While it’s sad to see curtain come down in spring classics it’s a least a short rest period until best GT of year.

  

Very disappointing that Bernal is out

indeed; and he was going to have the full backing of the Sky team

there are subplots, too; i'd like to see how the strong lieutenants (Chavez, Ooman, and Pozzovivo) do. Chavez was once upon a time a contender in his own right, and i'm still not quite sure what happened. Pozzovivo may play an important role for Nibali. And then there's Ooman, upon whom Dumoulin would need to lean from time to time. It's all so fascinating

Really excited about this years Giro. I anticipate a lot of haymakers thrown and some bad days.

Lopez should be rocking a new TT bike.

About the only way I can imagine Roglic not just killing everyone is if he is peaking too early. I think he finished no better than 2nd or 3rd on any stage at Romandie. TT, sprint, hilltop finish,... the guy is on fire.

He's just inconsistent. Like van Garderen he showed immense Grand Tour promise early (2nd GC in the Giro in '16) but has had the van Garderen trademark Really Bad Day (tm) in every GT since. He's seemed to have slipped down to 4th in Mitchelton-Scott's GC pecking order, behind the Yates' and Jack Haig. And 4th means you're essentially a climbing domestique.

My thoughts exactly. He’s dominating right now, and if not too early, is going to be tough to beat.

Like has already been mentioned having Bernal gone is a big bummer because of all of the favorites he was probably the worst TT'r so he would have been really setting the hills on fire.
I think we still have 5 guys that all have a pretty equal chance to win if the chips fall right, in Yates, Roglic, Doumalin, Nibali and I am going to put Lopez in there as well, since Astana has been riding really strong this year.

An interesting sidestory will be to see how Sep Kuss does on the big stage in support of Roglic, he wasn't slated to race the Giro, but with Gesink crashing out at Liege Kuss is taking his spot as the big climbing domestique.

At the moment I am going to pick Roglic considering how tattlingly close he came to the podium a the Tour last year without even starting the race really focusing on GC, now that he has had a full winter and spring training with the focus of the Giro he should be the best, of course he will also have much more pressure so we shell see.

That is what I was thinking...he was also untouchable going back to the UAE tour...long time to hold great form when we're talking about the finish at the Verona 1 month away from now and that TT is after 4 mountain stage in 5 days after the rest day...so if you're flat after the rest day, then its two days of mountain grinding, one flat stage 2 days of mountains and a TT. Froome needed to be on fire in that last week to pull up the magic trick (we can debate what Sky magic was involved....but whatever....Yates was flat in week 3). Hopefully Roglic is not on form too early.

I'm personally hoping for Dumoulin after two second places last year in the Giro and TdF and at the World's he was 2nd in the ITT, 2nd in the TT and he came oh so close to the win in the road race briding the gap and then slipping to 4th...would have much rather seen him win than Valverde.

Dumoulin would be my sentimental pick as well

One hopes that his sport directors would be wiser this year. That whole fiasco of waiting for dropped riders really cost him. I think he actually lost 30 seconds on the descent due to waiting. Then there's the additional lack of incentive for the group to work together in the finale, with Carapaz attacking Angel Lopez and vice versa. The podium/overall seemed gone for them, so they were trying to drop each other for best young rider; however, Dumoulin would have benefited more from steady riding. This sort of riding always happens when there's too many strong riders in a race in the closing stages.

super excited for the Giro and I'm also expecting haymakers and bad days to alter this race.
hope that the big stars don't just look at each other and wait but it is the Giro so unexpected is always on tap

When you have perfect information, it's easy to come up with the perfect strategy. I didn't consider TD's strategy, given the information he had at the time, to be bad. Watching live, I didn't think Froome had a great chance at soloing for 80K, even with the chasers not having perfectly aligned interests. I would have called what I thought was Froome's bluff in the same situation, let him dangle and wear himself out, then attack him up the final climb. Just turns out it was something extroardinary, and not a bluff.

good call. Fog of (simulated) war and all that

Yates will be looking to correct his flame out from last year, but I also think Dumoulin figures he let last year's race slip away too. And Roglic sure looks good right now. One of them will win. (Or not.) Nibali might be too long in the tooth to win, but who knows? Lopez might sneak in. How many stages will Gaviria win? And with Bernal out, what's the plan for Ineos? It will be an entertaining three weeks of cycling.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Agreed we should all keep an eye on Kuss. He was on great form last year for California, and was ready to defend the title until he got the Giro call.

I am so bummed about Bernal being out. It was building up to be a great race for him.
I will make this prediction right now. Bernal will win the Vuelta this year!

I would have loved to see Woods or Fulsang racing but I am guessing they are both going to the TDF.

On paper it should be a Yates/TD/Roglic battle with Lopez/Nibali/Movistar keeping things interesting, but the beautiful thing about the Giro, all of it may happen or none of it may happen, its a great unpredictable race.

Maybe this is the year Dombrowski wins a stage. Seems like EF1 does not have a set GC leader.

Too many stages seem more suited for Ulissi than they are for Gaviria. I counted maybe 3 true sprinter stages. All the others seems tailored for the break.

Agree that the Giro is totally unpredictable. One bad day at the wrong time and it's something that can end your GC hopes. I just pray that a crash or mechanical isn't the deciding factor like is has been in the past.

That said, I agree it's hard to pick against Roglic the way he's running. But if I'm his team director, you learn from Yates' mistakes last year. I really think he's got to pick his spots wisely in the first 2 weeks, especially since he seems to be coming in with a peak. He's got to make it last all the way through stages 16-21. I think if Roglic gets a little too frisky, Dumoulin might be able to take advantage with his experience and pounce on him during week 3.

If he races the Giro like he did Romandie that 3rd week could be a repeat of last year. My guess is he won't considering missing the TdF podium with a haymaker that led to stage win but used too much energy. That's where Nibali is especially dangerous, and more adept at picking someone's pocket than anyone else.

