Chapeau

Chapeau! to the Giro di’ Italia. The race for pink did not disappoint in 2012. The race organizers wanted the race to come down to Milan and that was exactly what happened. Although the riders were accused of waiting to get the race started, I thoroughly enjoyed this race from the very start. I loved watching Taylor Phinney early on. Not a fan of Denmark, for a start to a grand tour, other than that it’s probably cool. I enjoyed the chaotic sprints; thanks to Cav and Ferrari, beautiful stages, epic climbs, the Giau, Stelvio and Giro girls. There was a lot to like about this Giro.

Chapeau! to Ryder Hesjedal. The Weight of the nation rode himself into the history books as the first Grand Tour winner for Canada. The Climbing Canuck was simply grandissimo. He proved that he truly does get stronger during a three week race. He brilliantly marked the attacks on the climbs and even attacked himself when the tactics called for it. I have always liked this guy, never thought a Grand Tour would be on his palmares, and I even cheered for him when he became a member of Team Wiskota Dynamic. Well done, eh!

Chapeau! to Joaquin Rodriguez. El Purito was unbelievable during this Giro. I thought for sure he would pop on the Stelvio but he looked as comfortable as any of the favorites. His TT skills have improved greatly this season and that should propel him to a true GC guy in races to come. If Contador wasn’t racing the Vuelta I would have said J-Rod is the favorite for the final grand tour.

Chapeau! to Thomas De Gendt. Wow! Did that just happen? The 25 year old from Belgium podiumed in only his second grand tour. Sono impressionato! When I first heard that De Gendt was riding for GC and not attacking I thought to myself, hmmm, he doesn’t stand a chance. However, he stayed close enough during the mountain stages to mount an attack on the penultimate stage up the Stelvio pass. It was the decisive move of the Giro and it worked. De Gendt is an all-rounder who is mostly known for his time trialing skills, so when he was up the pass with a gap of over 5 minutes, the favorites had to take notice. Ryder originally started the chase but soon it was evident to Scarponi that he was about to be kicked off the podium. Well, the man from Belgium named for a city in the Netherlands did hold on to enough time to scare all the GC favorites and TT’d his way to a spot on a podium. Chapeau!

Chapeau! to Tony Martin. After being hit by a car, Quickstep should really find some new roads to train on, Tony Martin has come back to do what he does best, TT. Der Panzerwagen beat all of his rivals by over 45 seconds and rode himself into the red jersey, the leader’s jersey for this tour. It was nice to see the German’s mouth wide open again, winning TT’s, and looking forward to him in Le Tour where he could finish surprisingly high.

Some others deserving of a tip of that hat but not worth writing about at this time.

Chapeau! to Andre Greipel for winning three stages at the Tour of Belgium.

Chapeau! to Michael Rogers for a TT stage win, a road stage win, and the overall in the Bayern-Rundfahrt.

Chapeau! to Alessandro Petacchi, for winning three stages during the Bayern-Rundfahrt. Can any of these guys beat Cav in July?

This week’s contra-performance goes to Italian Cycling. This is the first time since 1995 that an Italian has not been on the podium in their tour. Before the Giro it was an almost certainty that Michele Scarponi and Ivan Basso would each hold a step on this year’s podium. However, Scarps lost too much time in the Stage 1 TT and team TT and Basso looked too old. Now, it’s not like Italian cycling is in trouble, they had a number of stage wins, Nibbles was absent, and they are still second in UCI points for countries. Let’s be honest, Gregario Forza is just mad at Basso and Scarponi.

Forza