The Real GIRO 2023 14h

[bergwerk cycling]

A little bit early ... but here i want to be the first .-)

probably Lineup:

GB Neo Goodyear (helper for Teddys white dreams)
GB Teddy Baer Goal: the Maglia Bianca
GB Jamie Truelove
IRL Oscar Wild
___ ______________
___ ______________
___ ______________
IRL Pat Connemara
NZ Brian Hunter


3 open places (depends on the training and opponents) for:

1 or 2 out of 3 helpers:
NZ Ted Hillary
GB Thomas Urquhart
GB John Glenfiddich

GB Gethin Gold - perhaps for the 2 flat TT and helping on the other stages

GB Lennox Cochrane for sprint and helping or THE NEW ONE Ed Sterling

[Robyklebt]

Donkey thought about opening the thread too, but then realized he wasn't really sure about his line-up.


But ok, here are the plans:

1 G. Payot

Then it's highly unclear

U. Steiner is likely
3 classics with chances. Rossi 74, Italian, lots of reg. Lekubarri 72-76, young, reg. Trutat 71-76, even younger.
So 3 of these riders? Steiner and 2 classics, 3 classics? Or in the quest to become cheaper only 2?

Next: 60-80, Vanuytsel and Ceroni, both not there yet. But both almost sure to start.

Then flat riders. Gurruwiwi, 100% start. 84 flat only, but way too much mountain, which now he keeps again.

So 6 or 7 riders sure, who else?
Rrurrambu?
Verkerk?
One of the 2 likely for sprint.
Then? The problem is that with Blake, Magritte I have huge pavé talents for 2024, but for May 2023 they will be 7x flat riders, pretty useless. So ??? Not really good planning, too many classics around, not enough flat riders.

Payot and Gurruwiwi are set, Vanuytsel and Ceroni 99%, the rest is pretty open.

[team fl]

Team FL will help to make the afternoon great again! Most likely with the following lineup:

x1 Clément Clévenot, the key for the GC
x2 Frits Flaskjaer, the hint for a sprint
x3 Julio Juantorena, the skill for the hill
x4 Gilberto Godoy, the jerk for the work
x5 Gunther Grün, the hope in the slope
x6 Pierluigi Piano, Lord of Flanders
x7 Przsczzzssszzzzz, fuuuuuuuuuck
x8 Vitor Ventura, the chuck for the luck
x9 Volkmar Vogt, Nr. 9 from Liechtenstein

Line-up may change a bit. Possible substitutes are Italian hero and congenial parter of Piano: FIorino Forte, and Holger Hässig. But rumour has it, that he's too grumpy for having him in the team for three weeks straight. Terry Tiktak would have been an option as well, but he's getting old...

Goal as usually to win everything, waste lots of money we don't have and annoy the shit out of everybody with classy music.

[CircleCycle]

Very likely that I will start here, although I don't really know how much time I will have to actively participate.

The Team although is almost fix by now - 3 Stars and 6 helpers

#1 Henry Hill - Mobster
#2 Elia Eldenkönig - Elfenkönig!
#3 Puma Park - Sprint Star
#4 Alexandre Fanha - helper
#5 Lars Gronbech - helper
#6 Annibale Micalizzi - helper
#7 Johnny Firpo - helper
#8 Charlie Firpo - helper
#9 Karl Mayr - helper

Stagehunting will be the goal

hm.... very expensive lineup, might consider not starting at all

[Gipfelstuermer]

Scandalous thread title. Bergwerk should be disqualified for not calling it by its name: The real Giro.

Anyway, our team proposes a new alternative: Giro del Gusto.

What is the Giro del Gusto? This year, we plan to go on a culinary journey through Italy. The afternoon crew is used to coffee and cake, but now we go a step further. We hired the Italian recipe book author Antonio CARLUCCIO, whom with his books will be the domestique for two-Michelin-star-cook Ilario MOSCONI. Together with 7 other kitchen helpers, they plan to announce one typical recipe per day. The recipe will always be from the region which we ride through. Antonio might not always have the time to type down the whole recipe (he has a side project in which he learns how to code online cycling games), but the title will be enough to inspire the other teams and their chefs.

