Yeah, I don’t get why he isn’t in full stage hunter mode. People will remember a stage win far more than 12th.
Pidcock x Blevins would be compelling right now. I’d wager this year Blevins is on par or better technically, and nearly as explosive.
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Just to keep chopping this up (or beating it to death) they get away, UAE doesn’t chase, the group puts time into everyone else. Del Toro pretty much has usurped the team leader role. The road has decided, not the DS in the car. So they chase, control and stick to the plan. They run a very tight, talented ship, this is true.
Del Toro is going so well, looks so fresh, it’s reasonable to think he could protect it with that team for the last week with a nice buffer. UAE would have to shift on the fly and say, welp, Juan, new plan. I don’t think that would sit well with team Ayuso at all. Kind of like Venga v Kusstanza. Total speculation on my part, all of it, but I’d bet that team Ayuso would be, look, we came here to be the guy and you said we’d be and UAE would have to say, yeah, well, new things have come to light, unforseen things. Del Toro is looking THAT good. The thing is, they’ve got lots of data telling them to stay the course, that JuanA is the man. He’s looked ok, not great not bad. One could argue that sticking with JuanA might also be risky.
More than anything else, I’d love to see The Paz rip it up this week.
In other news, Sound and Fury Faulkner takes US Pro Nats and Quinn “Lawrence” Simmons for the men.
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Blevins is better technically. He’s the best guy on the circuit right now. There are other riders who can style it out, but no one else is really maximizing time/efficiency gains on the tech sections like an alpine skier or a BMX rider the way he is. Even when other riders come out of a section with him, you can see just how much less he’s working, and that’s part of why he’s able to be so explosive.
Pidcock should still have the engine advantage so all he needs to do is keep it close, but we saw at Worlds last season that he might not always be able to do that.
I really wish Pids would ride a full Mtb season so we could see how it would play out over time!
RE: stage hunting… seems like it’s a replay of his time at Ineos where he’s just going to keep banging his head against this door, and no one can get him to do anything differently.
Ayuso is looking better than ok. He’s won a stage, and his gap back from del Toro is less than the combination of time lost in the crash on the Siena stage and bonus seconds. Take that crash out of the mix, and he’s likely in pink.
Del Toro has been so overtly impressive that this is definitely getting lost in the mix, but the team isn’t losing sight of it.
Hell of a weekend of domestic racing. Such a damn shame there’s so little of it.
Ayuso is definitely still in it, think it makes sense for the team to keep it close should DT falter.
Ayuso appears to be wound tight with an intense personality and demeanor, while DT just seems to have both feet on the ground, calmness and humility—much like Pogacar. I get the sense directors a were trying to rein him in for his own good with this week ahead. Hope that he can stick it— hard not to root for the kid.
I’d love to see DT win this, here’s hoping!
UAE’s team directors announced today at the rest day press conference that Del Toro is going to be their single leader heading into the final week. Finally, some common sense prevailed. Maybe Ayuso can match Pogi in a 20 minute effort as it was reported a few years ago, but whether it’s the knee injury or lack of form, he seems to be struggling. Well deserved by Del Toro. Ayuso might not be helpful as a team rider, but if they can get Yates to actually support Majka, I think Del Toro will get it.
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simmons won by minutes, looked like faulks won in a sprint (after by winning by minutes last year). either way those 2 in the jersey means some very good chances we see the jerseys in the tour and in the maryland race.
i have to think tomorrow is a chance to for DT to put (David) Simon Yates to the test and really tighten the grip on pink. If UAE put their muscle to it - they can keep (raging) DT from doing too long of a solo effort. looking forward to watching. Hoping the Paz and weekend at Bernal’s can muscle out Ayuso for podium spots.
Interesting to know why Pidcock thinks he’s underperformed at MTB worlds, as he’s done it several times now. Gone and done a few at the start of a World Cup season and completely dominated, won Olympics, but never performed at worlds. I’ve always put it down to him being fatigued at the end of a long road season, but who knows. It would certainly be exciting to see him go all in with XC for a year and see what happened. XC has definitely moved forward this year with Blevins.
Totally agree about his Giro tactics - I was expecting more from him after his early season classics form, but he’s been dropped several times. Do you think he’s chasing overall because the points are better for Q36 and getting them into future races? It sure seems like he’d be better off losing time and then going for a stage.
This has been a brutal stage between losing Primo, Martinelli going into a ravine, etc. Hopefully everyone is alright.
Damn. The Giro.
Gee up. Tarling out, Ayuso down, Roglic out, Bernie battling, Boogie Nights moving up, The Paz solid, the Baby Bull spinning, texting, chatting. Fortunato a lock.
Wow, what a stage. Lots of drama and unexpected developments. You gotta love the Paz, what a pure bike racer.
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Agreed 100%. I love how the Paz rides.
What the hell is going on at Astana these days?
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Astana has taken a ton of points by sending their best riders to second tier races on purpose. That said, multiple riders sure are on the forms of their lives.
What a day. When we are wrong, we are wrong. I guess we know now what UAE knew all along, that maybe Del Toro did not have the endurance to be fighting for pink during the third week high mountains. Carapaz is a class act.
Disappointing to see one of those pro hamas idiots putting that massive flag on the face of the riders in the middle of the road at the finish line. The organizers should be aware that these troublemakers have been doing this the whole race and get the police involved.
ETA: damn, Derek G came within 13 seconds of catching Carapaz.
The promoted Vino to both performance director and head doctor 
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Wow - that stage delivered.
Tomorrow will prob pan out a bit like today - get soldiers in that break.
I think Simon, Paz, and Gee are actually better off with Del Toro and UAE still in charge of keeping the race in check a bit. I have to think some folks like Pidcock, Rubio, Arensman might take a swing with their drop in gc. I wouldn’t think the big dogs will go on the top of Mortirolo with such a strong UAE line up unless they have mega satellite riders in break (Wout!). That 3k 8.5% climb at 9k or so to go will almost certainly shake up the top 7. I think grabbing the maglia rosa tomorrow is better for the teams of lisa, EF, IPT with an easier Thurs, but… Fri and Sat… jeepers those are tough.
my early prediction - De Toro lights up the late climb and claws back 25 seconds…
Vino promotes Vino haha. The only thing I’ve not seen Astana do is a good TT this year. That’s what happens when they aren’t working with you.