Giro d’Italia Stage 17 – Lance Showing Signs Of Good Form?

Giro d’Italia Stage 17 – Is Lance showing signs of good form?

Another Look from Lance

Stage 17 was a hell of a show wasn’t it? Today’s stage was just another was just another sprinters day as far as I’m concerned. So, today I decided to talk about stage 17. I will show you a couple of pictures to show what may have been a test to see how well Lance is coming into form. Johan has been wanting Lance to step it up. I think today we saw a little of what Lance is saving for the Tour De France!

Take a look at those eyes. That’s the look of determination.

What do you think? Think he’s hurting and cannot actually bridge the gap to the leader of the stage? Or is he setting the stage for France?

This could be a tactic hes playing to set the competition up for his attacks in the tour.

Then again, he could be hurting and just not ready for the comeback and win plan. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Let’s talk about how skinny Lance is looking. The boy is absolutely shredded right now. If he is in fact hurting, maybe its because he’s lacking in nutrition?

Let’s hope the trainer’s know what they’re doing when it comes to his nutrition and workout regiment.

Know matter – what we saw today was a look of the past Lance! I think he’ll be able to really be in great form come July. Levi was looking rough at the end of this stage. Even though he has been training and doing great in most of the races this year, won the Tour of California and looks a lot like Lance did in 2005, he was sure hurting in Stage 17.

Frothing at the mouth is a sure sign that the boy is dehydrated. They better stick a few IV’s in him and get him back in the game come tomorrow! Stage 19 is well suited for his style of climbing. Good luck Levi.

Let’s check out the over results of todays stage as well as looking at the overall general classification:

Stage 17 Results

General Classification After Stage 17

That’s it for today. Tomorrow will be another interesting stage.

Share on Facebook

Giro d’Italia / Tour of Italy 2009 – Stage 10 – Climb of Pra’ Martino

Todays race was quite the spectacle since the Giro took the day off yesterday and the fiasco on Sunday. I’m still a little tweaked over the outcome. But that still doesn’t stop me from watching and writing about the Giro d’Italia. So, today I thought, why not show some video footage I discovered on YouTube. Your in for a treat today as I have two very important parts of the race for viewing. Here is the first one – Pra’ Martino…

What a great part of the race to get on CrankyBike.com! I hope to be able to bring you more videos as the race progresses. If you watch the beginning of the video, you can see just in the background, Lance pumping away on the cranks. If you know anything about Lance, if you see his peddle style, you’ll know what kind of shape he is in. The way he is looking now tells me he will be a force of reckoning in the Tour De France. Next video is the final kilometers of the stage. Enjoy!

All that’s left is to show you the results of Stage 10:

Stage 10 Results

And Finally…

General Classification after Stage 10

It was a great day for Astana in my opinion. Lance moved up from 25th to 18th. I’d like to see him place in the top 15. When we get to the time trial, I think we are going to see Levi fly and Lance is going to tap it out for an even higher finish come the day we show up in Rome! That’s it from CrankyBike…

I forgot to mention that I was trying to set up the site to do a live feed. I didn’t quite work out the way that I’d hoped it would. That’s Ok. We will have it ready by the close of the Giro and will be ready for the great show coming up in July.

Share on Facebook

Giro d’Italia Stage 9 – What A Disappointment!

Stage 9 – What A Disappointment!

Did you see today’s stage? Sure, the race organizer’s really set up a tough course for this years Giro d’Italia. But what really gets me is that these professional cyclist have enough time to survey the course and get a good idea as to when an attack would be beneficial. They can also gauge how difficult or how dangerous a course will be!

I for one am disappointed in the fact that they protested it and even stopped to voice there opinion about it. Man – just get your ass on the saddle and give it hell! Its a bike race and just about every bike race I’ve ever been involved with had a degree of danger.

I’ve been stewing over this all day long! Anyway, I’ve vented and said what I wanted to say. The end of the stage did throw out a few cool moments. The first cool moment is when the pace went from 32km to 52km and the guys started jockeying for position. The second cool moment is when Cavindish crossed the line to win the stage. I feel he probably thinks he got ripped off by how the race began as well.

Of course, Seeing some of the crashes in this years tour has shown that the racers are right about it being dangerous (I guess).

I’m kind of glad tomorrow is a rest day because I really don’t feel like following the race at the moment. Maybe the rest day will give me a day to cool off. Me personally – I would have tore that stage up! Of course, only because I have a few screws loose when it comes to riding a bike. My at-risk behavior is a little more dangerous than most normal cyclist.

