Stage 17 of the Giro

[jobob]

Yowza. Wednesday's Stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia should be interesting !

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/giro06/?id=corones/gallery-corones
" Stage 17 of the 2006 Giro d'Italia is expected to be one of the most important days in a final week that is tailored for the climbers. Finishing at over 2300m at the Plan de Corones ski station, the stage is the latest effort by Giro organisers to make everyone go "You're kidding right?" with an unpaved 7km finale that reaches gradients of 24 percent . "


Sweeeet! :D
One wonders what kind of gearing & tires they'll use ...

live reports on http://www.cyclingnews.com/ and http://www.velonews.com/

[maillotpois]

The kicker is it was only just paved....

[jobob]

Well that should help some - assuming the pavement has set !

ah-ha: http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/9904.0.html

ooh, there's more. http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/9884.0.html

I guess I can't whine about that little uphill at the summit of Diablo anymore. :D

[maillotpois]

Right. But before, it was mud. This is the stage I was talking about with respect to the use of triples.

[jobob]

This is the stage I was talking about with respect to the use of triples. Oh really?

;)

[maillotpois]

They'll need them. I would need hiking boots.

I am watching stage 16 right now. It should be good. I love Sean Kelly's voice.

[Susie]

There's a local guy in Italy who has been posting photos of the road work. He tried to ride it yesterday and found that his tires were sinking a few milimeters into the new pavement. He's working on getting video posted today. You can check it out at http://igor.ustariaposta.it/.

Susie

[SadieKate]

Gearing for the climbs --

http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/9882.0.html

To those of you who keep getting told that triples aren't cool, just tell them that they can do anything they want, but you'll be cool like the pro racers.

[margo49]

Glad someone mentioned the Giro.
I watch all the Tours on Eurosport. (Tho' what with "life" I do not see every single minute)
Cheaper than a psychologist!
Basso was *brilliant* today
I have been looking forward to stage 17 too

[SnappyPix]

Have had to upgrade my broadband account to watch the Giro online!
I can't believe that despite being a sports-mad country, New Zealand hasn't even mentioned the Giro once in it's daily half-hour sports round-up after the news! :mad:
I miss Eurosport!!

Even with a 34-27 compact combination, that's bloody impressive for a 5km climb of 20+% incline!! :eek:
Those guys are mahcheens!

[betagirl]

I'm so rooting for my boy Basso to win this one :D

[SnappyPix]

Oh yeah, so hope Basso takes it.

[jobob]

The route has been changed on account of the weather. It's pretty dreadful and snowy on the top of the climb in the middle of the route which would have made for a treacherous descent so they've been diverted the race route around that climb.

Plus the finish has been moved back about 5 km ... to near the beginning of where it was repaved the other day :D

[maillotpois]

I just started watching. I can't imagine them riding the mud part. Too bad the weather hasn't been better to let them do the original route (letting it dry out enough for the new pavement to harden).

[jobob]

I blows me away how close the fans are running next to Basso :eek:

[maillotpois]

Isn't that terrifying? When we were at Plateau de Beille in 2004, we almost got trampled by Basques. They just go out into the road so close to the riders. (I did get run over and thrown into a ditch by Jean Marie LeBlanc's car that day, but that's a different story! :D :D )

[jobob]

Hee hee hee, Basso looks like the Michelin Man in his big gray jacket on the podium.

(he's still in the pink jersey after this stage, hope that's not too much of a spoiler !)

[maillotpois]

Anorexic Michelin Man. I wonder how I'd look in that jacket.... best not to speculate.

[margo49]

Thought Pellizotti might be a danger for a few minutes there; but Basso and Piepoli were just too strong.
Basso is just brilliant and looking better every day

[slinkedog]

How are you guys watching it? Can you see it online? OLN is only showing it on the weekends, it seems.

[jobob]

It's an online live feed available by subscription via olntv.com

It's $20 for the subscription which gives you the live giro coverage in the wee hours of the morning, plus you can view the previous stages anytime. Alas, no Phil & Paul commentary. But Sean Kelly is a hoot and Scott Sunderland phones in from the CSC team car from time to time.

What can I say, I need my Giro fix. :p

I had trouble getting the live feed on Monday & yesterday but it worked fine this morning.

[jobob]

But the live text reports on cyclingnews.com and velonews.com are really good too, and they're free.

[maillotpois]

This is fantastic - anyone see this?

Water-carriers battle in the Giro

Cycling is traditionally divided into stars and water-carriers and while battle rages at the top of the Giro d'Italia rankings between stars such as Ivan Basso, José Gutierrez and Paolo Savoldelli, a literal contest among water-carriers has been going on further back.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport Quick-Step's José Antonio Garrido recently set a new record by carrying 16 water bottles simultaneously from the team car to his team-mates. With one bottle in his mouth, two in the cages on the bike, two in his pockets, six under the front of his jersey, and five under the back, Garrido lugged over five litres of water to his team-mates.

In yesterday's stage, Fabio Sacchi (Milram) beat Garrido's record by carrying 18 water bottles simultaneously, but Garrido thinks he can beat the Italian. "I've already done a test, and think I can manage 20 bottles," he said.

There's more than just bragging rights at stake too. At the end of the Giro on Sunday, Italian cycling legend Francesco Moser will present a prize to the man who manages to carry the most bottles: a bottle of wine for each of the bottles carried. "It will be a kind of miracle: water will be turned into wine!" said Moser.

[slinkedog]

LOL! I will love to hear who wins the water-toting battle!!

[SadieKate]

Oh, we need pictures!

I can do the one in the mouth trick. I still haven't gotten the courage to take one from a car.

[maillotpois]

I would take it from a car if going slowly enough and if it were a "sticky water bottle"! Sometimes it's just blatant how "sticky" the bottles are!

[SadieKate]

Yeah, just ask Bobby how sticky that bottle was. Unfortunately, it came with a bit more acceleration than planned.

[slinkedog]

Uh oh! Did Bobby get a boo-boo?

[SadieKate]

Couple years ago Riis pulled Bobby under the car when he was taking a bottle. Remember that cast Bobby had on at the Olympics?

[slinkedog]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Those darn team managers!