Stage 21 - CSC show of force
Just finished watching the OLN coverage of the final stage. CSC rode tempo on the closing circuits straight through to the last lap. Impressive, kind of boring, but impressive, not a single breakaway, just a 30+mph procession. Forster took the stage, along with
The Giro Zero but unfortunately it was too little too late for Dr. Wolshon's troops to overtake Lisa's
Buca Di Luca.
Stage 21
1. The Giro Zero 95
2. Mona Lisa's Mile 51
3. Free Gyros 42
4. Estinzione Del Jeff 27
5. Buca Di Luca 16
6. Lotsa Pasta 4
7. The Late Train 3
8. 1Up Mushrooms 3
9. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 1
GC
1. Buca Di Luca 1195
2. The Giro Zero 976
3. Free Gyros 816
4. Mona Lisa's Mile 781
5. Lotsa Pasta 629
6. Pancetta Filatore 578
7. Estinzione Del Jeff 556
8. 1Up Mushrooms 495
9. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 427
10. Team Rookie 379
11. The Late Train 292
Stage 20 - Openin up a can of whoop-basso
Ok, that's really lame, but it's stage 20. Basso kicked ass today and left no doubt about who owns the pink shirt. And to no one's surprise,
Buca Di Luca took the stage and extended her lead over
The Giro Zero. Technically, Dr. Wolshon's boys could win i guess, but it would take something freaky happening.
Stage 20
Buca Di Luca 133
Mona Lisa's Mile 78
Pancetta Filatore 57
Lotsa Pasta 38
The Giro Zero 32
Estinzione Del Jeff 31
Free Gyros 24
Thatsa Spicy Meatball 9
The Late Train 7
1Up Mushrooms 1
GC
1. Buca Di Luca 1179
2. The Giro Zero 881
3. Free Gyros 774
4. Mona Lisa's Mile 730
5. Lotsa Pasta 625
6. Pancetta Filatore 578
7. Estinzione Del Jeff 529
8. 1Up Mushrooms 492
9. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 426
10. Team Rookie 379
11. The Late Train 289
Stage 19 - A Tale of Two Stages
Today's finish was pretty awesome, Juan Manuel Garate attacked with 7km to go and was joined by Jens Voigt. Voigt sat on as Garate drove and drove to the uphill finish. The whole time i figured Voigt would sprint him in the end and take the stage, but inside the 300 meter mark, he put his hand on Garate's back and told him to go for the win. Pretty class act, on the Italian feed i could hear "Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! Bravo Voigt! Bravo! Bravo Garate!". It was nice to see CSC who has the maglia rosa tied up tight, share the winnings with Quick Step in this case.
Then i started to wonder why this seemed so ok to me when i also applauded Hincapie's win last year a top the Pla d'Adet when he picked Pereiro's pocket after sucking wheel for miles. Probably because i don't care about Voigt all that much and i'm a George fan, and Garate was pretty hard working whereas Pereiro struck me as a punk in the TdF. Anyhow, it was a nice happy finish today.
The stage was won today by Jeff which bumped him up a few places, and brings up a good point, tomorrow and Sunday are all that's left, so it's now or never for the
Giro Zero or
Free Gyros to take over the lead, we shall see.
Stage 19
1. Estinzione Del Jeff 125
2. Pancetta Filatore 84
3. Team Rookie 39
4. Free Gyros 29
5. Buca Di Luca 16
6. Mona Lisa's Mile 14
7. Lotsa Pasta 9
8. 1Up Mushrooms 3
9. The Late Train 2
GC
1. Buca Di Luca 1046
2. The Giro Zero 849
3. Free Gyros 750
4. Mona Lisa's Mile 652
5. Lotsa Pasta 587
6. Pancetta Filatore 521
7. Estinzione Del Jeff 498
8. 1Up Mushrooms 491
9. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 417
10. Team Rookie 379
11. The Late Train 282
Stage 18 - Schumacher Scores Again
The finish of today's stage was pretty killer, looked like David Lopez had it wrapped up with a few k's to go, but it wasn't to be, Schumacher made it look pretty easy in the small group.
1Up Mushrooms took the stage, and moved up a bit on GC, but the leaders remained unchanged. Two very tough mountain stages to go before the flat finale on Sunday.
Stage 18
1. 1Up Mushrooms 107
2. Mona Lisa's Mile 91
3. Free Gyros 63
4. Lotsa Pasta 20
5. Buca Di Luca 7
6. Estinzione Del Jeff 3
7. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 1
GC
1. Buca Di Luca 1030
2. The Giro Zero 849
3. Free Gyros 721
4. Mona Lisa's Mile 638
5. Lotsa Pasta 578
6. 1Up Mushrooms 488
7. Pancetta Filatore 437
8. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 417
9. Estinzione Del Jeff 373
10. Team Rookie 340
11. The Late Train 280
Stage 17 - Piepoli, maybe epic doesn't describe it.
Turns out the weather made it hard enough, so they canned the last 5KM. I would have hated to have been a spectator waiting at the top in the snow, only to hear that the finish was 3 miles down the road.
Either way, Piepoli took his second stage in a week. So
Buca Di Luca doubled down with Piepoli and Basso to take the stage and put a whoopin on Brian's
Giro Zero to assume the Fantasy Pink Jersey.