Our nominees for the whole kitchen crew:

x1 Rafa RUBIANO (eats way too much for a climber)
x2 Marco MEDINA (has a preference for healthy food which gives a training stimulus)
x3 Paolo PERUCCA (great taste thanks to Italian roots)
x4 Gérard GOLDSCHMIT (enormous talent but has an eating disorder which stops him from training)
x5 Pavlo POULNIKOV (eats cobblestones for breakfast)
x6 Ilario MOSCONI (the chef)
x7 Fabrice FREDERICK (doesn't eat enough, so never recovers well after races)
x8 Klaas KEMP (previously worked in Ilario's restaurant in Luxembourg)
x9 Antonio CARLUCCIO (the recipe book author)

7 of the 9 are safe, but the guy with the eating disorder and the guy who doesn't eat enough risk being removed. We have 4 hungry alternatives with MeylandSmith, Outschakov, Meyer and Laeser.

[Weezel]

T-Mobile-A will probably skipp the Giro as the manager is on holidays from 2nd to 15th of May. It hurts, but it makes no sense like this.

[schappy]

The best Giro ever and i try to take part of it.

#1 Lena Oberdorf, maybe one Stage, set Form not like the GK guys and hope for the best.
#2 Anatassija Merkushyna, looking for a good Place for white maybe, or mabe nothing
#3 Marta Kostyuk, Good for hilly stages with a small sprint, and godd for TT´s
#4 Jill Roord, good helpe for hilly profiles
#5 Oleksandra Merkushyna, young lady to learn something about the riding world
#6 Alexandra Popp, looking for hilly stages with a Sprint
#7 open
#8 open
#9 open

Salary ca. 470k, maybe to expansive, but i cant say no to one of my Girls.
We have almost 1 Million reserves, so we could try it.

[Robyklebt]

No Mobster? No AAD? Motivation is going down a lot, will still start of course, but baaaah. Get some sitters. Or ride some stages offline, we need Basque and Italian climbing power!

[flockmastoR]

So long story short, A&D will ride the afternoon GIRO!

Additionally I was so free and changed the title of the topic, first the time is now fixed, second it is the real GIRO so we need to name it like that.

Team is not finalized at all!

I am currently thinking about 3 alternatives. Stay tuned

[Robyklebt]

Form set, team not. 11 riders for 9 spots

Ceroni
Gurruwiwi
Lekubarri
Payot
Rossi
Rrurrambu
Vanuytsel

are sure

Carpinteiro
Pecci
Steiner
Trutat

Fighting for the last 2 spots.

Hm, now I go and look at the market if there's a rider that would make sense.....

[Team stevens]

It can be interesting for those who don’t participate to make the predictions/odds. This is a very open race. Even if the riders are not as strong as on other time slots, there is a homogeneity that can make the race interesting.

[flockmastoR]

Stil not 100% sure, but if I start, lineup will probably look like:

1) Alessandro Volta (leader and future GIRO winner [probably])
2) NgoBau Chau (young climber, pure helper)
3) Nikola Tesla (our strongest classic and potential stage hunter)
4) Karl Prachar (young classic with some reg)
5) Anders Celsius (classic and hill sprint helper)
6) Oleksij Iwachnenko (hill sprinter with reg)
7) Augustin deCoulomb (58-85, lacking reg)
8) Johann Loschmidt (Austrian tempobolzer)
9) Carlo Avogadro (Italian tempobolzer)

1+3+4+8+9 seem fix. Unsure about Chau and if it is clever to bring Tesla & Iwachnenko, but as we lack better helpers it will probably be like that

In the hunt:
Mouhamet Fall: 87 flat and 47 mountain at the start, has downhill and sprint but no reg
Georg Ohm: 65-82-73, no reg, probably replacing Chau, missing a 60-80 in the line-up
Rolf Sievert: 21 years, future classic, has some TT

