Well the top cyclists are deciding to retire just before the race.

Casagrande retired today so thats another one not in the race.

Who do you think will be there at the end of the 3 weeks.

I like the Quickstep team, so I will be watching out for them, also Alexander Petacchi and Rasmussen.

Nope the winner will be from Cunago,Simoni,or Salvadeli.
All former winners,although Cunago,and Simoni ride for the same team,there is no love lost between them.!!

jt

Theres more chance of me winning the Giro than Patacchi winning, he will grab a bag full of sprint finishes, but as soon as the road starts to go up he will be in the broom wagon.

Cunago looks a good bet to win again after having a good overall 2nd place finish in the Tour de Romandie on Sunday.

Basso could also be a good bet, proved in last years TDF that he can climb the big hills, he's not the greatest of time trailers but with the Giro only have 2 short ITT, and with the 2nd ITT having a 7km accent in it he may not lose all that much time.

Discovery rider Savoldelli is in with a shout as well.

Could all come down to stage 19 before, the stage into Sestirere before we know the overall winner, last 45km of that stage look a killer.

Forgot about cadel Evans as well,but i'm not sure if his team are riding the giro!!
Yep i'll go with you on Patachi,if he finishes the giro,well i'd be surprised,and he has no real challengers in the sprints at the moment.
I love watching the mountain stageshow the hell they go up them at there speed is fernominal.
Especially as i've been up most of the biggies in the alps and the pyrennese,can't wait.

jt

Originally posted by robS35
Theres more chance of me winning the Giro than Patacchi winning, he will grab a bag full of sprint finishes, but as soon as the road starts to go up he will be in the broom wagon.

of course he will, hes the modern day cippo! there has to be one every few years.

I really enjoyed watching the time trial last night. I thought it looked well dramatic so late on in the evening.

Can`t wait for the race to begin.

Looks like Patacchi's Fassa lead out train has been derailed, as he has no stage wins as of yet.

did u not see it last night (fri)? the fassa train crashed on a corner which brought pettachi down and gave mcewan the stage.

video on eurosport (http://www.eurosport.co.uk)

Told you "Salvoldeli" you heard here first. He has the Pink jersey now,and will keep it till the end,trust me!!!
Johan Bruneel,what a director sportife,and Britain's Sean yates as well..what a team.
Wonder where Lance is now,probabley doing reccy in the alps or pyreneese.
Discovery will win the Tour of Italy and the Tour de France,any betting on the Tour of Spain.????

jt

As an ex USPS now Discovery Channel fan id love savoldelli to win, lost a few seconds to Di Luca and Simioni today, the Stelvio looks an awesome climb. Anyway in my opinion this years race will come down to next fridays ITT and Saturdays last big Mountain stage finish up to the ski resort of Sestriere.

i think di luca might turn pout to be a surprise package this year and itll all come down to the itt on friday and then, depending on how close simoni is, saturday to sestriere. imo, di luca is a better time trialer than simoni and savoldelli's only good going DOWN hill rather than up!

Yep de luca is surpriseing me some what..
still think it's between Simoni,and Salvaldeli,but i think with Lance at discovery,and all the time trail stuff they do,i still think salvodeli will win.!!
So what's happened to Cunago,i thought that guy would cause some serious stuff in the mountains,didn't that Stelvio climb look awesome..would love to do that then take photo's on the way back down.

jt

I see Salvodeli hung on yesterday,thought he would do it.
Today is just a roll into Milan,victory salute to the fans.
Can i say "told you so"..lol

jt

Im a Disco fan and well pleased he won, barring a huge disaster around the streets of Milan. I see a Discovery hat trick this year winning all 3 grand tours.

Lets not forget the huge part the Lotto team played yesterday in the final 20kms or so in dragging savodelli up to Sestirere, without there help he wouldnt have been in Pink today.

Brings back memories of the CSC / USPS deal in last years TDF, i still wonder what was in that brown envelope.

I might not have got the actual winner right but I dont think I did too bad for the top two sprinters, Bettini and Petacchi and the top two for the Intergiro, Zanini and Bettini.

Originally posted by rosie
I might not have got the actual winner right but I dont think I did too bad for the top two sprinters, Bettini and Petacchi and the top two for the Intergiro, Zanini and Bettini.

i call that good coaching..!!!!who for the tour then.??

jt

well! they had lance on eurosport on the last thursday of the race and he seemed very psyched up. but that's not always the best plan of action.

myself, i think he might be too caught up in the fact that he'll retire at the end of the race that it may affect the way he goes about trying to win. he sounded very wary of ullrich, mike smith was putting across to him ulrich's poor performance in the tour of catalunya, and lance was forever assuring smith that ullrich would come good.

personnaly, i don't think ullrich has it in his legs to win this year, and so basso is the obvious chocie afteer that for me, especially the form he showed after the bug in the giro, even though he did lose more time up to sestriere.

i thought mcewen was sh*t hot in the sprints until he retires from the race. imo, pettachi was slightly scared of him. bettini was also consistently up there in the sprints as was shown with his maglia cicclamina, he can also get up hill better than most pure sprinters and you can also count on him getting in the odd first week break to pick up a few points for the green.

i would absolutely LOVE to see more of the sort of antics that the selle italia boys got up to this year, i thought it was so daring and made it exciting for everybody else. i'll also be rooting for danilo di luca in the tdf this year, he's become somewhat of a revelation in terms of climbing, not just one day races etc

my tips are (and will probably change 3 times before paris!)

yellow: basso
green: bettini
white: voeckler (twice as determined from last year)
polka dot: whoever gets it on the first big mountain stage

im just happy that i'll be in france this year for the last two weeks of the race! probably won't get to see any 'cos i'm working.

With the help of his usual suspects Hincapie, Chechu, Azevedo, Triki and co, Armstrong will win this years TDF.

Discovery ride Cannondales, just like me. They have to win the TDF. No more Trek. I also ride Bianchi.

Originally posted by buck
Discovery ride Cannondales

??:confused:
they were riding treks during the giro 'cos i was looking into buying one, they looked sooo nice!

LAMPRE use Cannondales because they've gone with Simoni and Cunego from Saeco.

Originally posted by buck
Discovery ride Cannondales, just like me. They have to win the TDF. No more Trek. I also ride Bianchi.

As already said Armstrong and the rest of his Disco dancers ride Treks, http://www2.trekbikes.com

Message for blademan you should get a Trek, i ride a Madone and its awesome.

i'd have to save up LOTS of pennies to buy that although it would be worth it!!! but it is such a beautiful bike, don't like the look of the livestrong one though!:gag: