you can't win if you don't try

WOW! What an amazing stage at the Giro today.

There is a reason that Phillipe Gilbert has become perhaps my favorite pro cyclist in the peloton today. He isn't afraid to attack. Success or failure, he gives it his all every race. To an extent Boonen is similar because he isn't afraid to attack even if he is much more conservative in his riding (or maybe he is kept on a leash).

What does that have to do with the Giro?

Today the Killer showed that he's a hardman who isn't afraid to go all in (kind of like Jens yesterday).

From the attack on the descent from the first climb of the day, Salvodelli buried himself until Diluca took over and put the hammer down and gained even more time eventually coming in second.

It was interesting that Contador seemed to not know what to do and eventaully the team car came up alongside of him and like 30 seconds later he attacks, but kind of half-heartedly and all major challengers came right with him.

Ricco definitely shoudl have been in pink for his attack with a few KM to go, but for some reason Sella decided to drag the lifeguard" up the climb just barely keeping him in the lead. Maybe he is blown. I guess we will see tomorrow, but it looked like he needed to follow someone's wheel and didn't realize when he needed to go on the attack.

I think ultimately that has always been my problem with USPS/Disco/Astana. they seem too tightly choreographed and the riders don't seems to have much freedom. I guess I like a little more passion and drama in my sport rather than cold and calculating.

I am guessing they are hoping to stay close to the lead if not in the lead tomorrow and figure that Contador will pick up time again on all his main rivals in the final TT. I really hope not though, becasue I honestly don't think the lifeguard deserves the win.

the race of truth (sort of)

the last few riders are still out on the course, but the TT in the Giro is having the expected affect on the GC with all the usual suspects in the top ten so far (including surprisingly Simoni).

Now I am not an Astana fan, but I have kind of been cheering for Kloden because I think he is a great rider who has always been stuck playing spock or bones to someone else's capt kirk. Given this I was pretty psyched that kloden came in with a huge time to take 2nd with only a dozen riders left on the course so it seemed like team leadership would fall to him for the rest of the Giro (especially since Contador had a broken elbow or whatever).

here is where the drama queen BS comes in though. Contador, whose injury is supposedly right where he needed to rest his elbow for his aero position, comes in faster than Kloden. Why do I get the feeling that all this wringing of hands over his "injury" is similar to someone taking a dive in football soccer to force a red/yellow card.

As Ricco noted, for someone who had such a bad toothache they needed surgery and then took some time off the bike until the last minute call up to the show, Contador certainly seems to be pretty strong so far.

Brasstown Bald - OOPS addition

well, well, well....the self-described best team in the world and the new America's team have to be feeling a little foolish this evening.

Both Levi and Trent Lowe getting schooled by High Road's ace up their sleeve, Kanstantin Siutsou, on the climb that is supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Personally I do think that Astana played their cards right, getting a rider in the break and letting Slipstream do the work. I can't fathom however that Brunyeel missed the fact that the guy trailing Levi was so close in the GC. Supposedly they knew how close he was so Levi must have just been done.

Slipstream on the other hand was kind of confusing. Missed the big break and then drove the peloton faster than they needed to before leaving Trent Lowe without any teammates on the final climb practically immediately. I have to wonder if Lowe truly knew how close Siutsou was in the GC because he responded to all of Levi's attacks like they were nothing but he seemed to completely ignore Siutsou's attack at the end. You have to guess that he had the gas left in the tank because he jumped in the last 200 meters to get second, so it's questionable that he didn't follow what has to be the race winning move.

One dimensional director

Just got done listening to the latest Bicycling Mag podcast, an interview with Johan Bruynee at the Astana camp in NM, and I was interested in a comment he made towards the end.

When asked about races other than the Tour that they are focused on he mentioned that they are not that strong of a team for the classics and that is one thing missing from his palmares. It got me thinking that despite having a strong classics rider in Hincapie at US Postal/Disco, the focus was so strong on the Tour that the one day races really got short shrift.

Now that he is with Astana, I think it is even worse because they really don't have a leader for the classics. Even more than Disco they are built to win races like the Tour de France, Tour de Suisse, and the Dauphine. Should be interesting to see what happens.

Update: Beofre I could even post this, the news came out that Astana Will not be going to the Giro this year. Apparently the fact that Contador has said he couldn't care less about anything other than the Tour and that Levi has only used it for a tune-up himself is behind the decision. Too bad for Kloden, this might have been his only chance to win a grand tour this year.