One side convo to this is not seeing Kuss have leadership at ToC, in the perfect course for him. No TT and some really long, grinding climbs like those that were his personal playground at Utah last year.

If I was the Sunweb director, I would have played it how they did....count on the TTT effect with other team riders to make it happen vs a solo ITT chase of Froome. The slight miscalculation was discounting Froome's descending on the group (solo guy can beat a group), and Sky's plan with Nic portal to have the moving aid station and endless sticky bottles to slingshot Froome 'often enough'....whereas the group would not have all of that.

Viviani and DQS won't want to let breaks get away, which doesn't mean a break won't have a chance. The sprints ought to be interesting between Gaviria and Viviani, with Ewan and Demare also there.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Really looking forward to seeing Kuss on the big stage. Italia is not Cali.
Joe D has settled into a nice domestic groove but maybe he can get up the road one day. I'm sure they've targeted a stage. He's learned a lot since getting punked by Nibs in the break.
I'm hoping TD is riding into form now and maybe Roglic is peaking, but he's looking very beastly right now. That was a helluva TT in Romandie.
Formolo should have a good tour.

Good call re: Formolo

I, too, am hoping that Dombrowski and Kuss will do well

Another sleeper might be Richard Carapaz. He could improve on last year's 4th.

it just doesn't seem as if Viviani can get over too many climbs, for some reason. I mean, dude isn't that heavy at all, but he seems to be more Cav like, in the sense that there's a lot of snap (for blowing people off his wheel), but not a lot of sustained output.

Contrast that to the likes of Nizzolo and Gaviria, both of whom can at least get over small hills (this include the likes of the heavier-set Griepel and Kristoff)


that's not a sleeper :p

The Movistar leadership will be interesting with Landa and Carapaz, assume it'll be another "figure it out on the road" situation.

Feck yes I can't wait. Roglic is on fire. It's hard not to tip the cap to him.

This is an old school, slow burn GT with no mountain action until stage 13 or so. Of course with the ITTs the contenders will have to stay sharp but it’s more or less setting up to see who can be the most economical leading up to final week and then come on good.

Week three is going to be awesome, just hope it isn’t muted, controlled racing until then.

I’m torn who to choose from. Think Nibali can put em on ropes in third week but might have too much ground to make up by then. I’d really like to see him win. TD has proven he can be good to the very end. Suspect it’s between him and Roglic, with the latter taking it if he can avoid bad day. Can’t look past Yates either. Don’t see Lopez being there quite yet.

I think Tom D has "last week pacing" down pretty well. Last year at the TdF if we recall, Roglic went nuts on that solo attack (including the downhill getaway), but he paid the next day (or was it two days later) at the ITT. With all the miles of ITTing, and Dumoulin's "never really off" (well aside from having to take a dump on the Stelvio stage in 2017), he'll just grind them down over 3 weeks.

Nibs will be full on for this. It's his jam, no other race matters and this is perhaps his last real shot unless he goes all Horner on us.
He's been solid so far this spring. Support is the issue.
I think the stages favor TD riding into the 3rd week and there's no doubt he's being dialed into this. His "Iack of form" so far isn't necessarily a bad thing and I see him and Jungels plowing along together.
I'm also looking forward to Carapaz rolling like a young Pistolero.

You obviously know a lot more than me on this topic. But I am curious what brings you to this conclusion.

If his power numbers were currently very high, would you still say this ?
Is it more experience, surrounding team or pure fitness ?

Carapaz, can’t forget him. This Giro is so stacked that 2/3 of the TdF podium will also be decided.

Lopez has loads of talent but is still young and not as experienced. He’ll only get stronger and more of a threat but think there are too many big riders lining up this year.

I know he is out, but would you have put Bernal as a stronger contender ? If so, why ? Raw talent, the team or maturity beyond his young age ?

tactical nous; rewatch Bernal during the wind-swiped stages of Paris Nice; always alert and on the front, patrolling, closing gaps, or driving small groups. He may be a willowy climber, but that physique belies a tactical guile most GC types lack


cyclingnews just came out with a list of "ambush stages", and I think quite a few stages in the first two weeks could qualify, as most are undulating. It really stretches the strategizing abilities of DSes when such an event occurs (not to mention that it makes our viewing more enjoyable)

I was just looking at the topos. These early stages are lumpier than I thought and look to give the right break a chance. I think we'll see some aggressive racing and it will be a challenge protecting GC and/or going for broke and the make up of the break should be super interesting.

Thanks

He is apparently firing on all cylinders after an extended training session back home.

All of the above. He is tactically astute, can TT well, climbs like a mountain goat and has the most dominant team in cycling.

A little side story that I’m interested in is Bora and their choice of Ackermann over Bennett. I remember reading about it in the off season and felt bad for Bennett considering the success he had last year at the Giro. Bora’s had a good year so far even with Sagan being off, just hope it works out for them and hopefully Bennett gets his shot at the Vuelta.

Yeah its a shame about Bennett. He was the best sprinter on his team so far this year.

Hey Guys, help me out - how can I watch it in the US?

flobikes.com is the fully legit non-VPN way to do it.

For the EU crew (or VPN) users the Wiggo show will be back for additional commentary. I believe Contador will be joining in as well. FYI Wiggo is picking Yates.

Apparently Bruyneel will be doing day by day predictions on Lance's podcast, the move.

I'm thrilled for that. Regardless of their pasts, Bruyneel in particular is one of the best ever grand tour tacticians. His commentary will be valuable.

 

I have friends on one of the teams and have spent lots of time with the staff (mechanics, masseurs, soigneurs)
Many have been there for a long time and therefore worked with Lance, Bruyneel, Contador, Nibali.....

There are two things that are unanimous. The most liked individual is Nibali. The most disliked, Bruyneel.

Now that is interesting. I dont have any direct knowledge of Bruyneel, but a few riders I know claimed Nibs is an absolute knob. Granted these were riders on opposing teams and didn't work with him so I have to take that for what its worth.

