MDcatV

Good giro - surprise winner (to me) who rode a great strategic race and won in classy fashion (stages and GC), comeback of a great Italian sprinter, great team showing by SD, great stage win by gibo, and a couple disappointments in cunego and il falco.

Although, 2004 (?) with Cunego and his attacking, no regard for anything or anyone win; and 2005 on the finestre when simoni and rujano were attacking and salvodeli was battling to preserve his win, were both more exciting for me.

DocRay

We must have been watching a different race, there were many attacks and tactics for Simoni to try and take the jersey from Di Luca, they just didn't work. Many riders cracked, many quit, many almost collapsed, and stage 17 was true bike racing.

As for Birillo, look at the time differences of 06 versus 07. 06 Basso 'won' by 9-10 minutes. 07, the first 10 were within 10 minutes of each other.

If you think that dopers with gimpy hip running 8 minutes ahead of the pack is good racing, I've got bad news, with the new doping controls by teams (i.e. Gontchar) you are not going to see this.

blue_nose

+ 1. I love this pic from this year's Giro. Young Schleck just collpsed against the fence after the climb to the finish line. How can anyone not find that exciting?

Also the climb up Zoncolan was pretty thrilling. Looked like DiLuca was going to crack and open up the GC.

donrhummy

Yes. To me, that pic of Schleck sums up this year's Giro. Just awe-inspiring.

ShuaMarc

I never could find an article describing McEwens leave from the race. Even his own website simply said something like "I left the race."

What was the deal?

+1 to giving up on versus. I wrote them an e-mail with no reply.

roadwarrior

1988.

roadwarrior

That was always the plan, as it's been for a number of years. He uses the Gior to prep for the Tour de France. Where he will compete for the green, as he's done for a number of years.

roadwarrior

But he didn't. He dug deep. So he gets that refreshing glass of champagne.

Nice job guys.

DocRay

Screw Versus -internet is a better option now.
Many sprinters leave the Giro before or during the mountain stages -kills them for TDF.

donrhummy

Agreed. With broadband, the internet offers good enough quality for you to follow the action. And the cool thing it offers that TV doesn't is the ability to mix video from one source with audio from another.

USAZorro

Is your name Mario?

I do have to give Liquigas and Di Luca credit. They did what they had to, and in a lot of cases, it couldn't have been easy. I had difficulties getting picture feeds, which detracted from my enjoyment. It was definitely a more compelling race than last year, and was more exciting than most of the recent TDFs. I always seem to be too busy with work to keep up with the Vuelta, but knowing now that Heras' wins are tainted puts this into the "one of the better in the past 5 years" category for me.

bbattle

I agree, the Giro this was year was exciting. Di Luca dragging Simoni, Schleck and Cunego up that mountain behind Piepoli and Ricco was great. And he kept up the pressure mostly by himself throughout the Giro.

GC riders don't go on wild rampages like Vinokourov or Pavel Brut; that's how they WIN. They do keep up the pressure on their peers and Di Luca made dang sure nobody was going to take the Maglia Rosa away. And with the teams not doping like they did in the past, there were lots of attacks and breakaways by younger riders.

donrhummy

It's interesting how this Giro seems to have invoked a huge range of reactions (at least among BF members). While about 50% did think it was at least one of the best giros in the last 5 years, they were pretty split in hoe good and about 40% thought it was so-so. I wonder if this is common among all grand tours or just the giro from an american point of view?

Keith99

One of the best in the last 5 years really isn't saying all that much for an event that only happens once a year. It is pretty much like saying above average.

donrhummy

Looking back, did you guys like the TTT?

I think Simoni/Saunier-Duval underestimated how important it would be. He was over 2 minutes behind Di Luca after that and it changed entirely how they had to ride. Take off those two minutes and it might have been a completely diff. race (and yes, I know he lost by more than that but he'd have ridden diff. I think, as he'd have had a chance to take first place earlier on in the mountains and might have put his team to pushing earlier).

MDcatV

I like TTTs. Road bike racing is a team sport, where better to shine as a team than in a TTT. Beautiful to watch when done correctly, and abhorrent to watch when fooked up.

FatguyRacer

I watched just about every day. I have the cycling TV subscription. I enjoyed the racing very much, but none of it was edge of the seat viewing. Except maybe the Zoocalan stage, which turned into a non-event. None of the riders these days seems to have charisma. DiLuca only smiles slightly more then Dani Pedrosa (motoGPs dour face Spanish leprechan). Petacchi is no Cippolini either.