2014 vs. 2013 Kits

A work in progress, of course. As the new ones get released I will update.

Enjoy and share your opinions in the comments.

Jan. 14 - added Tinkoff, Giant and IAM.


Pro Teams

AG2R LA MONDIALE (ALM) - FRA

Overall: 8 / Improvement: Yes / More brown!

BELKIN-PRO CYCLING TEAM (BEL) - NED

Overall: 7.5 / Improvement: Yes? / Is that a new tone of green?

BMC RACING TEAM (BMC) - USA

Overall: 7 / Improvement: Same / "Just use whatever you have left from last year, boys!"

CANNONDALE (CAN) - ITA
Waiting for better images.



FDJ.fr (FDJ) - FRA

Overall: 6.5 / Improvement: Yes (if blue will be their main color) / Very similar to last year's blue kit, which was nicer than the white.

GARMIN SHARP (GRS) - USA

Overall: 7 / Improvement: Yes / More white and a panda.

LAMPRE-MERIDA (LAM) - ITA

Overall: 7 / Improvement: Yes! / Love the darker blue.

LOTTO BELISOL (LTB) - BEL

Overall: 7 / Improvement: Not sure / Radical change, but is it better?

MOVISTAR TEAM (MOV) - ESP

Overall: 7.5 / Improvement: Meh. / I do like the addition of the green bands on collar and sleeves.

OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP CYCLING TEAM (OPQ) - BEL

Overall: 6 / Improvement: Slight / Got rid of the hideous half-tone gradient.

ORICA GreenEDGE (OGE) - AUS

Overall: 5.5 / Improvement: Same shit, different year

TEAM GIANT SHIMANO - NED

Overall: 4 / Improvement: YES! Hideous, generic jersey, but NO more white shorts!

TEAM EUROPCAR (EUC) - FRA 

Overall: 5 / Improvement: Whatever / No comment. WTF.

TEAM KATUSHA (KAT) - RUS

Overall: 5 / Improvement: Nope / Still looks like a shitty club jersey.

TEAM TINKOFF-SAXO - DEN

Overall: 6.5 / Improvement: Sure / Looking more like the Swedish National Team, but it's nice.

TEAM SKY (SKY) - GBR

Overall: 8 / Improvement: Nope / Adding more logos, ugh.

TREK FACTORY RACING (TFR) - USA

Overall: 7 / Improvement: Yes? / I go back and forth on this one. The simplicity is nice. Love the pintripes.

Pro Continental Teams


IAM CYCLING - SWI

Overall: 8 / Improvement: Yes / Easily my favorite new kit. The Swiss flag detail on the chest is very elegant. Love it.

 YELLOW FLUO (YEL) - ITA 

Overall: 1 / Improvement: NO!! / Fuck this.

TEAM NETAPP - ENDURA (TNE) - GER

Overall: 6.5 / Improvement: Obviously not / No, it's not a joke.

ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI (AND) - ITA

Overall: 3.5 / Improvement: Nope / Why do they even bother? Might as well just wear Affliction T-shirts.

BARDIANI CSF (BAR) - ITA

Overall: 4 / Improvement: Nope / Barforama.

BRETAGNE - SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT (BSE) - FRA

Overall: 7 / Improvement: Yes / I liked the grey, but the white looks nice. If they had black shorts, it's be a solid 9.

MTN - QHUBEKA (MTN) - RSA

Overall: 6.5 / Improvement: Yes / Not much you can do with that shitty MTN, logo, huh?

RUSVELO (RVL) - RUS 

Overall: 3.5 / Improvement: Nope / God awful!

UNITEDHEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM (UHC) - USA

Overall: 7 / Improvement: Yes! / Proof that you CAN do something decent with 29 logos.

 WANTY - GROUPE GOBERT (WGG) - BEL

Overall: 2 / Improvement: NO! / The worst kit of the year, so far! HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE.

Episode 66: Severed Heads in a Van a.k.a. Tour de France Preview

Purito Rodriguez's saddle. BOOOM!

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Intro and outro music by Dismember

FDJ.fr: Yet another blue kit in the peloton for the Tour

 WTF WERE WE TALKING ABOUT?
- Gage+Desoto TdF Fantasy League 
- Belkin kits without manufacturer logo
- CVNDSH FST AS FCK
- ROAD Magazine 20 Q's with Veilleux 2010
- CycLAvia in Los Angeles
- Iván Domínguez, "The Cuban Missile"
- L.A. Wolfpack Hustle
- ROAD Magazine

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The limericks picked by the SMC staff for each episode throughout the Tour will be read on the podcast and the authors will receive a special prize pack with awesome Rapha and Bianchi gear.
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Krushing the Giro: The Final Krush

This image pretty much sums up this year's Giro. Nibali, awesome stage finishes, horrible weather.

I know this post is about 3 days too late, but for what it's worth, here's my final thoughts on an excellent and very exciting 2013 Giro d'Italia.


The Good

Vincenzo Nibali
"Of course!" you are thinking right now, "He won the race!" Well, yeah, but the way he won it was pure, 100% class. Nibali has emerged, not only as a real Italian contender for Grand Tours (unlike Basso, Scarponi, Di Luca, Cunego, etc), but he has shown that he can attack, that he can lead a team, and that when he's in good form no one can beat him. He won the Pink Jersey and he got a truckload of confidence for himself, his team and for the Italian tifiosi.

Italy
Not only did Italy host of the best Grand Tours in recent history, but an Italian won it. To top it off there were seven Italian stage winners (only four last year), four Italians in the top ten and and Italian KOM. Besides that, Italians should be very happy with the future of the sport. A lot of talented young riders showed themselves during the three weeks; Francesco Bongiorno, Fabio Felline, Diego Rosa, Fabio Aru, and Stefano Pirazzi, just name a few. Add to that Gianluca Brambilla, Diego Ulissi, and Damiano Caruso and you have a whole lot of young talent coming our way.

