Giro's starting list

Well,last time I've talked about who won't take part in the Giro.In this post I'd like to talk a bit about the starting list.

Let's start with Acqua&Sapone: the team is formed by Garzelli,Andriotto,Massimo Codol, Donati,Failli,Marzoli,Andrea and Francesco Masciarelli,Giuseppe Palumbo.Garzelli is a strong rider,he won the Giro in 2000 and he also won Bergamo's stage in 2007.This year there's another stage ending up in Bergamo and perhaps he may be able to do something good there.Francesco Masciarelli is a young rider (he was born in 1986) and won last year's Giro del Lazio,a pretty important Italian race.Paolini was scheduled to ride the Giro as well,but he's having an inquest for an old doping story in these days and so his team decided to find a substitute for him.AG2R La Mondiale:

Dion.Hinault,Krivtsov,Loubet,Senac,Sonnery,Turpin,Alexander Efimkin,Valjavec.Valjavec is a pretty strong rider,he arrived 10th at last year's Tour de France (9th if you don't consider Kohl).Wait to see him in some stages.

Astana:

Armstrong,Brajkovic,Leiphemer,Popovych,Horner,Rubiera,Morabito,Zeits,Navarro.The team is facing some problems lately since nobody has been paying them for a while.Anyway,the Giro team is strong.Sir Lancelot,if he can still ride like he used to do some years ago,is pretty dangerous for the overall classification.Leipheimer is pretty dangerous as well,while Brajkovic is said to be a very promising rider.Popovych is a good helper who has already worn the Maglia Rosa in the past.They also may be able to win saturday's TT,a thing that I wouldn't like a lot because I prefer other teams.

Barloworld:

Augustyn,Bellotti,Caccia,Cheula,Froome,Cardenas,Longo Borghini,Hunter,Soler. You'll probably remember Augustyn because of his fall during the stage Curno-Jausiers in last year's Tour.Cardenas is a good climber,while Soler is one of the riders I like most.He was very unlucky last year,but hopefully this year he'll be able to get some good result.

Bouygues Telecom:

Chainel,Belgy,Géne,Haddou,Le Floch,Solokov,Sprick,Tschopp,Voeckler.The only names of this team that tell me something are Voeckler and Tschopp.

Caisse d'Epargne:

Charteau,Jeannesson,Latras,Lopez Garcia,Pérez,Perget,Kiryienka,Joaquim Rodriguez,Arroyo.Kiryienka won last year's stage of Monte Pora (I was there!!) and tried harder to get good results.He's another rider I really like and I hope he'll do well also this year. Rodriguez (also known as Mr.Montelupone will probably do something good in tough stages.

Cervelo:

Deignan,HuntKing,Konovalovas (nice surname!), Pauwels, Roulston,Gerrans,Gustov, Sastre.Gerrans won last year's stage of Prato Nevoso at Le Tour (I'm sure you remember that stage and perhaps he'll be able to do something good also here at the Giro.Gustov is a good helper (me's sure you remember him as well,he rode for Csc last year),while Sastre...Well,Sastre is Sastre: if you've forgotten it,he won the Alpe d'Huez stage at last year's Tour,made a great final TT and won the Tour de France.And he also got 3rd at the Vuelta.Watch out.

Fuji Servetto:

Camano (my computer can't produce the "egne"...),Capecchi,Del Nero,Gomez Gomez,De La Puebla,Gonzalez,Kessiakoff,Serrano,Viganò.As you can see,Ermanno Capelli won't race and so I have to find someone else to support on the road to Bergamo :( Of course someone else in my family won't have this kind of problems because their favourite rider is racing.

Garmin:

Danielson,Dean,Meyer,Farrar,Hesjedal,Millar,Pate,Tuft,Vandevelde.Look out for the first stage:this team knows how to WTTT ("win-a-team-time-trial").VdV arrived 5th (or 4th,it depends on the point of view) at last year's Tour and also wore the first Maglia Rosa of Giro 2008.Tuft,Millar and again VdV are great time trialist,while Farrar is a strong sprinter (as well as Julian Dean).Hesjedal is another rider that I quite like and perhaps he'll be able to get good results (hope so).

ISD:

Cioni,Gatto,Grabovskiy,Huzarski,Pidgornyy,Scarselli,Stannard,Grivko,Visconti.Visconti wore the Maglia Rosa for a lot of days in last year's Giro and is a strong rider.Better pay attention to him.Cioni arrived 4th in 2004 Giro,while Gatto won his first pro race this year,at the Giro di Sardegna.Will he be able to get a good result in the Giro?