Let’s get to the standings and I will leave you with an absolutely perfect picture that will sum up todays stage:

Stage 9 Results

General Classification - Stage 9

By the way, I forgot to mention that yesterdays results were actually stage 8 and not stage 9. I guess I got a little ahead of myself. Good thing tomorrow is a rest day!

Share on Facebook

Can Columbia-HighRoad Win Any Stage They Want?

Team Columbia-Highroad has so far taken this Giro by storm! They showed a very strong team in the time trial by beating the stage favorite; Team Garmin-Slipstream. Not only have they shown team strength, the guys have also shown that they have quite a few guys who can take stages. Do they have the strength to grab the maglia rosa and take it all the way to the podium in Rome?

Here is my take: I won’t deny that Columbia-Highroad has a great and strong team for this years Giro. I find it hard to believe they will keep the maglia rosa all the way to Rome. I’m going to stray here for a minute. Danilo De Luca says he’s strong enough to wear the Jersey all the way to Rome. Hogwash! Danilo is most definitely a strong contender since he did in fact win last year. But I don’t believe he is strong enough with the likes of Levi and Ivan Basso in the peleton!

I think we are going to see him wear the maglia rosa for a while still, at least until the rest day.

I’m really watching Levi close and he appears to me to be completely relaxed on every stage. I think he is just buying his time before pouncing on Danilo and taking the maglia rosa For the overall win in Rome. But of course, thats who I am rooting for in the Giro, so I’m a little bias. Lance is beginning to come into form. You can see it in his peddling. I sure am hoping the Astana financial crisis is worked out before the 31st of May. If not, I don’t believe I will have any interest in the Tour De France this year. Who am I kiddin’? You can bet I’ll be either glued to the television or glued to the race online.

Now, on to the situation of Rabobank’s Pedro Horrillo, who crashed out on the descent of the Culmine di San Pietro. Man took one serious fall. I think I heard that he fell some 60 meters. All I know is that they had a rescue team out there trying to get to him. He was airlifted to the hospital and it was reported that he sustained breaks to the T12 and C4 Vertebrae. Not only that, he ended up in a coma and they do not know for sure if he will make it. I think I read somewhere that he even punctured a lung!

That’s the quick and juicy for today. Up next is the stats:

Stage 9 Results

General Classification As Of Stage 9

I’ve tried to make it easier for you to find my favorites. Since this is my blog, I get to choose who I highlight on the leader boards. I tell you what, if you have a leader you’d like for me to highlight, let me know in a comment and I will post tomorrows picks in different highlighted colors. Of course, I think I should highlight the Astana guys with the same color of the maglia rosa, but since Livestrong is and always will be Yellow, they will be yellow here as well!

Share on Facebook

Giro D’Italia Stage 7 Results – Let’s Get Wet!

Today’s stage went through three countries: Switzerland, Italy and of course started in Austria. The talk of todays stage is Team Astana’s Jersey’s. Here is a quick picture of Lance wearing a jersey that seems to be sponsorless!

I’d have to say that the Astana team needs to beat feet and get themselves a new sponsor who is willing to fork over the 15 million dollars needed. Otherwise, what’s going to happen to the top team in professional cycling? Lance is currently working on a deal with (Don’t know) and hopefully that will get them back in the financial green. It sure would be a let down for 100’s of 1,000’s of cancer survivors and probably just as many cycling enthusiast like myself.

The winner of today’s stage was a young kid by the name of Edvald Boasson Hagen. Don’t ask me to pronounce that name cause I’d butcher it. My hats off to the Versus crew. Paul and Phil seem to know exactly how to pronounce all the pro’s names. This young man has the makings of becoming another Thor Hushovd. I think we all should keep our eye on him when he matures more into the pro’s arena. On Fire is all I got to say about him. Good job today!

Its gotta feel good to win a stage in one of the top three races in Europe! Ok, let’s see the results of todays stage and finish off this post with the overall top 25 general classification. I go to the 25th place because that is where Lance currently resides. Levi is still sitting in the 4th spot! Keep it up boys and let’s bring home at least two of the three big races in Europe this year!

That’s it for today. We shall follow what happens in stage 8. The Giro d’Italia is one hell of a race. It should get more credit than the Tour De France in my opinion. The only thing that keeps me watching it is that the French can’t even win there own race when American’s come out to play! Just a jab. I love France and the French. There country is absolutely Beautiful. If you ever get the chance to go, GO!

Share on Facebook