2010 Giro d'Italia

[Secular Bicep]

Sky are a good choice too because of all their riders with short track experience.

 

[Cruiser23]

Reckon it might unfold like this...

1. HTC-Columbia
2. Sky
3. Garmin
4. Saxo Bank
5. Katusha
6. Liquigas
7. Milram
8. Rabobank
9. Astana
10. BMC

 

[Secular Bicep]

1. HTC-Columbia
2. Sky +0.05
3. Saxo Bank +0.10
4. Garmin
5. Liquigas
6. Astana
7. BMC
8. Katusha
9. Rabobank
10. Milram

 

[Cruiser23]

Having another look, i dropped Cervelo out, reckon they might struggle and threw BMC in there, more in hope than anything.

 

[Cruiser23]

BMC already down to just 6 riders just 15km in. Lost one yesterday and two dropped off already.

 

[Cruiser23]

37:56 for the BMC Team, can't really get a total gage on how good that is until a little later but it seems respectable.

 

[Vader]

37:56 for the BMC Team, can't really get a total gage on how good that is until a little later but it seems respectable.

53 seconds better than Katusha could manage. The big teams have yet to finish though (or even start in some cases).

EDIT: Make that Quick Step, not Katusha

 

[Vader]

Caisse d'Epargne a minute slower than BMC as well.

 

[Cruiser23]

Wow, Katusha and Sky both 1 minute ahead of BMC at the first check point.

 

[Cruiser23]

BMC look like they had a good second sector though.

 

[Vader]

Katusha beat BMC by 54 seconds. The first team to go faster than BMC so far.

 

[Cruiser23]

Katusha beat BMC by 54 seconds. The first team to go faster than BMC so far.

Though BMC's second half of the TT was quicker. Drove to the line pretty well considering they had 6 men for most of the TT.

Garmin 43 seconds behind Sky at the half way mark.

 

[Cruiser23]

Sky 14 seconds ahead of Katusha.

 

[Vader]

Sky 14 seconds faster than Katusha. Then again, they lost 4 min on stage 3...

 

[Vader]

Omega Pharma Lotto 33 seconds down on Sky, 35 faster than BMC. How come they couldn't time trial to save themselves when Evans was on the team?

 

[Vader]

Cervelo into 3rd, not much between Evans and Sastre now. 37:15, 43 seconds ahead of BMC.

 

[Cruiser23]

Surprised with how Cervelo went.

 

[Cruiser23]

Wow, Liquigas smashes it. Nibali will be around 2 min ahead of Cadel now and Basso 1:30 min.

 

[waspy]

Vino showing his class by chucking a hissy fit at Strangelj.

Dirty cheat...

 

[r dub 19]

Nibali is a great climber so 2 mins will be a task. Once again a pathetic team has cost cadel.

 

[Vader]

I'd love to see the splits between the 1st and 2nd halves of the race. My gut feel is that BMC were as quick as any other team in the 2nd half of the race, but were considerably slower than the bigger teams in the 1st half. The splits at the half-way mark were almost identical to those at the finish.

 

[Secular Bicep]

Cadel knew that when he signed to BMC his GT chances were slim. He knew the team wouldn't be able to support him the way he wanted.

It was all about $$$$$$. He is getting a lot of $$$$$ and incentives. BMC only want to make it big and they needed the rainbow jersey to get invites to GT's.

Cadel may not have a team that can support him but he's getting lots and lots of $$$$$.

Either that or his intelligence is low.

 

[Vader]

BMC would be a lot stronger if Hincapie & Burghart weren't riding the Tour of California, Ballan wasn't suspended pending the outcome of a drug investigation (into his time at Lampre) and Kohler hadn't broken his collarbone on stage 2. Fingers crossed the team will be close to full strength for the start of the TDF.

Then again, most of the other teams haven't exactly sent their A-list GT riders either. Liquigas appear to be the only team which are even close to full strength (other than Pellizzoti).

 

[Cruiser23]

Then again, most of the other teams haven't exactly sent their A-list GT riders either. Liquigas appear to be the only team which are even close to full strength (other than Pellizzoti).

And Roman...

 

[Vader]

It's actually really interesting comparing the team lists for the Tour of California against the Giro d'Italia. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours, yet it is clearly playing second fiddle to the Tour of California. I guess most of the GC riders don't want to do too much ahead of the TDF, preferring the Tour of California and the Dauphine Libere or the Tour of Switzerland as their preparation plan.

On a team-by-team basis (where teams have entered both events)..
Garmin Transitions - don't really have a GC rider, though Vande Velde was in the Giro until he got injured.
Liquigas - sent their A team to the Giro, Kreuzinger isn't entered in the Tour of California either.
Quick Step - Boonen is riding in California. Nobody of note in the Giro.
Rabobank - don't really have a GC rider, nothing much to note in either tour
HTC Columbia - Rogers & Cavendish riding in California, Greipel their biggest name in the Giro. Definite A & B team selection policy.
RadioShack - didn't even request entry into the Giro
Saxo Bank - Andy Schleck, Cancellara, Voigt and O'Grady all in California. Nobody of note in the Giro (apologies to Porte).
BMC - Hincapie & Burghart in California, Evans & Kohler in the Giro. 50/50 split, which will probably hurt them in both events.
Cervelo TestTeam - Sastre in the Giro, not much else to write home about.