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Andy gets dropped very year at the Tour de Suisse and every year he drops everybody at the TDF on the big climbs....nothing new, it's always been like this with him....I also seem to remind everybody of this every year... . He will have a go on one of the stages to test he's legs and that is that...same old boring prep. The Dauphine is also 2 weeks earlier than the TDS so he will be even more useless now. I am starting to like Wiggens because he goes out and tries to win most of the stage races he takes part in. Would like to see him or Cadel win here and go on to win the tour. The Perfect tour this year will be for Andy, Gesink and Nibali to go balls to the wall in the mountains to try and make up time and Wiggens and Cadel to stick close and give it a go in the TT!! If all 5 off those guys arrive in perfect shape and stay on their bikes ( Wiggens and Gesink) then we will have the perfect tour! Nice to have 2 hour a day of the Dauphine!!!

I find it interesting that he is not on the Dauphine start list, if I remember correct he use to do this race as build-up. He should then be on the Suisse start list otherwise I don't know. Normally it is either the Dauphine or Suisse for the GC guys. I love watching the Dauphine and Suisse because that is when all the speculation start as to who has what form!

They have a small article on him in the latest procycling scouting report.........and that says a lot!!!

Hehe you beat me to it....spot on!!

Lots of stuff I would rather not comment on this tread but Petatodd I agree with the it’s part of the sport part. I think the problem here is we will never really understand pro cycling in Europe and the inner workings of the race. Let me ask you guys this…If a rider has a crash or get left behind and he’s team car pulls up next to him….he hangs onto the car while the mechanic has a look at the bikes brakes or something while the car speeds up to 60km per hour…do you really think there is something wrong with that bike?? But it is against the rule to hang onto a car then? Or a rider gets paced back after a flat wheel while the Comm is not there to see what is happening….is that not against the rules? All off this happens on a daily basis and many more things in a grand tour like the Giro, and it all is “against the rules”. Just like a sticky bottle mostly at the Giro people look the other way when a sprinter hold onto a car on a massif climb like yesterday. And yes every now and again the race ref might decide that it was too obvious or just too long or whatever. Kind of like a hooker hitting a guys in the scrum because they want to intimidate the other team in rugby. Against the rules yes…..but it happens and every now and again someone gets send to the bin for it. Not saying Hunter did this but if he did and he got caught out, sorry for you man. Also it is just interesting how few people that commented on this topic had anything to say during the Giro about how brilliant he has been riding and he’s two 4th places and excellent lead-outs etc. Just waiting for him to fail??

Yes no ego's there...Vandervelde is a big name himself but had no problem working for the man in form. In the end I am happy with how it turned out; the only problem for me is I think Scarponi was way better than 4th.Think it should have come down to between him and Hesjedal. Hesjedal and he’s team took on the queen stage and showed they wanted the win. I was very irritated with the way the other GC guys decided to just sit there and let Thomas gain time while they know he is a good TT rider. They wanted to just sit there and hope Hesjedal and he’s team does enough to keep them on the podium. They probably also banked on the fact that Hesjedal did all the work on the last climb and that he might crack. I am just sorry Rodriguez did not end up losing second to Thomas as well. Maybe next time they will think about this let’s wait and see or hope it turns out ok tactics. Also found Rodrigeuz commend about why he did not attack earlier on the stelvio very funny,”he wanted to go away with Basso and Scarponi”??? Scarponi was already up the road and Basso was off the back….did he loose some brain cells on that climb? Loved this race!!So many different stages , and to finish with just 16 seconds in it at the end is perfect!

Lance Armstrong: It's a terrible climb.. It's perfect for a mountain bike. On the hardest parts, I was riding a 39X27 and I was hurting. The Mortirolo is the hardest climb I've ever ridden. My time up the climb? It's not important.

Also very frustrated with them at the moment. In my opinion I think Frank had the goods to cause an upset at this Giro and it would have been great for them to get a result like this. It is very hard to commend on an injury like that but I really think it is the excuse he has been waiting for the whole time. He just never wanted to be there… Big time talent wasting going on there and that is what is so disappointing. Everybody knows I am a big Andy fan but they both need to start winning some races…don’t really care what they win but they need to start getting some results!! They both are in danger of wasting the amazing talent that they have and if there is one thing I don’t like is a naturally gifted athlete that wastes that gift!! At this stage I actually hope Bruyneel leaves Frank out of the tour team.

Yes he takes a lot of criticism on the hub for sure, lots of people had the opinion that he would have abandoned by now to focus on the tour, yet most off the sprinters have done this and Cav is still there. I like the guy but mainly just because he is so dam good at what he does. He is also proving loads of people wrong this year that said he can’t sprint without a lead-out train. Well he’s lead-out’s have been a mess but he still wins.

