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STAGE 8: BOBKE'S DAILY CALL IN
Bob Roll
July 13, 2008
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The highlight of the finish town was that it was home to Laurent Fignon’s cycling center. It’s a good place for cycling tourists to come and ride in the Tour mountains and get massages. It’s where we stayed last night.
You can get ready for some trash talking now – Riccardo Ricco put on a show today that will give him license to talk the jive! The young Italian looked at the high mountain and struck hard and fast with a blistering pace. He set the pavement on fire and all the peloton could do was watch him pedal away into the mist and wonder what inflammatory words they would read from him in the paper the following day. I think Ricco thought he was the best rider in the Giro, but since his team lost so much time in the team time trial he never had a chance. Right now Ricco is taking good advantage of Contador’s absence. It didn’t look like he suffered at all today and I’d say there’s a good chance he could win all the big mountain stages.
Bobke’s Inside Line: In cycling talking trash rarely happens because the peloton will inflict specific damage on you if they see it’s your moment to be on the receiving end. Bike racing is about two things: pain & revenge. When Ricco is in pain his adversaries will die to get revenge. When Pozatto hasn’t seen his name in the paper for months and then wakes up to see it mentioned in a quote from Ricco putting him down, it’s not good. In cycling you have to talk softly and carry a big gear – a gear that you can spin at will
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