Giro stage 15

[whiteboytrash]

December 2005 is the issue.
There is a photo of him climbing up Stelvio pass. It could be the light but I think that his face doesn't look anyhere near as gaunt as it looks now...

In that article DiLuca mentions training in the Venezela..... which seems a strange place to go in the off-season.... my first thought was drugs but he actually took Charlie Wegelius with him last year so I know he's clean.... btw/ Charlie Wegelius was actually born in Finland....

 

[DV1976]

In that article DiLuca mentions training in the Venezela..... which seems a strange place to go in the off-season.... my first thought was drugs but he actually took Charlie Wegelius with him last year so I know he's clean.... btw/ Charlie Wegelius was actually born in Finland....

Actually it was the Toluca plateu in Mexico and he spent 2 months there with Wegelius, Cioni and Miorin. i don't know whether he went this year as well but judging by how well he, Pelizzoti and Wegelius are going it's probable. Actually in that interview he said that the reason he underperformed with Saeco was that he wasn't allowed to train in Mexico during his contract with the team. Liquigas allowed him to train there again and, according to DiLuca, that was the reason for his spectacular 2005.
I also think that is worth mentioning that he had won the under-23 Giro (like Baso) and a lot of people predicted that he would win the Giro proper when he was younger...
Now I am not saying that he is a lost talent that found his way or anything like that but he didn't fall from the sky either... The guy had the potential... How he managed to untap it is the question...
I also think that he is flattered by his competition. Simoni should have stopped last year, Cunego is clearly doing something wrong, Discovery are a mess, CSC as well, who is going to challenge him? Is that surprising that he can climb better than Mazzoleni?

 

[doctorSpoc]

i don't know what you guys are talking about... he's not just a classics winner, he's an ardennes classics winner (who are highly correlated with GT winners or top 5 finishers anyway... the name sean kelly comes to mind)... also he turns 30 usually the age for endurance peak... who one year while cleaning up on stage wins is high up in the giro GC and decides to keep going... and rides to a 4th place. next year he changes his training completely that allowed him to ride to success the previous year to success... and ends up sucking in the Giro... not to mention the competion was massively higher... this year he does the training he did in 2005 and surprise, surprise he has success again... not to mention the competion has gone down a knotch again... other point.

if you guys think we are looking at a clean field, you need to get your brain examined... seriously, you think DiLuca's competion is clean?? did you leave the planet the last few years?

let's get real... they are still on dope and DiLuca just prepared well this year maybe better than anyone else... guess we'll see after the Zoncolan... seems to tailor made for Simoni but as others have written maybe he's just too old... he couldn't go with Ricco and Piepoli.. but you never know it's a perfect stage for Simoni (at least the one of old).... Ricco is right up there now hell, he could end up on the podium too... remember he actually rode better than anyone else an stage 15.. but i think in Simoni's eyes that is his best chance to do something so maybe Ricco will be on a short leash that day?

anyway, should be an awsome stage... for great, exciting racing the Giro can't be beat...

 

[Walrus]

'The Killer' looked like he had rocket fuel. BTW, why do they call him that?

I read that in his earlier days in the pro ranks he predicted a couple of wins, hence "killing" the race from the outset. They'd be sitting at the start line and he would quip that he would win...apparently he did it a couple of times and actually won, so they called him "The Killer".