Cavendish beaten at the Giro d'Italia

Cav is not a normal cyclist.  Sprinter's generally aren't.  They're emotional, prone to bad behaviour, a devil-may-care attitude in the bunch sprint for the line.  Cav is all this and more. Reminds me a bit of Tom Cruise.. and that's not a good thing! Or is it?  Cav is focused, INTENT on winning.  He doesn't have much energy to spare for long interviews or deep insights into his cycling.  He keeps all that pent up energy for his bike and the final 200m. 
However Cav was beaten fair and square by Andrea Gardini, a young gun from Farnese Vini who was last on yesterday's stage, MAGLIA NERA no less!  Now before everyone starts jumping to conclusions about this, about Cav's sprinting prowess (or lack of), I have quite a few things to say in defence of the man:

This Giro was designed SPECIFICALLY to ensure that Cav was at a disadvantage in the sprint stages, by putting in tricky corners in the last 500m of each sprint stage, or some hefty hills a few km's from the end, messing with the sprint train.
Intermediate Sprint points were placed on uphills mostly, rather close to the finish. In fact lets stop talking about SPRINT points and rather just Points, which is what they are, for the POINTS jersey, for the rider that gets the most points on a stage.  There is no "Sprinter" in the Giro d'Italia.. Not with all those climbs!
AS for Cav's team, Sky, they don't know the first effing thing about leading out.  They've been tired and slow, which has meant that other less powerful teams have managed to muscle in on the final Km, meaning that Cav had to sprint from a lot further back and through a lot of traffic.  Normally he's pretty good in those sorts of situations, and in fact can do without a less than perfect sprint train, such is is quality and turn of speed.  But what has cost him in this Giro is an inefficient and accident prone sprint train, specifically Gerraint Thomas, who is anything BUT a sprinter.  This was certainly the case with Cav's loss to Ferrari, when Gerraint's unclipped pedal half-way through the turn slowed Cav, who was pushing a big gear and couldn't get up to speed to catch Ferrari, who probably knew the corner better anyway.
Then there is the fatigue issue.  Cav has a been through a lot, has probably posted a sleepless night with his newly born daughter (unheard of in Italy.. family stay's home until the end of the Giro!!), and has had a really irritating media scrutiny by the Processo alla Tappa, the post Giro stage Variety Show, which keeps on asking him innane questions and insulting him in that very indelicate Italian way.  Cav, bravely, has even tried to speak in Italian, which I must say is a truly spectacular thing, as learning a foreign language for Brits is highly improbable task!  Sadly the rapid-fire questions and delicate nuances contained therein evade him, and he's forced to give mono-sylabic replies.. Si.. No.. or jump back into English.  Cipollini's session with him was particluarly galling, as before Cav came on the show, was criticizing him, and then was all honey when Cav arrived, but in that rather insulting Italian way.. A sort of "You're good, all things considered...".  But Chipo didn't hold any punches when he rightly criticized Cav's sprint train, which has in this Giro been his achilles' heel.
Cav for his part, has gone to great pains to win over the Italians, explaining his respect for the sport, for Italian cycling and the Giro d'Italia, and the way in which he wants to honour the Rainbow stripes, by being on the front, winning races and doing his best.  Sadly his delivery of his motivations is less than stellar, and I don't think that the Italian audience is appreciative of the effort he makes.  He's not a public speaker, that is for sure, rather wanting his legs to do the talking.  However there is a heartwrenching genuiness in what he says, that does not get translated..

So let's get back to yesterday's sprint stage, where Cav came off second best.  First-off, Cav is fighting for the Red Jersey, so he had to go up the road and take the intermediate points stage, placed rather annoyingly on an incline..  Remember, it's for POINTS, not the SPRINT!!!  That took a lot out of his legs.  His Sky train had to work to chase the breakaway, with little help from others, and in the final kms had trouble keeping control of the front, almost getting pushed off the road by the Saxo train which beatifully gained a lead and then rather brutishly shutting the door, forcing the Sky riders into the gutter.  Still, by 1km to go Sky, diminished now to 2 men, was in the front again, but shortly after Gerraint was left alone at the front way too far out, and couldn't keep the speed high enough or long enough, leaving Cav no choice but to go a lot earlier than he would normally like.  Gardini, counseled by his DS Scinto, went a fraction earlier than Cav and managed to accelerate faster and with more punch, giving him a bike-length by the finish line.  On the day Cav's legs weren't up to it (into week 3 of the Giro) and Gardini's slow crawl to the finish line yesterday meant that perhaps he measured his exertion better, and his younger body recouperated faster.  He certainly didn't contend the intermediate points..  Also a sprinter's stage so far into the Giro is unusual, and this stage was far from slow. 
Cav was beaten, but just on the day, and I wouldn't read much into this for the rest of the year.  Certainly his power will wane in time to come.  But in classic sprint finishes, with a proper sprint train, 9 times out of 10 he will come up trumps.  He's here to win the red jersey, a nice addition to his Green ones from the Tour.  I for one hope he does.  The Giro owes him! And if he manages to keep it, he will have shown the route designers that even their best attempt at derailling him were for naught, because the World Champion sprinter has come out tops in the end.  3 stage wins, vs his target of 5?!  Well, you can't have everything in life, and as you now know Cav, the Giro is tough, as any Tour, probably more so.  But still, it will be a wonderful achievement.  And he's gone against the grain of Spinter's pulling out when the mountains come, contesting the GIRO, and not just stage wins.  Good on ya Cav.  You're a winner in my books

