Looked like he was pretty much back on, then was almost like a mechanical

it did look like he was constantly looking at his drivetrain and he seemed to soft pedal a few times too as he did it. Cracking stage though, crosswinds seldom disappoint.

Says his foot came out of the pedal and that was enough to lose the wheel.

Just read that Rohan Dennis crashed in the echelons and lost 5 mins. Briefly saw a BMC rider down but didn’t know who it was at the time. Bit of a shame that in his first real crack at GC.

So predictions for tomorrow on Etna? Some of the GC guys are predicting a big day. Italians desperate to see Nibali in pink as the next stage finishes in his home town, though he tends to come good later on in grand tours.

Not sure how QS might play it. Gaviria most likely won’t be in pink. But they don’t want a breakaway to take pink as Bo Jangles is most likely to inherit the jersey from a group coming to the line together. The only potential fly in the ointment is that he’s 10s ahead of most of the GC guys, so one of them getting a 10s bonus could see someone else take the jersey.

Having a think about tomorrow’s stage on the train home, I’m going to pick Rohan Dennis for the win.

Could suit Rohan Dennis but he’s injured and about 5 mins down on GC so I’d expect him to be on duty for Tejay now. I’d not be surprised to see Tejay win this one, he’s often good in the first week before his usual bad day in the 3rd week.

Sky or movistar to set a hard pace from the bottom of the final climb, we’ll see who is a real contender and we’ll see a few GC hopefuls lose time already, but a largish (8-10) group of favourites coming to the line together.

Didn’t realise he was injured from the crash. I was just going on the fact he lost 5 minutes yesterday so would be someone that the bunch might let go if he attacked – and also being capable of sustaining an attack if he did get away.

I wonder if Sky are going to play it dull, sorry, safe until the final week, or if the might try sending Landa off early. That would certainly spice things up.

I wonder if Sky are going to play it dull, sorry, safe until the final week,

Sky not averse to smashing things up on the first big mountain stage. Just look at Froome in the 2013, 2015 and to a lesser extent, the 2016 Tour. Does become difficult to do with two leaders though (has that ever proven to be a good idea?) Need someone to bury themselves to set it up, like Porte use to do.

Indeed. But in that case they had a) the strongest rider b) the strongest team c) the entire team behind one rider. In this case, they have stated they have 2 leaders, and in interviews they are suggesting that they will “see how it pans out later in the race”. I was taking that to mean that they would follow, not attack each other, and then fall-in behind whoever was leading in the final Dolomite stages.

I’ll go for… not sure. Nibali hasn’t looked great and took a while to get going last year. Quintana often gets stronger/doesn’t fade as much towards the end. Don’t see Landa or Thomas winning.

Hmmm….

OK, Quintana.

The “official” line is that there’ll be a headwind on the final climb reducing the likelihood of much attacking be unless/until it starts to thin right out as nobody will want to put their nose into the wind.

I’ve seen reports that a couple of riders inc Landa might try and test Quintana as he might not be on top form if he’s hoping to ride into form and hold it for the tour. Personally I reckon this will backfire!

I don’t think the gaps between the top few will be massive but some GC hopefulls will go out the back door never to be seen again.

Can’t wait, got a hard road ride planned first thing then back in time for live coverage…

Having a think about tomorrow’s stage on the train home, I’m going to pick Rohan Dennis for the win.

Not a bad punt IMO, unless he’s actually injured rather than just sore

Send him off up the hill, see if other teams chase and TvG gets either an easier day or somebody to break away to

I was taking that to mean that they would follow, not attack each other, and then fall-in behind whoever was leading in the final Dolomite stages.

It’s a silly approach. I’d be surprised if Sky don’t have a better unpublicised one and just want to keep rival teams guessing. Say a big stage one of the main GC rivals goes up the road and Thomas and Landa are isolated, who sacrifices their chances to chase him down?

Can see Quintana and Nibali marking themselves tomorrow and someone else nipping off the front for the win. Depends how badly Nibali wants to ride into Messina in pink. Sod it, I’ll say Tejay ftw tomorrow.