Also one more thing to add as a disclaimer: I wouldn't doubt the Bruyneel is an absolute **** just like Lance was. I still think they were amongst the best in a universally doped era.

Edit to remove some language. That isn't as popular in some places as it is here. Apologies.

I did notice a slight bias from the Italians :-) Also, most opinions came from staff, not riders.

I am certain that Antonio's rivals showed slight bias as well. ;) Well they weren't his "rivals" but more of worker bees on opposing teams.

I know I'm getting way ahead of myself, but the final TT stage looks really interesting. The climb is short, probably only a 8ish minute effort for these guys, but the descent is not so steep that they can just tuck and coast. They'll probably have huge big rings and have to do some pedaling as it doesn't look too technical in terms of turns either. It's going to be interesting to see how the GC riders pace it as I imagine they'll be right on the edge of throwing up from a VO2 effort, but still have to manage some recovery and hammering the descent immediately after. Factor in that it's for all the marbles and you may see guys push themselves over that VO2 edge and blow up spectacularly.

I know these guys are pros, but for myself personally, I see stage 9 as much easier to plan for given it's longer, a steady threshold type effort and the variation in power shouldn't be too drastic even as the grades change.

Not to mention all the risks taken on the descent...

So are we picking? GC podium and classifications? (just one pick for each jersey, figure you get three shots total to get one right)

I'll make picks just for banter's sake...

Podium
Dumpoulin
Yates
Lopez

Only reason I'm not picking Roglic is to be different. That and I have a feeling that he may have peaked too soon.

Points - Viviani
Polka Dot - Geoghegan Hart
White - Lopez

This is far too hard but I'll swing:

Podium: Roglic, Dumoulin, Yates
Points: Viviani
Polka Dot: De Gendt
Young Rider: Lopez

I really want to pick Jungle Bob for 3rd, but I think they are better suited as a team to support Viviani.

Edit: Updating formatting and changing it up a bit and I can't make my mind up damnit.

Podium: Nibali, TD, Roglic — Think this one belongs to TD but am following your lead and going with sentimental pick ftw

Points: Viviani
Mountains: Majka
BYR: Geoghegan holds for a while but Lopez takes it home again

I think it's purely for bantz


you need to narrow that list a bit :p

-------------------------------------------------------------

Podium: Dumoulin, Yates, Roglic

Points: Yates

Mountain: Yates

BYR: Ooman

? That list has all the requirements. Formatting makes it look off

Podium
Roglic, Yates, Dumoulin

Points: Viviani

Mountain: De Gendt

Young guy: Sivakov

Podium- TD Yates Formolo

Roglic does the big fade.....or maybe he just keeps crushing

Points- Viviani

Mountains- Carapaz

Youngster- Ben O'Connor

It looks like the TT start list has been updated to accommodate the thunderstorms expected. The favorites will be going first.

Pink: TD, Yates, Roglic

Points: Gaviria

Mt.: Pozzovivo

Young: Carapaz

The kicker at the end of the stage is quite gnarly. Something like 2km at 9.5%, and the gradient varies a bit.

Used in the finish at Giro d’Emilia, which is often won by punchers. Someone like Ulissi could do well

It's going to be interesting to see how Yates' gambles pays off. (going 3rd-to-last when all the other GC guys decided to go early to avoid possible rain).

It might not be a bad gamble. He'll know all the time splits, and he'll have the slower sprinters and domestiques on the course that might provide slingshot drafting gains.

But if the roads are drenched it could be ugly, with, I count, 6 sharp turns that he'd have to slow way down for.

Nibali quickest for now, Bahrain-Merida balling with the McLaren 570s hauling their bikes up the hill lol

Edit: Roglic spanks him badly, 23s quicker.. Let's see if he can keep this form

Given who its owner is, I won't be surprised if that thing ran on the blood and tears of political prisoners. Real piece of work, that Sheikh Nasser

Roglic is really effing strong, almost absurdly strong

Yeah I remember a quote from earlier this year from a Belgian cycling show on tv where one of his ex-team mates was telling a story from a training camp they we're at when Roglic was still new at Lotto-Jumbo. They had Robert Gesink who's known in the team as a Wattage canon, and they had to do 6' intervals and on the last one Gesink went all out and nobody could follow him, apart from Roglic who was sitting in his wheel and right at the end Roglic just pulls away. So Gesink was like 'Who does he think he is and he'll see and this and that's. Apparently that's Roglic's strength, almost nobody matches him for 5' power.

Speaking of Gesink, what did happen to him? I remember him doing brave efforts in the Canadian 1-day races, with the pain of the effort etched onto his face. Thought his win at GP Quebec was very nicely done, as it came from sprinting from a small group. He was mixing it up in the Tour and Giro as well, but seemed to have faded a bit?

No idea to be honest, he was supposed to be the main man to help out Roglic together with De Plus in the Giro. Unfortunately he broke his collar bone and fractured his pelvis in a crash in Liège-Bastogne-Liège..

didn't he have AFib a few years back, had to take time off and get it taken care of

It will be interesting if he can hold this world beating form to week 3. He's just been totally on fire early this year.

Who knows, maybe gravity will catch up sooner or later? If I were his team director, i'd want to punt the responsibility of the jersey away. While Roglic may have it for three weeks, his teammates may not be able to provide adequate support for three weeks. Let someone else in the break take it.

I'm surprised at how strong Nibbles' time is on Stage 1. I think many are writing him off for the GdI win and I also think that his win is moderately high odds. But he came out today and lost little time, at least keeping him in the hunt and everyone else guessing. Dumolin's performance? I dunno. All of the smack happens in two weeks. He may be building into great form over then next 10 days while Roglic (maybe) fades having tried to hold outstanding form too long. With Yates in the mix, I'm looking forward to this year's GdI...

I wonder if the Japanese rider Hiroki Nishimura on last place today (+4:36) will be allowed to start tomorrow. The rules are +30% of winner’s time but the officials have the last word...

