• This topic has 875 replies, 89 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by Klunk.
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  • the Giro Thread
  • matts
    Free Member

    I’m calling a Niballi attack on Passo Di Pinei, just ahead of the descent so he can gap the bunch before Pontives…

    Interestingly, Dumoulin was the fastest of the contenders down the descent into Bormio the other day.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Amusing from cyclingnews article…

    “I’m not here to write history because I’m shitting in the bushes,” Dumoulin deadpanned in response to yet another question on the incident, just about stifling a grin. “I want to write history by getting the pink jersey in Milan.”

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Just over the first climb of the day and already Dumoulin is down to a single team mate. Betting Quintana still has a full compelment.

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    fifeandy
    Free Member

    Sunweb have been disappointing as a team.
    Geschke and and especially LTD are good climbers, but don’t seem to have been able to stick around long at all.
    Although guess it didn’t help to lose their best mountain domestique to a parked motorbike.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    It is surprising we haven’t seen more of Geschke. I wonder if he’s been working hard for TD on the hills before the TV coverage.

    palmer77
    Free Member

    The winner will be the strongest rider in the race.

    Brilliant insight from Brian 🙂

    Klunk
    Free Member

    SKy working for pink!!!!

    palmer77
    Free Member

    Stalemate?

    theotherjonv
    Full Member

    Dumoulin is trolling his rivals! Great commentary

    palmer77
    Free Member

    Tommy D!!!

    brakes
    Free Member

    gah! great stage!
    happy for TJ.
    Sad for Landa, but he’s got the KOM.
    Pinot sitting just behind Nibali’s podium spot.
    Quintana showing he doesn’t like the wind. ever.

    Klunk
    Free Member

    Quintana and Nibali don’t seem to have the legs to actually crack Tom, even with the ol’ team mates up the road ploy* and Dumpalon all isolated.

    *does that ever work ?

    palmer77
    Free Member

    To me it looks like they are expecting TD to light it up and burn himself out in the process. Certainly Niballi is not going to do much more than wait for a sneaky opportunity to attack, and either NQ is playing the ultimate bluffing game or he really hasn’t got the form to ride at pace or launch an explosive attack.

    arrpee
    Free Member

    Tommy is dischuffed with Nibbles and Nairo:

    They are only focussing on me, and trying to make me lose instead of trying to win. In the last moment they lost a lot of time to the other competitors. I really hope that riding like this they will lose their podium spot in Milan, that would be really nice, and I would be really happy.

    It would be a dream scenario if the other competitors didn’t get any closer, but now Thibaut Pinot almost took a minute on me just because Nibali and Quintana made a pact, clearly. It’s their right, but it would be nice if they lose their podium spot for that behaviour.

    Lifer
    Free Member

    I agree with Tom, that would be brilliant 😀

    Great stage today, again.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Great words, we’ve seen too many races follow the same format, crooks and NQ last year comes to mind.

    LapSteel
    Free Member

    He didnt rule out working with Pinot either….

    Klunk
    Free Member

    1 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 80:00:48
    2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:31
    3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:12
    4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ 0:01:36
    5 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:58
    6 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:07
    7 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:17
    8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:05:48
    9 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:07:06
    10 Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors 0:07:24

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Well two big finishes to come, but neither stage looks that hard in the run in to the finale. General consensus seems to be that Nairo needs at least 2 mins going into the final TT so needs to gain two and a half minutes over the next couple of stages. Not seen much over the past few days from him that makes me think he’ll do it.

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    Yay! I enjoyed that a lot..

    Well done Tom.

    Klunk
    Free Member

    Think Nibali has already settled for second (hoping that somewhere along the line another misfortune befalls tom).

    Klunk
    Free Member

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlsRbk6zz_A[/video]

    so Whitey calls it for Tom.

    Klunk
    Free Member

    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_EbKNd92eE[/video]

    corroded
    Free Member

    Just watched the highlights. Didn’t think it was possible to love Dumoulin more, but it is. Quintana and Nibali were poor.
    edit; and Landa, watch some videos!
    edit2: ‘I hope Pinot can take a podium spot’ 😆

    greentricky
    Free Member

    Second feel good stage win in a row

    I don’t get Movistar and NQ, they are so timid tactically, is NQ unable to pull the trigger or the DS terrible at planning?

    butcher
    Full Member

    I wonder if that was a bit of tactical play today, and they’re going to try and break TD over the coming days. The GC has closed in a lot now, with the likes of Pinot not very far behind at all. It’s a threat for Nairo and Nibali, but it also means TD will have to chase down any major attack, and unlike the others, he doesn’t really have the team mates to do it with, which leaves him with a lot of extra work…

    Lifer
    Free Member

    Dumoulin “Why you not ride?”
    Quintana “…”

    fifeandy
    Free Member

    And Landa sits on the front, tires himself out and leaves an inside line open again. Unbelievable.

