I'll go with NIbbles. Because whenever it seems like he's disappeared, he suddenly pops up.

Just for kicks I am going with Pinot, he seems to have really good form now and also seems a bit "hungry"

Just noticed Bernal is on the start list. Don't think he'll win, but just good to see him able to race so quickly.

Gonna pull for Martin, Woods, and Roglic.

I gotta go for my home town boy Woods. He’s on form and extra hungry for this monument.

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Man what a stacked field.... Funny how il Lombardia doesn't seem to get the attention that the other monuments do. Anyways lots of contenders... at this point in the season hard to say who is on form and who is fatigued.

EFD has a great 1-2 with Rigo and Woodsy as we've seen so far at the italiy fall classics. Can't discount Valverde... Pinot is on point... Bardet... I do not think Nibbles has really recovered from his crash. Anything is possible at this point though. I've got a bad feeling Piti will do it though.

WOOOOOOOODDDSSSYYY!!!

Although the finale km isn't quite steep enough.

This always seems like a good fall back plan... He is like the cockroach that keeps coming back to life!!!

Oh yeah! fireworks :)

do Pinot and Nibali have enough and can Bernal catch on the descent

well Bernal is back to chase group

he paid for that though

Pinot to become France's first Monument winner since the late 90s (Jalabert, IIRC)?

part of the suspense comes from watching with clenched cheeks while watching them descend.

yikes:eek:

yeah thats' been fun - can Nibble hold on for second ?

i say no; just 15 seconds now

sucks that it could due to missing a bottle

tactical smarts

indeed; perfect time to go

catch your opponents napping and go on the descent; new racers should take note of the conditions for success here: someone just been caught, riders fanned out on the road, descent coming up. Hard to get a gap on the descent, but even harder to close a gap once the gap has been established. Surprise gets you the gap, use gravity to maintain and hold it

Pinot's face on that last climb was awesome.

Did you catch the on-screen of Nibali riding into Como? 990W max or something, and a 190W average?

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casual observer might dismiss it, but that 190W average really doesn't tell the whole story

Agreed. I don't believe the metrics they display on tv are perfectly accurate, although with 4-5 hours at 150w in the bunch, it would take quite a while at higher watts to move the needle.

His attack for second place was shockingly strong.

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Missed the race but seems like reasonable outcome. Nibali bookending the monuments wousl have been something special.

just saw this. great pick!

Thanks.
BTW Nibali's attack at the end was pure genius.

I was thinking him too -- but you called it, well done.

I'm very pleased for Pinot. He has been riding with panache lately. Also he gets big bonus points for perseverence. In 2013 it seemed his career might be over due to his fear of speed and inability to descend reasonably well.

I didn't see the race and can't find video, but even if the descent of Civiglio is an easy one, it is ironic that he beat Nibali with an attack near the top of the climb and a descent.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev