[ire]

I'm excited!! The best riders in the world are going to be there and it should be really exciting! The course is really tough

http://www.velonews.com/article/75986/the-2008-giro-d-italia-the-best-field-of-the-year

The 2008 Giro d'Italia: the best field of the year?
By Andrew Hood

With a world champion, winners of all three of last year’s grand tours and a top-notch field of sprinters, does the Giro d’Italia boast the best lineup of the season?

If you ask the riders ahead of Saturday’s start of the 91st Giro, they seem to agree.

“Without any shadow of a doubt, this year’s Giro has the best field of any race,” said defending champion Danilo Di Luca (LPR). “We have a deep field in the Giro this year. Whoever wins this Giro can be proud of what they achieve.”

Di Luca is joined by Vuelta a España champ Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and the surprise presence of Tour de France winner Alberto Contador (Astana).

Add the presence of two-time world champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) and Colombian climbing sensation Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) with such sprinters as Daniele Bennati (Liquigas), Mark Cavendish (High Road), Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto) and Erik Zabel (Milram), the Giro can rightly stake claims to having the most complete field of the season.

Former Giro winners also lining up include Paolo Savoldelli (LPR), Gilberto Simoni (Diquigiovanni-Androni).

Contador’s unexpected presence, along with teammates Andreas Klöden and Levi Leipheimer, has sent a ripple through the peloton. The team is expected to change the dynamic of the race with three candidates for victory.

Contador said the deep Giro field only fuels his motivation to make the most of the unexpected opportunity to race the Giro.
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“This Giro has what will be the best field of the year,” Contador said. “This Giro has the winners of the past three grand tours. The Tour de France won’t have me or Di Luca and the Vuelta won’t see Menchov or Di Luca, so you can say this Giro is better.”

While Giro promoters like to boast about the start list, several big names are bypassing the Giro prepare exclusively for the Tour de France.

Former Giro winner Damiano Cunego (Lampre) is skipping the Giro for the first time to take on the Tour while CSC’s best GC riders – Carlos Sastre and the Schleck brothers – also bypassed the Giro.

Giro organizers also left out former winner Stefano Garzelli (Acqua e Sapone) and French teams Crédit Agricole and Bouygues Télécom when issuing invitations and only decided to include Astana on a last-minute change of direction last week.

The Giro also starts with two U.S.-registered teams for the first time in the history of the race.

Slipstream-Chipotle and High Road both bring motivated and enterprising teams guaranteed to liven up the race.

Slipstream lines up with four Americans (Dave Zabriskie, Christian Vande Velde, Pat McCarty and Danny Pate) and one Canadian with Ryder Hesjedal, and High Road brings an international team without any North Americans, but a diverse squad that includes last year’s pink jersey-holder Marco Pinotti, sprinter Cavendish and recently crowned Tour de Georgia champion Kanstantsin Siutsou.

“We’ll see if we can surprise some people. We’ll be trying to win some stages and try to get some time in one of the jerseys,” High Road sport director Tristan Hoffman told VeloNews. “Mark (Cavendish) will be our man in the sprints. We’ll see how the guys hold up in the mountains.”

The 1989 Giro almost had two American teams. 7-Eleven lined up with defending champion Andy Hampsten while Greg LeMond raced on the ADR team, which, in theory, was part American (LeMond had a contract to race for Coors Light in the U.S., while Coors Light riders rode for ADR in Europe). On that 89 Giro ADR-Coors Light team were Americans LeMond, Chris Bailey and Michael Carter.
Morabito in for Astana

Team Astana had some last-minute changes to its lineup after Spanish rider Benjamin Noval came down with a bad stomach. Steve Morabito will replace Alberto Contador’s favored roommate and lieutenant for the Astana team.

“We waited as long as possible to make a decision,” said Astana sport director Sean Yates. “Friday at 10 a.m. was our deadline. Benjamin did a test (Friday) morning and the result was negative. A team time trial is such a demanding, hard discipline, it was not safe to let him be part of the team. Steve had the right condition. He proved that already in the Tour de Romadie, where he was one of the best helpers for overall winner, Andreas Kloden.”
Arroyo KO’d for Caisse d’Epargne

Spanish rider David Arroyo broke his left wrist in a training crash on Thursday and was a last-minute scratch for Caisse d’Epargne. Arroyo crashed with teammates Fran Pérez, Joaquim Rodríguez and Vladimir Karpets, but Arroyo was the worst off.

Arroyo was 10th overall in last year’s Giro and wanted to push into the top 5 this year.

Mathieu Perget, a 23-year-old French rider, is his replacement.

 

[James]

Yeah, I'm pretty excited, it should be one of the best Giros in years, I'm really looking forward to it.
Pretty bummed we're not getting the full coverage though. I remember a couple of years back they had the stages live on OLN. Hell, even the Vuelta did too, I was at Mammoth for the NORBA event with a bunch of people from my company, and we all woke up at like 4 or 5am every day to watch it. Big breakfast, the works. It ruled.
I guess I'll take what I can get this year.


So let's talk favorites, who is everyone rooting for? Mine is a super longshot, it'll never happen in a million years, but it would be great if Simoni could pull one last one out of his ass. I know he's at least shooting for a stage win, but it would be cool to see him in contention for the overall. Interesting, Unibet has him 5th in their odds for the winner. Huh.
I can't wait to see what Ricco is capable of without having to ride in support of someone else, maybe he'll throw another bike!

Contador has to be completely fired up over this, could a Giro/Vuelta double be in the cards?

Questions, comments, concerns?

 

[sanjuro]

Yeah, since Astana is still a no go, this might be a chance for the tifoso to appreciate the beauty of the second best known race.

 

[ire]

Contador has already shown good form this year, so he is my bet. It would be cool to see Simoni pull off one last win before retirement