SB Nation User Blog: Monty.

Giro Donne – Stage 7

Monty. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:13:20 -0000

For stage seven, the Giro moves a bit further down towards the heel of Italy into the province of Bari, but still it stays in the mountains. Although as a minor consolation it moves away from obscure villages concealing evil climbs into countryside that merely rolls slightly uncomfortably. Those with sore legs will be glad to learn that they have made it over the worst. No more 1st category climbs are left, just a handful of 2nds and 3rds. OK there are four of them today, but if you’ve got this far without missing the time cut then you’ve got a good chance of making it all the way to Napoli, especially if you can survive today’s 131km. That’s the longest stage in the race.

The riders start in the ancient city of Andria, travel further inland to the town of Spinazzola for two laps of a circuit with a 3rd category climb both times, then turn back seawards via another cat 3 at Minervino Murge to finish at Castel del Monte, the 14th Century castle built by Holy Roman Emperor (or as Pope Gregory IX had it, the Antichrist), Frederick II, on top of one final climb, this one a 2nd category (And so what if the photo shows a different castle, this photo's got Sean Connery in it). It’s a tough day, especially if the weather stays as hot as it has been, but there is no single killer point to stop you there and then, just lots of kilometres needing to be ground out.

Rai Sport Piu will have half an hour of coverage at 19:30 local time. RAI 2 also claim to be interrupting their daily Tour coverage for a fifteen minute daily summary, but they've only done so one day so far. Untimetabled, so it’s the luck of the draw if you get it or not.

The Map

The Profile

Alternative Profile

I found this profile along with one for every stage in the forums over at Cicloweb, but based on data taken from Garmin users around the world and uploaded to tracks4bikers.com.

Giro Donne – Stage 6

Monty. — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:16:29 -0000

"Tappa Clou" according to the organisers, or, on Chris’ far clearer scale, time to throw a sickie. The start town is where they finished yesterday, so everyone should be well rested and ready, assuming that they haven’t been having nightmares. Because today’s stage is tough. It starts with 8k at around 3% but just as the summit comes in to view you go down again to start the climb to the 1st cat Rionero Sannitico. They should all recognise it, that was the nasty descent they did yesterday, down from the webcam. So that means if you didn’t quite click at the right moment then, you get another opportunity today (between 11:48 and 11:57 suggest the organisers). They then retrace yesterday’s route a little further downhill before turning off towards today’s second cat 1 mountain, Prato Gentile, the last 2.5 k of which averages around 7%. That should blow things apart pretty quickly, but then a long long descent will give some a chance to catch up, and might have even offered a bunch sprint were it not for another 10k of climbing just before the finish.

In other words it’s breakaway time, maybe even multiple breakaways. If only there were a full green jersey classification around for us to know who is challenging Maya Abbott, who is a bit too high in the GC to get away herself. Anyway, sit back and enjoy the scenery. Today's stage really does travel through the heart of unknown Italy.

Rai Sport Piu will have half an hour of coverage at 18:00 local time. RAI 2 also seem to be interrupting their daily Tour coverage for a fifteen minute daily summary. Untimetabled, so it’s the luck of the draw if you get it or not.

The Map

The Profile

Giro Donne – Stage 5

Monty. — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:52:44 -0000

The next stage from Fossacesia on the coast up to Cerro al Volturno looks like a hard one to call. They set off from the church/monastery of San Giovanni in Venere and after only 2k hit a downhill ramp averaging 7-8% for 1.5k. Enjoy it while you can because that will be the last chance to freewheel for about 90k. Rather like stage 7 of the men’s Giro, todays route rises gently uphill for a very long time, before suddenly dropping away for a roller-coaster like descent into the valley. But in a cruel finale, the last km is uphill again, this time cobbled with sections up to 16%. The photo above doesn’t show the road, but it gives a pretty clear idea what to expect. There’s bound to be a scrap between the leaders for the odd second here and there, but who knows what places they will be racing for.

There’s not much incentive for someone to make a GPM dash today, since all that climbing only leads to a cat 3 summit. On top of that, the next three days have a lot more, nastier, and higher scoring climbs to come. So perhaps we can expect a handful of stage hunters to try and get away, a couple of the eighty or so girls who are more than 20 minutes down.

