Hope Giro Dog didn't get hurt; it looked scared & confused, and had itself in a defensive/submissive pose (head, hips, and tail down)

That was almost a legit thumping

Who had Stage 10?

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

UAE called everyone’s bluff today; Bardet in the fight for stage and a good GC position.

Keep it up and we're all going to have to chip in for another beer glass. Nice work!

All-time form.

kudos - you even said brothers plural. they way he rode the final hour of that race - is he a gc dude at some point?

also saw giro made the call on stelvio already. umbrail is pretty close to the top and not very technical (stelvio is hairpin mania). the base is exact spot where dumo made his pit stop (then rode the whole umbrail keeping the gc boys close - very impressive). the route through switz back to base of stelvio is fast n fun.

i feel like this race has been uber entertaining every stage, so I'd understand if wed and fri get a little chill. I can't tell if they'll race those tirreno walls on thursday hard (or not). I have to think some breakaway riders will!

No!!! Don't burden the bros with being the Next Great French GC Hope!!! There is only heartache and disappointment down that path. :) (like the guy who came in 2nd).

More seriously, while I think they'd be just fine trying for GC in 7-day stage races, I'd just let them have fun stage and KOM sniping in the Grand Tours for a while.

Couple summers ago we went up the Stelvio and down Umbiral, which was devine. The hairpins and flat corners of the Stelvio felt “better” to climb, and the Umbrial is an absolute Swiss marvel to descend with more sweepy, banked turns. Will have major fomo on that stage.

VPP might be able to ride for GC but to do so he'll need to work on his TT. A lot. Like really a lot.

<Andy Schleck has entered the chat.>

Balldet wins if graded on age and size curve. He's going great.

Giro Dog unscathed I hope. That was sketchy.

Decathlon got rid of the curse of the "shitty shorts" as Sean Kelly called them.

Senator Davis, this pick deserves a big, sheeeeiiiit!

It's the magic Van Rysel bikes. The riders have been high on them all year. PP bros once again bring the fun. Never let them race GC. They can't and are magic as animators of races.

The guy is listed as 5'9" and 114 lbs (52 kg). If he could build up to 59 kg (same size and height as Venga) then maybe, but so many of this French uber-climbers never look too comfortable on a TT bike.

The Decathlon marketing team must be ecstatic with how things have gone so far with AG2R. They're going to sell a ton of those bikes.

Agreed on the P-P bros... stay just what you are les gars. Keep the weight of the nation off your shoulders and keep it fun.

Stuyven threw some weight around to get Trek and Milan in the position they wanted. Milan looks so strong sprinting.

Some chaotic stuff there. Lot of bumping. I was pulling for Ewan given Jayco went all-in trying to position him, but nope. Hope Jakobsen and the other guys who went down are OK.

It's intense.

Merlier might get relegated on this one.

Milan is a true strongman sprinter, no subtlety about him.

Plus I think he's just so big and with so many large masses bone and muscle flying in a general radius around his bike that guys really don't seem to want to try bumping him off his line.

Sure hope he does get relegated

Milanimal.

8. Going to noodle on a good one for Jon Milan.

 

been wondering for a while ... when is someone gonna offer stites a wt contract??

I was unaware of him, but just was looking up the US men's TT results and noticed his name on the podium. Wow that's a strong ride. Bam Bam McNulty is showing his engine and setup are a step above everyone else who showed up.

Taylor Knibb had herself a great ride too to finish ahead of Faulkner.

I've been wondering the same thing with Stites. He's obviously in the neighborhood with wattage - but his results are amazing - he wins everything (beauce, redlands, gila). he finished up there in Maryland Pro last year (maybe 7 behind McGill in sprint from 2nd group). he made lead group in an early season race with Mads Pedersen (maybe finishing 5th? in rainy cold hilly stage).

I wonder what Knibb's win means for the Olympic spot - does she automatically get it (Dygert winning world's already has her spot)?
I guess I'd like to see Faulkner have a shot at that spot with such a close finish and her racing cred given this seemed like a tt on VERY non technical out n back course.

I hope they get decent weather for weekend road races - Stites has a team but that doesn't always help if McNulty, Powless, Quinn are ready to throw down.

I'll be curious if the spiky hills in Giro tomorrow provoke a gc response. If they do - Tadej might get win ratio back in the high 30s....