Some of you may have noticed that I omitted Domenico Pozzovivo from my list of Bradley Wiggins’ Giro rivals. Others among you will be asking: ‘Who’s Domenico Pozzovivo?’
Pozzovivo is one of my favourite riders simply because he is so terrible at almost all of the vital aspects of cycling. He has so many limitations, I’ve actually had to write about them twice – here and here. But he can climb. You know how on some computer games, you get to distribute points to various attributes in order to create your character? He is the product of a child’s all-eggs-in-one-basket approach to that task.
Despite this, he somehow managed to finish eighth in the Giro last year. Sadly, this year’s preparation has been hampered by a crash just after the start of stage three of the Giro del Trentino in which he broke his ribs. He’s racing though and I was going to highlight how he had Carlos Betancur to help him in the mountains until I realised that was literally the only place he didn’t need help.
In truth, Betancur might end up being a better bet, judging by how he finished La Fleche Wallonne, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and hilly stages in the Tour of the Basque Country. He isn’t defined by near-total haplessness either, which is perhaps an advantage.
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