Giro D'Italia 2008 : Stage 2 - Sunday, May 11: Cefalù - Agrigento, 207km

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I like his 'tache - wouldn't have one myself but it takes bravery to look so ridiculous. At least the guy's got some personality. He could be Bobby Julich for fark sake!
nah, superficial accoutrement that is no substitute for personality.

I wasn't sure when I saw the aftermath of his crash whether or not that was a 'tache he had or what.

Looks ridiculous, I agree.
Zabriskie looks like those blokes from the adverts for the directory enquires (Dave Bedford lookalikes)His moustache has made enough of an impression for velonews commentary to comment today that it is indeed intact and didn't suffer damage in the crash. :D But apparently, he has an L1 fracture, but fortunately no neurological damage.

"Really? Have you looked at the route of this year's tour? Stage 1 of TDF has a similar finish to this one..."

No not at all, just comparing the last decade or so worth of races.

"TDF 08 has 3 consective stages with cilmbs at altitude higher than 2600 while Giro has only climb like that. I can't recall that recent GT's have produced something like that... The first real mountain stage of Giro is Stage 14 while in TDF it's much earlier... TDF also goes through Massif Central with one hilltop finish in the first week of the race...
The killer stage of Giro is harder than in TDF but other than that TDF route is better, thier mountaintop finishes are longer and their average rate are from 7% to 8% ..."

None of that has anything to do with the the course creating conditions that are conducive to entertaining racing.

The Giro has often been the best race in terms of having a more challenging parcours than the TdF but the Tour will always remain the blue riband event of the sport, simply because it's not only a good route that makes an exciting race.

Prudhomme is already guaranteed the best field, now he is mixing things up with his choice of routes. I enjoy the Giro - I enjoyed it a lot more when riders went for the double - but it will never be the one race that every rider wants to win

Wayne666 is correct. So are you, but the changes for this year address the issues Wayne raised. The Tour is normally 5-8 flat stages with a TT somewhere in the mix, mountains, couple of boring as hell transition stages, mountains, TT and the procession into Paris. Year in year out. It's about time they mixed it up a bit. The Giro generally has a more varied and exciting route than the Tour.If I counted correctly this Giro has 8 stages in which last 100km or more are flat/dead flat. In some of those stages there is a 2nd cat. climb in an early part of the race but it still is mainly flat course for sprinters. Some other 2 or 3 stages have small uphill finishes at low altitudes.

Both Giro and Tour usually have from 7 to 10 flat/mainly flat stages. The only change I see is that Giro has more uphill finishes at small climbs which is quite nice. I don't have anything against sprint finishes and I think each GT must have some 8 stages for sprinters. I could agree that transitional stages of TDF 06 was too flat, but I don't think it is the case in 03, 04, 05, 07, 08...

I think there is unconstructive criticism towards Tour: Tour is bad because it is Tour while Giro is good because it is Giro. Nobody has criticized organizers of Giro that real mountains of this Giro will start with Stage 14 only… I am sure in similar case Tour would get a lot of negative comments... Nobody has saluted this Tour because of 3 consecutive stages above 2600 while in case of Giro everybody would have welcomed it...

If I counted correctly this Giro has 8 stages in which last 100km or more are flat/dead flat. In some of those stages there is a 2nd cat. climb in an early part of the race but it still is mainly flat course for sprinters. Some other 2 or 3 stages have small uphill finishes at low altitudes.

Both Giro and Tour usually have from 7 to 10 flat/mainly flat stages. The only change I see is that Giro has more uphill finishes at small climbs which is quite nice. I don't have anything against sprint finishes and I think each GT must have some 8 stages for sprinters. I could agree that transitional stages of TDF 06 was too flat, but I don't think it is the case in 03, 04, 05, 07, 08...

I think there is unconstructive criticism towards Tour: Tour is bad because it is Tour while Giro is good because it is Giro. Nobody has criticized organizers of Giro that real mountains of this Giro will start with Stage 14 only… I am sure in similar case Tour would get a lot of negative comments... Nobody has saluted this Tour because of 3 consecutive stages above 2600 while in case of Giro everybody would have welcomed it...

Totally agree - there is a lot of snobbism about the Tour v The Giro. I think this year's TdF route will prove to be every bit as challenging as the Giro and I think, whilst Prudhomme is in charge, we will see things get better and better. But you only have to look back over the Tour's history to see what epic routes and racing there have been.

Totally agree - there is a lot of snobbism about the Tour v The Giro. I think this year's TdF route will prove to be every bit as challenging as the Giro and I think, whilst Prudhomme is in charge, we will see things get better and better. But you only have to look back over the Tour's history to see what epic routes and racing there have been.
sticking selective finish stages in the first week, like the Giro often has, will liven up racing.

They usually put those stages in the second and third week as transition stages, where a break is given the stage to fight over, in the first 100kms, and the last 100kms is piano for the GC bunch.

Better to put those stages in the first week.

Fir points.