He was mucking about at the back after having his bike slide out from under him on a wet descent. They were dropping like nine pins

Great win today Alan Hansen.

He was mucking about at the back after having his bike slide out from under him on a wet descent.

only if he fell twice – I saw him fall after I started wondering what was wrong with him (not even sure that many/any others had been off before then)

He was mucking about at the back after having his bike slide out from under him on a wet descent.

If he’s had a mechanical or needed a bike change, he’d have to be at the back.
Then moving back up through 200+ riders in the pouring rain on roads like that just to be at the front – lethal.

Ever been down the road on yer arse on shiney Italian sun drenched then rain drenched Tarmac?
Try it, plenty of it over there.
He’ll be fine, Wiggs has done this before. Good to see De Luca on a spirited effort (whatever you think of him) shame Gartzelli hasn’t quite got the legs of days past.

Tour of California starts soon…

Wonder which I’ll be watching 😆

Apparently the Italian journos where cheering in the press room when Wiggo fell off 😥

Nice….

De Luca has been great to watch. My monies on Evans at the moment. But still only the first week and time for Wiggo to catch up but today is definately a set back. Always loads of crashes the first week of every major tour. The field will thin out over the next couple of weeks.

Really disappointed that this isn’t been shown on normal TV. 🙁

I do wish Sky would let Uran or Heano off the leash sometimes. Both were up in the top group ahead of Wiggins yet both were called back to shepherd Wiggs back in. Shame what with Uran (a damn fine rider in his own right) held back. I think Uran should have stayed with Movistar, except Valverdes there which means his choice would be tow one bloke in, or the other….
Lottos kit is horrible, even more so when it’s wet 😆

will itv4 be showing any of the giro?

Really disappointed that this isn’t been shown on normal TV

£5 to watch on eurosport on the internet

Live stages that can be re wound up to 3 hours I think

couple of high light programmes. I’ve watched every day but even if week days are out i’d pay just for the weekend

Far be it from me to say “I told you so” but is anybody watching this?
Go Wiggo!

He’s storming it, I am, I’m at work, I really shouldn’t be, but since I work in tourism and we got the Tour next year, I’m calling it research!

Go on LAD!

Did he have to swap a wheel? heard them saying stuff but had to mute it, had customers in.

He’s storming it

he’s really not. Looks good on the flat and even on the ups but he looked so slow descending. I really hope he’s riding within himself for the first half and is going to cane it from the intermediate to the finish. Lot of work to do though.

Did he have to swap a wheel?

Swapped bikes.

Not looking brilliant at the first time check.

Did he have to swap a wheel? heard them saying stuff but had to mute it, had customers in.

He changed bikes – it looked reasonably planned in that it was a pretty slick changeover, car and mechanics were ready.
He just dropped the Bolide in the bushes. Nice…

Alex Dowsett put in a storming ride, would love to see him get the stage win.

something looks wrong tbh, twitter talk saying he’s had a bug for a few days. almost looks like he’s about to climb off, looks like his giro challenge is over

I’m being optimistic and hoping he’s lulling them into a false sense of security with that first split time 😐 I’m also being even more optimistic in saying that he may have ‘retuned’ himself for the Giro and sacrificed a little bit of TT power for the typical Giro hills, he’s done it before with the Tour.

Perhaps I spoke too soon. Looked fantastic when not descending. Looks awful when descending.
I am bricking it on his behalf!

something looks wrong tbh, twitter talk saying he’s had a bug for a few days.

if that’s true then top ten and still in touching distance by the rest day would be a pretty good result.

Wiggins didn’t take the first split in the Olympics, but I may have been lulled by him starting diown the running order and so passing people who wouldn’t usually be near him. Still confident he’ll pull it out. Dowsett looking more and more comfortable though

edit: meh…

edit edit: oh!

Henao has done a decent ride which is surprising given that he looks awful on a TT bike. Knees all over the place!

