Category: Giro d’Italia
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Gianluca Brambilla pinches everything
That might be it for Tom Dumoulin. It wasn’t so much the time he lost on the gravelly climb of Alpe di Poti, it was the way he lost it. Riders were swarming past him and he finished 38th on the stage. His downfall was triggered by Alejandro Valverde who pushed the pace and got…
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Andre Greipel’s legs and bike continue to work well
Greipel wins! Take that, pedals! Cycling is a messy sport. Given a clear run, Marcel Kittel would win every sprint in this race. Even Andre Greipel says his countryman is the quickest sprinter by some margin. Yet as things stand, Kittel has two wins and Greipel also has two wins. It wasn’t Kittel’s legs that…
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Tim Wellens avoids a compulsive attack by being ahead of everyone
Belgian rider, Tim Wellens, is what you might call a compulsive attacker. If there’s any sort of incline with a handful of kilometres to go, he can’t seem to help himself. He usually makes a fight of things, but it’s hard to win with late attacks like his when the peloton’s going full pelt. On…
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Big German guy wins sprint in 2016 Giro d’Italia
But it wasn’t Marcel Kittel. Greipel wins! Take that, pedals! Andre Greipel’s ‘thing’ is being a big, muscular, pedal-mashing ball of angry, gaping-mouthed power. It therefore seems somewhat counterintuitive that he should win stage five of the Giro through his climbing. But that’s essentially what he did. Over 233km of undulating roads, Greipel endured. When…
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Diego Ulissi can still do hills – but can he do mountains?
I tipped Diego Ulissi as a rider to watch in 2014. He won a couple of stages of the Giro, but then took three too many puffs on his inhaler and found himself banned for a bit. The stage he won today was the kind I associated him with at the start of that season.…
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Marcel Kittel corners the market on Giro road stage wins outside Italy
Marcel Kittel won stage two from Arnhem to Nijmegen. Unsurprisingly, stage three from Nijmegen to Arnhem didn’t offer radically different terrain, so he won again. The deja vu was compounded by two of yesterday’s breakaway riders – Maarten Tjallingii and Giacomo Berlato – getting in the break again. In 2014 – the only other time…
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Marcel Kittel’s poor form is definitely over
This is very, very obvious. 2015 was a write-off for Marcel Kittel due to illness, stress and an endless fruitless quest to chase down some half-decent form. In 2016, it’s everyone else who’s doing the chasing. Stage two seemed pretty straightforward for him. The German’s Etixx – Quick-Step team-mates chose their moment to drag him…
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Tom Dumoulin isn’t planning on winning the Giro despite being in the lead
That’s what he says anyway. He’s all: “Ooh no, I’m all about the Olympics this year. I haven’t even been to an altitude training camp or anything. No-one needs to worry about me. I’m just here to race the time trials.” This may be true, but it may also be bullshit. Either way, Dumoulin won…
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Top contenders for the 2016 Giro d’Italia
Who are the favourites? To judge that, we first have to look at what cycling they’re going to have to do in the next three weeks. The route On paper, the race is easier than in recent years. However, that perception would only stand up to scrutiny if you were riding it on your own,…
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The eight best moments of the 2015 cycling season
Loads of entertaining cycling took place in 2015. Here’s some of the stuff that I can actually remember. Having a chat with Jens Voigt Well it was a highlight for me. Ian Stannard disrespects the numbers It was three v one at the end of the Omloop. Etixx-Quick Step’s three were soundly beaten. I still…