Giro Preview

Italia!

The Stelvio Looms

The first grand tour of the season is finally upon us.  This is where WFL points flow like Peroni and victory is as sweet as cannoli.  The mountain stages are as satisfying as lasagna and the sprint stages are as hot as penne arrabiata.    

The WFL brings all kinds of riders to the Giro including the consensus top 5 contenders.

Maillot Jaune Guilaume will be sipping Negronis as Bradley Wiggins attempts to win his first Giro d'Italia.   The overall favorite brings a strong team and is emboldened by the amount of TT miles in this year's race.  Bill may have to wash those Negronis back with some Morretti as his Italian hopeful Scarponi looks for another podium finish.

Gregario Forza is hoping to pop the Prosecco when his team leader Vincenzo Nibali takes the  Maglia Rosa in the mountains and never gives it back.  Forza made some huge moves during transfer season as he has a lot of ground to make up.  Gregario will be knocking back happy hour Martini's as he gets to watch a taped HD presentation of the race every day.   We'll keep inviting ourselves over until he let's us join n the fun.  Forza also added a Basque and a Colombian rider (Intxausti and Betancur) proving that he knows that this race is won in the mountains.

Team Fujarky will be as loaded as his Giro squad when he celebrates all of his victories with shots of Sambuca.  Returning champ Ryder Hesjedal and perennial favorite Cadel Evans lead the Fujarky squad in what promises to be a tidal wave of Italian points.  With Henao and the addition of some solid transfer moves, Fujarky may end up laughing at all of us while he sips Bellini's under the Tuscan sun.

Dirty Sanchez's team director Taco should stock up on a case of Chianti as he brings his squad's namesake,  and overall contender, Sammy Sanchez to the Giro.  The Sanchez's could have benefited from some  transfer moves but team director Taco maintains his signature machismo style, preferring to reserve his panache for the nightlife of the Peacock lounge.  Team Wiskota's resident playboy lives the Giro d'Italia life while the rest of us watch it on our laptops.  Taco will be living La Dolce Vita as he washes down his bistecca with a few lemmoncello dessert shots, all while his sprinter Degenkolb racks up the Lira.

Team Wiskota Dynamic will need to carbo load on some parpadelle in order to keep pace with all of the favorites.  Gesink and the pluthera of other GC hopefuls Dynamic picked up should probably stick to the Pelegrino if they hope to score some top ten finishes.  As for the team director, I'll be sampling some Sangiovese as I watch Cobo and Team Movistar blow the peloton apart on the hills outside of Florence.

Team Volpe better fire up the espresso machine first thing in the morning so he can get as jacked up as his sprinter extraordinaire, Mark Cavendish.  Volpe looks to get all wrapped up in a bottle of Montepulciano as he'll be seeing red in more way then one when Cav makes his push for the Maglia Rosso Passione.  The points jersey is worth 75 points this season so Volpe may be using his Bianchi mafioso ties to encourage the race referee to look the other way as Cav hitches a ride in the high mountains.  When all is said and done, if Volpe can hang on to third place as well as Cav hangs on to his team car, he'll be cracking open some well deserved Peronis.

A few teams made some moves before the Giro and there are a lot of rider's who have gone unmentioned.  Check the startlist for your riders and don't forget to tune in to the most beautiful of grand tours.  Viva Italia, Viva Il Giro!