We’ve had no live coverage so far, but today that is a genuine possibility. OK not the motobike, sweat dripping off the tip of the nose type shot, but there is a webcam at the top of the climb in Rionero Sannitico. Just click here. The race is scheduled to pass there between 13:15 and 13:37, so if you feel lucky, start clicking. Otherwise the organisers have been putting up short videos every day on YouTube. The paint job on th Fenixs car is worth watching out for.

Rai Sport Piu will have half an hour of coverage at 19:00 local time. RAI 2 also seem to be interrupting their daily Tour coverage for a fifteen minute daily summary. Untimetabled, so it’s the luck of the draw if you get it or not.

The Map

The Profile

Alberto Ricco meets the world

Monty. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:52:36 -0000

Alberto Ricco meets the world

Haematocrit as yet unknown.

Giro Donne – Stage 4

Monty. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:22:39 -0000

The first three proper stages of the Giro will have been exhausting for the riders contesting the GC, and the four hour drive across Italy afterwards won’t have helped either. But finally today they get a chance to relax a bit and let the sprinters have their turn on four laps around the coastal town of Porto S. Elpidio, a town with absolutely none of those distracting cultural features that threaten to come between you and a nice day’s slobbing out on the beach; just sea, sand, a couple of bars and a few nice trees should the heat become too much.

At this point last year, Ina Teutenberg had won all three stages and held both main jersies. This year she still has lots of spare fingers. Columbia’s tactics on these sorts of stages last year were simple: let no breaks get away. Catch, then ease up, catch, then ease up. This could well turn into an unofficial rest day, with lots of piano, slightly above half-assed, riding leading to Teutenberg victory number 1. Lots of part-time riders at the back of the field relieved that they can keep up for once and heal some of the pain. Competition comes from Kirsten Wild, Giorgia Bronzini and Rochelle Gilmore. Young Australian sprinter Chloe Hosking is a possible wild card.

Rai Sport Piu will have half an hour of coverage at 21:00 local time.

The Map

The Profile

Jamie Barrow wins Maratona dles Dolomites

Monty. — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:54:32 -0000

Jamie Barrow wins Maratona dles Dolomites

The annual Maratona dles Dolomites took place today, the biggest Italian cyclosportive, described by some as the cycling equivalent of the New York Marathon. And it was won by an Englishman, Jamie Barrow, riding for Merckk Tuttosport.com in a time of 4h.37'56. Now I honestly know nothing about Mr Barrow, but surely an English speaking rider winning such a high profile race deserves a small mention and congratulations on Podium Cafe. Even more if it turns out that he did it while dressed as a marmot.

Giro Donne – Stage 3

Monty. — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:20:05 -0000

They rode this exact same course as last year’s Stage 4, and then Fabiana Luperini gained a minute on Edita Pucinskaite, with Tatiana Guderzo taking 3rd a further 30s back, and 4th place Claudia Hausler coming in 20s later. So this will be one of the key stages of the race, a good day to throw a sickie on Chris’ scale, if there was likely to be any live coverage. Even better for Luperini, this is her home region so there will be lots of supporters along the side of the road.

Last year Cicloweb did a Cassani style preview (E duro, multo duro), but somehow someone has claimed copyright of the audio and YouTube have stripped it all off, voiceover too. It’s still interesting viewing, even if at times you expect a piano to come crashing down towards them.

This is the organisers’ video of the highlights from Stage 4 last year.

Rai Sport Piu will have half an hour of coverage at 20:00 local time. Bear in mind that Stage 2 was scheduled for 17:00 but didn't appear until 23:00.

The Map

The Profile

Giro Donne – Stage 2 Time Trial

Monty. — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:53:56 -0000

Yesterday started out at the glamorous end of the Italian auto-industry, beside the Ferrari test track at Mugello. Today’s time trial begins in Pontedera, home of a much more humble company, Pioggia, makers of the Vespa, and its utilitarian big brother (and a secret favourite of mine) the Ape. From there they head north to Bientina, then east to the finish at S. Maria a Monte, a small volcanic outcrop that the Florentines (who else) annexed and surrounded with walls to protect their western flank. Nowadays the annual cultural highlight is August’s "Sagra della Patata Fritta," the festival of the fried potato. I kid you not. The course is for the most part flat or not noticeably uphill untill the last seven hundred metres which have an average gradient of 4.5% and look very tight and twisty.

