legends of the giro - indoor cycling association · 2013. 5. 14. · ridere, dirotta su cuba, 5:04...

Audio Master Class

Legends of the Giro

Copyright © 2013 Jennifer Sage and the Indoor Cycling Association

Created by Robert Baldi Training Type: Threshold/Race Day Working HR Zones: Zone 3 to Zone 5c Total Class Length: 60 minutes Profile Description This is the deciding day in the high mountains. Although there are some opportunities to gain time on the following day (the penultimate stage of this year’s Giro), today’s stage contains two of the highest climbs seen in any edition of the Giro, both of which are legendary in their own right.

Indoor Cycling Association Audio Master Class Legends of the Giro


Objective and Intensity This is the showdown in the Giro, the chance for the general classification contenders to gain time on their rivals and win the coveted Maglia Rosa. Climbs should be taken at Zone 4–5a but the intensity of the descents can vary, either using them as a leisurely recovery at Zone 2 or requiring riders to maintain race pace and ride at Zone 3–4. Background to the Giro d’Italia

The first Giro was organized in 1909, six years after the first Tour de France and for the same reasons: to sell more newspapers! Just as the leader of the Tour is awarded a yellow jersey that corresponds with the yellow paper of L’Auto, the newspaper that created the Tour, the leader of the Giro wears a pink jersey because its creator, La Gazzetta Dello Sport, is printed on pink paper. However, where the Tour is the more famous and glamorous race, the Giro is its tougher and more brutal cousin and widely regarded as better for racing. Even though most (non-Italian) riders will see the Tour as their ultimate goal, Italians think that its organisers are soft on the riders and that the plot of the race is predictable; the Giro, on the other hand, is as dramatic and unpredictable as Italians themselves!

Given the openness of the racing in the Giro, only three riders have ever been able to dominate it, with five victories each: Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi, and Eddy Merckx. Compare this with the many multi-winners of the Tour, a race that’s as much about the strength of a rider’s team as an individual’s. The Giro is a tough race and it takes a tough rider to win it.



Legends of the Giro Song 1: Introduction and Warm-up Domani, Articolo 31, 5:06 (95 rpm) Today’s stage starts at Ponte di Legno, which the Italian Touring Club Guide considers to be the “best Italian resort for tourism and winter sports.” The warm-up is a short one on today’s stage, which will soon start heading up the Gavia, so get riders to wake up their legs (they’re going to need them!) and raise their HR to Zone 2. Song 2 & 3: Passo di Gavia Nella Notte (Molella remix), 883, 5:11 (65 rpm) Dreams, 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor, 5:06 (67 rpm) Stage 17 of the 1988 Giro d’Italia will be remembered as the toughest day in any Grand Tour. It was snowing heavily before the riders even began the stage. Andy Hampsten, the American rider who came second on the stage and won the Giro that year, the first non-European to do so, said simply that before the climb the riders were “scared.” It was the day when hardened racers wept as they got off their bikes with frostbitten feet and their hands frozen solid. “On the way up I got rid of all of my warm clothes, my legs were bare, no shoe covers. I did have a pair of neoprene diving gloves that I kept on for the entire climb. Along the way my team car gave me a neck-gator and a wool hat. I wanted to dry my hair before I put it on—maybe 4–5 kms before the top, so I brushed through my hair, thinking I was going to wipe some water out, and a big snowball rolled off my head, and down my back. “I thought—‘I’m really not producing much heat, even though I’ve been going up a really hard grade.’ So then I had my raincoat, a super thin polypro undershirt on, so my arms were covered, but I was NOT warm at the top of the mountain. We could spend a few hours while I figure out how to describe how cold I was…”—Andy Hampsten (pictured above) On your climb, describe that there will be the inevitable breakaway attack, but tell your students, “you are a GC contender today, looking to win the Giro, so you’re not going to join them. Use the first track to find your “climbing legs”; settle into a very strong climb that’s quite uncomfortable but you are still in control, HR in Zone 3–4.” When the second tracks kicks in, at 0:29 it’s time to increase the tempo and spaccare il gruppo (Italian for “splitting the peloton”)—same resistance but increasing cadence, enough to raise HR to threshold or Zone 5a. This increase of pressure will crack half of the riders in the gruppo.



