I am certain that Antonio's rivals showed slight bias as well. ;) Well they weren't his "rivals" but more of worker bees on opposing teams.

I know I'm getting way ahead of myself, but the final TT stage looks really interesting. The climb is short, probably only a 8ish minute effort for these guys, but the descent is not so steep that they can just tuck and coast. They'll probably have huge big rings and have to do some pedaling as it doesn't look too technical in terms of turns either. It's going to be interesting to see how the GC riders pace it as I imagine they'll be right on the edge of throwing up from a VO2 effort, but still have to manage some recovery and hammering the descent immediately after. Factor in that it's for all the marbles and you may see guys push themselves over that VO2 edge and blow up spectacularly.

I know these guys are pros, but for myself personally, I see stage 9 as much easier to plan for given it's longer, a steady threshold type effort and the variation in power shouldn't be too drastic even as the grades change.

Not to mention all the risks taken on the descent...

So are we picking? GC podium and classifications? (just one pick for each jersey, figure you get three shots total to get one right)

I'll make picks just for banter's sake...

Podium
Dumpoulin
Yates
Lopez

Only reason I'm not picking Roglic is to be different. That and I have a feeling that he may have peaked too soon.

Points - Viviani
Polka Dot - Geoghegan Hart
White - Lopez

This is far too hard but I'll swing:

Podium: Roglic, Dumoulin, Yates
Points: Viviani
Polka Dot: De Gendt
Young Rider: Lopez

I really want to pick Jungle Bob for 3rd, but I think they are better suited as a team to support Viviani.

Edit: Updating formatting and changing it up a bit and I can't make my mind up damnit.

Podium: Nibali, TD, Roglic — Think this one belongs to TD but am following your lead and going with sentimental pick ftw

Points: Viviani
Mountains: Majka
BYR: Geoghegan holds for a while but Lopez takes it home again

I think it's purely for bantz


you need to narrow that list a bit :p

-------------------------------------------------------------

Podium: Dumoulin, Yates, Roglic

Points: Yates

Mountain: Yates

BYR: Ooman

? That list has all the requirements. Formatting makes it look off

Podium
Roglic, Yates, Dumoulin

Points: Viviani

Mountain: De Gendt

Young guy: Sivakov

Podium- TD Yates Formolo

Roglic does the big fade.....or maybe he just keeps crushing

Points- Viviani

Mountains- Carapaz

Youngster- Ben O'Connor

It looks like the TT start list has been updated to accommodate the thunderstorms expected. The favorites will be going first.

Pink: TD, Yates, Roglic

Points: Gaviria

Mt.: Pozzovivo

Young: Carapaz

The kicker at the end of the stage is quite gnarly. Something like 2km at 9.5%, and the gradient varies a bit.

Used in the finish at Giro d’Emilia, which is often won by punchers. Someone like Ulissi could do well

It's going to be interesting to see how Yates' gambles pays off. (going 3rd-to-last when all the other GC guys decided to go early to avoid possible rain).

It might not be a bad gamble. He'll know all the time splits, and he'll have the slower sprinters and domestiques on the course that might provide slingshot drafting gains.

But if the roads are drenched it could be ugly, with, I count, 6 sharp turns that he'd have to slow way down for.

Nibali quickest for now, Bahrain-Merida balling with the McLaren 570s hauling their bikes up the hill lol

Edit: Roglic spanks him badly, 23s quicker.. Let's see if he can keep this form

Given who its owner is, I won't be surprised if that thing ran on the blood and tears of political prisoners. Real piece of work, that Sheikh Nasser

Roglic is really effing strong, almost absurdly strong

Yeah I remember a quote from earlier this year from a Belgian cycling show on tv where one of his ex-team mates was telling a story from a training camp they we're at when Roglic was still new at Lotto-Jumbo. They had Robert Gesink who's known in the team as a Wattage canon, and they had to do 6' intervals and on the last one Gesink went all out and nobody could follow him, apart from Roglic who was sitting in his wheel and right at the end Roglic just pulls away. So Gesink was like 'Who does he think he is and he'll see and this and that's. Apparently that's Roglic's strength, almost nobody matches him for 5' power.

Speaking of Gesink, what did happen to him? I remember him doing brave efforts in the Canadian 1-day races, with the pain of the effort etched onto his face. Thought his win at GP Quebec was very nicely done, as it came from sprinting from a small group. He was mixing it up in the Tour and Giro as well, but seemed to have faded a bit?

No idea to be honest, he was supposed to be the main man to help out Roglic together with De Plus in the Giro. Unfortunately he broke his collar bone and fractured his pelvis in a crash in Liège-Bastogne-Liège..

didn't he have AFib a few years back, had to take time off and get it taken care of

It will be interesting if he can hold this world beating form to week 3. He's just been totally on fire early this year.

Who knows, maybe gravity will catch up sooner or later? If I were his team director, i'd want to punt the responsibility of the jersey away. While Roglic may have it for three weeks, his teammates may not be able to provide adequate support for three weeks. Let someone else in the break take it.

I'm surprised at how strong Nibbles' time is on Stage 1. I think many are writing him off for the GdI win and I also think that his win is moderately high odds. But he came out today and lost little time, at least keeping him in the hunt and everyone else guessing. Dumolin's performance? I dunno. All of the smack happens in two weeks. He may be building into great form over then next 10 days while Roglic (maybe) fades having tried to hold outstanding form too long. With Yates in the mix, I'm looking forward to this year's GdI...

I wonder if the Japanese rider Hiroki Nishimura on last place today (+4:36) will be allowed to start tomorrow. The rules are +30% of winner’s time but the officials have the last word...