It’s our second week in pink and the Giro tweets are really flowing now! We have the Gorilla and the ArgoSunGod; the Shark and Birdsong; Mick Jagger and FlechaWatch. Plus action from stages 7, 8 and 9. Plus we take a little detour to California to look at The Velvet Samurai‘s truly amazing hair! It’s all here!
Give us sunshine
There really is no one quite like Juan Antonio Flecha.
I wonder if JAF was making that snooty face because he knew that Dan Lloyd (The Moth of Dorset) was photobombing him.
But JAF and Ashley had a very special person crash their broadcast this weekend.
I missed it but apparently Ashley asked Tom Dumoulin if he felt beautiful … ?
There’s only one thing to say about this teeshirt design: I WANT!!!!!
Birdsong v The Shark
Round One in the Astana Push-Me-Pull-You game. Jakob ‘Brows’ Fuglsang had a good day on Stage 6 on Thursday, coming in ahead of his team captain, Vincenzo ‘Nibblets’ Nibali.
This is a topic to get Midge’s blood boiling – Stage 8 on Saturday, it was all kicking off on the climb and Fuglsang dropped a chain (or some sort of mechanical) and, well, His Nibs just left him in the dust. At least I think that’s what happened – Midge was sputtering with rage so it was hard to follow her. Suffice it to say, Astana went into this year’s Giro saying that Fuglsang would help Nibblets win and Nibblets would help Fuglsang make the podium as well. Not sure if that pact is still valid …
I’ll just leave this one here.
Greipel the Great (it’s official)
Personally, I find it unbelievably annoying when the headline does not match the sentiment of the article (lazy journalism) and this one was particularly grievous as it implied that Andre Greipel was not a popular rider – and that he didn’t care if he was or not. Everything I’d ever heard or read about him said he was one of the most gracious riders in the peloton so I just put it out there for comment.
His honour defended by all the tweeties, he went on to win a scorching couple of sprints! Yeah!
While Greipel was blasting the finish of that stage to smithereens, poor ArgoSunGod was being dropped and punctured.
And then he decided to leave the Giro. Something that we all suspect was planned well before the Giro started. It wasn’t because he was tired and wanted to rest before the Tour de France, though, according to the in-the-know Dan Wuori.
But Etixx took it in their stride – with a little star jump from Gianluca Brambilla!
Riding out of their skin suits
It was the looming and long ITT on Sunday. It was the best of days, it was the worst of days.
My favourite little Movistarlet doing an infomercial for headphones … ‘You see here that regular earbuds just get tangled up…’
And just one more picture of Fabs. He didn’t win this stage. He has now left Italy.😦
Promiz Roglic was in the hot seat for quite a while on Sunday, eventually winning the stage by one second. Makes up for the first TT that he lost by a hundredth of a second.
Ooooh, Mick Jagger lost a lot of time. Doesn’t look like it’s going to be his year to win pink.
At least with Jagger, we didn’t see the crashes so the TV cameras saved his blushes. But poor Ilnur Zakarin – he had a TT reminiscent of the one back in the bad old days when Michael Rasmussen (the man who picks fights with Midge – listen to the podcast for the full story) fell into a number of ditches, possibly hit a few cows grazing in a field, and generally just skidding around on his ass for the whole distance.
But in the end, having a pink skinsuit on makes you ride just that much better, take that many more chances – and Brambilla did it!
Brambilla and Jungels.
Dan is dissatisfied with his name now.
Giro Gruppetto
Some tweets that I didn’t want to let get dropped
And a picture of Barbie on a tough climb.
A messy mis-read.
The mighty Moser …
To the moon with you!
King Kelly is disappointed in kids these days.
You will never be able to un-see this …
A quick Tour of California!
He’s back! The Mighty Degs™ is BACK! And Koen is looking like the guy in Veep (or VP Bob Russell from West Wing)
See? It’s not just me, right? Oh, it is just me!? Nooooooo, it’s so obvious!
Qhubeka Coffee Ride looked very well attended! Great to see the message getting out! #BicyclesChangeLives
The majestic mane of the Velvet Samurai. I am so so jealous.
He just takes all the attention from everyone … he really is a bit of a superstar.
And That Boy Phinney is back too! YEAH BABY
And Tom Boonen!!!! It’s an embarrassment of riches over there!
And a very lovely picture.
The last word
Header image: ©Getty Images/Corbis Sport/ Tim de Waele
