Author: Alex
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Green jersey contenders in 2015
The green jersey is awarded to the winner of the points competition. It’s been slightly tweaked this year to reward those who win sprint finishes in particular. It was widely believed that this would play into the hands of Marcel Kittel, who appears to have become the top sprinter over the last couple of years.…
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Iljo Keisse delivers one last surprise
With hindsight, it was spectacularly stupid of me to assume there would be a sprint finish. The 2015 Giro has had no time for predictability. As it turned out, two track riders, Iljo Keisse and Luke ‘Durbo the Turbo’ Durbridge held off the peloton. Even on a flat stage, the breakaway has had its say…
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Steep gravel and dehydration – together they are Alberto Contador’s kryptonite
The final stage is a flat stage, so Alberto Contador will win the 2015 Giro d’Italia. He had a bloody good go at losing it on stage 20, but he’d built up such an advantage, it simply wasn’t possible. What happened? The day was all about the Colle delle Finestre, an 18km climb that was…
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Fabio Aru successfully overcomes the drag resulting from his gaping dribbly mouth
Faces don’t come much more repulsive than those pulled by Fabio Aru as he rode away from everyone on the final climb of stage 19. I’m not being cruel (because he does have a bit of a funny face anyway), it was just one of those rides where self-consciousness is abandoned in favour of wide…
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Descending matters and moral matters
Bit pressed for time, so I’m going to have to wazz through this a bit. First, the stage winner: Philippe Gilbert. He was in the break, he was dropped on the climb, paced himself and then attacked on the descent. Descending matters (verb). Next, the overall and moral matters (noun). Alberto Contador spotted that Astana’s…
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Sacha Modolo saves me an hour or so
Nothing remarkable happened in a stage of the 2015 Giro! You wouldn’t have thought it possible. A standard flattish stage, the break reeled in and a sprinter winning. No punctures, no crashes, no time penalties. Just a straightforward win for Sacha Modolo and no changes in the general classification. Frankly, by this point, this kind…
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Contador way better than Aru – but that probably ain’t saying much at the minute
The nuts and bolts of the story are these. At the foot of the really-rather-nasty Mortirolo climb (12.4km at 10.5%) – the penultimate of the day – Alberto Contador was on his own, about a minute behind Fabio Aru’s group, having punctured. At the summit, he was two minutes ahead. Being as Aru’s Astana team…
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Will the real 2015 Giro podium contenders please stand up
If Saturday’s time trial saw a bunch of charlatans ejected from the top ten, the following day’s mountain stage promised further rationalisation, which is why I held off doing a proper overview of where the race stands. It was the right decision. As we go into the second rest day, everything’s now much clearer. For…
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Vasil Kiryienka is the man to maintain an impossible-to-maintain pace
French team FDJ have a scooter they train behind. It’s named ‘Vasil’ after Sky rider Vasil Kiryienka because of the relentlessly punishing pace it delivers. It seems that riding along behind it is almost – but not quite – as uncomfortable as trying to stay in a peloton that’s being driven along by the man…
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Fabio Aru changes jersey while rivals change bikes
Like an enthusiastic but incompetent charades player, this year’s Giro keeps you guessing. A day after I suggested that Fabio Aru might be fading, he gains the maglia rosa. It didn’t have much to do with fitness or performance, mind. On a flat stage, a late crash brought down or held up several of the…