Giro d'Italia- Mumsnet Peloton Rides Again

[justinelibertine]

I don't think we have a thread yet. The Giro starts on 7th May. Let's discuss.

I am super excited because Movistar may be letting Carlos Betancur start. AKA as Baby Bunny.

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

That looks like a good team.

TdY was great. They are talking about potentially making it 4 days next year, maybe with a tt (according to the local paper, anyway).

[justinelibertine]

This is mine,

The Lusts of the Libertine

Nibali - On Vino's special gogo juice.
Fuglsang - Mad eyebrows. (might also be on Vino's gogo juice)
Betancur - Thighs like tree trunks, fond of brandy and snooker.
Pozzovivo - Teeny Tiny Pontipine Pozzovivo.
Viviani - #OhElia
Boem - Breakaway artiste extraordinaire.
Cancellara - AKA Spartacus, Chinny. Great shag, and his lovely wife is also a hairdresser.
Moser - Token sexy Italian.
Breschel- Matti Duck! Used to be a male model.

Did I mention I might be slightly insane?

And I hope the weather is better for TdY next year. I don't do cold.

[SmallLegsOrSmallEggs]

Nibali
Hejsdale - hopefully knows his giro?
Majka
Brambilla - in the hope he gets into another handbags incident😡
Arndt
Petilli
Cancellara -who claims he often does TT better when sick
Belkov - because I'd blown the budget
Valverde - punt on his first giro

More random than well thought out.

[justinelibertine]

Haha. Fingers crossed for poor Belkov!!! Cannot wait for it to start

[SmallLegsOrSmallEggs]

Just seen the standing for stage 1. There's a cyclist called Christian Knees of I'd known I'd have picked him.

[justinelibertine]

Lol yes, he has been around a while now, you'll see him coming. He's about 6"5!

Sadly, he is german so we are supposed to say "Cu-Neyze" but I never do. He is defo Knees in this house.

[OnYerBikePan]

We seem to have a few missing riders. MrSlant, DramAlpaca, DrTwo, FelicityLemon to name but 9.

I know we've been a bit lazy in winter training but still.......

[OnYerBikePan]

That's a healthy start! 210 pts. Overall Rank: 3674 of 14466.
Just keep spinning.

[MrSlant]

Cycles madly on to the back of the peloton, ciao!

Sorry DS1's life out on a real bike is taking up all my weekends at the moment. Spending a lot of my time getting up at the crack of dawn to take him and his second hand Giant propel to sportives. He's getting some ace times and looking at uni courses now that will involve some type of sport, preferably cycling. I blame myself

Anyway, nice call up there with Dumoulin Pan. I will go and survey the field properly and see who I fancy think has form. Sadly I've got a horrible chest infection and mad strong antibiotics so have been forced to take to the sofa for the weekend. So kind of all these beautiful men to cycle around to keep me entertained. I was gutted for Spartacus yesterday but he really didn't look well, how can you get the right nutrition in to ride 50kph plus for a sustained amount of time when everything you put in comes straight out again? justinlibertine exactly HOW do you know he's a great shag

[SmallLegsOrSmallEggs]

Kicking myself as I debated changing to Dumoulin on Friday morning...but didn't.
Still brambilla managed to earn some points instead of a ban

[OnYerBikePan]

Greetings Mr ! Sorry to hear about your ill chest. I know Fab has medical skills....
And nice to hear about your boy. My girl stopped riding a bike when she was about 7 and has no plans to return.

Slipped down the GC list today. None of us have Kittel, do we?

[MrSlant]

I'm really proud of my boy Pan, he cycled 50 miles for the first time ever in his life and came in just outside the top 10%, I think he was one of only two or three teens who took part as well. Last sportive he was 40 mins faster (40 miles this time but HUGE hills) than the only other under 20 rider. Only problem is now I need to find him somewhere to ride with other people who can keep up with him . He is VERY proud of the face that currently he is exactly the same height and weight as Spartacus according to wikipedia (even if I do often point out that they are carrying some of the weight in very different places!). The other two are supremely unbothered by bikes now. He wants to be involved in cycling in some way as a career, obviously he's my favourite .

Anyway, when are we allowed to talk about today's stage? I'm sad that I didn't find this thread soon enough to have my own fantasy team (I think we all know it would have been 9 Fabians though so useless, I'd have cheated the system somehow.) Also what is the opinion on the Eurosport pre/post race presenters?

[DramaAlpaca]

I'm here, pedalling frantically to catch up!

Sorry I went MIA. I signed on at the start of the thread, then got waylaid somewhere along the way.

And I'm pissed off that I missed signing up for the fantasy league, dammit.

