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(there was some issue but I didn’t catch what whitey said)
Hay fever apparently
you can get a TUE for that! according to mr wiggins 😉
does tom have a back issue ?
Chavez can still win. He's just riding himself into form.
meanwhile, over in California ....
another stage for Yates, Tom second and Froome 40 seconds back!
Yates wins again, 47 seconds up on GC, it's not looking bad for him at all is it? Is there much TTing left? Enough to allow Dumoulin to pull him back?
1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 47:08:21
2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:47
3 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:04
4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:18
5 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team 0:01:56
6 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:02:09
7 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:02:36
8 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:02:54
9 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:55
10 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:10
froome 12th 3.20 back
I hate to be the one to ask, but, are we accepting this from Yates?
Nice work there.
34km flat time trail to come - he could easily loose 47secs and more sadly. I reckon he needs to be 1min 30 up on Dumoulin as a absolute minimum to stand a chance of the over overall in Rome. Maybe more.
I hate to be the one to ask, but, are we accepting this from Yates?
He has been progressing to this point for a while now or are you referring to his inhaler issue a few years back - which anyone would sensibly put down to administration/cock up rather than actual doping.
I hate to be the one to ask, but, are we accepting this from Yates?
Yeah, I didn't want to be the one to write it, but... I mean his performance is exceptional, but is it "not normal"?
I'm not aware of anything historical with him, so just a genuine question really. He's battering everyone day after day, which could be seen as slightly well, dubious? I'm aware he's been at the pointy end, but not in a dominant context like this race
I hate to be the one to ask, but, are we accepting this from Yates?
I have given up caring and just take is on face value and leave the suspicion to those paid to be so. The alternative is just a waste of time to watch.
34km flat time trail to come – he could easily loose 47secs and more sadly. I reckon he needs to be 1min 30 up on Dumoulin as a absolute minimum to stand a chance of the over overall in Rome. Maybe more.
fortunately there's the high mountains to come too, though Dumoulin is a much improved climber he rides to power (huge power 🙂 ) so struggles to stay with the explosive climber types hoping to wind them back in over the whole climb ala sky & froome unfortunately (for tom) his team looks a little lacking.
Yates does seem to be smashing it every day. For all he's a young man, you have to wonder if it's going to give him a really bad day sooner or later
Yates does seem to be smashing it every day.
he does seem to be gauging his efforts well though, more opportunistic taking of the time bonus on offer than "smashing it" 3 well timed efforts have paid big dividends !
besides there are 2 pan flat sprinters stages up next before the Zoncolan saturday will give him (and his team) a chance to sit in let qsf do all the work.
I know what you mean klunk but, say, on the day when Chaves was dropped and the peloton rode at full whack pretty much all day, was it worth 3 seconds to take a hill sprint ? (answer: Yes, seems so - for now anyway). Today a bit different, since DuMoulin had to race him head to head
It's great to watch an' all, and I hope he makes it but I just wonder about energy conservation, esp if he's now having lots of media duty instead of sleeping it off whenever he can.
(Looks like light winds for these 2 coastal stages too, so no likely quickstep shenanigans to worry about)
Interesting to see what sky do now ? is Froome a busted flush yet ? or is it all in over the weekend and smash the race to pieces (though the sky train hasn't looked that good either)
Froome a busted flush yet
See the video above? Does that looked like a motivated, energetic rider ready to smash the Peloton?
though the sky train hasn’t looked that good either
And this may be why reducing the teams by one is a good thing
I'd prefer to be getting more time on Tom. He was really chasing me all the way to the finish there. He looks better than the other day on the steep finishes there. I think he's getting better as the race goes on, and that's not good news for me.
I think for a young lad Yates is proving that you don’t have to be Italian or Colombian to be able to climb. If you’ve followed his progress over the GT seasons past he’s always been up in the front Testing both skills and learning how to measure outputs.. he’s simply putting that all into practice now.
Granted he’s not TT’er, but then his closest rivals are not climbers either, and that’s a significant point. The Giro is always hilly, RCS have an Italian outlook when it comes to building a fairly balanced GT.
Also, he’s part of the new generation coming through. He’s won white jerseys in previous GTs and that experience is paying off handsomely.
Will he carry Pink to the end, sadly I doubt it but that’s not to detract from his exceptional riding so far. 2 wins whilst in Pink is folklore in Italy and he’s already being seen as a Demi God. Italians love a fighter, a fighter and winner in Pink is the stuff of legend.
Fabulous riding from him and the team, I really thought Kruisinger had hung up his shoes, but even he seems to have found some spirit of old.
Its great to see a fresh smiling face on the podium.
I hate to be the one to ask, but, are we accepting this from Yates?
