If yesterday’s Giro stage was the longest today is most certainly the first “real” mountain stage with a mountain top finish. The last climb of the day is 25 kilometers long and will separate the peleton in a big way, Tour Guy thinks riders like Jan Ullrich and Jens Voight will have difficulty and will not be able to stay with the Italian climbers like Basso, Simoni and Cunego.
Speaking of the Italians personally I think Simoni needs to step up today and play catch up as he lost some valuable time on one of the early stages in Belgium. While Simoni is very strong in the mountains I think he will have a tough time loosing Basso who at this point looks like a shoe in for the overall GC win. Also watch out for Paolo Savoldelli who was able to move up to second place overall on GC on Saturdays stage which featured a “hill top” finish (finial 3k’s were up hill). I think Savoldelli and Danielson of Discovery Channel will work together to try to break up the peleton on the final climb hoping to get one rider away. While Danielson is younger and does not have the experience of Savoldelli he has really shown improvement in the last couple of years and could be a rider to watch out for in the future.
Other possibles to watch out for are Michael Rasmussen (king of the mountains winner Tour de France 2005) who might fancy his chances for the king of the mountains competition or might simply want to try for the stage win. Of course all eyes will be on Ivan Basso, at this point I think the press feel it is his race to loose.
Enjoy today’s stage on OLN ;) the Giro television coverage is always a nice break from watching the race over the internet, and Bob Roll always keeps me laughing.
~ Tour Guy
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