Nope, he's listed as OTL. He was more than a minute behind the next-to-last guy. Wonder if he had a mechanical or something?

*pink*

Tommy is doing a Froomey and starting underdone so he can peak for the last week of Giro and carry the form into Le Tour for a double attempt.

Yeah I was surprised how fast Nibali went today. That is until tonight when I watched the video replay. Everyone else's police escort was about 150m ahead of the rider. Nibali's moto escort was only about 20m ahead they whole way. I think it made a 20 sec difference or so. I guess that's called home field advantage!

You need to show more respect!!!

This is far and away going to be the best grand tour. I think Froome and Ineos win TdF easliy (barring a crash). The Giro should be epic. Love Nibali commenting that Yates shouldn't be publicly declaring himself as the favorite. Let's get it on!

That’ll for sure be an interesting stage. Also, noticed that some of the Specialized sponsored riders were on the Shiv TT Disc. I believe I saw Majka and one of the Quickstep guys on one.

Yates was clearly being tongue-in-cheek when he said that. It might have been lost in translation when reading about it instead of seeing it live. But if it causes drama, I'm all for it.

I think. He's British FFS.

also

Roglic: A vulgar display of power today.

also

As a team Jumbo look dialed in on their TT bikes. They have all year.

Agreed. Yates was not being serious. Nibali made a comment about not being sure if he was being serious. Either way, let's hope it's a good race.

The net- it's on.
Nibs maybe gets moto help? Of course, It's Italia.
What a venue for the opener! Aesthetic. It's about the aesthetic. We can debate the physics and technologies but the bedlam and drama makes the race.

can he hold it for 3 weeks? that is the question...

GREAT TT for Niballi, he didn't lose THAT much time.

Mehhh TT for Tom, even on crappy legs he should be able to do better

Yates, was his normal good

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Good call, Bora.

real turn of speed; that was impressive

the camera was zoomed onto Ewan, and all the sudden you see the German Tricolor flashing past

the finale was not as hard as it looked i guess, as most of the peloton managed. Tomorrow (and maybe Tuesday) are probably going to come down to a sprint

Hey this is par for the course in Italy....they did the Nike sub 2 hrs marathon event in Monza



No proof here of any Monza effect, but let's just say this camera shot is telephoto lens and Nibali does not have his nose in the camera guy's lens

for bantz, I know Sagan is not at the Giro, but man he could use a more flattering haircut

So, is there anywhere to watch the race on TV? In the US? Without having to pay 15/month,or whatever it may cost?

flobikes.com is not that expensive and you can cancel your membership after the Giro is over.

Yes, $12.50 for a 3 week tour plus all the other races available is a great deal if you enjoy excellent race coverage.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

In other news, Travis McCabe almost got him at the line in Sacramento. That would have been cool.

Sagan got his race groove back, now just needs to work on style game. McCabe was impressive pushing him all the way to line. Heads up racing on his part.

One of the best weeks of year to watch bike racing— Giro for breakfast and Tour of Cali for mid-afternoon snack (for us left coasters). Big slog up to Tahoe in latter today.

it's just that the haircut makes him look, umm, really rotund; other than that, agreed on all points


Indeed; smart riding surfing wheels

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Almost beat a guy who took two weeks off the bike......kind of scary what his base level of fitness is like.

Also not sure on the Vivanni DQ, in real time i did not see any real issues other than a messy sprint. Re-watching i can kind of see of the issue, but come on its Trek, they can't win anything anyways.

There have definitely been worse cases where a sprinter moved off his line but wasn't relegated. Maybe Segafredo complained?

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Given Viviani is the points favorite, I can guess a number of teams may have complained.

That said, if I was the commissaire, I would have DQ'd after watching the replay. Not the most egregious move, but certainly Viviani was moving left to shut the door, and in doing so, came across another rider's (who initially had a clear path to the line) front wheel.

In any case...the Giro is shaping up rather well. Looks like there will be great GC action, and the points battle is also wide open now.

I don't disagree, but that's some selective enforcement... They need to enforce it better across the board.

Nice ride from our man Tejay in Tahoe.

No longer a favorite. A loss of 50 points and another 50 point penalty. The Giro fucked their own.

Yeah, the Giro shot itself in foot. Like when TdF kicked Sagan out two years ago. Uh, isn’t the idea to want people to watch their fav riders??? He did deviate but didn’t look that egregious, or that he shut the door into barriers.

Gaviria was pissed as well. He did not want that.

Gonna be significant time gaps in the GC today

Dumoulin is done for GC...sucks

you really wished that he'd have sat his a** down just a bit longer and put in one ginormous attack as opposed to what he did yesterday

i'm still not sure if he has it to win it all, but there aren't that many talented climbers this year


you wonder if Viviani were caught pissing in the breakfast of the commissars or something. 50 points is ridiculous. There's that one Giro stage a decade back when Bettini straight up checked a dude into the barriers; mere relegation and no point deduction.


that seems like a really shitty way to lose time; ugh

Wonder when TD throws in the towel and turns Giro into TdF training and stage hunting.

that assumes his knee is mostly unscathed

doesn't look like it though; he pedaled up that hill very gingerly

[/quote]
Give him a break. Attacking is a completely new thing for him.

Surely he must have attacked at some point in the past, but I don't recall ever seeing anything from him but sitting on wheels.

Yesterday he rode with panache, first in working to establish the break and then in the finale. Was delightful to see. Maybe we'll see a revival of TJ.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Pretty sure he had to attack some point in his stage win at the 2017 Giro

Didn't realize he got a 50 point deduction. I think I checked the points standings a little after he was relegated and it still showed him on the board given his 2nd place finish on stage 2. Must not have accounted for the deduction at that time. That's lame.

Anywho, I’d like to see him defend it. Was aggressive riding from EF. Would be disappointing to see them ride otherwise.

Kid Carapaz showed some panache today. Nice moving within that split and then holding off Ewen.

That was a great stage for the GC. It was the one where Nibali and Quintana would not work with Dumoulin when Pinot attacked. Most of the coverage was of the GC battle.