The great Eddy Merckx, showing pain but still a champion

Giro d'Italia 2012 - Stage 15 - Rambo's victory

What a thrilling finish stage to a - so far - thrilling Giro d'Italia.  The climb to Pian dei Resinelli was like a thriller in which you almost knew for certain who the killer was, but you had to wait for the final page in order to find out. And as you reached that final page, a sudden and unexpected result seemed looming.. With 800m to go Joaquim Rodriguez managed to claw his way to the head of the race and pass the lone breakaway rider, Matteo Rabottini, who had been away for 150km, and was busy trying to hold on for the final km of his breakaway.  60 million italians at that moment willed their rider onwards, and as if by some magic psycokinesis, the Italian rider moved his chain down a few sprockets and clung to Rodriguez's wheelfor a few more hundred metres and then in the final 150m managed to go round him, first trying left, but closed off made a concerted effort around the right and managed to pull away by a bikelength before plunging for the line.  His elation, and that of 60 million other Italians, and possibly hundreds of millions of cyclists tuned in from all over the world, was palpable.  Even I and my two young children, aged 3 and 5, jumped and danced and made merry with the victory.  I suspect that even Spanish viewers might have willed the lone Italian on, such is the desire for the underdog breakaway to make it to the line, no matter what his nationality.  It's the fight of the one against the many, the individual against the team, the spirit against the science that says that a peloton will catch the breakaway and power to the line.  I have no doubt in my mind that Joaquim Rodriquez kept this image and desire alive by not fighting 100% for the line, safe in the knowledge that he had done enough to win another battle in the war for the Pink Jersey. His tortured face at the end though may actually point to another reality, that HIS attack up the mountain had come at tremendous cost.  

Cycling is a sport about giving as much as taking, and in not taking the victory he has given one to Italy, and possibly shored up his own bank-account in the future stages to come, where Farnese Vini may do him a good turn or two. 

There was beauty in today's stage when courage, determination and stoicism in the face of bad luck (a fall 18km from the end of the stage appeared to be Matteo's undoing) saw the winning rider to the line.  These stages make you believe in the purity and beauty of cycling, the world's hardest sport where riders must battle years of tough cycling, abominable conditions, race injuries and often the necessity of giving up their chances for their own team-mates, so that they may eventually get a chance at winning a stage.  Many don't succeed in the big leagues, but sometimes a lone break does make it, and seems to make cycling worth-while again.. Rambo, as he is now know, has given us a sparkling moment for road cycling!

UCI socks...

"Frankly it's a bit depressing that year after year you see teams and riders disappearing. All the while you see the governing body regulating saddle angles and what colour overshoes you're allowed to wear." Emma Pooley on the UCI

Emma, I wholly agree with you.  Good luck with this year's races.. You're on my Podium Cafe Women's team, so go out and win some races!!!

Giro d'Italia.. 1965

 Photo care of Gazzetta dello Sport

Cycling as it's portrayed these days seems to be a crash-a-minute supercalafragilistic colour-fest.  But it wasn't always so.  Once upon a time we saw in black and white.. at least the film cameras did.  Here's a picture from that era of the 1965 Giro.  The arrival up the Mortirolo had to cut through the snow that had fallen, and when the riders actually got to the top, the sides of the channel had collaped.  This in and of itself is impressive, as is the figure of the rider trying to make it to the finish (won by Graziano Battistini).. What is even more impressive is that, despite the cold, despite the snow, the rider's jersey is unzipped!  What an effort it must have been to climb up the mortirolo that not even walking through snow should prompt them to zip up their jersey.  And Stephen Roche, you are against riders riding unzipped!?  I tell you, cycling is strenuous work!

Panorama Tour

The Panorama Tour has been and gone, but I can still feel the pain in my legs.  The 4 day road cycle Tour tackling 350km and almost 6000m of climbing was a hell of a ride.  This is my 3rd tour, and so far I've had the best weather ever.  I managed to improve my overall position in the Veteran category (40-49 year old cyclists) compared to previous editions, although overall time was down a bit.  I have to put this down to a lack of form compared to last year, although the final time trial was slightly faster, which means that by the end of the tour I was starting to feel stronger.   The Panorama is a nice preparation for our winter cycling season, with the majority of our races happening between now and August.  So Copa2012, here I come.  More importantly this tour kickstarted my return to form campaign.  My races so far this year have been less than spectacular with two 4th places and some huffing and puffing behind the bunch.   If my legs are really back on track, then I can train seriously for events like the Jock and Twin Peaks, as well as Mafutseni, Goba-Siteki and the Circuito dos Campeoes race against the Luso-Africa club at the end of September.  Oh, and let's not forget the TRAC-sponsored race at the end of this month.. So all in all it looks positive for this year.

Getting back to the Panorama Tour I have to thank my parter in the venture, my team-mate in the Monte Ponduine Team, Patrick Verissimo, who did quite a lot of work in getting me over some of those tough climbs.  We had our challenges, with fast racing, Tandems, long and fast descents, and agressive Vet riders who weren't out to loose!  We did our best and most importantly enjoyed what we were doing.  I personally finally enjoyed some exhilirating downhill rides, still not my forte and which compensated for my less than brilliant climbing legs.  We had some extreeeeeemely fast sessions on the flats, as well as some nice conversations with fellow riders on the slower uphill sessions..  Comraderie with other like-minded riders is an important part of what makes this event a success.  
Congrats to the lead ladies who we ended up riding with on Stages 1 and 3, as well as having them chasing us down in the final time trial.  To the organisers of the Panorama Bravó for the medal which is something I can finally take home and proudly show off!!! The key-chain of previous years is finally gone. 

So that's 3 Panorama's down.. and only 2 to go in order to join the Clube Classique and get my coveted white jersey.. Let's see if I make it for another 2 editions of this really cool and fun (but tough!) race.

Cheers and until the next race update.