I wonder if the RAI graphics dudes had to order more Italian and Colombian flags 'cuz they ran out half way through

Colombia
I don't want to come off as a super-patriot (again), or bore you with the details of how amazing this Giro has been for Colombia. I'll just say that I saw more Colombian flags on the RAI graphics this Giro than I had in the last five Grand Tours combined. In the end, there were two Colombians in the GC top 10, two in the Points, four in the KOM, and three in the Young Riders classification. There was one stage win, plenty of seconds and thirds. I'm more than satisfied.

The Wild Card Teams
I mentioned them in a post a few days back. Team Colombia, Bardiani Valvole, Vini Fantini and Androni Giocattoli all played key roles throughout the race. Bardiani and Vini Fantini shined especially bright with stage wins by Enrico Battaglin and Mauro Santambrogio.

Mark Cavendish and Omega Pharma-Quick Step
No one can argue that Mark Cavendish is the best sprinter in the world. Five stages in a Grand Tour is an amazing feat. Now, add to that the fact that, before the Giro started no one thought that OPQS were up to the challenge of getting Cav to the finish line. Well, they came through. Great team effort.

Sky
The team had to reinvent itself after Sir Wigg-a-lot left the race, but they did just that and they turned out to be a very strong team, even winning the Team Classification.

Movistar
Four stage wins and Beñat Intxausti a solid eighth in the final GC. I doubt they were expecting anything like this, but I'm sure Unzue is a happy, happy camper.

Carlos "Bananito*" Betancur
I know I had a whole dilly about the Colombians up there, but Betancur's Giro was so amazing, he deserves to be called out. Wow, this kid has balls... and legs. I said it before, this kid is Colombia's best chance for a rainbow jersey.
__________
* Thanks to Natalia for bringing up to my attention that Betancur prefers the nick name "La Ronca."



The Bad

FDJ
Wait, were they even in the race? I thought I saw Nacer Bouhanni there for like two minutes and then he was gone. Weird.

Ryder Hesjedal
Ryder started the Giro with style by attacking the first chance he got, but ran out of gas quickly and the defending champ left me wanting more. At least Ramūnas Navardauskas saved the Giro for Garmin-Sharp. He celebrated twice, but only won once.

Sir Wigg-a-Lot
After all the talk and all he did was nothing. At least Hesjedal tried, dude.

The Weather
Of course I love racing in bad weather, but when it's so bad, that they have to re-route stages and even cancel them? Screw that.

Declan Quigley's Attempt at Pronouncing Names
Where was Robert Hatch, dammit!?



The Ugly

Danilo Di Luca
Seriously, dude? Go fuck yourself.

The Plastic Barbie Throne
WTF was that? Seriously, Italy, WTF was that??

Giro Ken sits on his Barbie Throne

Fabio Baldato
As ugly as ever.

Turns out Fabio Baldato has a doppelganger, too: Actor Tom Savini

Baseball Hate Galore
Horrible. Tasteless. Lame.

Everyone in this picture (and their suppliers) should be ashamed of themselves

Krushing the Giro: Stage 17

"My cojones are THIS BIG"

I'm making today's post shorter than usual because I'd rather you spend the time downloading and listening to the new episode of the podcast.

A few years ago when Giovanni Visconti first came into my radar while riding with ISD-Neri I could see the dude had balls, but I didn't think they were this big. Only a few days after winning the unbelievably trying stage to the Galibier, Visconti makes it three in a row for Movistar. After a difficult year the Italian comes back swinging. Simply Amazing.

And speaking of amazing, my infatuation with the left side podium girl and her wide array of hair-dos has hit the cyber-web with full force. Everyone is talking about it. (No one is).

Left Side Podium Girl sporting a bun

Nothing to do with this Giro, but plenty to do with the Colombian Conspiracy are rumors that Uran is headed to Omega Pharma-Quick Step for 2014. I'd heard some murmurs here and there, but this morning L'Equipe joined the other media outlets making noise. Some of the bigger Colombian cycling journalists have already said it's a done deal, but until the team, or in fact Uran make an statement, I won't believe it. For a while Movistar were the team a lot of folks were talking about for Uran. It made sense. Valverde isn't as young as he used to be and Uran already knows the team, from his three years with Caisse d'Epargne. Also, it's a team built for GC contention, while OPQS is not. The Belgian team's main objectives are the classics and during stage races they work 100% for Cavendish. Did we not learn anything from the Wiggo / Cav soap opera last year? I guess we will have to wait and see.


Randomness:

- Mario Cipollini mention counter: 5
- Helmet talk counter: 17
- Euskaltel guys on the deck counter: 3
- Stage winner wearing
     Cycling cap: 1 (Uran)
     Baseball hat: 12
     No hat: 1
     Visor: 1

Movistar Signs Young Colombian Argiro Ospina

21-year-old Argiro Ospina has signed for Movistar,for the 2013 season.

Argiro Ospina is the latest Colombian to sign for a ProTour team for the 2013 season. Argiro (pronounced Ar-hero) had a great 2012 with the Aguardiente Antioqueño-Lotería de Medellín team, winning the Queen Stage of the Vuelta al Tolima and racing an impressive Clasico RCN, where he won the 7th stage in style. In 2011 he won the overall in the Vuelta de Higuito (in Costa Rica), where he also won a stage. After only 2 seasons as a pro, his palmares may be short, but his riding style obviously caught the eye of Eusebio Unzué. With the help of Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Uran, Ospina and Unzué met and the deal to bring another Colombian to Movistar was signed.