Song 4: Descent / Recovery Bedtime Story, Madonna, 4:52 You thought the way UP the Gavia was bad, it was even worse on the way DOWN, especially in the freezing cold! On that infamous day in 1988, some riders stopped halfway down the mountain and got into any car they could find to keep warm; others just huddled by the side of the road, hoping that help would arrive before they froze to death. Hampsten said, “It was the most difficult day of my life. Nobody would have complained or argued with me if I had pulled over and not raced. It was above and beyond what anyone is asked to do at a race.” Hampsten was eventually caught by the eventual stage winner Eric Breukink with about 8km to go, though the American held on to win the Giro d’Italia overall and it is his image going first over the Gavia that puts him in the Giro’s Hall of Fame and, more importantly, into the hearts of every Italian cycling fan. Immediately after the race he said, “Today it was not sport…it was something beyond sport.” Andy will never have to buy himself an espresso ever again in Italy, such is the passion and respect Italians have for his courage on that freezing cold day! Song 5–7: Passo dello Stelvio Nuova Ossessione, Subsonica, 4:42 (63 rpm) Move it Up, Cappella, 4:00 (67 rpm) Cuore a Metá, Bandabardò, 3:45 (70 rpm) We are about to climb another Giro legend: The Stelvio Pass, at 2757m, is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps and the second highest in the whole of the Alps, slightly below the Col de l’Iseran in France (2770m). Its most famous side has 48 hairpin bends (yep, 48 switchbacks!). On this particular stage, the Giro descends on this side…it will be hard on the brakes! But the ascent is still grueling, at 21.5 km and an average grade of 7.8% with segments of 9–11%. It’s rated as the hardest climb of this year’s Giro. The Stelvio is like the Alpe d’Huez of Italy, though much longer and considered much harder. The Giro often crosses the Stelvio Pass and did so for the first time in 1953, when it immediately entered Italian cycling folklore. Hugo Koblet had taken the lead on stage 8 in the individual time trial. Everyone, including Fausto Coppi, thought he would hold the lead to the end. Coppi told Koblet, “My compliments, the Giro is yours. You are the strongest.” Koblet took this to mean that Coppi was conceding the race (in those days, a gentleman’s word was his bond). However, Coppi was eventually convinced by his teammates that Koblet was suffering from taking too many amphetamines and would be vulnerable at altitude on the Stelvio Pass.



As soon as they began the ascent of the Stelvio, Coppi’s last remaining gregario (domestique), Andrea Carrea, stomped on the pedals and set a blistering pace. The gruppo exploded. After Carrea had burned out, Coppi was in a select leading group with Koblet, Fornara, Bartali, and Defilippis. At 12km from the summit, Defillipis made a suicidal attack—we would only find out, several years later, that it was Coppi who had asked him to attack. The result was that Koblet had no choice but to chase down Defillipis, draining his faltering energy even more. Coppi was therefore able to break the gentleman’s agreement and subsequently attack Koblet after he fatigued from responding to Defillipis’ attack. This allowed him to win the stage and take back the Maglia Rosa without losing face. Coppi delivered a devastating blow and just flew up the mountain; no one could stay with him. Defilippis said he had never seen anything like the way Coppi rode away from him.

Coppi started the stage 1:59 down on Koblet but finished it 1:29 ahead of him, a lead he held to claim his fifth Giro victory. In your class, replicate this famous attack by using the first track to set a strong pace up the climb, HR in Zone 3. With the second track, pick up the tempo and take your HR to Zone 4. The third track picks up in tempo again to take the pace to Zone 5a. This should be challenging enough as it is but you are here to win the Giro, so make an initial attack (either by increasing resistance or cadence) at 1:10–1:34 to raise HR to Zone 5b. This will have “softened up” the gruppo ready for your killer blow, attacking at 2:43–3:43, all the way to the summit. This will reduce your gruppo to the “Heads of State,” a handful of riders, the best of the best. Song 8: Recovery Ridere, Dirotta Su Cuba, 5:04 Fausto Coppi was the dominant force in cycling either side of the Second World War, which knocked a huge hole in his career. He was an all-rounder, excelling in climbing, time trialing, and even sprinting. His successes earned him the title of Il Campionissimo—the “champion of champions.” Had it not been for the war, he could’ve been head and shoulders above all other riders, such was his ability on a bike—he was 26 when he returned home from the war, a time when most riders are halfway through their careers and he’d only begun his. Song 9: Catch the breakaway Una Giornata Uggiosa, Bandabardò, 3:15 (110 rpm) You and the select gruppo now have to keep the momentum going on this stretch of flat road and maintain the gains achieved on the Stelvio. Also, it’s time to catch the breakaways (remember them?) before we get to the final climb. They’ve been out all day and they’re tiring but we can’t take them for granted, as sometimes there’s one that gets away. Ride a fast, flat road but with good resistance; start at an effort level that will take your HR to Zone 4 within the first minute. Increase the resistance but maintain the high cadence, taking HR to Zone 5a during the second minute. Pick up the pace once again, adding resistance and taking your HR to Zone 5b in the final minute. You can describe how your gruppo is gaining on the breakaway, little by little, and reels them in just as the song ends, before the last little downhill.



