So, I was kind of sort of right about my predictions for today, but not enough to gloat, so I won't today.
As predicted by many, including me, things did get pretty shook up today and the real contenders showed up. DiLuca got second behind the old battle horse Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier-Duval). DiLuca showed he's got great legs and a great team to support him. As one commentator at CyclingNews stated; "Once again, Liquigas showed they had the strongest rider at the 2007 Giro in Danilo Di Luca and the strongest team. The real Giro began today." Saunier-Duval is looking pretty good too- Simoni rode well, his lieutenant Ricco looked good as well and Piepoli showed that age is sometimes irrelevant. Speaking of age... Andrea Noe of Liquigas is now the leader of the race, meaning that the 38 year old is now in pink and the third rider from Liquigas to be in the lead of this Giro. That's pretty darned cool.
George Hincapie spent much of the day in the lead breakaway, oddly with no Tinkoff riders, and looked surprisingly good. Sadly, Dave Zabriskie didn't have the kind of day that most of us hoped he would. Dave slid down the standings to more than 12 minutes down (44th place), after finishing 8 minutes down today. Dave will have his work cut out for him if he is really making a run at the GC now. Dave is one of the very best TT riders in the world and he will make up some ground there... but 12:33 is a big bunch of time to try and get back.
The race is on now... big time. It is going to start getting really good now. Tomorrow looks like an easier stage than today, but with tired legs, "easy" is relative to say the least. Thursday is when the real mountains start and the real race is on, without question. Tomorrow is something of a transition, so maybe a sprinter will get the win before pulling out of the race in the mountains. If so, my money is on McEwen. He finished the day with the last group of riders (Napolitano finished alone another minute + behind), so I am guessing he saved a little in the legs for tomorrow... knowing it's his last chance for awhile.
Ciao!
Tim
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I said before the race that my head is with Cunego and my heart with DiLuca. I hope the Killer can maintain his form and leave behind a mound of victims in week 3. Would really like to see Cunego take the Tour though...
Ricco is one to keep our eyes on in the future for sure. How long before we hear Simoni let fly another very public complaint/accusation?
Lots of people have been mentioning Garzelli, but I'm not a believer as of yet.
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