I think if the others could have went when Nibali went, they would have. Probably wasn't a choice. Long race and fatigue. Such an exciting finish.
Wonder if Cav will call it a career. How many crashes can a body take?
Marty

I doubt it. In the past few years, attacks on the hill (that's what the term "Poggio" means) closer to the base usually got sniffed out, either at the top of the hill or on the flat run-in. There was supposedly a direct headwind (from the southwest), and they thought that any attempt would be futile, especially given that the peloton had been eating wind the whole day. Add to that Nibali's form (he got gapped by Sagan et al. in that classics-like Stage 6 of Tirreno), and people essentially thought it harmless.

What they didn't expect was that a) Nibali was on good form and b) the wind direction changed slightly to make it just a crosswind, so that it would have been harder to close down. Nibali's teammates also did a great job of temporarily blocking the road to delay the response any further, and by the time people had a chance to respond, it got cagey (as in one big contender was on the wheel of another big contender), which further aided the escape. Sagan is probably still smarting from getting beat in small-group sprints, which is why he elected to have Oss do the chasing (and wait for the sprint) as opposed to respond. There was also no concerted chase until FDJ took it up with about 1.5 km remaining. All this aided the attack.

This takes nothing away from Nibali though. Avg speed (including when he sat up) of the last 2km was 30 mph; last 1km 32 mph; last 500m an amazing 34 mph. To up the tempo when his muscles were soaked in lactic acid is simply amazing.

Cav's crash was truly scary. Very happy the doctor reported he had no serious injuries. What a terrible start to the year with his bad luck.

Also, killer race by Nibali! Perfect attack, his descending skills continue to be legendary and to hold off the peloton was just incredible.

As an aside..... I see that 21 year old former triathlete Neilson Powless (Lotto NL Jumbo) was selected by the team to race MSR. He had a mechanical, got back in and was near the front on the Cipressa. Then a flat on the Poggio took him out of the front group and finished 83rd +2:56. Neilson won the white jersey at Tour of California last year and it has been a joy for many of us who worked with him as a junior triathlete to see his development as a roadie.

Ian

---

Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
I like the pursuit of mastery
Twitter - @TriCoachIan

THIS!!!!

At least twice they got on the front and then slow it down during the last 3k

---

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

For the past twenty or so years, it's not often that a GT winner even lines up for a monument, much less with the intent of riding one in anger. (It's all Armstrong's fault.)

Great race by Nibali. Congrats!

---

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

Mad props to Nibali, that was brilliant. Wouldn’t think Sagan would chase him down and appeared he didn’t, and not enough firepower from any other team.

Few if any GT guys line up for monuments, let alone one for sprinters. Makes me route for him and Dumoulin that much more.

i must be in the minority here, as it looked like a pretty clean vault over that impediment with the impact being a nicely executed tuck and roll flip, judges all gave 10's. he's getting good at that kind of thing ;)
http://www.steephill.tv/...76812033&yr=2018

---

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

Few if any GT guys line up for monuments, let’s alone one for sprinters. Makes me route for him and Dumoulin that much more.


Yes - it's a bit old-school in these days of specialists in cycling.

When Nibali went away, I was cheering for him all the way to the line to hang on.

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

i must be in the minority here, as it looked like a pretty clean vault over that impediment with the impact being a nicely executed tuck and roll flip, judges all gave 10's. he's getting good at that kind of thing ;)


Not trying to be an ass, but I don't know if I would be making light of this. I think it's a bit miraculous that Cav is not more seriously hurt. He went full on, at 50kmh+ into that bollard. The one saving thing was that it did seem to have some serious padding on it. Despite the speed of the impact, the front wheel/fork was not broken, but the seat post was sheared off at the frame.

Had he landed on his head . . or in some other awkward position, I shudder to think what the outcome was.

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Lets not forget about Bardet killing it at Strada Bianchi, Bauke Mollema winning San Sebastian, so perhaps the tide is slightly starting to change (hopefully).

For sure, but neither of those are monuments or command the attention MSR or Lombardia get, eps considering Nibali has 3 monument wins and all 3 GTs. That puts him into legend status, IMO.

This is legendary indeed. Serious props. The guy has one all three grand tours and 3 monunments, and I REALLY REALLY thought he was in line for an Olympic medal until that crash on the spot that everyone else seemed to crash at! glad he recovered 100%. I really enjoyed his Giro Queen Stage win off the double Stelvio climb last year too essentially setting up his win on his crazy descent off Stelivio/Ubrailpass south side.

This is an article about the crash
https://cyclingtips.com/...rash-milan-san-remo/
Unfortuneately he has a fractured rib, but otherwise no major trauma.
The picture shows the front of the Cervelo, no apparent damage [ENVE Wheel] , however I suspect the bollard absorbed quite a lot of force.

People will be talking about the 2018 MSR finish for many years, Nibili really impressive from the Poggio onwards; he now has won all 3 GTs, plus 2 monuments.

---

res, non verba

I'd say with about 99.9 % certainty that if he doesn't crash at the Olympics he gets a meddle, I think the only question is which color.

latest tally now up

i think we actually did worse than our predictions for Strade. Dsmallwood did the best by picking correctly a podium place and an outsider

Damn I suck.

Cavendish sure does crash a lot.
No Cavendish = more exciting TDF last year, just saying!

I actually like Cavendish, but lately he is taking too many chances/risks leading to bad outcomes.

Also his crashes this year have been more bad luck than anything. I take back what I previously posted a little bit.

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/...an-remo-crash-373545

bummer. with all the buzz about Nibs and Cav, I totally missed this. I dig the gorilla. hopefully he comes back strong for tour stages.

PSA: E3 Harelbeke is Friday, followed by Gent Wevelgem on Sunday, and Dwars the following Wednesday. Make sure to load up on your beer for the following Sunday

If I keep picking Sagan he'll eventually get one. But if PR is his goal it's time to start laying wood:
E3:
Sagan, Gilbert, Benoot
Stybar, Stannard

Gent:
Groenewegen, Colbrelli, Trentin
Terpstra, Sagan

Is that the lab- made Boonen/Benoot hybrid :p?

Oh, ha. Youth in the Boonen shadow!

Been noodling over here. I'm considering taking some flyers with some dark horsish picks here and there. Pretty interesting odds on certain guys and if you really know the parcourse and the weather and the peloton politics, there seem to be some reasonable 10/1 and up propositions. I'm not gonna get too cray, like as much as I appreciate the angry mashing pedal stroke of Damien Gaudin, the human steam engine, I'm probably not going to pick him, though he has done well at PR. But I will take one top fave and then go with riders from about 10/1 and up. Like I said, dark horse "ish". Guys with a real shot though maybe second tier.