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Giro d'Italia 2017 |OT|

What a disgrace. These types of incidents are happening at a ridiculous frequency.

I'd like to see Movistar sit up for a little bit.
 
In completely unrelated news, Keagan Girdlestone made his comeback to racing today finishing 55th in an Australian Race. He's the young guy who went through the back window of his team car, bled out on the spot and was thought to be dead. He still has weakness on his left side but amazing determination. He was part of Dimension Data's conti squad.
 
In completely unrelated news, Keagan Girdlestone made his comeback to racing today finishing 55th in an Australian Race. He's the young guy who went through the back window of his team car, bled out on the spot and was thought to be dead. He still has weakness on his left side but amazing determination. He was part of Dimension Data's conti squad.

Holy shit, that sounds awful, never heard of that. When did that happen? Great that he is back racing.


Bob done.
 
I know it's pretty ridiculous in what's supposed to be a race but I always liked the gentlemanly honor of not taking advantage of misfortune.

Goddamn it Teejay.

I understand it, but it is something that will always favour the biggest teams. I always think just race,

Great to see Nibali looking so good and relaxed.
 

teepo

Member
fantastic race, had a bit of everything and the race is far from over. all eyes will be on dumoulin and pinot during the time trials, the one place where a specialist can easily make up the 28" lead. quintana made that climb look effortless, but it's never easy getting a read on him. dumoulin and pinot looked completely gassed

the crash was unfortunate but i don't feel like the times need to be neutralized

and quintana better go all pink, tape included

SPTDW1021.jpg
 
Well, that's my velo team ruined.

Mines not looking too hot either!

Nibali just hanging on, Mollema ok...ish, Yates gone, TJ probably hasn't finished yet, Dennis gone home, Igor Anton has disappeared completely and Woods was a mistake. Hoping now that Sky is pretty much out Elissonde is given more freedom to attack and Gaviria cleans up all the flat stages.
 

FrankCanada97

Roughly the size of a baaaaaarge
Tom Dumoulin is going to massacre everyone, the stage 10 TT course is perfectly suited for him. I expect Quintana to lose a minute and a half to Dumoulin. If Dumoulin doesn't outright win the stage, then maybe Kiryienka will take the stage and salvage Sky's Giro.
 

FrankCanada97

Roughly the size of a baaaaaarge
Wow, I didn't expect Quintana to lose that much time. You think Dumoulin has enough of a buffer to survive the multi-mountain stages?
 

JPKellams

Member
Likely. And there is another time trial coming up.

I really like Tom as a rider, but I think he has the same problem that Geraint does - fading in the final week.

I still think Nairo wins this Giro, but it got much harder with the time he lost today. Here is my logic...

1) Tom tends to fade in week 3.
2) Sunweb, without Kelderman, will leave him isolated in the high mountains.
3) Pinot, Nibali, and Quintana will essentially work together to push Tom down the hill as much as they can as early as they can.
4) The gaps on the final TT will not be as great as today. Dumoulin won't be front loaded with a rest day and will have full three weeks of racing in his legs. See point 1.
5) Movistar clearly brought the strongest team.
6) People are reading too much into Blockhaus. It was a single climb after a long day, but was essentially a TT effort for Dumoulin, and he rode it as such. When you have multiple climbs in a day is when he will be under difficulty.

Quintana needs to take back 3.5-5 minutes in the mountain, but I think that is possible. He also needs a minimum of 20-30 seconds on Pinot, which is harder.

I think the podium is either Pinot or Quintana on the top step, with Nibali or Dumoulin third. Nibali may crack, but he is like Coppi, all about the age and treachery, and the third week should be full of it.

What today probably signaled is that the double might be out of the question. If the Movistar team can inflict the pain on Nairo's behalf, he might not go into the red as much in the third week, but to make back the time he needs, he will either need to give up on the Tour, or give up on the Giro.
 
Meanwhile in Cali...


...S(w)agan freelances through the peloton to win Stage 3 at Amgen. His Bora team is off to a good start with his win today and Rafał Majka with the GC.

Also Toms Skujiņš's nasty crash at Stage 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12OUjb6N7Ro
Thankfully he seems good now, despite road rash and a concussion.

(All I can watch on TV here in the US right now is Amgen, no Giro this year unfortunately...)
 

FrankCanada97

Roughly the size of a baaaaaarge
Meanwhile in Cali...



...S(w)agan freelances through the peloton to win Stage 3 at Amgen. His Bora team is off to a good start with his win today and Rafał Majka with the GC.

Also Toms Skujiņš's nasty crash at Stage 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12OUjb6N7Ro
Thankfully he seems good now, despite road rash and a concussion.

(All I can watch on TV here in the US right now is Amgen, no Giro this year unfortunately...)
That seemed pretty dangerous, he was wobbling around on his feet and nearly got hit by the chasing group. Did he finish the stage?
 
Immense performance from Tom.

Not sure if he has the legs to survive in the Alps with what will surely involve continuous attacks. I can't imagine any of the other favourites what him anywhere near two minutes of them heading into the final time trial.
 
That seemed pretty dangerous, he was wobbling around on his feet and nearly got hit by the chasing group. Did he finish the stage?

He was withdraw later due to an internal concussion rule that Cannondale have, not sure if he finished the stage but he did remount for a while. He's alright, concussion and a broken collar bone.

Absolutely brutal from big Tom, it's going to be hard to claw it back from here. Nibali doesn't look great, though he didn't look great last year and still came through, so Movistar will have to smash every mountain stage from here on.
 

Fonds

Member
Though I'm doubtful Tom will be able to defend his jersey, I'm not so sure about comparissons with past years either.

He wasn't aiming for the General Classification then. He rode in service of others or saved himself for other tours.
This year eveything is aimed towards getting him at the top step.
Losing Wilco is a setback in that regard ofcourse but there are others more than capable of getting him where he needs to be.
Besides that (if they've half a brain) Dumoulin and Mollema will help eachother out for Nationalisms sake.

All that said, it is still a grand tour. For all you know a Carabinieri will show up out of nowhere and headbutt you out of the competition.
 
(All I can watch on TV here in the US right now is Amgen, no Giro this year unfortunately...)

I just turned this on at your reminder and man is the stage 4 finish depressing. Strip malls and big box stores. They can't find anything more picturesque to compete with the shots from the Giro/Vuelta/TdF?
 

Fonds

Member
Great job by Laurens ten Dam to defend the jersey yesterday.
It was not an easy stage. Barring any incidents, Nairo will have to wait until Saturday until he can make another attempt at it.
 
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