Saturday’s stage of the Giro d’Italia looked like a cyclo-cross designed by the Batley Townswomen’s Guild with an assist from Timothy Leary and the Marquis de Sade. Angelo Zomegnan must have a deep-pockets coin-laundry sponsor. And I bet the mechanics were cursing late into the night as they washed, lubed and repaired mud-caked machinery, guzzling vino rosso.
Today brings stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California. No prologue this year — instead we have a road stage from Nevada City to Sacramento. The VeloNews mob is all over California, seeing as Texus Maximus is there (eyeballs! eyeballs! eyeballs!) while the Giro makes do with Charles Pelkey and Andrew Hood. Something seems awry there, but what do I know? I am merely a lowly scribe, and a part-timer at that.
But I know which race I’d rather be watching it. And I’m watching it right now, with Italian commentary.
• Late update: Whew, that was one long day in the barrel. Thanks to all the VeloNews.com live-update followers who didn’t call me a retard (I had my critics, and justifiably). In my own defense, I will say only that stage 1 of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California was not exactly the most exciting bike race I’ve ever watched, except for that bell lap, when a whole bunch of guys decided to fall over en masse. Tom Boonen looked like he’d been run through an industrial meat grinder afterward. Cav’ won after J.J. Haedo went into slow-mo a few meters short of the line. Imagine my surprise.
Mad Blog Media 
On paper, ATOC looks like a race … Spartacus, Tommy Boom Boom, Lancey-pants, the US Nat Champ, half the Schleck family … but the course just isn’t tough enough, and it’s going to turn into a one-week coronation of the 4-time champ.
Maybe all the VN staff is there because it’s cheaper to fly west one time zone than across the big pond? Yeah, let’s keep telling ourselves that …
Patrick: Molto bene, mi compadre! You have the “big picture”!
Have you noticed that road cycling, cyclocross, and mountain biking have apparently shared some genes in the past few years WRT course makeup? I predict in less than 10 years an on-off selectable dual suspension, selectable drive train, selectable geometry, under 16 pounds bike……all in one for the plebeian masses. And hopefully under $3K!! Or maybe a Tour (True GC) that includes courses of all three types?
Patrick: So when you’re in the barrel for both the Giro and the AToC, is canolis and espresso for breakfast, with fish tacos and white wine for dinner?
Jeff,
White wine and fish tacos?!?!?!? Why ruin a good taco with crappy wine? Cerveza!! Cerveza!! Preferably Sol. Something light to go with your fish, cabbage and taco shell of choice. Oh, and little lime to spice it up a bit.
Off to see the ToC finish here in a few minutes. Hopefully it will be more exciting than the stage appears to be shaping up to. Oh….and there is a nice tailwind into SacTown this afternoon. The break will get caught before the finishing circuits.
Props to the Mad Dog! Good job on the play-by-play for ATOC! It seemed just like…I was reading it at home. Still, it was nice to be able to read what was going on, and the Mad Dog’s distinctive style almost made up for not being there.
At least for the part of the stage that I hung around for. I kept looking out the window at a gorgeous, windless, 72 degree sunny day and just couldn’t let the bike stay indoors. So I missed the predictable finale (imagine that, Cavendish! Whoda thunk it?), but I got in a quick 40 miles through the orchards and vineyards of Palisade, Colorado!
The strade bianche stage was epic (Yes, that word is overused but this time it’s true)as was the bowl of ribollita I enjoyed due to the hospitality of the l’Eroica folks on the second section of dirt, complete with vino of course! Once the smart person here (the wife) gets my photos downloaded to where I can play with them, they’ll get posted on the CycleItalia Travel Blog along with the rest of the story. Does anyone truly expect the ToC to be exciting? It’s a better-than-nothing event at best…if I was in CA I might even go see the race pass by — but I wouldn’t expect excitement of the Grand Tour type no matter who’s “on holiday” there instead of getting their butts kicked in the Giro.
I just thought of a “competition” where ToC will have it all over the Giro d’Italia. The screwballs in wacky costumes trying to get their mugs on TV while getting in the way of the race. Is there any race that comes close to ToC in this category?
James, you’re going to bust on someone for drinking wine, and then you’re going to have a glass of piss water? Thank Dog it’s a free country … we’re each free to make our own culinary mistakes!
I didn’t take the time to analyze the results, but at first glance it looks like the ATOC is generated significantly more reader comments than the Giro is on the VN web pages. Again, free country, to each his own, and the more the merrier, be it wine, beer, Grant Tours or local crits.
James and steve o: Sorry for a culinary mixed metaphor. I was thinking about sushi/wine or fish tacos/beer while typing and talking to both my wife and my daughter. And then I hit “submit” without editing. You’re exactly right, James.
Steve o: Your comments on VN’s coverage of the Giro each morning are spot on. Always gets the show rolling.
Patrick: As always, good work on AToC.
Steve: Would you drink vino while noshin’ a cheeseburger? Probably not. Unless the vino is poured from a box with a spigot, maybe. All I was suggesting is that if you have Mexican food you drink their ‘vino.’ Just like no self-respecting foodie drinks water with pasta. It is a free country but mixing food cultures should be illegal in my opinion.
Jeff: No worries. I figured that something got lost in translation. Those of us who live in the border states are prone to doing irrational things all of the time. But mixing white vino with Baja tacos is just wrong. Even if fish is a white wine accompaniment.