I can't talk about today's stage yet cos I'm still watching it on catch up, but I like the presenters. The main commentator isn't Carlton Kirby, which is a blessing as I'm bored of him saying the same thing all the time, and the great Sean Kelly is one of my cycling idols (and from just down the road from me). As for the Giro Extra guys I've always liked had a crush on Juan Antonio and the other guy (forgotten) his name, is easy on the eye too. I know, I know, very shallow!

Hope you feel better soon, MrS'. Nice to hear about your lad and his cycling, good for him.

DH is taking his cycling more seriously now, has joined a club and goes out with them every Sunday. He's doing a hilly 105k route tomorrow, which he's quite excited about.

[MrSlant]

I could understand what the main commentators were saying which is a huge blessing .

Juan Antonio would never displease me by being on TV but I am mostly oblivious to what he is actually saying. Who IS the other guy?

Our only local club normally starts about 20-30 mins drive from here so I need DS1 to be old enough to drive himself there before he can do club rides, there is no way in hell I'd get his brothers in the car first thing on a Sunday just to drive him there! Love that your DH is looking forward to 105 hilly kilometres! I have vowed to get up to 40 miles this year. Possibly even all at once .

[DramaAlpaca]

MrS I don't actually care what Juan Antonio is saying...

I've remembered the other guy's name, it's Ashley House. He seems to be able to speak several languages, which is very useful of course in pro-cycling circles.

[DoctorTwo]

Sorry I'm late, I'm working silly hours and spend much of my downtime asleep. Also, I'm in an area of the South Midlands with crap tv reception and can only get BBC1,2,4, News, RT and Quest. So can't even watch the highlights on Council4.

Don't recall mentioning a Eurosport app Pan, but as Justine says, there are many streaming sites out there.

[OnYerBikePan]

Hurray we're getting into some sort of team order.. It must be really annoying to have missed the fantasy league ( though no doubt Mr is creating her own fantasy league ). We've 3 teams in the MN league.

Sorry Dr re ES - it was about 3 years ago so I got that wrong. Still, it's good to know you don't have to sign up to expensive tv packages and there is a choice.

Commentators - I quite like the ramblings of Carlton Kirby ...and Sean does get on my wick a bit. But if he lived in my locale he'd be the best ever! I see how Juan Antonio has a certain charm. Much in the same way as Rochelle isn't difficult to look at.
No Giro for me til at least Thurs, so it's BBC sport app and reporting in here to find out how everyone is getting on (assuming I have wifi in the hotel).

[MrSlant]

Where are you now Pan? You haven't accidentally ended up at a bike race again have you?

So happy we have Eurosport, I do think we pay a bit much for TV etc but weekends like this it's worth it. Plus as I am officially disabled (not in my head, I am perfect obviously) but it is sensible to spend a lot of time lying down every so often so I need good TV!

The final sprint today could hardly be called that it was a group of men pedalling hard and one man outclassing them all and making them look like they were going backwards it was amazing. The commentators were saying he's lost weight and the science of nutrition has come a long way. I was nodding along (me to DS1 before his first race, here you should have another muffin as he dives at the fruit basket because he was sick of carbs )

I liked the rambling today. Nothing will ever have the quality of 80's/90's test match cricket but it was nice to hear burbling along over the long shots of the peloton.

[OnYerBikePan]

Home, but tomorrow off to Londinium on a project management training course. Staying in Covent Garden and working at Trafalgar Sq - get me! - so it's all a bit exciting but intense and no push bike racing watching. Coincidentally I'm bringing my Italian language course material with me for the journey so eventually I will be able to sort out what the heck they are saying. I dream.

[MrSlant]

I LOVE how the commentary team can so casually translate what all the riders are saying, it must be number 3 or 4 on my list of why I adore bike racing.

[FelicityLemon]

Sorry a bit late signing in. Have caught up with the first two stages. Fun fact, Marcel Kittel has won 3 Giro stages none of which have actually been in Italy.

For those wondering what Marcel looks like here's a picture

[FelicityLemon]

I was very disappointed by the whole Shane Sutton thing. There are some links in a thread I started here
He was reportedly pretty offensive about the para cyclists too.

[OnYerBikePan]

Morning Felicity! Of course you're right - none of us know what Marcel, nor his backside actually looks like.
SS - I did think that IF he did sell stuff or benefit from stuff being sold then surely there is a question of prosecution? Though the powers that be may just want an end to the whole sorry saga and close it off. And for him? Leader of the worlds leading track cycling team about to go Olympic, to......unemployed, no pension to be paid..and with obstacles to being ever employed again in cycling. It's a long way down isn't it?

[OnYerBikePan]

Stage 3, flat ride back to Arnhem. If Greipel doesn't pull his massive finger out today I'll be having harsh words with him. From a considerable distance of course.

[justinelibertine]

How do I know Fabian Cancellara is good in bed? I have been there many times. But only in dreams!