Romandie used to be considered a good pointer to Giro form or an ideal final tune up for the Giro until Manolo Saiz invented the 'active rest/bulk up on dope away from the testers' training camp in the early-mid 90's.
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Giro 2008
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In Kloeden's favour:
1 x Paris Nice
1 x Pais Vasco
1 x Tirreno-Adriatico
1 x Tour of Romandie2 x 2nd in Le Tour
Chief Lieutenant for Ullrich in Tour 2001, 2005
Chief Lieutenant for Vino in Tour 2007He has a pretty impressive stage race palmares.
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Jan the man said:
In Kloeden's favour:
1 x Paris Nice
1 x Pais Vasco
1 x Tirreno-Adriatico
1 x Tour of Romandie2 x 2nd in Le Tour
Chief Lieutenant for Ullrich in Tour 2001, 2005
Chief Lieutenant for Vino in Tour 2007He has a pretty impressive stage race palmares.
No, these are impressive stage race palmares http://velopalmares.free.fr/rominger.htm
as are these
http://velopalmares.free.fr/zulle.htm
and especially these
http://velopalmares.free.fr/ljalabert.htmNone of these riders are that long retired either. Now wouldn't you rather see riders of that calibre square off against each other than some riders who've managed 17 victories in 11 seasons?
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micron said:
No, these are impressive stage race palmares velopalmares.free.frrominger.htmOpen ↗
as are these
velopalmares.free.frzulle.htmOpen ↗
and especially these
velopalmares.free.frljalabert.htmOpen ↗None of these riders are that long retired either. Now wouldn't you rather see riders of that calibre square off against each other than some riders who've managed 17 victories in 11 seasons?
Yes but Klöden is up against none of those riders in this Giro. Who he is against is:
Soler, can climb but his TT is not exceptional - has a chance though
Contador, one TdF win, not in top form
Leipheimer, 3rd at TdF, also not on top form
Di Luca, Giro win, shorter stage races and classic wins - probably the most impressive palmares
Karpets, Tuor de Suisse
Menchov, Vuelta win, good performances in TdF - is just racing for the Tour in July
Simoni, good performances at the Giro - getting a bit old thoughThen we also have guys like Ricco and Nibali who have a shot at the podium but compared to his competition Klöden doesn't in my opinion look like such a bad choice for the win...
Klöden has ridden extremely well for many years but he has just lacked that something to take the wins. Then he has also many times been in a situation where he has had to ride for others, like last year and the Ullrich years.
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Pellizotti has chance? I'd rate him for a top 10 showing. I'd say the same for Siutsou or however you spell his name.
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RdBiker said:
Soler, can climb but his TT is not exceptional - has a chance though
Contador, one TdF win, not in top form
Leipheimer, 3rd at TdF, also not on top form
Di Luca, Giro win, shorter stage races and classic wins - probably the most impressive palmares
Karpets, Tuor de Suisse
Menchov, Vuelta win, good performances in TdF - is just racing for the Tour in July
Simoni, good performances at the Giro - getting a bit old thoughThen we also have guys like Ricco and Nibali who have a shot at the podium but compared to his competition Klöden doesn't in my opinion look like such a bad choice for the win....
Soler & Ricco- Most of the TT's are uphill which should go in their favor
Contador and Leipheimer - Both will be wanting to show the TDF that they failed to let the best team ride (not my opinion but you get my meaning)
Di Luca - I think he will definitely podium, if not win, just to get the monkey of his back in relation to Liquigas dropping him
Karpets - like Kloden does not have that killer streak to win a grand tour
Menchov - good point, but I would still like to see him win
Simoni - the fire is there, but not sure about the legsInteresting no one has mentioned anyone from Tinkoff. Don't know the riders very well but they did put out a nice performance in the TTT considering most of the others in the top 10 don't even have a chance in the GC
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Kloeden isn't about winning smaller races. Pure and simply they are form builders for the GTs. Remember he won a bronze at the Sydney 2000 RR.
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I think Simoni is already out of it. Top 3 maybe, but 1 min + down on Di Luca already.Setting itself up as a repeat of last year where he lost more ground in ITT and Di Luca even pulled out time on the 'easier' mt top finishes
I would like to see Simoni being in the mix on the earlier stages where Di Luca and other challengers are looking to take time.
