Italian for lanterne rouge? Carl Naibo wants to know!
it's all fun atmo!

[Climb01742]

jan's TT was impressive. but basso only losing what he did to jan was equally impressive, given that jan is such a great TTer. it seems clear jan isn't in bad shape but i might be a bit careful about reading_too_much into this. jan's strength is TTing, especially on a flatish course where he can diesel. being in mountain shape is a different thing. he's further along than many -- me included -- thought. today was a very good step toward july. but mounatin shape has always been harder for jan to achieve than TT shape.

[my2cents]

not to downplay jan's ride but i got the impression (from cyclingnews text) that the later riders had a head/cross wind that was more prevelant than for earlier riders. maybe basso doesn't lose by 30 seconds if jan starts and rides in the same conditions as the top 10 GC riders?

[manet]

disco ain't winning she'ite at the tour.
y'all wanna poke at jan _ go take a gander at
Paulo Salvodelli's backside as he was climbing the other day.

[dauwhe]

I think Basso would be pleased to lose only 28 seconds to Ullrich in a long, flat time trial in the Tour...

[sspielman]

Today's flat time trial delivered a bit of a setback for the Euskaltel squad...but no more than was expected. Most of the squad was instructed to take it easy in preparation for the high mountains to come where much will be expected. Top 10 hope Roberta Laiseka is now in 21st overall at 11:15 behind Basso. The squad will be on much more favorable terrain for the remainder of the race.

[sspielman]

disco ain't winning she'ite at the tour.
y'all wanna poke at jan _ go take a gander at
Paulo Salvodelli's backside as he was climbing the other day.


they don't call him "il Fatso" for nuthin'...

[manet]

they don't call him "il Fatso" for nuthin'...

butt what goes up,
must come down.

[fiamme red]

http://www.velonews.com/images/int/9890.14795.f.jpg

I know, I know: belly breathing. But what would Graham Watson's caption be?

[Dr. Doofus]

his caption would be that jan looks 3kgs over his tour weight, that he has six weeks to lose it, that he has an engine under the "excessive" 8% fat....

[manet]

.

[ClutchCargo]

disco ain't winning she'ite at the tour.
y'all wanna poke at jan _ go take a gander at
Paulo Salvodelli's backside as he was climbing the other day.

Allergies, bro. Just like LeMond used to suffer this time of year over there. Picking Disco for the Tour is an out-on-a-limb pick to be sure. But their success in the last SEVEN Tours has given them a bit of the NY Yankees-evil empire mystique, don't you think?

Anyway, this year's Tour looks to be a fun one. Assuming Jan's in form, a big wild card, I think, is what kind of team T-Mobile comes up with to support Jan and how well they do. Kind of the flip side of the Disco issue, with a strong-team-but-who'll-lead-them kind of deal.

[manet]

inhalation _ there's pics of the "7 hit, 1 ball wonder" doing same.

[Argos]

Is he moving so fast that the wind is creating a skin flat on the back of his right hamstring?

[Russell]

http://www.velonews.com/images/int/9890.14795.f.jpg

I know, I know: belly breathing. But what would Graham Watson's caption be?

I wish I was only that fat.

[CJH]

"Marinara Boy" you are being on notice!

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=31414033&blogID=122513120&MyToken=2f524723-03f5-46d3-8174-9a0857b8371c

[yeehawfactor]

i maintain savoldelli as my dark horse.

i also maintain that the doof smells funny.

[Ginger]

.
Pink is *not* slimming.

[Grant McLean]

Hey, i'm in the Jan fan club... but 1 TT result in May is not a Tour result.

The tour will be won in the mountains. That's why Lance was unbeatable.
Jan can take a precious few seconds in these TT's, they are too short
for big time gains. Jan took a few from Lance a couple of times too,
but how'd that work out for him in the end?

Jan needs to find his freakin' climbing legs.

The grand tour rider is a complete rider who can time trial, AND climb.
When the big guns fire in July, you better have your mtn legs. ATMO.

Basso is improving his TT ability, is Jan improving his climbing?
Lance couldn't put much time into Basso in the mtn stages, how is Jan
going to beat Basso in the Tour if he can't drop him on the climbs?

g

[manet]

Is he moving so fast that the wind is creating a skin flat on the back of his right hamstring?

knee waddle

[shaq-d]

TT yawn. i didn't see jan go up any mountains adn work his butt off the whole giro. he's coasted and well rested for a TT. not so for basso who's worked his butt off every single stage. the win means nothing in terms of jan's form for tdf. he won't break top 3 :fight:

sd

[manet]

Allergies, bro. Just like LeMond used to suffer this time of year over there. Picking Disco for the Tour is an out-on-a-limb pick to be sure. But their success in the last SEVEN Tours has given them a bit of the NY Yankees-evil empire mystique, don't you think?

Anyway, this year's Tour looks to be a fun one. Assuming Jan's in form, a big wild card, I think, is what kind of team T-Mobile comes up with to support Jan and how well they do. Kind of the flip side of the Disco issue, with a strong-team-but-who'll-lead-them kind of deal.

sure, you bet.
tho' i said backSIDE, not backSLIDE.

[CJH]

Are you being hearing the sound of thunder?

[Headwinds]

Hey, i'm in the Jan fan club... but 1 TT result in May is not a Tour result.

I agree, but I just like to keep remembering what Shinomaster said; LeMond used to be in this kind of (bad) shape every May, then BOOM! I July....

As for me, if I had to bet between Basso in shape and Ullrich in shape, my money would be on Ullrich!

We'll see...