Roadman, it's kicking off tomorrow, this year old Italia
Roadman, it's kicking off tomorrow, this year old Italia. Let's preview it. Cue that intro! The big question is this. How do we use cycling as a tool to improve our health, our happiness, and our long changes? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Anthony Walsh, and welcome to the Roadman Podcast. Roadman welcome back to another roadman cycling podcast thanks for joining me for another week on the podcast if you haven't had a chance to go back and listen to some of the episodes we've had episodes which made a big impact and I got a lot of feedback on talking about journaling simple act the journaling it sounds like something that's a bit airy fairy but honestly using some of the scales and some of the ways to set up your journal that I talked about it can really be a tool to bring your performance to the next level. That's definitely a podcast worth checking out. So I would encourage you highly to go back and check that out. But today I want to talk to you about the world's hardest race in the world's most beautiful place. Of course that is the Jiro D'Italia and it's kicking off tomorrow in Sicily. Before I dive in and talk about the Jiro D'Italia I'm going to ask you all to press pause on this podcast and head on over to patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore Walsh. I'm bringing this podcast five days a week, five days a week, obviously brings a financial strain on myself on roadman and the way we fund the podcast, we haven't taken on any sponsors. The way we fund this podcast, it's user contributions over on patreon.com. So if you'd like to buy me the price of a point of beer once a month to say, thanks for the entertainment. Thanks. I'm learning a lot from the podcast. Patreon is how you do it. And in return, you'll get access to the secret podcast. Ooh, creepy secret podcast. That's where you can ask me anything in AMA for Patreon members only. So I'm going to put the link in the bio down below and your appreciate your support is much appreciated. That's a tongue twister. I almost said your appreciation is much supported. That's what you get. That's what you get right where you're a Thalia folks. It's been rocking since 1909 so this is a race which is steeped in history and if you know your history at the sport you will know that it was actually set up as a marketing stunt. It was the Italian newspaper Gazetta del Sport who set it up in 1909 to increase sales of their newspaper and interestingly the paper is pink and that's where we get the pink leaders jersey the Maglia Rosa from so we're going to kick off tomorrow October toward in Sicily, Montreal, and a prologue and we're gonna finish three weeks later, 21 stages later in Milan on the 25th. The Giro d'Italia definitely has a special place in the heart of myself and other Irish fans because it was here only a few years ago. We had the opening stages and I still remember the fourth stage. I managed somehow to snag tickets through a budgium mind to the VIP finish area and Marcel Kittle won the stage that day to retire a German sprinter. But yeah, the VIP experience got the better of me and I had a bit too much to drink that day and I can remember very very little after I finished into Dublin. That's what happens when you give out free drinks out of the VIP area really to somebody who doesn't have any business in a VIP stand. Stephen Rolch was sitting or standing beside us in the VIP stand. If Stephen Roach is listening to the podcast and you do remember a drunken man that they ask you crazy questions about internal team tactics in 1987. Stephen I'm gonna go I'm gonna apologize from my behavior that day it wasn't becoming of a roadman. Guys I want to talk to you today about the key stages and the contenders as I say them for this year's edition at the Jiro de Talya Strange edition obviously we're used to seeing the Jiro in May we're now seeing it in October common near the end of October, it seems like it's going to get pretty chilly, but look, who knows, Italy's drawn up some strange weather even in major years.
We've got 3,495km to cover over 21 stages, that includes three…
We've got 3,495km to cover over 21 stages, that includes three individual time trials, which is in stark contrast to the tour this year, which is very much prioritised, just the road stages. We're kicking our off with a TT on stage 1, and if anyone's seen back to the future, that sports almanac that predicts the sporting results. I have myself a sports almanac and I can guarantee you, stage one is won by Felipe Gauguin, our world time trial champion individual pursuit world record holder. He's the winner of stage one. How do I know this? It's the crystal ball, it's a sports almanac. Get yourself to the bookies because he's issuing. I just can't see how he's going to be beaten on it. The other stages I see is key ones. I'm not going to rattle through all the stages because that's gonna sound like a Rafa Cycling podcast, it's gonna sound like two lads reading a phone book. What I am gonna do is talk to you about a couple of stages that I think are key. So stage three is Mount Etna. We know Mount Etna, it's one of the iconic climbs in world cycling, it's an 18.2 kilometer climb and it's an average in 6.8%. It's the four-stop hill finish in this year's race, that's gonna be a mix-up in GC for sure. The individual time trials are always a big shake up. When anyone who's watched the Tour de France, you see how difficult it is to get time on your opponents. You can finish at the front of a group or the back of the group and you all get the same time. So there has to be physical separation, distance between wheels, free to be credited with a different time. So unless it's an uphill finish, it's super hard to get time and even an uphill finish. With the volume of teammates these top riders have, their team leaders have, it's still difficult