jcza Posted May 19, 2014 Share I'm with you Grumpy, love the Giro but its been sub-standard. Tour of California certainly has a better field. Why does the UCI allow this? The 3 biggest races need the biggest names in cycling. You see it in other sports like tennis and golf. Grand Slams and Majors. I understand that the riders need time to recover but its time to get the schedule sorted out. PS: My fantasy team is a disaster!! GrumpyOldGuy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombeej Posted May 19, 2014 Share Wiggins probably isn't here because he wouldn't have been in the mix in the final week of the Giro. The Zoncolan, the Motirolo.... He'd lose bags of time on those mountains. Folks, remember the racing still has to start. The first week was just a warm up. Edited May 19, 2014 by tombeej Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombeej Posted May 19, 2014 Share I sure hope Quintana is saving his legs for the HC climbs.. He's been saying he's feeling his injuries from his crash in stage 6. Admitted he couldn't even respond to Pozzovivo yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakkals. Posted May 19, 2014 Share I thinks sammy sanchez is going to play a role later on for Cuddles. Uran, pozzovivo, quintana, will all fly on the climbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kosmonooit Posted May 19, 2014 Share Seems in this day & age, you cant do the Giro and be fresh enough for Le Tour, so that rules most of the big cheeses out who want to make that their target. Remember how grumpy Cav was at the Tour last year? that was certainly a (tough) Giro hang over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOldGuy Posted May 19, 2014 Share Wiggins probably isn't here because he wouldn't have been in the mix in the final week of the Giro. The Zoncolan, the Motirolo.... He'd lose bags of time on those mountains. Folks, remember the racing still has to start. The first week was just a warm up. I dont know, Wiggins can hold his own, maybe not fly up the hill like a pure climber but he could certainly pace with the likes of Evans. I agree with JCZA that the big name riders who should be racing here arent, and the teams appear to have sent along their B team just to make up the numbers. Sad because in reality this is the second biggest and prestigious Grand tour available and is known for its great spirit of racing. jcza 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Dale Posted May 19, 2014 Share For some reason the commentators wrote Rolland off after his top 10 in Le tour in 2012. What an attack he made. Its those breaks that we will always remember. Why does he look so much like Andy Schleck? Also see he is of his qrings, so is Taylor Phinney. He was considered a French Hope Now Giant's Barguil could be. He def looks like Baby Schleck, just bulkier. Imagine the watts to pull back ArredondoAnd then the mighty drop 1 km from the white chalk.Brave effort! Edited May 19, 2014 by ' Dale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Dale Posted May 19, 2014 Share True, but I recon had Rolland not attacked, and animated the race it would have been rather dull as well. No doubt Him and Arredondo was awesome Someone's gotta attack the BMC machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cav' Posted May 19, 2014 Share Just imagine this for a second... Berto climbing circles around these guys, with one attack after the other.. Hope his prep is going well for the tour. TALUS and GrumpyOldGuy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Dale Posted May 19, 2014 Share I reckon that the 1st week was pretty intense.It seems that the peloton needed some time to recover from the multiple crashes.Also, the wet weather racing tends to bring on a cautious approach, especially in the 1st week. The field on Day 1 was pretty strong, until the most consistent performer in J Rod had to leave.That dented the action as he is very attacking in mindset. Bring on Week 2! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombeej Posted May 19, 2014 Share I dont know, Wiggins can hold his own, maybe not fly up the hill like a pure climber but he could certainly pace with the likes of Evans. I agree with JCZA that the big name riders who should be racing here arent, and the teams appear to have sent along their B team just to make up the numbers. Sad because in reality this is the second biggest and prestigious Grand tour available and is known for its great spirit of racing. It is asking too much of the top guys to be expected to race these grand tours back to back and expect them to win, or even do reasonably well. Their teams, sponsors and fans are expecting wins. Winning is what it's all about. Now in order for that to happen, they need to prepare and peak properly for some, not all. If you make them ride all of them, then don't expect great results. And we're not even talking about all the other races they're expected to show up at (the classics, the 7/8 day races, etc.). I think if we want to see the same big names in the Giro, Tour, and - what the hell - even the Vuelta as well, then, the UCI would need to take another look at the calendar. If they give at least 2 months gap between each grand tour then maybe people might have enough time to recover fully. The problem is that if they do that, where do they place the grand tours? Do they move the Giro forward? If they do, they push out some of the big spring classics like LBL and Fleche Wallonne. And the weather will surely be even worse. If they push out the Tour to August, then the Vuelta will be in November. There goes Lombardy, the World Champs, etc. And you're starting to look at a 12 month racing calendar. In this day and age, riders (well the majority of them) are back to being 'just human'. No longer racing on rocket fuel. Yet we expect them to sprint over huge mountains for 3 weeks, to go on mad 200km breakaways, to put on a big spectacle every single day without an off day, then give them a couple of weeks rest and tell them to do it all again. We want to witness superhuman feats of endurance. And if they don't live up to these lofty expectations we say they're boring. But they take so much as a Panado then we lash back with self righteous howls that they're cheaters/dopers. They are the modern-day gladiator. They are here for our entertainment, they must bleed and die for our amusement. And if they don't measure up then we answer with a thumb pointed downwards. My own view is that I'm much happier watching the current crop than those supermen of the '90s and 2000s. I can relate much more to their suffering, achievements and disappointments. I feel I'm watching something a lot more authentic. I'm not an idiot though. No-one should accept that the peloton is entirely clean these days. But it's a helluva lot better than before. Grumpy, this is not aimed at you or anyone else on this thread. It's just me on my soap box having a general go at the universe at large. My apologies for the Monday rant . Cav', TALUS and Jakkals. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez-O Posted May 19, 2014 Share I think if we want to see the same big names in the Giro, Tour, and - what the hell - even the Vuelta as well, then, the UCI would need to take another look at the calendar. If they give at least 2 months gap between each grand tour then maybe people might have enough time to recover fully.Agreed... However, the issue here is that European summers are just far too short... As it is, we have had stages abandoned in the past due to the Italian winter carrying over into May. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcza Posted May 19, 2014 Share I understand what you mean tombeej but the Grand Tour GC contenders are not the same guys as the Classic winners. Ideally top GC contenders should feature in all 3 Grand Tours PROVIDED they can get the scheduling sorted. If not I fear we will end up with Tour de France and everything else will be second rate. Horners victory in the Vuelta last year did not do that race any favours but Wiggos victory in TOC certainly raised that profile. tombeej and GrumpyOldGuy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cav' Posted May 19, 2014 Share Usually in the season when you have a "shi tty" Giro the Tour is awesome. Lets hope so. P.s. I know it aint over yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOldGuy Posted May 19, 2014 Share Just imagine this for a second... Berto climbing circles around these guys, with one attack after the other.. Hope his prep is going well for the tour. - Yah, I like that thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meathead Posted May 19, 2014 Share It's only dull, if you aren't playing fantasy league. Some days are more exciting than others but I personal don't think Evans has the race sown up, the suspense is building up. enjoy it for what it is r0adrunner and T-Bob 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now