Ilnur actually descended well today in the break. It's Geoghegan Hart who needs to go to remedial bike riding school.

Roglic passed all the early tests so far IMHO. Did as little work as possible while managing his huge lead and preserving his matches...respecting what is yet to come. Tomorrow is going to be brutal, and I think he’s going to bring the hammer.

Despite that it looks like the GC race might be a race again after today. Roglic didn't look bad, exactly. But he certainly doesn't look invulnerable.

I'd agree with that assesment. His lack of teammates again worries me. Still, he races with intelligence. He does what he needs and no more.

How much did Yates lose?

and Yates won the Vuelta. That's a mic-drop worthy achievement for any racer. TJ won California, back when it wasn't as well attended.

Dunno, Roglic looked in a bad way at end. He’s stoic, but appeared to be empty. Nibs didn’t look great but is always hard to read and could have been saving it for another day. At a minimum, Roglic blinked, and Nibs is getting the grinder of a race that will suit him.

Landa is riding like a boss. Majka and Mollema also rode themselves back into it.

I feel for Yates . Bike racing is a bitch. As soon as you think you've got it all figured out, it shoves your nose into the dirt and laughs at you.

he looked like s***, to be honest

Zakahrin has a decent shot at podium

I think Nibs had a very, very, good day. 34 years old, really rode like the cagey vet- behind and next to Roglic which seems to be the Italian version of "the look", put the heat on him, and did not look shattered at the end. Looked like he had more to spare. Who knows? Maybe he pops tomorrow, maybe Roglic is super patient and played possum but didn't look like that was the case.

Kuss disappeared quickly after looking like he was out for a coffee ride early. Maybe, as was the case yesterday, they're saving bullets and he's on for tomorrow?

So many questions.....

I don't recall a GT winner who would not respond to attacks of gc rivals in the last 5km of a mountain stage. If Roglic can't go with Rafal Majka, he's not looking too good. Though perhaps Majka has a return to good form, and if so, good for him.

Also I'm pretty sure Roglic went backwards to Zakarin during the final climb. Not often that a GT champion rides a final climb slower than a man who's been in the breakaway and survives.

Here's who I think looked the strongest today (besides Zakarin) -- and missed so far in coverage and stories: Carapaz.

Carapaz was in the Roglic group and went when Majka went. But he finished 30 seconds ahead of Majka and only 18 seconds behind Landa. All that effort and work by Movistar teammates to give Landa a boost in GC, yet Carapaz -- completely on his own -- nets nearly the same GC gain.

Regarding Roglic, maybe he is just being careful and others will blow up tomorrow.

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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

We will see. I think all of the GC riders screwed up and no one believed the winner would be in the break (Ilnur). I don't think anyone was scared enough of Majka to go with him.

you are def right; Zakharin took a significant chunk of time out of Roglic and Nibali. Zakharin/Mollema were only 1 minute ahead Roglic (and 1 minute behind Joe Dombrow) at the foot of the climb, and Zakharin extracted another 1:45.

Mollema always seems to look like shit grinding on a huge gear, guess he knows
what works best for him but nobody else seems to be in such a huge gear
TFS with 3 in the break - doubt another team gets away with that again

fatigue in the teams will start to play out so next couple of days will be fun - and still think Tuesday will find someone out after the rest day

In any case, he no longer really has the luxury of being able to casually let guys go up the road.

It is refreshing that no teams have a Sky-like train that can drill it up the climb to prevent attacks until like the final 3km. Astana and Movistar seem like the best teams, but they can't control things for long. There are going to be attacks all over the road for days now.

That game of chicken needed to play out. I’d wager that Pozzovivo drove the pace to not chase guys up road but ensure Roglic’s teammates didn’t get back on and keep him isolated. He appeared completely befuddled as soon as Nibs sat in his wheel, which is not a good look.

I had a stream playing in my office this am. That final climb looked brutal, yet amazing with the snow banks on the side of the road. It's going to be interesting to see how Roglic, Nibali and Landa feel tomorrow. Another tough day. Yates' chance of winning appears to be over after his ride today.

Roglic has more time to play with than simply what he is leading by now. He has that time plus whatever else he is going to take out of every GC rider in the last TT. Because TD is no longer in the race, he has to take comfort in that and can therefore take a more conservative approach than what the current time splits might suggest. All the other guys not only have to catch him, they also have to gap him enough prior to Stage 21 to have any chance.

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

I agree. He’s overthinking it, trying too hard to ride “smart”, trying to figure out what to do instead of relying upon instinct he doesn’t have yet. You could see it yesterday in the chase group, not pulling through and quickly off, but rather, sitting off the back.

I don’t know if Nibs has the juice to pull it off but he’s going to keep schooling him for as long as he’s there.

Carapaz is something.

 
Great article in cyclingnews. A few quotes from the Shark:


and this:

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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

And that’s it right there—Nibs has 4 GTs and 3 Monuments. His legacy is cemented whether he wins this Giro or finishes 5th. IOW, he has nothing to lose, but Roglic certainly does.

The more guys who get back into it the worse for Roglic. At some point he won’t be able to let a move go up the road. Like tomorrow, Landa can sit on his wheel while Carapaz takes off. Whatcha gonna do then?

Yeah, he doesn't seem to have adjusted his GT tactics from sitting on Sky, which was great at the time when Sky could control the field every day. No one can control anything in this Giro. Sitting on Bahrain-Merida ain't going to work out for him. He may have to learn, and quick.

I think today was KJ management for Roglic, personally i thought he looked in control. With tomorrow being another hard day he had no real incentive. He knows Landa is in desperation mode to gain back time and in many ways i think he did the correct thing today by staying steady and letting Landa go. Tomorrow he has to be a bit more careful about time gaps, but still as long as he stays even with Nibali and Landa he can trust his TT. Tomorrows stage is shorter, with two Cat 1's, two cat 2's, and then a cat 3 finish. This is all about energy management and i think he is pretty smart. Time will tell.

Movistar had good tactics today and i will admit Roglic had good tactics as well. He is screwing with Nibali. He closed down nothing and i think in the end that is a good move for today and Tomorrow. Nibali has to eventually make a move but i think that will have to wait until week three.

looks like its on from the start, Roglic is covering moves and isolated already

The Jumbo domestiques all look like they're about 15 years old.

yeah Roglic team gathered itself and they do look like 15 yr olds, interested to seem how they last
up this next climb
announcers just said it avgs 9.8% - Kuss is leading Jumbo