Song 10: Recovery Feel the Sun Rise, Banyan Tree, 2:04 Well done, you’ve caught the breakaway and consolidated your gains over the rest of the field. Now recover, HR Zone 2–3, before tackling the final ascent to the finish line. Time to think about what winning the Giro means to you, what other goals you have in life, and how much you are willing to sacrifice to achieve them. Are you able to step up your game when it’s crunch time? This next climb will decide the Giro; it’s do or die. Let’s get ready to rumble… Song 11–13: Climb into Giro mythology Tutti i Miei Sbagli, Subsonica, 4:03 (64 rpm) Nothing 2 Prove, Roger Sanchez, 4:05 (65 rpm) Hamelin Song, Bandabardò, 3:42 (73 rpm) There’s now only you and the select GC contenders left to fight it out, so you’re going to have to set a strong pace up this final climb to make sure the others don’t attack. Take your HR to Zone 3–4 during the first track and increase up to threshold (Zone 4) during the second track. This second track features Sharleen Spiteri on vocals, who is Scottish-Italian, like myself—so it’s good enough to warrant an entry! Yes it’s hard, but you’ve got them on the ropes; they’re still hanging on to your coattails. Time to pick up the pace; increase cadence in the third track and take HR to Zone 5a. Now you’re going to deliver the final blows to knock them out. Always remember, as high as the intensity may be for you, it’s just as hard for them to maintain. So attack to Zone 5b–c at 1:05–1:19, returning back to Zone 5a…you’ve dropped a few riders, so attack again for longer at 2:01–2:28…it’s now just you and your closest rival, so deliver the killer blow and attack to the finish line at 2:54–3:40, gaining you precious seconds to take over the Maglia Rosa. Song 10: Cool-down Breathe, Alexi Murdoch, 4:17 Lax, Pink Elephant, 1:54 The stage win and the precious time gained on this final monster stage enable you to take over the lead of the Giro and wear the Maglia Rosa on the podium, which you should be able to keep all the way to the end. The intensity was high most of the time (all of the time, if you choose to work the descents at Zone 3) but it takes a physically and mentally tough rider to win the Giro. Most importantly, it takes a rider with a strong heart to ride their way into the Legends of the Giro.



Legends of the Giro Playlist

Song Title Time Artist Album Source Domani 5:06 Articolo 31 Così Com’é iTunes Nella Notte (Molella remix)

5:11 883 Nord Sud Ovest Est iTunes

Dreams (will come alive) – extended version

5:06 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor

Dreams (will come alive)

iTunes

Bedtime story 4:52 Madonna Bedtime stories iTunes Nuova ossessione 4:42 Subsonica Amorematico iTunes Move it up 4:00 Cappella U Got To Know Album iTunes Cuore a metà 3:45 Bandabardò Iniziali Bi-Bi iTunes Ridere (unplugged) 5:04 Dirotta su Cuba É andata così iTunes Una giornata uggiosa

3:15 Bandabardò Iniziali Bi-Bi iTunes

Feel the Sun rise 2:04 Banyan Tree In Search Of Sunrise 7 iTunes Tutti i miei sbagli 4:03 Subsonica Microchip Emozionale iTunes Nothing 2 prove 4:05 Roger Sanchez First Contact iTunes Hamelin song 3:42 Bandabardò Iniziali Bi-Bi iTunes Breathe 4:17 Alexi Murdoch Time Without

Consequence iTunes

Lax 1:54 Pink Elephant In Search Of Sunrise 5 iTunes

legends of the giro - indoor cycling association · 2013. 5. 14. · ridere, dirotta su cuba, 5:04...

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