Originally Posted by jpearl
Every Grand Tour needs a "gimmick" to spice it up and make it interesting for the fans, the art is doing it without going overboard..
What was the "gimmick" in the 2005 TDF?
Originally Posted by jpearl
Many of the teams are now rewriting thier agendas, many riders now thinking thier plans. I only wonder now if guys like Floyd, Petacchi, and Simoni might decide to skip this Giro to save themselves for the Tour.
Which teams are rewriting thier(sic) agendas?
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Looking at the preview at cyclingnews.com, I noticed that the rest days are heavily weighted to the beginning of the Tour to accomodate the travel day out of Belgium. Both rest days come in the first 10 days of the race, instead of being spaced out over the first two weeks to give the riders a rest later in the tour. This means the riders will have 11 consecutive stages at the
end of the tour without a rest day. Could be some tired riders in Milano.
The split stage is only 127kms of racing on the final day. The sprinters won't be riding hard in the time trial, and the GC riders won't be riding hard in the 70 mile criterium, so I don't think this is that big a deal.