Roll up Roll up, the Giro Circus is in town....

Or so says David Millar after Stage 16's run up the Plan de Corones ski slope. Granted he isn't a renowned climber but he did get some support from Barloworld's Enrico Gasparotto who said even with a mountain bike it would have been impossible. I must say I watched the stage was rubbing my eyes at what I was seeing, I mean the folk at RSC must have sat down one night after a huge night of pasta and vino and decided the 08 route:

"....ok Luigi where should we go this year? I know, remember how successful the French were with the Alpe d'Huez ITT in 04? well lets do it here, BUT lets make it 12 km with switch backs and 24% gradient in some places? and instead of sealed road, lets make sure that the road is dirt/ mud oh and ensure there's snow on the hills so that the riders can potentially dodge skiers? Hey what ya reckon?"

"....brilliant Mario, but lets not make it so easy, put it after 2 tough mountain stages...."

"Luigi, you're a genius, more vino?"

Giro stage 16 - more nicknames

The big one today, and what am I reporting on? Cycling nicknames.

With Pellizotti taking the uphill devil-stage and not much else happening (unless you count the rather predictable demise of DiLuca) here is a list of current cycling nicknames, along with a few proposals.

The Little Prince - an easy one for Cunego, who dethroned King Simoni at Saeco.
The Killer - DiLuca obviously thinks this makes him look tough, and he does have a fearsome reputation, but recently he's only been killing his own chances of pink.
Il Falco - an oldy but a goody, Salvoldelli has not had a clasic Giro, but he's still around, descending like a devil, and adding a new dimension to predictable grand tour strategy.
The Dolphin - the name that prompted this post belongs to Pellizotti. To my eyes all the riders look faintly aqualine in their spankin skinsuits. I guess he came last to the nickname list.
The Chicken - er . yes, we know,
Tex - who can forget where Lance came from?
The Green Bullet - a little left field, but Valverde takes this play on his name a little too literally.
The Cricket - not flattering for Bettini, but then neither is his kit.
Bert - recently attributed to Contador, not Ernie's best mate.
Tornado - of course it's big Tom, and at least it's descriptive, and beats his other one, the Elephant. Figure it out. Dolphin anyone??
Spartacus - rival to the Tornado is Cancellara, who evidently spends his free time freeing slaves.
The viper - Ricco watched too much tv in the eighties...

Proposals
The Little Monkey - Gibo just has that look when he's climbing, not to mention the name,
The Spider - Soler, again has a strong physical resemblance.
ET - ah, basso
The big fat lying drug cheat - bidding is still open for this one. Lots of interest so far...

But there are so many more.

Giro stage 15: Ooh baby

The italian tour hit the mountains and the majority of the peleton hit the wall. Coming into the last climb there was no-one but the best in the leaders group, all eyeing each other off for a sign of weakness. This is what grand tour riding is all about, and against all my earlier predictions the boys dishing the pain were (once again) Ricco and DiLuca - but mostly Ricco.

Boy can that boy ride, eh? He took on the final climb knowing full well that sitting in the wheels were past winners of this race, tour champs and vuelta heroes. Still he took it to them with an arrogance not seen in cycling since Cungeo waltzed off on his older, wiser team-mate leaving him mateless (and eventually teamless) three years ago. Rockin ricco was looking pained as the early slopes hit, leaning heavily on his bars as he tried to dictate the pace in what looked at the time like a last ditch effort. But the boys behind had nothin. Nothin. Ricco danced away to a few free seconds but the others limited their losses and live to fight another day.

Alby wasn't looking SO good today, but really, he's in pink now, has a few more of his favourite hills to come and hasn't had to break a sweat so far. Smart money is on him now, but the question of the week?

What happened to Kloden and Levi??
I know Astana were a late inclusion, but people (and you know who you are) were seriously talking up the chances of the skinny German pre Sicily. In a classic case of 'where are they now' the boys in turquiose have thrown all their chips in with the tanned spaniard, and who can blame 'em?

Giro stage 10: Strange times

With the first rest day out of the way riders grabbed their fancy bikes for the battle against the clock on Stage 10, but by the end of the procession there were more than a few raised eyebrows. Read on.

The stage was taken by a bearded Italian but the headlines were taken by the baby-faced spaniard affectionately known as Alby. Contador, riding on a cracked elbow and not known for his time trialling showed how much he wanted this to be France by storming home to second place. Second. Ahead of team-mate and time-trial monsters Levi and Kloden. Ahead of pretty well everyone with a predilection for pink.

Another suprise was Gibo, who pulled a pretty respectable 10th from a little dark place, and threw himself into contention for his last Giro.