Rodriguez starting to look like the man to beat!! Looking forward to the final week of racing. Cunego I don't understand...why is he going into these breaks?he works so hard that he will never be able to help Scarponi on the final climb?Normaly if a team sends a rider in the break with the idea to be there to launch the gc rider on the final climb he mostly just sits on in the break and saves hes legs? So if he is not helping Scarponi what is he doing?maybe they want to make Basso's men chase harder but then I don't think they see him as a possible winner.

The mt baldy stage was one of the best races so far this year!!

When is Nice?then we will know but I think he is going to be very very strong on the full distance!

Can't find the tour the Cali topic? Anyways great to see Gesink back and climbing like only he can!!I am a big fan and i hope he shows us some good form this year in the tour. As for the Giro,Basso is clearly showing he beleives he is the "boss" of the race by smashing hes team day in and day out.Hope he has the legs to back it up during the last week,you want to ride your team like that you better have the goods when it is time to deliver!! Any of you guys think Hesjedal can actually take this thing?

He got stuck behind 2 crashes and lost another 46seconds.....now I think he will just give up.Hope he proves me wrong but I think we won't see much more from him.

I don't understand this myself.....Frank said in a interview a couple of days ago that they are thinking about sending someone ahead to go and look at the important stages. Which implies that it has not been done. Big team like that?? Something wrong there if you ask me...

Still really want to read he's book!! Interesting that he does not want to do one last Tdf,even if it is just to leadout Goss.

Biggest problem Frank has at the moment I think is he has not seen any of the stages beforehand...most of the giro gc riders has had a look at all of these stages before and would know exactly what the finishes look like. What I don't understand is Frank said it is a problem for him and they are thinking about sending staff ahead to recon the routes for him......hell that should have been done long ago??A big team like that and they are thinking about it??? I think he has the legs, he would have been very close to he's best at the classics so he should be ok by now.

Yes irritated with Frank missing out yesterday...he certainly is not a hill sprinter like Rodriguez but he should have stayed with Basso and them. I don't think it is a case that he did not have the legs, on a finish like that which is very narrow and there is very little space to manoeuvre it is very easy to get stuck behind other riders if you are not in a good position. The problem with him is either he was not attentive enough or he had no idea of what the finish looked like. Both is not a good sign to me but I think that is part of the problem, they see themselves as high mountain specialist and then end up losing time on intermediate stages like today. Hate to use Lance (especially on the hub...) but he would never have made a mistake like that. Which brings me to this, how involved is Bruneel really anymore on what happens on the road...in the days of Lance and Contador he was the man in the car....these days he does not get involved anymore from what I can tell. Had a look at a team results list in the new(May) Cyclosport mag....they look at how many 1st,2nd and 3rd place results a team has had this year and Radioshack does not even get on the list. I think they have the first 15 teams there.... I mean how bad can it get?

Hehe, what is this "Avio" that the one guy keeps on saying??Every time he is finished talking he says Avio or something and then the other guy starts talking... Interesting, I saw Cav man going for points yesterday...why is he doing that if he is thinking off quitting early?

Hoping big time for either Hunter or Impey.....Both very strong at the moment and with the right stage and the right situation they should be able to get us a win. Think Impey needs to try and go into a break on one of the difficult medium mountain days.

Rujano is like the French rugby team in a world cup....Absolutely brilliant on a perfect day and if he stays close until the second last day and he hits that perfect day on the stilvio then I think he just might cause a BIG upset. The big challenge for him would be to be consistent enough up to that point. Scarponi I agree is by far the safe money bet at this stage, he has the team and the legs and the experience to do a good Giro. But I am hoping for a surprise like maybe Kreusiger…not a big surprize but he is also not an outright favourite for the win. The biggest reason I want Frank to win is because I think it will chance the way they (the brothers) look at grand tours. If Frank wins here without Andy it will most probably be the best thing for them both. I still think Andy’s best tour was the one where Frank crashed and he was left to do it by himself. I am hoping for a big battle between the top 5 with all of them being close with 3 days to go...that will be amazing!!

Ok after this weekend the Giro is looking good.....think we are in for one hell of a race in the final week. Scarponi as expected looks very good,Basso is there and should be up there in the 3rd week,Frank looks like he is there to race,kreuziger and Rodrigeuz up there as well. Good to see so many possible contenders!! My early crazy prediction.........Frank to walk away with it...:-)

Nice hard race,was my first Lionman.Got more bang for my buck,somehow missed a turn after the final decend and ended up on the 40km route...in the end did 96km instead of 75!! Seems lots of riders made that mistake?Someone at the finish told me some guy put a box infront of the sign or something. I also see Brandon Steward complained on twitter that the route was way to rocky...I don't think it was that bad.He called it the worse route he has ever done. I wil be back next year!

Now it looks like the chase is slowing.....any idea who in the break is closest to gc and what the time diff is....how close do the bunch need to be for Hunter to get Pink?

Is robbie still there?With the pink jersey off the back all he needs to do is finish in the bunch....that is if they catch the break but it does look like they are on target. I am following live feed on the ipad with this link...good quality! http://videochat.gazzetta.it/index_Radiocorsa01.shtml?english