This is a lot longer than the prologue, so the TT specialists should be able to get a bit of time over the sprinters digging in extra deep. It could well be another Cervelo 1-2, with Armstrong and Pooley, but expect Noemi Cantele to show off her new Italian champ jersey. They start at 11:45 and leave at one minute intervals . If conditions are good the winner will get round in about 20 minutes.

Rai Sport Piu will have half an hour of coverage at 17:00 local time.

The Map

The Profile

Giro Donne – Stage 1

Monty. — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:35:37 -0000

Looking at today’s route from San Piero a Sieve to Pratolino di Vaglia, you think that maybe someone switched on the Garmin then got lost. Or maybe whoever was driving the car got carried away with the history of the area, because if you look at the photo on the right, the circuit of yesterday’s TT is clearly visible as the only two roads going through Scarperia. But then look to the right, by the red A. Anyone who knows Moto GP or is a fan of Ferrari might recognise the outline of the Mugello circuit. I wonder if the organisers secretly hoped to ride there instead? And before safety considerations stopped them, they even used to race on local roads.

Today’s start is only a few km from Scarperia, so they should all be well rested even after the late finish (unless the cheap hotels were further away). San Piero a Sieve is another settlement that has grown up around an old Florentine defensive outpost, but there is even less of the old stuff left than there was in Scarperia. Which probably means nice smooth asphalt and no cobbles. The profile looks lumpy until you see the scale on the right. Barberino di Mugello is 6.5k at approx 3.4% (congratulations to whoever made the profiles for adding the km markers and elevations at key points to allow us to work this sort of stuff out), which is roughly the difference between a professionally maintained $10,000 bike and the sort of thing that some of us keep in the garden shed.

So the decisive point of today’s stage is likely to be the Mur like climb to Pratolino di Vaglia, 2km at an average of 6.8%. This could be the start of the Arndt-Armstrong battle, or maybe one of the one-day stars like Mirjam Van Poppel will nip in to steal the glory. The expected finishing time is around 15:00, and RAI Sports Piu have half an hour of coverage scheduled for 16:50. Be aware that time in Italy is always approximate.

The Map

The Profile

And one more useful link, the site of the Official Italian Timekeepers. They have starting times for the time trial (OK that ones a bit late now), and other useful bits of info may pop up. Did you know how many 19 year olds were riding? Was 1990 really that long ago?

Giro Donne – Opening Prologue

Monty. — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:20:49 -0000

Tonight, at 19:00 local time, the 2009 Giro Donne finally began with a 2.5km prologue time trial in Scarperia, near Florence, and the last rider is expected to finish at 22:00, which suggests 1 minute intervals at first then 2 minutes for "I big." In contrast to last years’s jaunt up and down the station car park, this year the organisers are riding right through the best bits of a very pretty and historic village. Scarperia was built by the Florentines in the early 14th Century to protect their northern flank, and its dominant feature is the Palazzo dei Vicari, sited of course in the Piazza Vicari, which holds both the start and finish lines.

The course is pretty straightforward as the map suggests: head out slightly uphill, turn at the top, ride back downhill on the next road, turn at the bottom and head back. The number of floodlights could give an advantage to the girls who start in early and under natural light, if like last year there aren’t enough for the riders to safely judge the corners, but seeding should limit that advantage to total outsiders. Olympic Gold and Silver medal winners Kristin Armstrong and Emma Pooley are the obvious favourites, Bronze Karen Thurig is not riding this year.

For those of you who are able to receive it, be that through the standard channels or via the grey market, Rai Sports Piu will have coverage at 23:30 local time tonight (And note that tomorrow's advertised broadcast is at 16:45 in the afternoon - I don't know whether that is a repeat of today's show or a report from stage 1). There’s no sign yet of any ticker, and I’ve not found anyone twattering either, but things may improve over the week. If you know anything then please share. For now the best source of up-to-date info remains Italian site Cicloweb, even if their website seems stuck back in 1997. Beware the recursive frames that shove the information you want into an ever shrinking corner of your monitor.

The Map

The Gradients

(maps courtesy of the Official Site.)

And now with added video, courtesy of the official site.