Tour of California Preview
 |
| Remember these guys? Well they're too old now. Neither rider will be returning to this year's ToC, opening the door for the next generation of riders. |
It's a special time of year when pro cycling finally makes it's way across the pond onto the sunny shores of California. Gone are the 5 in the morning start times, gone are crappy pirated feeds; to be replaced by happy hour finishes shown in crystal clear HD. Sure the ToC still isn't the Giro or even Paris-Nice but we still get some real legitimate talent here. It looks like another climby edition of the ToC but as we know it's only as hard as the riders want it to be. Will they come out flying or will some of the chunkier riders be allowed to make it over the early climbs. This year, as in the past, the race will probably be decided in two important stages; stage 6's TT and stage 7's mountain top finish. The time trial has a wicked stinger at the end 3k straight up. Will that climb be too long for a power TT guy like Chavanel or maybe just right for a climby TT guy like VanGarderen. Either way the next day's stage finish on Mount Diablo (epic massive name, brah) will almost definitely determine the overall winner. Don't miss that stage.
Wiskota Riders to Watch
 |
| Cannondale sends their young euro duo to score some California podium girls, I mean stage wins.  |
The allure of California girls always attracts the best and brightest of the Peloton. Cannondale looks to continue dominating stage wins with Eastern European power house Peter Sagan. Sagan loves America and although he is not "from here" he does know how to spell in English. This year he'll have the support of Taco's up and coming phenom Moreno Moser. Probably to much climbing for Moser to challenge GC but you never know.
| PhilGil hopes to ride triumphantly into San Francisco in all of his rainbow glory |
BMC brings one of the strongest teams to the ToC as they look to support the GC aspirations of TeeJay Van Garderen.
 |
| We are going to continue to call this guy TVG until the nickname sticks |
Probably the biggest name in the fight for GC has to be Andy Schleck. His season has been horrible, but with most of the big name climbers busy at the Giro this is a pretty good opportunity to turn it around.
 |
| I hope RadioShack ends up supporting the guy on the left. Matt Busche has local ties as well as a sneakily impressive palmares in the States. |
Not to be forgotten are Thomas DeGendt and Lieuwe Westra. Will they be riding hard or getting practice for Le Tour. Another story to follow is that of Tyler Farrar. Can he win a sprint against mostly second tier sprinters. The Commish thinks not and looks forward to mocking him. Lastly, my favorite storyline to watch for involves a former WFL rider. Former ToC champ Mick Rogers was recently dropped by point strapped Gregario Forza instantly making him one of the favorites to win.
Predictions
WFL Podium:
TVG
Westra
DeGendt
Spoilers:
Busche
Rogers
Mancebo
Mick Rogers is going to podium in this "race". Forza just concentrating on Giro.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Levi and Horner climbing together on Baldy. Massive! Epic! Visit California!
Schlecky just gives up so easy. It's like he gets in a little trouble and he pulls the pin. I will concede that if riding near Palm Springs that it is ok sit up if you have no GC aspiritions. I'm actually rooting for the guy. I like a good underdog story. I"ll even trade Volpe for him? Westra? Albasini?
It looked like some riders were going to spontaneously combust climbing around Palm Springs. Time gaps were huge and the race is over for most. Stage 2. ToC.
TVG was almost Wiggo like in his calculating wattage in the stage 2 finale, but you can't measure the wattage in the hearts of Columbians.
"PhilGil hopes to ride triumphantly into San Francisco in all of his rainbow glory"
-glorious!
Visit California!
Forza
Can we get a Giro RestDay points update. Some of us are playing this game!
ReplyDeleteForza
They don't post the points until after the whole race. I could do it by hand but that is a pain in the ass.
DeleteCav probably leads points so far: 2 stages=32 points.
Although I have TVG I found myself routing more for Matty Busche on yesterday's stage. Dude is tough. He needs to develop just a little punch. He's got the aerobic thing down and he can hang on a lot of those long climbs.
ReplyDeleteForza doubted the Commish when he said the shack was going to end up riding for Busche, but Matt dropped the field in palm Springs like Forza drops ToC contenders in transfer season.