    Lifer
    Free Member

    It was identical to the Nibali lead out

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Tommy D bossed that like, erm….a boss. A great performance.

    Agree with the above on the negativity of Nibbles’n Nairo.

    Nibbles thinks Dumoulin is being “cocky”, however.
    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/nibali-annoyed-by-dumoulins-cocky-criticism-of-tactics/

    Quick reminder of the calibre of the man making that accusation;
    [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E4vRtC7IcY[/video]

    And, lest we forget..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astana_Pro_Team#Doping_controversies

    Oh, and…

    http://cdn.media.cyclingnews.com/2009/07/04/2/bettiniphoto_0040242_1_full_600.jpg

    Astana? Hardly the cleanest.

    Bahrain? Hmmmmm

    Klunk
    Free Member

    Stage 19 Innichen > Piancavallo Running out of Time

    This is a high mountain stage with a long flat drag in the final part of the route, before the closing climb. The stage starts from San Candido for the first time in the history of the Giro. The peloton will climb up Passo di Monte Croce Comelico (categorised summit) and Cima Sappada on relatively wide and well-paved roads, with a long descent then leading all the way to Tolmezzo. Next comes the Sella Chianzutan categorised summit. Along the descent, the route passes through a few porphyry-paved tunnels (well surfaced and well lit), and then levels until Aviano, where the final climb begins. Arrival in Piancavallo, as it happened in 1998 (stage won by Pantani). The final 15 km run entirely uphill. The first 10 kilometres go up at very steep gradients – around 9% and topping out at 14%. With 10.9 km to go, the road levels out and even descends a little, then climbs up again (passing through an avalanche gallery) with milder gradients (max. 8%). The final kilometre is quite sinuous, still climbing slightly. The home stretch (100 m in length) sits on a wide, mild bend, on 6.5-m wide asphalt road, and has a 1.5% uphill gradient.






    I could have been a contender!


    bikebouy
    Free Member

    This is where it kicks off. Yesterday’s soft peddle and tick tack will annoy Nibz and Quinty, Mov will tear this one apart and Merida will follow along, sadly the Sunweb Boys have nothing left, if you saw the anquish on Ten Dams face yesterday you’ll understand they’re bushwhacked.
    If Tom, if, he can tail along with either of the split Trains (which sadly I doubt) he’ll have a myriad of choices to consider, which one to follow, how hard, oh shit there goes another.. and so on. Mov and Merida will tactically race together..
    Toms only hope is Quickstep or Trek or Daledrapac or Lotto Soudal (all of whom have been quite quiet recently, (saving energy I hope for this stage) to assist him.

    Hats off to the Sunweb boys, they must be destroyed by now.

    Should be a cracker.

    Klunk
    Free Member

    Sky rode for pink yesterday when Niro attacked, was it Rosa ? dropped back and helped Tom to bridge the gap.

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    True, Sky could help.. they must feel aggrieved at loosing the opportunity to go for it with Thomas.. could work out, Diamond Dave is always tight lipped on tactics.. but good call..

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Yeah it’s looking like today is the day NQ and Nibali will have to make their move. I’d assume not really until the final climb though and the question then is, can they take enough out of the pink jersey in such a short time.
    Really hoping that if they go for it, team Sky leave a couple of riders to help out the pink jersey 🙂

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Let’s not forget FDJ trying to haul Pinot on to the podium. They’ll take it to Nibbles and Nairo too.

    Klunk
    Free Member

    this is why I think Nibali thinks he has second, Pinot like Quintana has a relatively weak TT. Vincenzo probably thinks he has at least a minute on them both so he’ll stick to Niros wheel guessing/hoping Pinot cannot gain enough time.

    reggiegasket
    Free Member

    +1 FDJ must hold some of the keys to this. If TomDum can be with them at the final climb he’ll be fine, and the 2nd last climb is miles back so it’s doubtful NQ or Nibs will go that far out. Go Tom. #anyonebutmovistar

    kennyp
    Free Member

    At the start of the week I did think that Tom was going to crack at some point in the mountains and lose about five minutes or so. However am happy that it looks like I’m going to be proved wrong. That was a masterful display from him yesterday.

    After the crash that ruled G and Adam out I was fairly neutral about who I wanted to win. However after poo-gate I’ll be cheering Tom on all the way.

    gray
    Full Member

    I have a hazy recollection of Dumoulin moaning after Froome and Porte were given some time back on last year’s Ventoux stage (Froome’s little jog after a motorbike broke his bike). I’ve a feeling that he said something along the lines of “according to the rules Froome should have been disqualified, and he shouldn’t have been given special treatment so should have been booted out”. Am I imagining that? A quick Google didn’t show anything up, so maybe I am. Aside from that (which I might very well have made up or mis-attributed in my head!), I see no reason not to be a big TD fan. I don’t mind him speaking out about Nibbles and Nairo riding negatively – just makes the show more interesting!

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