12 years as a pro, 11 Grand Tours, and 3 wins. that is a lot of days in the saddle. The man owns more donkeys (by a factor of 5) than he does wins. The ulitmate domestique, gregario, grinta, whatever you want to call the guy who rides tempo for hours only to get shelled and drag his ass across the line to do it again. He has always ridden for strong Italian team (Fassa,Lampre) who had clear leaders and media stars.
Well yesterday was his day. Wins the first ITT in the Giro. He puts the screws to Visocnti and Ricco and the other pretty boys who get the limelight.
The effort it takes to be a great cyclist is pretty awe inspiring-hours on the bike and denial of anything that can compromise your peformance(food,desert, fun, etc) for example. It is truly impressive when a man can stick to that life style for over a decade while gathering so little glory for himself. Even winning doesn't ensure you stick to the plot(Dario Pieri!) Imagine how many hours of training separated those wins!
But maybe Brushegin is sick of the shadows, Check out these quotes
"'This pink jersey is not by chance,' said Bruseghin.
'I am not wearing it because of one solo escape. Those of my rivals who underestimate me are wrong.'" Take that Visconti. Looks like Marzio is ready to be the leader of the Lampre squad in this Giro. It's hard to see him triumphing against Menchov or Contador. But maybe he can put the hurt on Visconti,Ricco,DiLuca, et al who have been getting all the glory. It would be nice to see him on the final podium however unlikely that is.
Time Trial didn't upset the overall contendors too much. Ricco got hosed by a fall and Simoni did better than you would have expected, but all the favorites are within a few minutes with one tough mountain stages to shake things up before this weekend's sufferfest.
No comments:
Post a Comment