[team fl]

A little preliminary outlook, 4 days before the start:

Teams (so far):

Alive And Dead

Climbers/GC guys: Alessandro Volta, NgoBao Chau
Classics: Nikola Tesla, Karl Prachar, Anders Celsius
Time trialists: None
Sprinters: Oleksij Iwachnenko
Other: Carlo Avogadro, Augustin deCoulomb, Johann Loschmidt

GC favourite or not, Ciclamino favourite(s) or not: The team is full of dangerous riders for almost every classement incl. the youth classement. Now the team must decide what is most important. And race accordingly.

bergwerk

Climbers/GC guys: Neo Goodyear, Teddy Baer
Classics: Jamie Truelove, Oscar Wild
Time trialists: Gethin Gold (?)
Sprinters: Lennox Cochrane (?)
Other: Brian Hunter, Pat Connemara, …

Everybody for cuddling with bergwerk! Teddy Baer one of the hottest irons (or plushiest plushies) for the GC, looking at the TT-Km in this year’s Giro edition. And still only 24 years old. The team can even provide a very good support cast against better climbers. But will the cuddle factor be enough?

Big Donkey

Climbers/GC guys: Guillaume Payot, Urs Steiner (?)
Classics: Gotzon Lekubarri, Patrizio Rossi, Lucien Trutat (?)
Time trialists: None
Sprinters: Rrurrambu, Verkerk (?)
Other: Isidor Vanuytsel, Baykali Gurriwiwi

With Payot, the Donkeys have one of the strongest climbers in the game. Hence, the team could be focused on him a lot with some money sprinting from Verkerk or Rrurrambu. The question in a team usually full of leaders is: Who are the helpers?

CircleCycle

Climbers/GC guys: Henry Hill, Alexandre Fanha
Classics: Alexandre Fanha
Time trialists: Elia Eldenkönig
Sprinters: Puma Park
Other: Annibale Micalizzi, Charlie Firpo, Johnny Firpo, Lars Gronbech, Karl Mayr

Double H will hat to make it on his own. Only one with a mountain skill of 70 or more. But: It looks like it is double P’s team anyway with this armada of 60-80-riders. And even the ITTs are not sure as the King himself will complete CC’s line-up.

Gipfelstuermer

Climbers/GC guys: Rafa Rubiano (?!)
Classics: Marco Medina, Paolo Perucca
Time trialists: Gérard Goldschmit
Sprinters: Ilario Mosconi
Other: Pavlo Poulnikov, Fabrice Frédérick, Antonio Carluccio, Klaas Kemp

The team itself calls Rubiano a climber, but that looks more like wishful thinking, even in today’s process for self-determination regarding identity. The team looks like a jack of all trades but master of none. Maybe the master of escapes? At least they have a good team kitchen, rumour has it.

Schappy

Climbers/GC guys: Lena Oberdorf, Anatassija Merkushyna
Classics: Jill Roord, Alexandra Popp
Time trialists: Marta Kostyuk, Oleksandra Merkushyna
Sprinters:
Other: …, …, …

Another team with identity problems. Or riders’ parents with the same fetish: Boys with female names. Again, who cares in today’s world. There are bigger problems. For example if Schappy is able to top his LBL win this year with Oberdorf. It seems everything has become possible.

Team FL

Climbers/GC guys: Clément Clévenot
Classics: Julio Juantorena, Przemyslaw Pszczolarski, Vitor Ventura
Time trialists: None
Sprinters: Frits Flaskjaer, Perluigi Piano, Volkmar Vogt
Other: Gilberto Godoy, Gunther Grün

For the first time in years, Team FL starts the Giro with a legit climber in its line-up. Clévenot will lead the Liechtenstein cycling team but is not the only leader. Ventura for hilly stages and Flaskjer for flat stages as well as possible escapes from the rest are in indication of what Team FL is looking for: stage wins.