No massive time gaps though, and most riders are looking fearfully up at the hills, where the race is sure to get well and truly busted up. 'Till then, I'm left with a faintly worrying feeling that I've seen a rider ride 'like an extra-terrestrial' in Italy before. Say it isn't so.

Giro stage 7 - shakedown

So you may have noticed a short break in coverage of this year's Giro here on MIT - sorry about that, something to do with having day jobs. Regardless, the action has been unrelenting this week, so in summary: the riders rode their bike in Italy.

Right, now to stage 7 and this year's first (cue choir) uphill finish.

There is something special about crossing the line with your front wheel higher than your rear in cycling, something which lures the big players out of their cosy peleton-shaped nests and onto the tarmac for some serious pain-giving.

And who was it leading the big name charge? Ah, Danilo. This is where the Giro is different to the Tour. The Giro CAN and HAS been won by psychotic attackes in strange places. Think Salvoldelli dropping the Dolomites like a stone. Anyway, DiLuca shot out of the group with barely a heads-up to the tv guys, dragging some likely faces with him, namely Ricco and Albert. Ricco had support and seemed to be able to stick it to the Killer, but they backed off too soon and couldn't gap last year's champ, and although they were coming in 2 mins shy of the stage winner (some other LPR guy, apologies to his family) there was a good drag up the final K to see who had what left.

Meanwhile, Rebellin obviously doesn't realise he's not a tour rider, and came in a minute later with a very interesting group of 'wise souls' including Kloden, Simoni, Menchov, Levi, Savoldelli... I think I overheard some contented muttering from that pack, something like "not a day you can win the Giro, but one on which you could lose it "... or was that Mike Tomolaris?

Learnings
Alby is in fine form for a guy sunbaking a fortnight ago. He made following the Italians look as easy as following Bruneel. (ouch). DiLuca is desperate - I mean why the fireworks Danilo? Lots of riding left to come, and a more than a few matches burnt today. The real story for me was THAT chase group. No big time loss (only 1.25 to DiLuca) but plenty of biding of time....

Here come the hills.

Giro stage 2 - Ricco gets his rocks off

So by now I'm sure you know that Ricco took the line by a nose in an all Italian podium. Killer and Tintin were both up there for the drag to the line, but more than a few hopefuls chose to sit this one out. Word from the wise: if you're riding a three week tour and can make 3 seconds by raping your red zone, prudence says leave it.

Ricco showed some impressive strength in the uphill sprint, but he also showed his inexperience. My opinion? Both he and DiLuca were engaged in a pissing contest. Italian style.

Pride plays a big part in the Italian race - well, in pretty much anything from that fabled nation - and today was no exception. This years Giro features more vertical time than I dare to think about, let alone ride up, so what on God's good green earth were these two chumps doing slogging it out on stage 2? Did DiLuca say something about Ricco's mother?

Whatever the cause, the final 3 km's (pretty much all our antipodean coverage will allow us to see) were busted up by the boys in - well - grey.

Quick aside:
I've seen it before, but what the hell were LPR thinking when they developed that kit?? Looks like the world champ washed his knicks with a black sock. Eaugh.

Back to world champs, the cameras caught sight of Bettini dropping back in the field on a stage (one of the few) that should have suited his diminutive stature. Uphill sprints are the land of the cricket, but Jimney didn't have it in him this time. Lets see what he can find when the bunch takes to his home town in a few days.

While it was nice to see a stage with hills so early in the piece, this stage was still a blank in terms of GC. I'd say the real message from the day was that DiLuca and Ricco are both proud, stupid, or (and I'm leaning in this direction) perhaps realise that they don't have it for the race and are looking for whatever glory they can nab to keep up their pay rates for the next year.

And why are all the commentators going on about Matt Lloyd??? (no offense)

THE Giro preview

And it begins. Grand tour season finally hits europe, sweeping across like a cold front on a strong westerly. With complete disregard for geography, Italy delivers the appetizer for France's main course, and a greasy Spanish paella locks up the rear.

But with a field of 198 riders taking the start in Palermo tomorrow, who should you watch? Who's moves will be tracked and who's a chance for a Pereiro-like 30 minute break? What role will Astana play in the whole charade? For what it's worth (and that's not much) here are my picks for the Italian festival of bike.

Chance for the title
Kloden - lots of people are pickin' the skeletal German as a chance, largely due to his recent win in Romandie. But does Kloden (loveable as he is) really have the Grappa? He's never quite made it as a tour rider, bridesmaid in oh so many more ways than one. For me, Klody will show strong in the first week, maybe two, but with mental climbs through the dolomites I don't see him hanging onto the pure-breds. Keeping enemies closer brings us to number 2:

Contador - yeah, he was ripped off the beach with a weeks notice to ride a three week grand tour, but did you catch his style in France last year??? When the skinny dane went and lunched the pack the only one with the legs was little Alby. BUT (and it's a big one, I cannot lie) he's off form. Still, Astana isn't out of cards yet, as it's only the Italians who'll let this guy ride.