unless there's a huge gap and talent are tactics to eke out that precious precious time but individual time trials are where it's you know 10 seconds is not hard to get if you can if you're a good guy against the clock and Inyokes Grenadiers. I still haven't got used to saying Grenadiers but it just sounds cool as fuck the Grenadiers. They sound like some sort of marching secret German police force that's gonna come and fuck your shit up. The Grenadiers, Garand Thomas, he is a man who knows a thing or two about racing against the clock. Incidentally, Garand Thomas was talking about how he lost his garment before the World Time Trial Championships. He finished just off the podium, but he couldn't find his garment before the start of it, so he couldn't pace himself. He didn't know what power he was doing, so he had to ride it off feel. Now hopefully Garand manages to get himself a new garment for the individual TT on stage 14 because It's 34 kilometers long and a copy his force chance to make real separation between himself and the other contenders. Stage 20, it's the iconic climb up the Cestriere. It's 190 kilometers stage and they're covering over 5,000 meters of climb in that day. So that's going to be epic. And I've picked out another TT as well because like I said, they're just so easy to get the time differentials in TT is they're just crazy. We see in Lopez in the Tour de France TT, he went from podium to seventh in a TTT. So to have an a TT not TT TT TT is team time trial We don't have any in this I TT is individual time trial of which we have three So the Tour de France finishes out on stage 21 with a procession a little bit of a Patrick's Day parade in the Paris Where they all kind of hug and take pictures and follow-ups and toast each other This year or doesn't muck about it finishes with an individual time trial on the last stage So there's drama on the last stage, I remember, you know, Rudder Häjdahl going into 2012 and he had to pull out a performance on the last stage. It's brilliant TV, but it must be so stressful for teams to be involved in. So I've picked that out as the last, last real stage of interest.
Giro is such an amazingly hard race and the battle for the Magliarosa…
The Giro is such an amazingly hard race and the battle for the Magliarosa is always just one with twists and torns and a couple of people that I've picked out of Nogr Sagen is back just two weeks after finishing the Tour de France to the Giro Thalia. It is a Giro debut. He was building a farm all through the tour. He had that battle with Sam Bennett that has to have drained him. Like, how did he skip the world? How did he recover in the two weeks in between? Can he make that collection of Tour de France well to España and Giro stage wins? There's not many riders have done it. I would like to see him get one. He'd love rooting for the underdog. It's hard to say that Saigon is an underdog, but it's just so long since he's won bike races that I want to see him back winning again. We also have Caleb Ewan, he didn't finish the tour particularly strong and we Fernando Gaviria as the sprinters. But let's talk about the GCU guys, the big dogs, this is where all the action is. We've a funny line up because the Tour de France was so close. We didn't expect to have Grand Thomas at the sheer d'Italia but when Inio flic them, now he is the Inio's Grenadiers leader for the tour so he's going in as Moirace favored especially after his form and Toronto. Simon Gates the winner at Toronto is obviously going to be one to be feared as well but with three individual time trials I see him maybe getting a podium. We've Christwick obviously Jumbo Visma were massively impressive all the way through the tour and we'd be singing a completely different song if they had if Ruggler had pulled off that last TT up the La Planche de Belfie if he hadn't have been plowed that we would have been talking about Yumbo dominant from start to finish in the race so Kreuzwick is now dealt gonna be gone there backed up by some serious hitters with tactical nukes that they've learned through three weeks to the Tour de France hard to look past them although he's coming back from an injury Vincenzo Nibali the two time, Jourd Atalia winner, the 35 year old, some would argue he's passed his best but I'd say he just need to look at the worlds last weekend and see, he was there at the business end of it, he was second in the general classification in this Jourd last year, he would trek, I wouldn't bet against him for the podium, so I'm calling my podium as Garran Thomas, Simon Yates, Al-Handro Nibli, the shark and Mesasina. Guys, I started this show by Talia, the Jourd Atalia, it is the world's hardest race in the world's most beautiful place. It truly is. The TV, the views, the scenery, the routes they bring these guys on. It's not in short of epic, spectacular. I could throw out so many words to describe it. But, Roman, I'm gonna leave it there. Enjoy this year of Natalia tomorrow, ride safe over the weekend. And I'm gonna be back again, bright and early Monday morning. Jati Ren, Roman. Hey everybody, it's Anthony again. Really quick, I want to invite you to join arguably the best thing I've ever put out inside the roadman community. It's a challenge. It's a challenge called a 14 day kickstart challenge. So regardless of where your fitness is at right now, this is going to be the catalyst for making you faster and making you leaner. I've created this challenge to take the guesswork out of everything. It's 14 days, training plans, regardless what your level is. There's a master's beginner advanced. There's meal plans, shopping list and even a video course holding your hand and talking you through it all. So what I recommend you do right now is just stop everything, press pause on this audio and go to roadmansoycling.com forward slash 14 day or check out the link in the bio that roadmansoycling.com slash 14 day.