Category: Giro d’Italia
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Ryder Hesjedal has problems
After yesterday’s time trial, I said that Ryder Hesjedal was a big loser. Today I’m saying he has problems. What is it about the Canadian that makes me talk like I’m in Mean Girls? The defending champion lost over a minute to his rivals on stage nine. He looked rocky in the time trial and…
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Alex Dowsett wins Bradley Wiggins’ stage
This is the problem when you have your entire offensive centred on just one stage. If it doesn’t go enormously well, what do you do? Bradley Wiggins was expecting to at least go into the race lead after yesterday’s time trial and he was hoping to put significant time into his rivals. As it turns…
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Bradley Wiggins doesn’t like descending in the wet
That’s my conclusion after he lost a bunch of time on stage seven. Maybe he should spend less time climbing volcanoes in Tenerife and more time skittering around in Lancashire, near home. Bradley Wiggins fell off his bike on a corner and he lost a minute and a half on his main rivals. It’s worth…
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Adam Hansen has put the work in
This is a bit controversial, but I’m going to post twice about stage seven. I’ll deal with Bradley Wiggins’ time losses and the general classification in a bit, but first let’s honour today’s stage winner, Adam Hansen. Who? A lot of professional cyclists don’t really have a specialty and therefore find it difficult to win…
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Mark Cavendish imposes order
Approaching a sprint finish, the peloton is a ruddy great mess. It’s a teeming beast where lines of riders intertwine, break, attach, merge and occasionally make a gravel rash offering to the gods of the road. Who’s leading? Watch TV coverage and it can be hard to pick out the main contenders. They’re the ones…
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John Degenkolb’s moustache wins stage five of the Giro
With no changes in the general classification, by far the biggest news on stage five was that John Degenkolb’s moustache conquered steep climbs and crashes to sprint to victory. Here is a photograph of John Degenkolb’s moustache (seen here with a man called John Degenkolb attached to it). Sprinters are more muscly than other riders…
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Bradley Wiggins loses 17 seconds
Team Sky made out that Bradley Wiggins had lost time on stage four because he’d been caught behind a crash. This was true, but it’s also true that he was in a position where that was more likely to happen. The peloton was stretched like cooked mozzarella due to high speeds on the run-in to…
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Ryder Hesjedal bothers the peloton
I’ve spoken before about grand tours basically being a prolonged bout of whittling. They’re not won. It’s more that at the end, one person hasn’t yet lost. As such, most of the significant action actually takes place away from the cameras. Why attack? On stage three, Ryder Hesjedal attacked on the final climb. The focus…
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Mark Cavendish surrenders Giro lead to Team Sky
After stage one, I wondered how Mark Cavendish would cope when he realised that hills would be added to corners thus increasing the difficulty of the Giro d’Italia. I got my answer after the team time trial. “It was all left, right, up and down. It was difficult for me and the team.” Cavendish’s Omega…
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Mark Cavendish defies trying conditions to take the maglia rosa
The maglia rosa is the Giro’s equivalent of the maillot jaune – only it’s not jaune, it’s rosa. It’s the pink jersey worn by the race leader. Sprinters don’t usually get a chance to wear the leader’s jersey in the grand tours because the races usually kick off with a prologue (a short time trial).…