TJ managed to get in a big break. All the images at the end showed him sitting on Landa's wheel (last two of the breakaway). Not surprising he won the sprint at the end. Maybe he did some work -- but I don't recall seeing it. Seemed kinda like Hincapie's TDF win. But that may just be false impression due to unlucky TV coverage. Cyclingnews article says he and Landa "worked together."

But yesterday was panache.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Lack of consistency applying penalties here, and then you throw in the buzz kill aspect.

No need to go the NFL route where the superstars can do no wrong and they end up getting preferential treatment, but they went overboard in lowering the boom this time. If/when Viviani pulls out of this Giro there will be a few fewer fans following the race. Throw in Dumoulin's crash today, and some of the promising story lines to this year's Giro are going to be missing.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Tim for Tom to pull the plug, recover and prepare for the Tour.

I want him to smash the s*** out of Froome and Sky

Most boring stage of the year award going on at TOC right now. Kirby on Eurosport is clearly out of stories and that is saying something.

The one thing I was happy about TD's crash is that he'll hopefully go full tilt for the TdF. Maybe it'll actually be a race.

Stage was about as exciting as a 20-minute Tejay interview. At least Ben finally gets Dimension on podium in '19.

Damn, Kasper Assgrab. Classics motor, can climb and apparently sprint. Lefevre's next great find.

INEOS........but yeah

but not live on nbcsn tonight?

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http://www.PatGriskusTri.com USAT Certified Race Director
2024 Races: USAT State of CT Age Group Championship/State of CT HS Champs/ CT Club Championship - Sat June 15th (Oly/Du/Sprint) Hopkins Vineyard Tri at Lake Waramaug Saturday July 13th http://www.HopkinsVineyardTri.com

I thought he had a good shot at another bunch sprint (for 4th) today, but he just mis-timed it and got swarmed just before the line.

Gutted for Alex Hoehn who was out there all day, just utterly cracked like 6K from the line. On the plus side he does get to wear the KOM jersey tomorrow.

Cavagna descending was bizarre. I thought he was going to pass out or something. But then he had a wattage bazooka ready for the flat ~15K to the line....Dudes in Knicks...everyone just takes turn winning. Except Viviani this week.

Yeah that kid Hoehn had a good ride. Mt. Hamilton is hard especially on the way down. That descent has bad pavement and weird, tight corners. It’s like a farm road compared to the road up the other side. Watching him descend made me feel less bad about how I’ve ridden it.

In other news,

Asked by Spanish sports daily AS afterwards what had happened, Landa told the newspaper, "That fucking Yates. He’s mentally retarded. He rides like a madman and he made me fall."

Made me laugh out loud. Who hasn’t vented like this after a race? Yates handled it well.

In other other news, I’ll be interested to hear what particular flavor of doping Koren et al we’re doing.

In other other other news, just read Charly Wegelius’ book, Domestique. As much a fan boy as I am of EF, he sounds like a dick. Or maybe he was just in his 20’s and gets a pass.
Rode for Diluca for several years but didn’t know nothing about nothing, threw his British team under the bus in the WC rr for $2500 from the Italians, and left his pro team for another team after agreeing to renew. He does a lot of rationalizing. Good book though.

Blood doping courtesy Dr Schmidt

Cavagna looked drunk. I've ridden that decent and the road isn't great, but he looked out of it. QS can't help but to win everything. Awesome ride by Hoehn as well. He was SPENT.

Dumoulin has abandoned the Giro. And it's another day of wet and gloomy weather. Hopefully things perk up.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

I was surprised he even bothered starting today. Hope he recovers well and prepares to smash le Tour.

Apparently the GC riders agreed to neutralize after the first pass through the circuit today. Probably a smart idea...today's been pretty shit at the Giro.

On the plus side I'm going to get to meet some of the women at the Tour of California today. Very excited about that. I had passes to meet some of the men on the weekend as well. Daniel Oss was definitely the highlight. Very outgoing.

Going to be another boring-ass Tour of Cali stage, hope you stay dry! Already raining here in North Bay.

Not spectating the men's race today thankfully. Going to do the women's meet and great and then headed to the hills to visit with relatives.

Man on man, helluva sprint by Ackermann. Had to double clutch it and still smashed Gaviria.

DQS gave textbook leadout but Viviani just lost wheel. Can’t be happy with the time one.

Agreed. Talk about being impeded. I questioned Bora's choice of sprinter before the Giro. Looks like they got that right though!

And Pascal is one of the better first names in the peloton.

Kasper Asgreen is an interesting name too.

Pascal is certainly an ace name. Which brings the question, who has the best name in the peloton?

Rob Power
Winner Anacona
Lars Boom

I'm missing 100s. Enlighten me.

Apparently DQS has been awarded tomorrow's stage victory too, so that they could bang out two-days worth of podium ceremonies today.

Poor Tejay, can't turn right. Broken chain: bad, bad, luck. But come on, even if brakes are English-style, it's a freaking highway off-ramp, not a Flemish goat path.

hah - he does seem to make a lot of his own luck

well his bad luck seems to have been adjudicated - don't understand how at all

I was sorry for Tejay. But that ruling is BS. Not watching TOC anymore. What a joke.

And is drafting behind team car allowed now?

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

I think I saw Bennett tucking in nicely behind his team car in Stage 2 when he was off the back

My mistake, it was Danny Van Poppel

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

First Viviani and now this, two abysmal rulings in one week that have major implications on race. Well done UCI.

Feel bad that Tejay crashed but EF petitioning he got held up—outside of 3k, not to mention after missing turn and being off the back—reinforces my opinion of them as a bunch of cry babies.

Tejay is a head case. He was being talked down off the ledge by his wife when the favorable ruling came down. Dude is his own worse enemy, seems like.

