Gilbert Gilbert. That’s Gilbert repeating. Geddit?? haha! Dad Joke if ever I saw one!
Today, stage 4, is another one for the punchy power climbers, with Phillipe Gilbert being the red-hot favourite. The finale is a 2km 6.6% kicker which is still probably not hard enough to let skinny blokes like Contador and Schleck do their thing, and will be more up Evans or Gilbert’s alley.
Cadel is sitting 3rd a grand total of 1sec behind Garmin’s Thor Hushovd & David Millar, and the smart money (or “logical” thing according to Gilbert) is for Cadel to hold the yellow at the end of the stage.
Hushovd probably is too heavy to deal with this climb (his win on the Barcelona stage in ’09 was also up a 2km climb, but there was only one 500m section at 6.6%, not 2km) but Millar is certainly good enough to still be close to the pointy end of the race at the pointy end of the stage. Another man with some history on hills like these? Ryder “Weight of a Nation” Hesjedal.
Look for the big gear crunching Canuck to grind his way into contention tonight!
So, my prediction is for Gilbert to win from Hesjedal with Evans third, BUT Millar will end the night in the jersey. It’s just Garmin’s race right now. Things are happening for them!
Hopefully I’m right! Tweet me, or let me know what you think below.