VC Team Multi

Climbers/GC guys: Luka Perisic, Martin Moser
Classics: Ernst Larsson, Folke Holmsstrom
Time trialists: None
Sprinters: Toby Blake
Other: John Bartsen, Ablerto Avici, Rick Lowe, Uwe Meier

This team looks made for a Giro with lots of mountain stages. A clear leader with Perisic, a key domestique with Moser, two decent classics and lots of helpers that are not easy to get rid of. No needless ITT skills and with Blake a sprinter, that should only be there for some placement money.

Favourite check (so far):

General classement:

***** Payot
**** Baer, Volta
*** Clévénot, Hill, Perisic
** Steiner, Goodyear, Oberdorf
* a surprise rider

Payot should be the best climber and able to compensate for better TT-Skills of his opponents. But there are a lot of good climbers in the afternoon and with Bear even a young one with a TT skill of 64. Also Volta has a good TT skill for climbers and the rest of the pack may be able to risk something from time to time. So while I put Payot on top for now, it is far from being a sure-fire success.

Points classement:

*** Park, Iwachnenko
** Flaskjaer, Tesla
* a surprise rider

While Flaskjer ist the best nominal sprinter, this year's Giro offers lots of opportunities for teams with hill sprinters to get rid of him before the final sprint. Even if Team FL will fight to bring him back, it looks more the likes of Park or Iwachnenko will win the fight for the Ciclamino, with AAD also having Tesla in a lurking position if Iwachnenko doesn't look strong enough.

Mountain classement:

*** Payot
** the one who wants it
* another rider

Three stars for the best climber in the group, nominally. But it also depends if there will be escapers in the race for the Maglia Azzurra or not. Gipfelstuermer or CircleCycle look like teams that could have an eye on it.

Youth classement:

*** Baer
** Chau, A.Merkushyna
* a surprise rider

As Chau and Merkushyna could end up as key domestiques for their GC-captains, it looks like Teddy Baer has the best chances to wear the Maglia Bianca in Roma. Everything else would be a surprise.

Team classement:

*** Big Donkey
** Schappy
* AAD, VC Team Multi

Hard to tell which team will be first in this category. A successful escape when the GC chances are gone or on a stage that is not important for GC and the team classement may turn upside down. Anyway, on paper, for me it looks like this, IF Big Donkey has Steiner in his line-up.

[bergwerk cycling]

it could be that i dont start at the giro and escape again to the dayraces ...
my formsettings are on the giro, but i dont know if i will really start or not.

- My Team is much too expensive for the result i fear (somewhere 575)
- This Neo 84 fucks me up (perhaps i sell him soon)
- I think over a cheaper team ... but 500 without Neo to much too
- much cheaper perhaps to attac or go for red? mmh.
- iam not in the house sure for 5 days 12-14.5. and on 18. and 28. (and perhaps more days which i know only short before)
and so much sittersearching is nerved me (and the sitters .-)

maybe i decided it on the last minutes before the start

so maybe too early for the favourite check (sorry)

[Laixoise]

The multi will be here ladies

[team fl]

The multi will be here ladies

Welcome to the fold!

[team fl]

According to the inscription, it looks like CreditPommes will join the afternoon as well. Interesting to have a team with the main focus on sprints in the group.

[C.Pommes]

Hey,
Back after x years.
Cheap Team so No pressure, probably most of the possible Sprint stages i will get siebed anyway.
But i checked my working schedule and it couldnt be better for the 14:00 Giro.
So lets Go and habe some fun.

[team fl]

Hey,
Back after x years.
Cheap Team so No pressure, probably most of the possible Sprint stages i will get siebed anyway.
But i checked my working schedule and it couldnt be better for the 14:00 Giro.
So lets Go and habe some fun.

Nice to have you here! And we will make these teams with hill sprinters work for it

[Rexona]

The Packers from the South-West will join the best edition here
Goals should be the fight for the sprint jersey and having some fun with the guys.