Moving on, I'm interested in the young riders' in the Giro. I think Carthy is going to get some air time in the mountains.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...n-garderen-decision/

'Is it because he’s American? I don’t know. I hope not' says Deceuninck team boss

That's kinda fucked up

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Agree, totally unacceptable decision. Honestly, i have no clue what is doing on these days with the UCI rules enforcement. He snapped his chain, that is his problem. There is zero guarantee he would have gotten back on and with the mistakes in the turn that is his fault. Then the crash happened, but at that point he was not back yet.

Edit: he also sat on the cars for most of the way back which should have resulted in a penalty.

Kinda seems like the case. And with the UCI's ineptitude they managed to piss off a team sponsored by one of the biggest and long-term supporters of the sport in Specialized.

Like DQS sending their youngsters to cut their teeth at Cali, maybe the UCI does the same to groom future bureaucrats, and encourage creativity in f*cking up the sport.

First week of the Giro isn't that exciting to watch but certainly has some drama with Roglic and Yates both throwing themselves on the tarmac today. Ready for the GC battle to start in earnest but looks like a few more days before that happens.

I remember watching Joe D smoke Tejay up Flagstaff in Boulder. Joe, I think is temperamentally suited to being a good domestic. Tejay (sort of to his credit) has to be the man and shoulder the leader responsibility, which isn't easy and so he punches over his weight. I thought he'd make a very solid dom in the mountains for many teams and be content but no. I like that he's still willing to fight it out but it's painful at times to watch.

Holy shit!!! Did you see Dumoulin's knee?



Johann was talking about it on the podcast, and I just had to google it

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

i liked Uran signaling the next turn to TJ after he missed the first turn

Saw that, thought it was pretty heads up to recognize that Tejay was having a code red moment. Riggo is one of the good guys, which makes you wonder why in the world he's on that team.

 


One of those once in a thousand chances that Levefre is actually right and justified

I didn't know that Sunweb rode disc brakes.

Good day for the break today in the Giro. Good tactical choice by Roglic to get rid of the pink jersey for a bit. Some other team can drive for a bit.

Crap news came down today. No more Fleche and Liege for the women's teams. They wanted 45 minutes of live tv coverage and the organizers said they couldn't provide it...

In Tejay's defense (kinda hate to do this as I'm not really a fan) but reason I saw attributed to his missing the turn was that the brakes on his teammate's bike are opposite of his in terms of which lever operates front/back. I think that quite many riders could have had the same problem in the turn.

But still, UCI decision to award him the same time is bogus. I've tried to like EF but protesting for that win was crappy. Will be hard to pull for Uran in tour (but I will).

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Speaking of EF crap, Formolo got away from EF/ Slipstream/Vaughters and now in a nice move and a solid squad. I don't think they're going to let him get away today. Carl, why you be hatin' on EF? They came very close to vaporizing not long ago. They could be vaping CBD and racing for Floyd right now.
I think they had to lobby to keep knucklehead Tejay in yellow. A world tour team just trying to get by. The UCI refs are and always will be political shills.

Very sold squad. Bora Hansgrohe is impressive. Founded in 2010 they were fifth in wins last year and currently are third with 23, only three of which I believe are by Peter Sagan. When Sagan went to Bora I was wondering what he was thinking going to a smaller, newer team, but clearly he was wise.

Last year EF was third from bottom with 7 wins. To their credit they have managed to equal that total so far this year.

I saw Tejay quoted as saying EF did not protest to get the gift a couple days ago, but the cyclingnews stories at the time said they did.

Meanwhile, pace today in Giro was 45 kph. Brutal. Formolo should have picked up enough time to move ahead of the other GC contenders. -- I see he is even with Roglic.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Who to believe? However, I don't have a huge problem with a team protesting something. But the decision by the race jury was questionable (to say the least). There's certainly room to find fault with the race jury.

And now, Gaviria is out of the Giro. The sprint stages have lost a little more sizzle.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Good on Higuita for giving this a go, but I'm not sure he is going to hold on. It will be close, but he looks to be in the red. Tadej looks like he is letting off of Bennet. Very exciting!

WTF is going on with Sram AXS? Porte just dropped a chain.

at least the parcours mostly mooted the decision of the stupid race jury, though whoever end up finishing just below TJvG won't be too pleased.


too bad, as the two main group sprint stages are next week; if there's anything more boring that a flat sprinter's stage, it's a flat sprinter's stage missing a few top sprinters

Tejay can’t turn right and Higuita can’t turn left, apparently.


And apparently the sprinters aren’t digging the jump from 11 to 10t cog.

haha lovely post and you are spot on.

Higuita can clearly climb; wtf he did on that turn is beyond me. You could see his anger at the finishing line too. That said the peloton should take notice. He can handle the longer sustained efforts and he also has a kick like a donkey. He will never take GC when there are flat TTs, but we have a pure climber on our hands with punch.

Speaking of someone who has no problem turning either direction, MvDP had no trouble easing back into MTB by winning the XCC World Cup race yesterday.

and Kate C takes it on the women' side; tomorrow should be fun

Kate dropped the hammer today, impressive win. Red Bull TV has awesome free coverage.

She was strong!

On the men's side who/what team is responsible for Jumbo's TT setup this year? The whole team looks amazing regarding setup.

They do look good! And Astana a bit messy. Secure those damn helmet straps!

Great job by Haga!

Roglic eating up Yates so far.

The hot seat cam is hilarious. "Here's Victor fidgeting for 30 seconds while sitting alone. Enjoy."

Roglic has big watts and low CdA. Super impressive for a GC guy.

For some reason I think Marcag is affiliated with Astana. Any info on their setup for TTs?

Victor is a superb TT rider

Don't know anything about Astana's setup.

Yeah, Victor looking more and more solid, though haven't seen Roglic's splits yet.

Awful rides by Angel Lopez and Yates.

Edit: Damn! Roglic is a monster.

Tough luck for Campanaerts; that's stinks. He had to lugged himself up a hill and still had a time that compares favorably to what the GC contenders did.

Anyone knows what caused the mechanical?