Reckon Brad would have beaten Alex Dowsett’s time if it hadn’t been for that bike change.

That was obscenely fast uphill after the last split. He was 59 seconds down at the start of the climb and finished 10 seconds behind!

I would say brads Giro is over and he wants leadership in France now. Management at sky have got this tour so wrong and i feel for the columbians.

That was obscenely fast uphill after the last split. He was 59 seconds down at the start of the climb and finished 10 seconds behind!

More likely it was a timing error.

Hesjedal is flying!
Reckon with Nibali, Hesjedal and Evans still out on course, Brad will be lucky to stay inside the top 5.

Management at sky have got this tour so wrong

They don’t have a crystal ball you know.

Decent performance given yesterday and the bike change

It certainly looks harder for him now to win it though

I would say brads Giro is over and he wants leadership in France now. Management at sky have got this tour so wrong and i feel for the columbians.

Totally agree. A real shame as they could have placed great in GC themselves. Wiggins is too fragile mentally and too crap a descender. Imagine a wet day in the mountains, Nibali will take more on the descents than the climbs.

Management at sky have got this tour so wrong

Disagree – they went into it with a game plan but a combination of bad luck and a couple of days where either others were better or they weren’t good enough has conspired against them.

It could happen to anyone, it could have been the other way round and Brad could be in pink with a minute gap…

Just one of those things. There are factors you can control but plenty that you can’t. Still 2 weeks to go, lots can happen in that time.

Disagree – they went into it with a game plan but a combination of bad luck and a couple of days where either others were better or they weren’t good enough has conspired against them.

LOL isn’t that how all bike races are lost?

All the eggs in the fragile Wiggins basket is mistake.

All the eggs in the fragile Wiggins basket is mistake

[Sascasm] You’re right, it’s crazy that they would go into the Giro with a TdF, Paris Nice, Dauphine and Romandie winner as the leader.

If they had any sense they’d have had those Columbians that haven’t won a stage race between them as leaders and Wiggo as domestique. [/Sarcasm]

TBH, it doesn’t look like that bad a day for Wiggins. If he is ill, then he has a rest day to recover, not too far behind. one good day in the mountains and it’s all change…

Still 2 weeks to go, lots can happen in that time.

I agree with crazy-legs, this race is nowhere near over! This was never going to be easy for Sky certainly no Tour parade. Though looking at Nibali he is not putting a foot wrong, finally showing the promise he’s always been credited with.

C’mon the Essex Boy

Leader in the club house after the fav finishes a couple of seconds after him.

Go Dowsett…. great move for him to get away from Team Sky last year

Will give me inspiration when I’m TTing around a little Triathlon sprint, on his local roads of north essex, tomorrow morn

Can’t believe I swapped Nibbles for Hesdejal! Loads of points lost 🙁

Brilliant result for Dowsett, top ride!

Also, I hold up my hands for doubting Wiggins in that TT, good to see him hold onto 2nd on the stage.

[Sascasm] You’re right, it’s crazy that they would go into the Giro with a TdF, Paris Nice, Dauphine and Romandie winner as the leader.

If they had any sense they’d have had those Columbians that haven’t won a stage race between them as leaders and Wiggo as domestique. [/Sarcasm]

All those races are relatively straightforward compared to the gong show route Giro. Wait till they start hitting the nuts steep climbs in the Dolomites. I would argue that only on mega money Sky would those guys be domestiques. .

Oh …. and I transferred Dowsett into my dream team this morn… 😀

How nervous do you think he is waiting for the others to finish ?

Three things struck me about that:

Descending: Wiggins often coasting around corners, outside pedal down taking it very safe, Evans in particular pedalling full tilt around corners.

Wiggins vs Nibali: Just 11 seconds gap. That is one hell of a turn around in one year. Did the course really favour the non specialist that much or is Wiggins just not on it today?

Hesjedal long way down: Really thought he would do better than that.

How much time did wiggo lose with his puncture today? Half a minute?