[Gipfelstuermer]

Tappa 1: Timballo di scrippelle alla teramana

We start the Giro with an ITT on the Costa dei Trabocchi, finishing in Ortona. This part of the adriatic coast belongs to the region of Abruzzo and so Antonio suggested to Ilario his favorite dish from Abruzzo:

Timballo di scrippelle alla teramana

At first sight, the Timballo looks like a Lasagne, but the scripelle are not really like Lasagne, as the dough is egg-based and liquid before putting it in a pan. While our team does not expect to benefit from the extra Proteins on day 1 - as we decided to leave the untrainable GC hope Goldschmit at home - Ilario hopes the Proteins are beneficial in case there is a mass sprint on stage 2.

The dish is also perfect for stage 1 because preparing the sugo with all the ingredients takes some time, and given the ITT is only 20km, we have some time for cooking. In RSF 20km ITT is long enough to 100% favor the ITT specialists so we expect a dominant Elia Elfenkönig win. The stage also introduces some gap amongst the GC riders, allows us to judge the leaders' form and re-consider Team FL's favocheck.

Volta might look stronger than Payot after the TT, but we all know what's coming in week 3 .... well, we thought we knew... until clever RCS people realized the Monte Lussari Mountain ITT wasn't such a great idea and considered changing the route 1 day before the Giro. If they change it to a Monte Zoncolan TT, okay... but if it is changed to a flat TT, it is a major blow to the realism of the C4F Giro. The first scandal before the race even started... bravo RCS... Well, we lean back, watch the first ITT and enjoy our Timballo.

[flockmastoR]

Only scandal is, that Gip wants to start with only 8 riders, Goldschmit out is okay, but you need to nominate a 9th rider. You are disrespecting the Giro even before it started.

Anyway my team stays at it is mentioned. Expensive, just leaders. Hope for some hill sprints together with CC and to win at least one!

[Romoc Riders]

I am going to follow this thread for the recipes from Il Giro del Gusto

[Gipfelstuermer]

Tappa 2: Tonnarelli con Seppioline e Gamberetti

Today we head south from Teramo to San Salvo, almost the whole stage along the adriatic coast. We stay in the province of Abruzzo and this type of stage favors a local recipe with some high quality frutti di mare:

Tonnarelli con Seppioline e Gamberetti
(From Antonio's book 'PASTA')

We expect a high speed stage leading to a mass sprint, or perhaps a hill sprint, so the pasta with squid ink shall help Ilario to either stay with the hill sprinters Iwachnenko and Hill or to come back after being siebed and sprint vs the big sprint favorite Flaskjer.

[Gipfelstuermer]

we expect a dominant Elia Elfenkönig win.

the big sprint favorite Flaskjer.

So far the dishes were prepared with precision and the stage favorites striked.

What do we have on the menu today as we head south to Puglia?

Tappa 3: Ciceri e Tria

More difficult to pick a stage favorite today, but Antonio cooking this delicious soup will give us time to think about the stage. The Ciceri (chickpeas) are typical for Puglia. They had to soak in water over night and today some more preparation is necessary as described in the recipe:

Ciceri e Tria
(From Antonio's book 'PASTA')

Later we add a little bit of pasta, some tomatoes, some parsley. Makes for an excellent soup. It's like adding Oberdorf, Tesla and Medina to a hilly stage like today. 1 MSR and 2 LBL winners should make for an excellent race. There are RVV winner Piano and PR winner Poulnikov, too, but we predict it's too hilly for them today.

Medina's advantage is the excellent soup, but Tesla looks like the big favorite. Especially with Celsius there. His incredible training was one of the reasons to leave Goldschmit at home, btw. Made little sense to bring him just to land in the middle of nowhere after every sieb. So let's see who lands where after a sieb today, or whether that doesn't matter because an escape goes through. That would be an option on a 210km stage normally. Less likely in the afternoon but let's wait and see while we are cooking the Ciceri e Tria.