Luperini Go Finland takes TT

Sierraman

Luperini went from 31st to 5th in the GC. The mountains are
ready to separate the men from the boys, or gals rather.
Joanne hasn't recovered well since her crash and she has a
weak team for the climbs. She sits well down in 44th but CN
hasn't posted the full GC. Diana Ziliute leads but I doubt
it will last. Cooke is in 4th for now. Wait and see if she
can hold up in the climbs. Melchers is in an impressive 6th.
I have yet to see how well Melchers will hold up against the
likes of Faby, Joanne and Nicole Brandli. Olga Slyusareva is
in 10th and she can climb as well as the rest, excluding
Faby, Nicole and Joanne. These three are in a league of
their own in the mountains and although Brandli isn't in the
CN GC top 20, she should rocket to the top soon. Wood sits
in 12th, not too far off the pace. Boubnenkova, Hemsley and
Ljungskog have nearly the same time, a couple of minutes
down but I don't see them as a threat in the mountains to
come. Zinaida is three minutes down, probably too far down
to recover. Other notables not listed in the top 25, ah...
Edita Pucinskaite, Rasa Polikeviciute and Jolanta
Polikeviciute also should move up into top 25 in the climbs
to come, maybe the top ten.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php...004/jul04/wome-
nsgiro04/womensgiro045

That said, Faby looks good to win this year, depending how
far down Brandli and Joanne are. CN doesn't have the times
for these two, but being over 4 minutes down, I don't think
they can catch Faby. Given that no one can match Luperini in
the mountains, she is sitting pretty to win the Giroess! I
think it might end something like this. Joanne and Brandli
are wild cards since it hard to say, they may rocket to the
top 5 in the mountains. Watch for stage 8!

1. Luperini

2. Zoulfia Zabirova

3. Nicole Cooke

4. Melchers

5. Joanne

6. Brandli