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micron said:
Kloeden has had 17 victories in 11 seasons as a pro - and the only win of any note was Paris-Nice. It's amazing that riders with average to poor palmares are being touted as GT favourites. The post Armstrong era must be the weakest ever in terms of quality riders.
I hear you... but when Armstrong was racing in the TdF... wasn't he the only favorite? How many GT's did his biggest challenger... Jan, win? Two? Who were the other great (doped) riders in the other GT's during Armstrong's tenure that dwarf today's riders? A younger Simoni? Salvodelli? Heras? Basso?
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Di Luca to win. Only 6 out of 85 or so picked him. I don't think his unpopularity helps though.
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Okay, so based on this last week this is my prediction for the top 10.#
1 Alberto Contador (Spa)
2 Gilberto Simoni (Ita)
3 Andreas Kloden (Ger)
4 Danilo Di Luca (Ita)
5 Riccardo Ricco' (Ita)
6 Franco Pellizotti (Ita)
7 Levi Leipheimer (USA)
8 Juan M. Soler (Col)
9 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr)
10 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) -
Contador apparently fractured his elbow in that crash: http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/Contador_to_continue_in_Giro_despite_elbow_fracture_article_256562.html
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After todays ITT, Contador will win (amazing improvements in TT remain from last years TdF) with Klodi, di Luca and Simoni duking it out for the runner up spoils
You heard it here first.
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wicklow200 said:
After todays ITT, Contador will win (amazing improvements in TT remain from last years TdF)
Last year's tour featured a hilly TT. Contador came seventh. He was beaten by Vinokourov and Kashechkin (both out due to drugs), Evans and Popovych (not competing). The only two competing in this race are Kloden and Wiggins.
Looking at the profile i think that today's stage was slightly steeper and probably more climber-friendly. The rain did make a mess of the results on the TdF stage though and i am not sure what effect this would have had on the placings. Interestingly Wiggins came 150th in todays stage so he didnt fancy it. This suggests that it was more of a climbers stage although maybe Wiggins saw how the Astana riders have done so far and thought he would be better off saving energy today and tomorrow to best help Cav on the two remaining sprinters stages on the next two days
Therefore on the face of it his win today isnt hugely anomalous although for someone who had been having dental surgery and then done his elbow you may argue otherwise
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wicklow200 said:
After todays ITT, Contador will win (amazing improvements in TT remain from last years TdF) with Klodi, di Luca and Simoni duking it out for the runner up spoils
You heard it here first.
It might just be a one-two for Astana. We'll have to see how Di Luca does in the mountains. I was equally suprised by Contador's and Simoni's performance today so we shall see what kind of juice the latter one is on. The first one's are remnants of last year's TdF.
(Better be careful not to talk too much. Simoni might sue me like that team is going to do to Klöden🙂 ) -
Anticyclone said:
Last year's tour featured a hilly TT. Contador came seventh. He was beaten by Vinokourov and Kashechkin (both out due to drugs), Evans and Popovych (not competing). The only two competing in this race are Kloden and Wiggins.
Looking at the profile i think that today's stage was slightly steeper and probably more climber-friendly. The rain did make a mess of the results on the TdF stage though and i am not sure what effect this would have had on the placings. Interestingly Wiggins came 150th in todays stage so he didnt fancy it. This suggests that it was more of a climbers stage although maybe Wiggins saw how the Astana riders have done so far and thought he would be better off saving energy today and tomorrow to best help Cav on the two remaining sprinters stages on the next two days
Therefore on the face of it his win today isnt hugely anomalous although for someone who had been having dental surgery and then done his elbow you may argue otherwise
no, it was not much of a hilly tt, think the rise was 150-200m vertical.And Contador and Evans had the fastest time up the climb. Contador by 1 sec.
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Blah...it seems my bet Klöden wasn't such a great bet after all. Surprising how he was the favourite with >50% of votes before the start of the Giro on this thread and on the cyclingfans website.
Well...we'll have to wait for the Vuelta then...
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