Organizers are just taking out the final 5K of climbing. Bummer. This section was going to be insane.
Andy Hampsten must be sitting in a leather chair in Boulder say, “What the f***…its all uphill. These guys are pussies. Back in 89 we used to CLIMB and DESCEND. In blinding snowstorms.” Andy’s probably on the phone with Monty right now.
Monty, “hey Andy, what’s with endurance sport these days. The moment the RD’s see hills on the swim they cancel it. Back in the 80’s we swam in 60 degree water in our speedos with no shrinkage. Now the Giro is getting wussified like Starbucks latte”
Andy, “These guys are pussies. They go train in the warmth of Mallorca and Lanzarote and then quiver at the sight of snow. In the 80’s Davis and I would be riding billy goat ascents at 11,000 ft outside of Boulder when the XC skiers was skiing in the VALLEY. Just a banana, one bottle, no designer nutritiono, a bike, arm warmers and 6 hours in the saddle. We’d descend snow covered passes quicker than the downhill skiers outside Winter Park. Pussies I say. Make em climb the final 5K…its not like they have to ride down”
Monty, “That’s it. Its official. Its OK when triathlon goes lame to appease the masses…but the Giro catering to soft pros? What are they trying to do…let Jan and Basso save their legs for the Tour. They should be trying to shred these million dollar boys…I bet they even stopped drinking espresso and now drink low fat decaf latte with a sprinkle of dark chocolate…soft…totally soft”
Same here in Ottawa on the 5 hour ride on Sunday. It was so f’ing cold and my hands were frozen so badly that I could not get an energy bar out of my jersey pocket!
Yeah, my coach was singing the same tune yesterday because in '92 they had to do the finishing climb from yesterday’s stage twice! They actually passed the hotels and the soigneirs waved as they went down to do it again!
Too bad about today’s stage being cut short. All that last minute road work for nothing…
Come on man…no wussified latte. Just espresso and it has to be so thick that a stirring stick can stand up in it. This is the problem these days. Hampsten’s espresso was likely so thick that no snowstorm could stop him.
The key point is “without the descent”. However, perhaps post race, their plan wa to get the riders out of there by sending them back on their bikes like many mtn top finish (unless you fly down in a helicopter like Lance with his rock star girlfriend), so perhaps the cancellation was forced on them with no backup plan on how to get the riders and team cars out of the original finish.
“their plan wa to get the riders out of there by sending them back on their bikes”
i believe i read that the riders were going to have to take the gondola down. this probably meant spending a lot of time waiting for the gondola, in the cold. it appeared to me to be a logistical problem.
Its friggin Italy. After a long cold stage of climbing, they should have had army of dudes with their espresso machines keeping the riders warm as they waited for their gondolas…please don’t tell me that coffee is getting wussified in Italy and they have all that decaf vente low fat latte crap.
By the way, you should repost that classic article by Ritticello on the wussification of coffee. It is representative of the softness creeping into endurance sport. Times are slower even with all the gadgets and doodads. Its gotta be the lame coffee prevelant in society…
Well Basso is now leading in the Overall, the Mountains, AND the Points competitions. Pretty remarkable. If he wears all three tomorrow then he should be warm enough. He’s also leading the Most Combative classification AND the Azzurri d’Italia classification, whatever the heck that is.
However, can somebody explain to me why Savoldelli is still leading the combination classification and Basso’s only third?
Getting back to the plot, they should have made those guys ride the last 5k, if only to preserve cycling’s identity as the toughest of the mainstream sports. Maybe they could have had Basso’s sister at the top giving warm-up rubs to the top 20 finishers.
I have one of those posters in my office staring me in the face today as I bemoan the destruction of what would have been an heroic stage.
Based on the helicopter shots this morning on Corones I have done at least half a dozen rides in worse conditions in the last few months. If they rode more in cold crappy weather they would have know the key to staying warm is to ride faster rather than dawdle along bitching to the organizers.
yeah, you kinda get the feeling this was no worse than the gavia and, yes, without the descent.
on another subject, i’m getting the feeling that danielson is maybe the strongest of the discovery riders in this race.
Yesterday Ulrich beat Danielson up the climb, and there was absolutely no reason for Danielson to be holding back (unless there is some secret racing strategy that includes giving up your top 10 overall position while also leaving your designated team leader to flounder alone up the climb)…
I’m getting the feeling that the great white hope, while a fantastic rider, ain’t so great.
