edit. too much detial dont wnat to spoil for anyone.

come on!

TBF mate, if anyone opens a Giro thread and doesn’t expect spoilers in it i’d be shocked.

Well I’m exhausted

So much want Tom to win this, and peanut to get second.

Anyone but Movistar or Nibs.

So what’s going to happen tomorrow? Tom’s dumped a big lead through his bowels and a bit of inattention today leading to a long chase and tired legs for the finale. Though most would have pedicted Quintana in pink going into the final TT anyway. Tough final climb tomorrow but it’s only 15k (as opposed to today’s 25k) and then there’s a long flat run to the finish that won’t suit Quintana. Can Tom rediscover his legs tomorrow and keep losses to less than a minute? And how will he go in the final TT? He’ll start as favourite for the stage but he’s clearly knackered. He’ll be in his own skin suit which will be an advantage (and more significantly, Nairo won’t be in his super slippy Endura one having to wear the sponsors pink one.) A minute down and Dumoulin has it in the bag. Two minutes and it could go either way. Three minutes and it’s likely Quintana’s Giro.

Who’d have thought this would come down to the wire when Nairo was in pink in the first week and most were writing off the GC competition.

I enjoyed that a lot. It shows class when Tom buried himself to get over the line, utterly shattered and into the van.
Nibz didn’t do as I expected, fairly lame breaks followed by no sustained drive.. perhaps he’s blown already, every time we’ve seen him Pellazotti has been blowing bubbles and Nibz just sits there.. I’m slightly confused, this isn’t the Nibz of old, he seems a shadow. As for Quinty, I’m even more confused.. Pinot left both in his wake, in years gone by Quinty would have just banged it in the big ring and chased him down, but oddly he too seems flat.. that spark these two once had seems to have diminished greatly.. which given the spirit of both makes no sense. Best ride of the day was clearly Landa, it’s a mighty prize to be given the Brailsford Nod to go for it.. for too long Landa has been played up as the jewel in Sky’s climbing squad, but he’s never been given the go ahead early enough in previous races to make the breaks, this time without Thomas on elastic duty he’s just ridden at pace and cleared off, well done Sir.

Back to Tom, giving 30 odd seconds away might not seem a lot, tomorrow however could see him crack badly if he doesn’t recover overnight. I’m hoping his sense of humour stays, Geshke gets a Pint, BBQ is run by Ten Dam and they relax around a camp fire somewhere stunning. The flat bit tomorrow at the end is where this will be fought out, getting over the bump will be reasonably easy, but the decent will play into Nibz skills.. we’ve seen him slyly scuttle away full chat before and if he’s feeling flat this will be his only chance to grab a win.. which I think he’ll do.. and take a few seconds to boot. Quinty will be in the bunch, Tom will ghost him until the last but third bend on the downhill then power off into the distance. I’m hoping it ends that way and the time gaps are within 15 seconds between the top 3, which then makes me watch a sodding time trial (grrr, I hate em) to see if Tom has anything left… my fingers and toes will be crossed for him.

It’s tense for sure, exciting I’m not so sure about.

Has Landa got the KoM stitched up now?

Nibs lack of attack to bring Pinot back was odd, weirdly, Nibs strikes me as the kind of man who would rather help NQ beat TD than be on the podium himself

it’s like watching Rossi race Marquez and Lorenzo. There is only one worthy winner.

Yay, go Landa.
If only Sky would allow their riders out to play more often.

Hope TD can hang in tomorrow and smash the TT.

So tight now. Going all the way to the wire.

I’ve got a feeling Nibbles is going to take it again this year. Hope Tommy D can prove me wrong.

they’re all knackered. Nibali was blowing his cheeks at Pellizotti, Quintana could follow but had no power to attack.
it is a very strong lead group, not just three riders attacking each other but a top 6 within 90s of each other which is ridiculous.

I’m not sure that Movistar and Bahrain shouldn’t have not pushed as hard throughout all the mountain stages but saved their riders / energy for attacking on the climbs and getting incremental gains each day.