Levi - actually, I can't see Levi winning at all. He's just not one of those guys. In the same way I never figured Landis as a champ.

So if you're not wearing Astana kit, do you have a chance in hell? Or Sicily? So here are the real contenders:

Gibo - I can't lie, I was never a fan of this ego-altered nutbag, but it's his last Grand Tour (at last) so we're expecting big things from the guy who called Basso ET. Come to think of it, perhaps he was ahead of his time...

Cunego - the little prince would love to wipe the floor with his Saeco (psycho) ex-teammate once more, and with this being his last chance the fiery young Italian should give it a strong show. He's getting a little more used to the road of France, but the Giro is where his roll began, so keep an eye out.

DiLuca - last years winner has legally cleared his name, but don't expect those rainclouds to just vanish. I'd expect a strong race - maybe top ten - but DiLuca has always been an enigma, and enigmas don't have a great history in the last few years...

Menchov - Denis had a crap tour last year, but took the Vuelta like candy from a debilitated, drooling baby. What can he bring to the race round the boot? Who knows. The team might be weaker than the last few years, but expect Denis to play the joker, and maybe take the surprise win.

Ricco and Peipoli - the boys in yellow haven't done much so far this year, but many are expecting big things of Rock-star Ricco, and who can forget Peipoli tailing an extra-terrestrial in 06? He was the unknown then, but how will he find it riding with a target on his back. Best chance for these two is to team up and hit em like Vino and Kash - oh, wait - whats that? Oh, right. Maybe not then. Expect Ricco to be around, unless he continues throwing his bike around.

So - that all? What about Il Falco, Garzelli, Pellizotti or Soler. With Astana's late entry the cards are all in the air, but I'm picking the Kazakhs will be pushing more than a few Italian hopefuls a few spots down on GC by the end of May.

But enough of my ranting - who's your pick?

Ah, the Giro - it's here. Let the Grand Tours commence!

Giro scores Astana on rebound

Having been unceremoniously dumped by those pesky, moralistic French , team Astana have been given the eye by a slick little Italian in a seedy bar off the beaten track. As if deliberatly undermining the strong message of the ASO, the organisers of the Giro have jumped at the chance to lick up their slops, and, with a (now) full-strength grand tour squad looking lonely, have extended a seedy wink-wink-nudge-nudge invitation that no good girl would ever entertain.

Astana, looking quite the desperate scrubber, jumped eagerly into the arms of our confused Italian stallion for a match which puts the already dusty name of cycling well into the 'do not invite over for dinner' books. Great.

The Verdict
Can we blame either of them though? Astana, still hurting from the tour rejection have offered the Giro a squad with the lot. The Italians, spotting a bargain when they see one, are simply benefitting form others misfortune, and probably damning most of the other teams into second at best. Seriously, can ANYONE see Gibo's new team (whateveryoucallem) managing more than a stage against a squad who on a good day would take the Tour riding fixies.

I really hope the Giro organisers have 'taken some precautions', coz this Astana squad have been around, and that itching might not go away, if you know what I mean.

Il Giro: the semi-final of cycling

It's a widely accepted opinion that the best matches of soccer's World Cup occur during the semi-finals. Teams still have everything to gain and a less palpable sense of what is at stake should they be defeated. And so the Giro is to cycling what the semi-final is to the World cup. A race all the riders would love to win, but that none fear to lose (too much, eh Gibo?).

In the past it has rarely thrown up potential Tour winners, but given a few years many who shoot for the Italian race find themselves punching it out on the slopes of the French alps in July.

This year, without Pettacci and with Astana (or not), will see another great spectacle of cycling. High mountain passes, long flat drags, quaint towns and stylish cities. Italy is a picture-perfect place to run an event like this and rarely dissappoints, but regardless of the scenery the action will be hot, unstructured and possibly beautiful.

One of my favourite stage races of the past decade would have to be the 2005 Giro, where Savoldelli took it to the wire, challenged all the way by Gibo et al. Could you ever see that happening in the Tour (apart from last year where the action was so obscured by the indiscretions of a few key players)? No way. Too much to loose on the Tour. Too much television, sponsorship, ambition and pride. No, the Tour is no place for loose racing and lazy roll-outs.

Italy on the other hand has a reputation for late starts, slow rolls and big sprints. It is a stage race without the pressure of Le Tour history or the spartan countryside of the Vuelta. It is the semi-final in a grand season of cycling action, paving the way for the big one in July. Here we go, here we go, here we go ...