Ryder leads the Giro d'Italia.....

[leftcoaster]

Ryder finished 5th today, 5 seconds off the pace to move into first.......

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hesjeda ... ro-ditalia

http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-7/results

[jeremy]

cool new garmin t-shirt being made right now if anyone is interested
http://www.shopslipstreamsports.com/fea ... onfig.html

[Rolf]

This is so much fun to watch. Just hope protecting the jersey so early doesn't fry the team and compromise his chances of wearing it in Milano on the 21st...

[norman marcy]

sems like at leat the tow others are strong and willing to work for Ryder. as long as they continue to to be willing there is a chance. Ryder has worked for vandevelde in the past and maybe thery are good enough friends that the reciprocal will be true.

I detect a bias in the Slipstream web site toward the american riders //// maybe im just a homer??

loving the glory of the moments in pink though great efforts

[jj12]

Awesome

[Rolf]

Well, Norm, the two pictured above seem willing to work for him, at least.

From what I've seen of VdV and RH in other races, I have no doubt he'll pull for Ryder when it counts. Stetina will be important, and he may be impetuous as a second-year pro, but Garmin seem to be excellent at building that real team buy-in.

For example, have you seen Ryder's wedding band? Yup, that's argyle!

[Stéphane Tran]

sems like at leat the tow others are strong and willing to work for Ryder. as long as they continue to to be willing there is a chance. Ryder has worked for vandevelde in the past and maybe thery are good enough friends that the reciprocal will be true.

I would imagine that team orders right now are to support Ryder, and I am sure his team-mates - and friends - will be professional and support Ryder as much as they can. One thing about Garmin Barracuda is that they do seem do have a good esprit de corps (e.g. winning the team classification at the 2011 TdF), and will support each other. Apparently the team set the Giro as a goal for Ryder some time ago:

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/05/ ... sey_218025

[sylvan]

I would imagine that team orders right now are to support Ryder

I wouldn't even call it team orders - getting Ryder as high up as possible in the final GC is all they're there for now. Maybe 80% for Ryder's GC and 20% for Stetina's white jersey hopes, but he'll be working for Ryder too. The team looked a bit fried today, including Ryder. Tomorrow is "only" 166 km and mostly flat so hopefully they can recover a bit. Then Tuesday could be interesting with this finish, and a good chance for J-Rod to take over pink:

[jeremy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R20JfkIV ... r_embedded

[leftcoaster]

On stage 6 when Malori took the overall race lead, Garmin-Barracuda looked very disorganized. Considering their standing, they even wasted a rider, Jack Bauer, by having him in the break.

Contrast that with stage 7 when Ryder took the pink jersey. At one point late in the stage, 7 or 8 Garmin racers were lined up at the front, pulling Ryder along. Ryder had good support again today for stage 8. Now that Farrar is out, if Garmin continues supporting Ryder, he may stick around the 'Maglio Rose' for a while. The tough part is the time bonuses for winning a stage - 20 seconds. If J-Rod wins a couple of stages, it may not look good.

The last stage is a time trial - 31km. If Ryder is within a minute or two of the lead, he could come back as most of the other GC contenders are small climbers and not good Time Trialists. He put a lot of time into them in the prologue and it was only 8 kms long.

[John D]

FTR, Tripleshot now offers rides where one gets to pedal his/her own bike instead of having to settle for watching others on TV.

J.

[Rolf]

What is that, John? Nagging? Go loiter in another thread and leave us fanboys to our chit-chat. Besides, my heart rate actually shot up this morning just watching Ryder in his pain cave trying to hold on to the back of the completely shredded peloton. So there.

[JohnT]

Sorry Alan, for bumping your thread to second place in the General Banter class. I hope the pain isn't too bad and that we see you again real soon.

For those not paying attention to the Giro, you're missing a great race. Ryder has maintained his position in second place (17 seconds back) for a few days, after he had three amazing days in pink. I hope the team is getting well-deserved rest in prep. for the return to pink. Great scenery and great weather so far in Italy. Some fantastic finishes too.

JT