Just wondering what everyone thought about the top contenders prospects. Looks to me like a local is going to bring home the win but could be some surprises coming once and the mountain and time trials begin.
So after three stages who has the best shot at the win
- Thread starter hilljunkie
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As I allready said in an other thread, T. Dekker could be a big surprise in the time trials...possibly winning them. For overall I go with Basso...Simoni is not same level and I get the feeling Cunego wants to be 100% at le tour, to compare him with Armstrong. Just my 2 cents
hilljunkie said:
My choice is Gilberto Simoni. I don't think he liked it very much that Cunego beat him last year. He's not doing the Tour, so I think when the Giro hits the mountains he'll have something to prove to the cycling world. My darkhorse would be Paolo Savoldelli.
Chris_E said:
The first few stages really don't mean much for GC. But I will say that of the GC riders, Cunego is easily the hungiest. (stage 7 could be win for him.) I'm not sure I can believe that he will sacrifice himself to pacing Simoni if the going gets tough. And I wouldn't want him to. If Cunego can win, I say forget a whiner like Simoni.
Personally, I'd like to see Basso and Cunego fight out the mountains. I think Basso might be able to edge him, but I'm not sure. Cunego is big, big talent.
Virenque said:
I think so too. I'm not sure who it will be, but I'm pretty sure it will be Basso. Remember that Savoldelli did win the Giro before, 2 years ago I think. We have short memories when everyone keeps talking about Cunego. I think it will be a close tug of war between these two the whole way.
If there wouldn`t be another ITT, I wouldn`t be so sure, but Basso and Savoldelli are incomparable to e.g. Simoni. Bruseghin did as good ITT as Savoldelli, but I think he`s not able to cmpete them in mountains (he was almost 3 mins behind the day before yesterday).
Well it looks like Savoldelli could surpirse. Anyone think he can beat basso or is he destined for a lower podium finish?
I don't think so......youre forgetting the team of basso. He has a very good team versus Delli with no team, no danielson to support him in the mountains for example. So it's Basso who wins. However I do suspect fireworks from Lampre......that is the team were the danger comes from. Cunego has to work for Simoni and they can play a big teamcard........we'll see exiting 2 days coming
gntlmn said:
I think Savoldelli has already surprised us. Whatever the Discovery Team training regime is, it works for all who join!hilljunkie said:
In any event, I think that Savoldelli is not quite as strong as Basso in the hills, and more or less equivalent in the TT-ing, and without a team dedicated to helping him win the Giro (a la CSC). I think Basso will win, and the rest of the podium will be Simoni and Savoldelli. Now let's see if I will get it wrong!
Virenque said:I`m surprised too! Two days before he was the strongest, but today he lost almost a minute!
I watched that carefully though today on OLN. He was riding pretty strongly the whole way until about 6 km from the end, when Savoldelli finally pulled away. He may have been calculating his strength and recovery, considering his stomach troubles. It is a little confusing. If he recovers, I'd say he will win in the end. If he doesn't, then even his team will not help him to bridge the gap that might be opened tomorrow. I'm thinking Basso was thinking ahead to Sunday and not wanting to blow his chance to recover for that difficult stage. I think that's why he didn't respond for the last few km of today's stage. He'll need to do everything right tonight to recover. I wonder if they're allowing IV's on the Giro. Anybody know?
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