Giro d'Italia 2013, 4th-26th May - [Spoilers]

[RWright]

I keep getting a message to install the latest Adobe Flash Player, but I have checked and I have it

don't install from that pop up, it is malware

 

[smutchin]

Great move by Paolini.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

This descent is on the WTF side of technical!

 

[smutchin]

Fantastic racing.

 

[kedab]

great stage - great racing. really enjoyed that

 

[RWright]

clouds and rain knocked out my satellite signal as Paolini was about to cross the finish

 

[Peteaud]

great stage - great racing. really enjoyed that

Bl00dy fantastic

 

[Crackle]

Bonifications make for interesting racing and Evans and Hesjedal claw some time back and Scarponi loses a minute in a crash. Cracking stage.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

That was far more exciting than anyone had the right to expect for an early stage. Fantastic move by Paolini and the contenders are already fighting for every second they can get. Nice to see Evans and Hesjedal reminding everyone that neither can be written off. Scarponi crashed on the descent (like a lot of riders) and had to wait a while for a replacement bike, so he lost a minute or so which will mean he has to attack in the mountains as often as he can. This is already a great Giro!

 

[Strathlubnaig]

brilliant word that, 'bonifications'

 

[montage]

Loving Hesjedal's attacking spirit!!

Great to watch and good on him, but I'm all but ruling him out of a podium finish after that tactical display.

 

[Strathlubnaig]

"Defending champion going on the attack in stage 3 is pure class, period" was one tweet I read today. Gotta love him !

 

[raindog]

Great to watch and good on him, but I'm all but ruling him out of a podium finish after that tactical display.

I thought the same thing. There was no way he was going to escape and win that stage, and he's shown his hand now. If he'd been more discreet, he may well have surprised everyone later in the race on a harder stage. I thought it was all a bit strange really.

 

[Noodley]

Well, I hope he continues to do it throughout the 3 weeks. He might get those riding by numbers shook up a bit.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

"Defending champion going on the attack in stage 3 is pure class, period" was one tweet I read today. Gotta love him !

I think he has to keep doing things like this. Hesjedal can't just do the steady climbing thing and rely on his TT abilities to keep him ahead because 1. everything he did last year Wiggins can do that little bit better, and 2. Nibali this year is a greater overall threat than Rodriguez last year, and 3. there are a number of other on-form climbers like Betancur. So he has to keep trying the unexpected. I don't think that's tactical naivity at all, I think he's trying to be unpredictable, keep everyone else thinking and worrying that he might have more than they thought.