Giro D'Italia 2008 : Stage 21 - June 1st : Cesano Maderno => Milano (ITT), 28.5 km

Stage 21 (final stage)

Here's the map/profile from cyclingnews (it's flat):


http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008...tages/giro0821

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This is actually a Leipheimer-length TT, and we know how he gets stronger in the final week (? Yes, I didn't believe that until last year, either).

The Hog is in town, and whether he casts a spell over his riders in the final TT or he has special venga-juice, I don't know, but I reckon an Astana ride will take this. Maybe not Leipheimer; he's not the focus now.

The point of interest for me is: who will surprise of the non-specialist riders? Simoni? What will Ricco do?

This is a slightly downhill, short TT. There have been some great contests from those over the years (one in particular springs to mind). Hopefully, there are some people a minute or two ahead of Contador to make this really interesting.

Can AC fall off his bike?...

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Hey maybe he'll fall into the Rasmussen syndrome - remember that TT a few years back?

but no, Contador has it.

Millar and Wiggins to 1-2 this one. Bruseghin, Menchov, Contador in that order amongst the GC people.

Yes, a Brit 1-2 is possible and both should be fairly close at the end. Millar has been very quiet recently (on the bike at least ) and has probably had his eyes on this stage. Wiggins has had a busier tour having worked a lot for Cav. However, he has been taking it easy where he can (he isnt far off last!) and so should be fairly fresh. Wiggins would normally be faster i think so maybe his extra work will have evened things out. Bruseghin from Contador in terms of GC contenders on this stage. Be interesting to see how Pinotti goes. He came fourth in the earlier hilly time trial. As he didnt feature in the mountains this suggests that he may run them pretty close too.

When was the last time Millar or Wiggins did any good in a grand tour TT??
I can't think of any off hand baring short prologues.

Wiggins came 5th on the hilly/undulating time trial in last year's tour. Of the men he was beaten by, Kachechkin and Vinokourov have tested positive, Kloden has packed and Evans isnt in the race. After this stage Wiggins was very upset - something to do with the people who he had been beaten by. A hilly tt isnt normally good for Wiggins as far as i know but the conditions that day were different for different people as there was rain. Millar came 20th but had some of the worst of the conditions. Wiggins' team had retired by the time the last tt came around while Millar's hard-luck story this time was his bike collapsing. Millar did come 11th in the final tt the previous year and quite a few of the people who beat him are not racing for one reason or another. Millar did go better in 2003 and the years before that, even in the years when he says he wasnt doping. I think Millar has it in him to do a good time trial today unless he can find something else to go wrong. The tt itself is only 28.5km and ends lower than it starts. This should mean that the prologue people can do better than they would do in a rolling 50km.

I dont think there are any clean guys in the peloton who can match wiggins for watts over an hour. Plus this is downhill. Double +.

If he is in form, and wants a dig, he cant lose.

Millar also had equipment problems in one of the TTs during the last Tour.

hemce, the need for viagra

Millar won one of the long TTs in the 2007 Vuelta (I think it was that year) but since he's gone clean his wins have been far less frequent.

Todays course is short, not too technical and nicely downhill, whoever wins should have a good shot at setting the TT speed record provided the wind direction is good to them.

Edit: Wind is a couple of km per hour towards the north, so a head wind, but nothing that's going to slow them down too much given the sheltered nature of the course. That said Ignatiev is averaging only 49kph....

PJ (poor joke).

Levi in the start house ! He looks doped.

Levi is krap without dope... well off the pace which proves he was doping last year...