"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Is Simoni biding his time or...

What do you guys think? Is Simoni just waiting to go in for the kill or is he really not on his game this year and going to defer to Ricco? He's only 2 minutes off the lead so it's far from insurmountable at this point but given his comments about Ricco and Ricco almost taking the stage, what do you guys think?

I think he's just throwing his opponents off and he's going to go for the kill later on. He knows this is a three week race and going hard and fast on day 4 could ruin you in week 2-3.

you really love simoni dont you?

I do not think this climb really suited the real climbers (not steep enough) we will see in the final week who is the best. Go Gilberto!

bitter old man, past his prime.

bitter old man, past his prime.

Past his prime? Last year he was third in the Giro to two guys who have now been implicated in Operation Puerto as dopers. If they get those results removed, it means Simoni's the reigning champ. But even without that, he was top three last year. That means he's still in his prime.

He said he felt tired today. Sometimes happens on the first climb of a long tour. Plus, given his age he needs to be more selective where he's going to use up his energy. Recovery at his age is a b*tch :) Besides, as others mentioned this was more of a power climb suited to rollers like Di Luca.

Last year where he finished 3rd, he was as low as 23rd position on the GC below Cunego. It seemed like he didn't really start to content until the 3rd week where he was hanging with Basso.

Its only the 4th stage. Real GC contenders are content at this point to avoid carnage, mark their opponents and they won't even come into form until maybe stage 12. Simoni is a minute something back of Cunego, until stage 12 he can let Piepoli and Ricco do the dirty work.

Simoni knows what he's doing. Maybe he'll make it all back up easily, and maybe he won't, but at this point, he's in a pretty good spot. Holding the maglia rosa looks like it might be starting to take a toll on Liquigas. Not good for Di Luca if they're toast by stage 12.

simoni will be working for Ricco....secretly hoping he cracks. :D