Stage Four. Cefalu ot Etna – Fire and Fire

The first summit finish awaits the peloton after a medium mountain stage. The route follows the mild undulations of the road for 55 km, and then tackles a long and steady climb up Portella Femmina Morta. A very long and manageable descent then leads to the feed zone and to the intermediate sprint in Bronte. The route hits the foot of Mount Etna and runs across a number of villages, heading towards the finish, all the way to Nicolosi, where the closing climb begins. The final part of the route runs through urban areas, on narrowed and often stone-paved roads. The final climb, on wide and tarmacked road, has an average gradient of approx. 6%, with no punchy bits. The road winds its way along wide hairpins for nearly 20 km. There is a mild counterslope with 500 m to go. The home stretch (200 m, 3% uphill grade) leads to the finish line, on 7-m wide asphalt road.

some giro flavor from orica

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adEh_jWpMmQ[/video]
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vgfQRQzTjQ[/video]
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_Qx8pYtJ8[/video]

I think it’ll be a break today that makes it. All the top boys will ghost each other too much to notice someone out of CCC or DD has popped off the front.
Change of Pink until the tomorrow when Greipel will have snatched it back for the next few days.

You really think Greipel will be close enough to the leaders on GC at the end of todays stage to take back pink tomorrow? I’ll be amazed if he’s not minutes back.

Looking at the final climb on mywindsock, there is currently a headwind for over 3/4 of the way up – 18-20kph WNW.

I think that may point to a breakaway win. (On the basis that they will have a tailwind for most of the day, then the favourites will be worried about attacking)

EDIT: Data here – https://mywindsock.com/segment/6453559/

watching the euro preview that’s a grim ol’ climb 🙂

Just remembered I needed to set the box to record. Disaster narrowly averted! 😯 😯

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIgf07z_jFs[/video]

Having a think about tomorrow’s stage on the train home, I’m going to pick Rohan Dennis for the win.

reporting he’s withdrawn from the race.

Ah bugger

https://twitter.com/BMCProTeam/status/861917149278896128

Mrs NBT has him in her fantasy giro team, I think

About 20k till they hit the climb proper. Looks a lumpy run in with the GC teams already hitting the front.

they have got the hammer down now ! splits in the peloton

autobus is forming and they haven’t hit the climb proper yet ! 🙂

shirt pulling in the peloton ! chaos

Decent crash, same corner as the Emirates guy who overshot in the break.

Tiralongo going longo. Not a bad bet being a local. (Now back in the bunch. Now out the back.)

Tejay right at the back of the bunch, not sure what’s going on there.

Bike swap for Landa. Bad timing.

none of the gc guys want to be on the front 🙂

Nice ride by Polanc. Jungles in pink?

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRCcqN3cQDA[/video]

It was very much pass the parcel hot potato towards the end there, don’t think any of the teams wanted to have to defend the pink jersey this early in race. 🙂 Well done by the polish lad, he was wobbling a bit half way up but dug deep and held on.

Well hasn’t today’s stage got everyone talking 😉

Moreno kicked out:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/javier-moreno-kicked-off-giro-ditalia-for-pushing-incident/

That Polish lad is Slovenian, but well done indeed.

oops don’t know where that came from 🙂

more orica high jinks
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NMFlYHzA8o[/video]

and some piccies

smoking

Stage – 5 Pedara > Messina On the Cosa Nostra Trail

This is a half-wavy, half-flat, stage, with a closing circuit. The stage starts from Pedara, new stage town as far as the Giro is concerned. The first 40 km are fairly complex, as the route passes through several urban areas, with roundabouts, traffic dividers, pedestrian islands, setts paving and speed bumps being the main obstacles. Then comes an uphill stretch (Fornazzo KOM summit), followed by a fast-running and technical descent. The roadway narrows at points in Castiglione di Sicilia. Next, the route climbs up Taormina and descends to the feed zone along partly narrowed roads. Here the roadway becomes wider and mostly straight, leading to the final circuit in Messina (which already saw a final circuit in 1972). The final 6.3-km circuit shall be covered once, on wide and straight avenues alternating with 90-degree bends. The route takes a U-turn with 1,500 m to go, then a long home straight (descending slightly in the first part) leads all the way to the finish. The home stretch is 1,500 m long, on 7.5-m wide, flat and asphalt road.

finish looks a bit mental with the 180 1.5k out

Good photo on inrng that sums up yesterday’s stage…