Here are three quick thoughts as I wait for the race to start and my sports world will go complete. With the Sox starting to warm up and the Celtics and Bruins still playing, all I need is the world’s most beautiful bike race to start to fill out my dance card completely.
Vincenzo Nibali
This year, I shift my personal allegiance in this race from one Liquigas Cannondale rider to another. Where last year I jumped up and down in my living room cheering on Ivan Basso on as he dropped Cadel Evans on the slopes of Monte Zoncolan, I’m hoping to do the same for Vincenzo Nibali on the slopes of Mount Etna (or any of the other million climbs in this race.)
Nibali is going to be a rider I pull for for a long time to come. Why? For starters, he’s Sicilian. That’s an important part of my heritage. There aren’t a ton of pro cyclists from il sud at all, never mind Sicily, so he gets my vote on just that factor alone. And then there’s the way he rides. He’s an attacking, competitive all-around rider who’s going to bag some interesting victories outside of just the grand tours. I understand the riders who focus solely on the grand tours. Grand Tours are important. That doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a rider who wants to do well in other races throughout the year and Nibali is one of those guys.
Oh yeah, and he can descend like a demon. I love going fast downhill on my own bike, so watching people like Nibali who can really rocket is always a treat.
Alberto Contador
Let me get this out of the way first- I don’t really care about the Clenbuterol thing. I was never a huge fan of Contador (although I do like him), so my support for him has remained the same. If my favorites in the races he’s in (Nibali here, Basso in the Tour) don’t win, then I’m more than happy to see Contaor take a run at The Cannibal’s record for Grand Tour victories.
So why don’t I care? For starters, I think there’s a possibility that he’s actually telling the truth. There are other cases of the same thing happening, so why not Contador? And if he’s lying? Even then, I don’t care all that much. Basically it means he was “micro-doping” to the point where his biological passport values were normal and he still rode as poorly as he did in the Tour. If that’s the case, who cares? It just doesn’t bother me. This and the antics of someone like Riccardo Ricco are two different species of crime, no matter what the circumstances.
With all that said, I wish the Spanish fed had given him six months suspension. Even if it doesn’t ruin him for me the way it might ruin him for some other people, it is pretty clear that there’s a place for a penalty in this kind of situation. If they had punished him, I don’t think there would be any appeal; and we wouldn’t have the specter of his potential victory in the Giro being nullified.
Unfortunately, that’s not what happened and we’re left wondering if the results we witness in May will be “real.”
All that aside, does anyone think he won’t win this race? Who can even think of touching him? Menchov and Nibali? Anyone else? I don’t think either of them are going to be able to stay with him on the many, massive mountains in this race. Both could take time out of him in the time trials, Nibali will dust him on the descents and Nibali also has a strong team around him, but… I don’t think it matters. Contador wins the race and then we hold our breath waiting for the other shoe to drop at the appeal.
La Corsa Rosa
While I love a good mountain stage, features so much climbing even the pros are talking about how bad it will be. Contador himself said
“We saw four stages – the climbing TT at Nevegal, Grossglockner, Monte Zoncolan and Val di Fassa. I find it hard to put into words, you have to see it to believe it,” Contador told MARCA. “It’s incredible. It’s like four ‘queen stages’ at the Tour all in a row.”
And then there’s the descent off of Crostis. From what I’ve seen that road looks like it’s three feet wide, paved with barbed wire and surrounded on both sides by a sheer drop. Fun times.
It will make for an exciting race, it’s just getting to the point where they can’t top it anymore. Next year will just be repeats up Grossclockner every day.
And now? I count down the hours. I’ll probably check in once a week on the race here and will invariably fill twitter with nonsense from time to time.
Fun times.
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