Lampre:

Bono,Bruseghin,Caucchioli,Cunego,Tiralongo,Gasparotto,Da Dalto,Marzano,Mori.Good team.Cunego has said he feels well.As you may remember,he won 2004 Giro (I haven't forgotten it,no...).He didn't do particularly well in the Ardenne's classics,but he can be a dangerous rider (hopefully he'll ride better than he did in last year Tour).Bruseghin is simply a myth (he breeds donkeys in his home-town,and I love donkeys),this year he'll probably start the Giro as a Cunego's helper,but you shouldn't forget that last year he arrived 3rd in the GC.Gasparotto is another rider I like,I hope he'll win a stage (Bergamo perhaps?).

Liquigas:

Agnoli,Basso,Carlstrom,Miholjevic,Pellizotti,Quinziato,Stangelj,Szmyd (what a surname!),Vanotti.Here's another Italian strong team.Basso won Giro del Trentino 2 weeks ago and seems to be in a great condition.Pellizotti arrived 4th last year and he also wore the pink jersey (yes,he did).Look out to them.

LPR:

Bosisio,Chiarini,Di Luca,Ermeti,Golcer,Montaguti,Petacchi,Pietropolli,Spezialetti.The leader of course will be Di Luca,but pay attention also to riders like Bosisio and Pietropolli (especially for the stage-winnings).Bosisio last year made a wonderful Giro and perhaps he can get good results also this year.Petacchi will be the anti-Cav,but I prefer the English rider to him.

Quick Step:

Cataldo,Davis,Devenyns,Engels,Facci,Hulsmans,Malacarne,Reda,Seeldrayers.Pay attention to the last name:he was the best young rider in 2009 Paris-Nice.Cataldo has already won the "Giro baby",perhaps he'll be able to fight for the Maglia Bianca.

Rabobank:

Ardila Cano,Horrillo,De Groot,Kozontchouv,Stamsnijder,Menchov,Ten Dam,Van Emden,Tjallingii.Menchov has been seen smiling too much recently:is he proving his smile because he thinks he'll end up on the final podium in Rome?

Silence-Lotto:

Brandt,De Greef, Docks, Gilbert, Jacobs, Kaisen, Ljungblad, Vanendert,Wegellius.The name that tells me most inside this team is Gilbert.We'll see what he'll be able to do.

Katusha:

Swift,Eskov,Ignatiev,Brutt,Klimov,Mazzanti,Petrov,Serov,Pozzato.Pfannenberger was scheduled until yesterday,but then the news came that he resulted positive to an antidoping control.

Petrov will probably be the leader for the GC,while HGS will try winning some stages.He's said he wants to wear the Maglia Rosa,so I'm ready to every event.Swift is the poor rider who will have to share his room with him.If he retires without any evident reason,it will mean that the vision of just woken up HGS was too frightening for him.I wish Ben good luck,anyway.Ignatiev and Brutt will enter a lot of breakaways,or at least they will if they behave like they did some years ago.

Milram:

Forster,Markus & Thomas Fothen,Rohregger,Barla,Muller,Russ,Scholz,Schroeder.Sorry but my computer's keyboard can't produce "umlaut","the strange German 's'" and all the other strange characters which you normally find on the surnames of these riders.

Saxo Bank:

Bak,Cancellara,Goss,Haedo,Klostergard,Lund,McCartney,Voigt,Van Goolen.The team is good,I think (remember: my mind is always influenced by the fact that it belongs to a fangirl,reason for which I can't be partial towards SB).If Fab Fab has recovered from his problems,he'll probably be able to do something good in TT.I also think that the team could do well on Saturday,in the first stage.What about Voigt wearing the pink jersey after the first stage?? And what about a Saxo Bankers (said Voigt or Matthew Goss) winning in Bergamo (or in any other place)? My mind is traveling far,I know...

Galicia:

Castaño,Veloso,Fernández Cruz,David Garcia,Garcia,Isaichev,Mayoz,Rabuñal, Vorganov.I suppose this team has been invited because of Mosquera,who hasn't been able to take part to the race.

Columbia:

Barry,Boasson Hagen,Lovkvist,Pinotti,Possoni,Renshaw,Rogers,Siutsou.Good looking strong riders in this team.Cavendish will win a stage (if something of unexpected doesn't happen),Rogers may do well in the GC and perhaps also Emo-Boy Lovkvist will run well.And then of course there are Boasson Hagen,Siutsou,Pinotti and Possoni.Of course I will support the last two riders I've named on the next Saturday and I really wish them a lot of good luck.

So,here's the starting list.My hopes are: Voigt and Goss will win a stage,just like Pinotti.The GC won't be won by Armstrong,but by some young interesting riders (or,more likely,by Basso).Menchov and Bruseghin will run well.Emo-Boy will win a stage.Ben Swift will ask to change roommate after 2 nights.Hopefully my hopes are shared also by other people.Otherwise,"kein Problem".