I think there's a point, that a lot of self-styled 'real cycling fans' have reached where it becomes a sort of ongoing truism that anyone who wins or simply performs well must be cheating. Some of it seems to come from a slightly flaky idea that somehow we're all about equal, all pro cyclists train really hard and thus, if you win, you must have gained an unfair advantage.
That ignores genetic factors - some riders are born with a higher VO2 Max, muscle composition or whatever. Like it or not, the raw material, even among elite athletes is not equal. There was a fascinating documentary a few year back where they analysed the physiology of the legendary hurdler Colin Jackson. It transpired that he actually had an incredibly rare tyre of super high-twitch muscle fibres, which in turn explained his extraordinary explosive power.
And that's before you look at other factors like training programmes - no, no all elite cyclists train to the same level - motivation, psychological toughness - 'resilience' - the quality of nutritional and logistical back-up and more.
That doesn't of course mean that elite sportsmen don't ever cheat, of course some do, but there's nothing in Simon Yates's career progression that suggests anything weird or disproportionate. And even when you do get outliers, Valverde's performances in his late 30s for example, it doesn't necessarily mean he's cheating currently. Elite athletes, almost by definition, have unusual physiologies. It's part of why they are elite athletes. And in the case of GT cyclists, they're operating under prolonged, extreme workloads.
Anyway, to cut a long story short. It's a shame that whenever anyone wins anything, the first question seems to be 'is he or she a doper?'
And this may be why reducing the teams by one is a good thing
I suspect it's more that the Giro is just a really hard race to control, it was when teams had nine riders. Arguably what cutting team sizes actually does is reduce opportunities for young, developing riders to get GT experience because you can't carry a 'passenger'. Or in the case of Sky, a sprinter - if Cav were still at Sky, would he even get a Tour place with or without a sprint train? The tendency is to select proven riders only at the expense of younger talent, which potentially means they never get the experience they need to develop.
Heard a young US pro rider make exactly this point in a Cycling Podcast episode earlier this year with the more general inference that it reduces opportunities for riders overall and potentially means teams will cut their rosters, reducing the number of riders overall at World Tour level.
Inner Ring for example, says that for this year teams overall have cut riders, sometimes as many as four:
http://inrng.com/2017/11/shrinking-peloton-world-tour/
Anyway... ultimately it wouldn't matter how strong Team Sky's team is at the Giro, if Froome isn't at the same level as the other main contenders, he can't win it.
It’s a shame that whenever anyone wins anything, the first question seems to be ‘is he or she a doper?
Yes it is indeed a shame
Both the Yates brothers have proven their ability in grand tours with top 5 finishes. There's no doubt they're an exceptional talent. If things continue the way they are, it will be very close between Yates and Dumoulin.
Froome is not looking great, but given (if he gets back on form - and according to him he was on better form before his crash) he can potentially make time up in the TT and get right back into it at least for a podium finish.
Simon is a very good TTer for his size, and he'll concede a considerable amount of time to Dumoulin in the TT, but possibly not as much as people think. Contador springs to mind. Either way, 2 stage wins already (bearing in mind he gifted another to Chaves): the guy is on fire. Very happy for him.
Also, it's seconds here and there, not a massive time gap caused by a ridiculous solo breakaway. Not seen the highlights of today but till now it's seemed like canny riding rather than drug fuelled feats
this was in response to a post on the last page, but clearly I'm slow at typing!
only caught about the last hour today - looked GRIM
Well played by Bennett though
Who is that commentating on Eurosport today Bernie Eisel?
yeah, he was on for a bit - didn't catch it but heard them saying so
bad weather forecast for the Zoncolan tomorrow just to spice it up some more.
Going to be a very big day tomorrow, might have to time it to be back in for the finish
yeah, he was on for a bit – didn’t catch it but heard them saying so
Cheers, didn't hear his name but they kept mentioning Austria so I assumed it was him.
Chaves only has 51.30 tom make up this weekend. No probs. I believe in you Esteban!
Call it a round hour to give a buffer for the TT.
Set up to be a great climb, waiting for the fireworks. Crowd at the top looks huge, it could almost be Yorkshire!
that climb was brutal, no respite
yates has got his lead out to 1.24 and for all his valiant endeavors Froome gained 10s on Yates
But lots more on Doimoulin. Froome and he will be fighting to swap places on the TT both thinking they'll be taking Yates times away . Chipping away at Yates now makes the overall job easier, but narrowing the gap to TD is the real game in town .
But lots more on Doimoulin
Tom should take that back in the TT
Tom should take that back in the TT
Not sure he'll take a lot out of Froome, if he's now fit
What’s impressive here is Froomidge went away at 4K to go and Yates waited until 3K to go before catching him and then loosing by just 6seconds to Froomidge.. 6seconds... Froomidge whilst a win is a win, this isn’t StemBoy of old... and Yates is clearly up for carrying this Pink jersey all the way home...
Thats an awesome concept.