Landa really really deserved the win – showing the class he had at Astana a couple of years ago. Last year was an adjustment year for him, not Sky restricting his freedom – he had to get used to a whole new regime moving from traditional Astana to Sky and their marginal gains. It will be interesting what they do with him for the rest of the season. Presuming Vuelta.

Stage 20 Pordenone > Asiago The Last of the Lumps

The stage starts from Pordenone which has already hosted 6 stages in the history of the Giro. Then the first 100 km are on relatively flat roads, at the foot of the Prealps in the province of Treviso, with a categorised summit at Muro di Ca’ del Poggio and an intermediate sprint in Feltre. The route then climbs up Monte Grappa (24 km conquered in 2014 by Nairo Quintana and in 2010 by Ivan Basso), on narrowed roadway. The climb is steep and sharp at first, then the gradient declines, with a few changes in slopes before the categorised summit. A very long (26 km) and technical descent follows, with several hairpins and on moderately wide roads. The route then takes in the last climb in Foza (unprecedented KOM at the Giro, rising steadily at a 7% gradient, with a number of hairpins). The final 15 km are rolling and wavy. The route descends slightly over the last 5 km, up to 400 m before the finish. The roads are wide and well paved outside the city centres. When entering Asiago (four times starting stage and four times arrival) , the peloton will encounter roundabouts and traffic dividers. There is a last bend 450 m before the finish line, and the home stretch, on 7-m wide asphalt road, has a mild uphill gradient.

1. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) 85hrs 02mins 40secs
2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Sunweb) +38secs
3. Vincenzo Nibali (It/Bahrain) +43secs
4. Thibaut Pinot (Fr/FDJ) +53secs
5. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha) +1min 21secs
6. Domenico Pozzovivo (It/AG2R) +1min 30secs
7. Bauke Mollema (Ned/Trek) +2mins 48secs
8. Adam Yates (GB/Orica) +6mins 35secs
9. Bob Jungels (Lux/Quick-Step) +7mins 03secs
10. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/LottoNL) +7mins 37secs

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5gpPRP69go[/video]

After all the speculation about them attacking when TD had a natural he said he just made a rookie mistake and was caught napping, whilst having poor legs.

Daniel Friebe of The Cycling Podcast is tipping Pinot as a not-so-dark horse, which isn’t a bad shout if NQ and Nibz are as cooked as they appear to be.

which then makes me watch a sodding time trial (grrr, I hate em)

🙂

they can make for thrilling race-endings though. Even ignoring the famous Lemond-Fignon 8 seconds, the 2012 Giro was a nail biter with fans’ favourite Purito losing the race in a short TT to hesjedal.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyISpNg87vc[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1SfjzgI50Q[/video]

Katusha driving the peloton 5 way fight for pink 😯

TD looks quite good though

It’s going off 8)

TD looks like he’s struggling

Yeh Katusha blowing it up and nice the battle for white jersey is being played out as well

every team bar katusha are smashed here, who can get back on the descent and flat. Sky have 3 up now. and 1 for pink

here come Yates

TD looks like he’s struggling

he often does on varying gradients as he rides like a diesel TTer, so keeps getting gapped and then pulling them back.

woeks ok vs 1, but when they get away and the second, third attacks come he can’t respond (like yesterday once he lost 20 seconds and the pace was lifted he lost another 40 secs)

dodgy looking road surface !

So is Dumoulin in the lead group? He’s not shown as being in there on cyclingnews feed but no report of him being dropped.

he’s 2 back from pink, nibbles is behind him

Argh come on Tom! About 5k till it flattens out.

I dont get Quintana

Spoke to soon!

this is just brilliant watching…..

no one seems to have the knock out punch !!!

Not for lack of Pinot trying

20 seconds.

Come on Tom, reel them in

this is amazing

pissing about at the front 🙂

**** idiots in the front group 🙄

9 seconds!