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Giro d'Italia, Italy

Stage 8, Lamporecchio - Firenze ITT, 41.5K

15 May

Dust Devil's Daily Wrap
CSC strikes back!

Stage List, Dust Devil's Daily Wrap

OK sports fans! This is what we've all been waiting for. The moment where all the serious players have to lay their hand on the table and show what they've got.

After yesterday's shake-up on the Sammommè, things got even more shaken today. David Zabriskie went out and did the time-trial of his life. What was made even more impressive by the fact that he was one of the first few starters! That is incredibly difficult and not seen too often. It was intended for him to go out and scout the course for Basso and give the best time splits, but he took it all the way.

And speaking of Basso, who is not exactly a noted time-trialer, he managed to finish second. Granted, the Giro is not stacked heavy with TT supermen like Armstrong and Ullrich. But hey, second in a time trial is second in a time trial! He managed to salvage a good chunk of the time lost yesterday due to cramp.

Savoldelli, I'm absolutely thrilled to death to see Il Falco up there gunning for glory. He is such a cool rider. Anybody who can descend at 80mph is a cool rider in my book! It looked like he may have spent himself starting a little too fast, but thanks to some handy descending he was again in first place by the third time check.

Has the Liquigas-Bianchi team seen the rise of a new GC man in Di Luca? Hmmmm... It's too early to say. Di Luca has never proven to be anywhere near consistent enough in a three-week race to be a contender. But he also had never shown the kind of domination in the spring time as he did this year. Personally, I think he'll go strong until the final week and then he'll crack. I just can't see him as a winner of a Grand Tour.

Cunego is nowhere near out of the picture yet. All it takes is one attack in the mountains to blow things wide open. What I think is going on with Cunego is this ... It was well publicized that Gilberto Simoni is the leader at Lampre-Caffita for the Giro. I think Cunego will respect the leadership and bide his time waiting for Simoni to crack. Crack to the point where the team managers have to switch leadership to the young campionissimo. I would bet the management don't want the kind of feuding that took place last year. It's bad for your image as a sponsor.
The Dust Devil