Roglic is a monster. 1+ minutes on all the GC riders. I wonder if he does the double this year.

Major beatdown from Roglic and big rides from Mollema and Nibali. Disastrous for rest of GC contenders.

Bummer for Victor about bike change, likely cost him the W.

He will kill once he comes back to triathlon.

I thought today was the rest day. Doh!. What do you want to know about their setup ?

Lopez is on the new disc brake bike. Him and Cataldo. Some of the Tour riders will also be on them.

Reportedly he said it was a dropped chain. Then he changed bikes. Surely that would have cost him 11 seconds. On the other hand, he had dry roads when he went.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Aside from Roglic it was a good day for Nibali. He’s quietly lurking, while Yates, Lopez, Carapaz and Landa will almost certainly get desperate, unpredictable and on the attack soon than later. This could be a drag-out race to the very end.

A couple of stages Friday and Sat that look like opportunities to throw a few punches at Roglic. I agree, Nibs is solid. Roglic should have a chink in the armour at some point. If not, well. I ain't seen nothin'.....

There are some young dudes with nothing to lose ready to throw down. Ricky the Paz, Hugh the Carthy, J Knox, Benny O'Connor. Sep is going to have to be the cooler for Roglic but it would be fun to see him up the road.

If I'm wrong, Tour of Estonia is on tap.

Sep keeps having the dial turned up on him. First it was playing in the hills of CA with Bennett. Then it was play backup climbing domestique to De Plus. Now the dial is turned to 11. At some point he's going to be the last guy standing between Roglic and the other GC guys.

Two interesting take-always from the TT.

Whoever has been working with EF on their TTs deserves an at-a-boy. Two guys who aren’t noted TT riders in the top 10 is a great result.

Vini Nibbles has a new Rudy lid. GCN mentioned that this was part of Bahrain Merida’s collaboration with McClaren, which might explain why the exhaust vent at the back looks like the Specialized. I bet Rohan Dennis is relieved that he won’t be pressured to wear the old Rudy turd for the rest of the season.

sure wish this Tuesday's stage was rolling with decent amount of ascent after rest day - guess following Tuesday 28th will catch a few out; its a monster day

I agree, I was shocked to see a perfectly flat race tomorrow. Seems they want to give the pure sprinters maximum chance of a stage win before things get too hard for them (on the rolling or high mountain stages).

Jack

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
Sponsors: SciCon | | Every Man Jack

For entertainment purposes, I'm hoping that Nibali goes on the attack early and tests his descending skills for 50+ km after the Passo Gavia. Would be awesome to watch him going full gas on such a long descent with a reduced GC field trying to chase him. Because the alternative (if the GC group and teammates crest the Passo Gavia together) seems like such a waste of an insanely long descent.

Pretty dull stage today. But the following comment from the Cyclingnews.com live commentary was funny.

His telemark podium salute aside, Primoz Roglic’s self-containment is such that he makes Miguel Indurain seem like Conor McGregor.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Tomorrow is dull as well; ugh

Bring on the mountains!

For most everyone other than Ackermann, it was a snoozer. Looking forward to Thursday and things finally heading up.

The good news is once we hit Stage 12...it will be on for the rest of the tour with the exception of stage 18. I suspect a lot of sprinters will be turning themselves inside out to make time cuts on stages 12-17 just for one last chance before packing it in.

You can do what I do, and if you're watching on eurosport tweet the commentators and try and get them to mention whatever you wrote. So far I'm 1 for 2.

Declan Quigley is one of the announcers and his handle on Twitter is @DQSport

Really helps make boring flat sprint stages a bit better

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_________________________________________________
When all is said and done. More is usually said than done
Ba Ba Booey

Not bad

better question is, is your Twitter handle Turd Ferguson or your real name?

Or any relation to turdburgler?

Yeah, that'll be one of the fun side-shows. That worked out for Kristoff in last year's TdF - he dropped Sagan, Gaviria, and Kittel in the mountains so had a relatively easy gallop down the Champ-Elysees.

Edit: Didn't drop Sagan. Just beat him in the sprint.

Turds from a different mum.

Yes

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_________________________________________________
When all is said and done. More is usually said than done
Ba Ba Booey

Come on, you don't know the Turd Ferguson reference?

Well done, by the way, Turd.

He reminds me of Denny Menchov.
Sorry..........

Of course I do, but I doubt Norm McDonald registered it, so technically someone else could use it?

Ouch. McNulty comes our swinging

do you think Roglic might slip on his a** in the final TT, a la Menchov?

That was cool.
Prior to the final tt though, if Roglic doesn’t have a jour sans, the Menchov comparison might stick.

That gave me a chuckle. Honestly though, he seems very composed. A lifetime of professional sports probably helps with that.

And ready for a 2nd life in a corporate PR department dispensing bland, sanitized corporate press releases.

It will be a fine 3rd career for him!

At a minimum he doesn’t disguise being a stone cold killer. And I don’t disagree about your other comment either.

A buddy told me a story about Roglic. At the UAE Tour he rolled up to Cav and asked “what are you doing here?” To which Cav replied with a “wtf do you mean, it’s a bike race” kind of response. Roglic’s reply was “no, why are you right here in the peloton at this point in race? I want to learn.” Apparently Cav was taken aback that he misinterpreted Roglic’s question, and then was impressed that he was seeking advice in such a manner.

Will give Roglic credit—he might be stoic but he’s got balls to do that.

Imagine if he'd rolled up to Sagan

"Me? I just here to make party"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

"Stress? What is stress?"

That's a cool story. Speaks well of him.

I got to meet and ride with him a bit at GF Valais last year. Seemed like a solid dude, quite unassuming. Was envious of my non-UCI legal R5 ;-)

"Peloton?"

Did anyone catch the report that Milan Erzen from Bahrain-Merida is being linked to Operation Aderlass?

Oooh Erzen was also Prince Nassar's Ironman trainer.

Yeah, not good optics for team or Slovenian riders. Sort of wonder if Nibali saw that coming and was a reason behind him wanting to get out of there.

