indeed; tactically shrewd. wonder what Martin's thinking, as he had a decent chance of finishing on the podium

You can get the last 14 km (from when Pinot and Nibali already had their gap established on the main climb) on Steephill through ESPN3 in Spanish.

Agree that Pinot has been riding with tons of panache. Really glad he pulled it off.

Thanks. That was a real present.

Great finale. Loved the falling leaves on the road while climbing Civiglio. That was a real descent and Pinot wasn't pretty but if he could hold of Nibali, he's gotten rid of his descending demons.

Reminded me alot of 2015 where Nibali won on the descent of Civiglio. I wonder if he was thinking he might catch Pinot on the descent.

I see Pinot has been in the mix before, 3rd in 2015 and 4th in 2017 (indicating that he's been descending well for a while and I've just missed it). Certainly was his his turn.

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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

Also good to see Bernal up there near the end. He's probably a lot fresher than some of the other guys who went through the Vuelta and/or Worlds, but I imagine having major facial trauma isn't really an advantage either.

No doubt. Wonder how Bernal and Sosa will coexist on same team. Guess Sky’s way to preserve Froome’s dominance is to Hoover up who could beat him. <Yawns>

Been a heck of a year. Operation Puerto names on the way. Sit tight. Endlessly entertaining.

I predict it'll be something of an anti-climax. There's a real good chance that Valverde is the only one still active (and we already know about him), and all the others have either already been outed or will be met with a European "but of course..."

"mais bien sur"..........got that from a Grey Poupon commercial................my boy Joe D. is re-signed....some drama there but they're spinning it pretty good........hope he finds a niche......i've always thought with a little beefing up he could be a good one day guy

Along with an update on Valverde's dog's blood values, least there's some good CX racing to get us through long, cold winter. I'm sure Sagan will be peddling some weird new products too.

i want to see the soccer players get named



perhaps still prevalent, but they spotlight isn't nearly as harsh