Stage 17
1. Buca Di Luca 195
2. The Giro Zero 39
3. Pancetta Filatore 19
4. Mona Lisa's Mile 11
5. The Late Train 9
6. Free Gyros 5
7. Estinzione Del Jeff 4
GC
1. Buca Di Luca 1023
2. The Giro Zero 849
3. Free Gyros 658
4. Lotsa Pasta 558
5. Mona Lisa's Mile 547
6. Pancetta Filatore 437
7. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 416
8. 1Up Mushrooms 381
9. Estinzione Del Jeff 370
10. Team Rookie 340
11. The Late Train 280
Original Draft Results
Rode with Brian
The Giro Zero Wolshon tonight and he asked me about the team roster, so here it is, published again. Keep in mind, there were some last minute substitutions that took place on some teams.
Buca Di LucaBasso
Van Huffel
Krauss
Ekimov
Trentin
Padrnos
Piepoli
Chavanel
Carrasco Gamiz
Estinzione Del JeffDanielson
Julich
Garate
Horrach
Serrano
Iker Flores
Calzati
Chaurreau
Duclos-Lassalle
Mona Lisa's MileSimoni
Pollack
Bruseghin
Bellotti
Unai Osa
Joachim
Bernaudeau
Sacchi
Gates
Team RookieDi Luca
Korff
Sella
Lefevre
Scarponi
Mazzanti
Flickinger
Sorensen
Albizuri Aransolo
Pancetta FilatoreCunego
Rebellin
Cioni
Voigt
Rogers
Bramati
Pradera
Bertolini
Hiekmann
The Giro ZeroSavoldelli
Forster
Ullrich
Brandt
Beltran
Pellizotti
Scheirlinckx
Rubiera
Fornaciari
The Late TrainPetacchi
McCartney
Lombardi
Zampieri
Bertagnolli
Noe
Botcharov
De Walle
Caruso
Lotsa PastaSastre
McGee
Merckx
Tiralongo
Moreni
Calcagni
Jufre
Gutierrez Cataluna
Andriotto
1Up MushroomsRujano Guillen
Schumacher
Halgand
Eltink
Verbrugghe
Baranowski
Vogels
J.P. McCarty
Elmiger
Thatsa Spicy MeatballMcEwen
Graeme Brown
Belli
Ardila
Dean
Petrov
Mayoz
Hugo Pena
Baguet
Free GyrosBettini
Gonchar
Kessler
Parra
Laiseka
David Lopez
Casar
Da Cruz
Bertiogliati
Stage 16 - Basso making a point
I caught some of the finish today on the website and it was amazing, Basso riding together with Simoni, then blammo, Basso alone dropping everybody for the win. The press is saying he's like Armstrong with his super fast cadence. What's amazing is that tomorrow he'll have to produce again on the feared Stage 17 with the 20+% climbs to the finish. Should be awesome.
Buca Di Luca is also not pulling any punches, winning again, and toppling
the Giro Zero. With only a few stages to go, will this be a battle, or will
Buca keep rolling.
Stage 16
1. Buca Di Luca 172
2. Mona Lisa's Mile 80
3. Lotsa Pasta 41
4. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 17
5. The Giro Zero 15
6. Free Gyros 13
7. The Late Train 11
8. Estinzione Del Jeff 1
GC
1. Buca Di Luca 828
2. The Giro Zero 810
3. Free Gyros 653
4. Lotsa Pasta 558
5. Mona Lisa's Mile 536
6. Pancetta Filatore 418
7. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 416
8. 1Up Mushrooms 381
9. Estinzione Del Jeff 366
10. Team Rookie 340
11. The Late Train 271
Stage 15 - the sting of the cricket
Gotta love it when Bettini wins a stage, and that gave
Free Gyros the victory and a bit of a cut into the lead of
The Giro Zero on GC, the next week could be interesting as the top 3 teams on GC vie for the overall. Benat Albizuri Aransolo was penalized 5 points today, so
Team Rookie went negative, that's rare but it happens.
I caught Stage 14 on OLN tonight and i really wish that Savoldelli could have worked some magic on that one so he could solo the super long descent to the finish. It wasn't super technical, but awesome to watch the 11 breakaways going 60.
Stage 15
1. Free Gyros 104
2. Mona Lisa's Mile 70
3. The Giro Zero 51
4. 1Up Mushrooms 34
5. Estinzione Del Jeff 14
6. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 8
7. Buca Di Luca 5
8. Lotsa Pasta 1
9. Team Rookie -5
GC
1. The Giro Zero 795
2. Buca Di Luca 656
3. Free Gyros 640
4. Lotsa Pasta 517
5. Mona Lisa's Mile 456
6. Pancetta Filatore 418
7. Thatsa Spicy Meatball 399
8. 1Up Mushrooms 381
9. Estinzione Del Jeff 365
10. Team Rookie 340
11. The Late Train 260
Just finished watching the OLN coverage of the final stage. CSC rode tempo on the closing circuits straight through to the last lap. Impressive, kind of boring, but impressive, not a single breakaway, just a 30+mph procession. Forster took the stage, along with The Giro Zero but unfortunately it was too little too late for Dr. Wolshon's troops to overtake Lisa's Buca Di Luca. 