"Have a Gummi Bear"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Hahahaha....very good

Wow.
Eddie Dunbar!
Benedetti is one tough mofo.

Good stage. Got to be some alarm bells going off for Roglic with his guys disappearing from front on first climb of race. It's definitely not over.

Real s*** about to hit the fan tomorrow. SHould be great

Not sure today was the best of stages to expend energy (referring to Angel Lopez and Landa). Two tough days coming up; I hope they recover sufficiently

If today portends of how the race will go down I'll put my money on Nibali stealing it.

rain and 45F for a high tomorrow I think - i'm with you, I think Nibali has some opportunities to steal time
interested to see how the team support pans out

Slovaks 1-2 in GC right now and first at the ToC. That country is really having a fantastic time at GC at the moment.

I thought that move on the climb was a little impatient, though aggressive- which is nice.
There was a lot of road left after the climb for them to really get away.
Roglic dangled in Nibs group and it looked like he was getting gapped but in retrospect, he was just so strong that he didn't worry about a little push to get back on. Cool cat. Hope those little pushes don't come back to haunt him.

Nibs looking like a danger dude.

Slovenians.

Yeah. Losing de Plus hurt. The other domestiques are good, but young and were nowehere to be found. Roglic acquitted himself well.

How about my boy Dunbar! Great result for him. Score one for the local lads!

Doh! Of course. Sorry, Peter and Juraj.

what's that saying from Princess Bride? Never count out a Sicilian when death is on the line? Nibali is ruthless when the conditions are horrid and is also quite good at ambushing.


you should be docked 5 points in next year's Spring Classics Pick'em for poor command of geography :p

Forgive him for he just wants to make party.

"I don't must nothing in the life, just die."

Fingers crossed for harsh, nasty conditions and gritty racing tomorrow, ideal for Nibs to pop a bottle of vintage Sicilian whoop ass. Aside from Mollema, not sure if any of the GC guys have been on the receiving end of him at his cutthroat best.

haha

There was a post race interview with him once that I love. The reporter wanted to know why he went in the break for the 3rd day in a row. Sagan's response: I have big balls

We have a nickname for Peter around here: PMFS - Peter M Fn Sagan

Not really a GC guy this time around (although about as close as most of them so far), but Esteben Chaves knows all about Nibali attacking in the Giro.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

I have to believe his boys were called off to save it for the next 2 days. It would be a really bad sign for him if he's going to be isolated that easily.

If his team is that vulnerable, expect the same thing to happen tomorrow...GC attacks on a steep (9.6 km at 8.5% avg) climb 60 km out and teammates in the early break dropping back to support if they do get away as there is significant "flat-ish" riding before the last climb picks up.

I don't care how fit Roglic is...if he has to chase himself with Nibali in tow...he's eventually going to pay a price.

ETA: It was interesting though to see the other GC guys take up the chase on Landa and Lopez while Roglic stayed at the rear. Were Nibali and Majka really that concerned about losing time as compared to looking to Roglic?

It looks like the efforts were not out of the park. One strong 2min effort and some short 15sec efforts.

But nothing out of the park.

If we weren't already excited enough for tomorrow, GCN on YouTube put this together climbing the finale for stage 13.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfm_y0OJmN4

Not a bad watch.

Ohh, and allow me to toot my own horn again as I got another mention on the Eurosport broadcast because of Twitter. I should see if I can get him to mention Slowtwitch

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_________________________________________________
When all is said and done. More is usually said than done
Ba Ba Booey

thanks for that - it was fun;
which of those three bikes would you choose ?

Speaking of Eurosport, do you say “torty” for thirty, like your countryman Sean Kelly?

Damn, that climb is a brute, should be some fireworks.

@ Jason - Roglic got lucky today that there was enough cooperation to limit gains by Landa and Lopez. Got to wonder if at some point the other GC guys will play chicken and let em go up the road or force Roglic to do the work and preserve lead. Especially with teams like Movistar & Mitchelton having multiple threats.

The Bianchi for sure. Beautiful all around bike. Welp, they all are for that matter.

I did like how they were closing on the one guy from Italy for having mechanical Ultegrra

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_________________________________________________
When all is said and done. More is usually said than done
Ba Ba Booey

In all reality I’ve never heard him say that because every time I hear him commentating I fall asleep. He’s definitely not the liveliest

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_________________________________________________
When all is said and done. More is usually said than done
Ba Ba Booey

Yeah, trail the armchair GC guy would have totally sat up and stared down Roglic-the-Slovak. I thought Roglic was pushing the boundaries of etiquette a bit too hard. I totally get not working. But at least when you're at the front do the courtesy of pulling through so that guys don't have to work to come around you. When people are working in your interest, at least stay out of their way. Because payback can be a bitch.

Just rewatched the descent and run in. Roglic was super lucky.

I think there were enough riders (and teammates) in that group that wanted to protect podium chances against Landa and Lopez. That and the last 22 km run in to the finish was mostly flat...so there wasn't a real risk of getting dropped in the last few kms of the stage just because you were contributing work to the chase. Not sure why Nibali (with Pozzovivo) and Yates (with Chavez) worked though as they should have played chicken given their clear goals to win.

Come tomorrow...it would be a different story if the same scenario played out. If Roglic is isolated on the Pian Del Lupo, with a couple GC guys up the road...nobody else is going to stick their nose in the wind from kms 151-189 except for Roglic. The rest of the GC is going to sit on him and try to light him (and others) up on the final 7 km pitch.

"I don't know. I fly through forest and heet my ass."

I noticed a lot of doms pulled the plug today pretty early. Tomorrow and Saturday loom large. I'd be very surprised if Roglic the Slovish guy didn't have more company tomorrow.

Really happy for Benedetti! I love it when one of the 2nd tier guys gets a major result. Work your ass off, suffer, work your ass off, suffer, suffer, work your ass off, suddenly (HEY!) get a major result.

Can't fake that smile!