Road Cycling
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@williethewaiter Yeah - that's pretty shambolic. As soon as I saw the headline this morning that he'd had a shocker, I wondered about the cold because he's struggled with that before.
This article lists the times of just the real GC contenders, which is quite handy.
Giro d'Italia: Which GC contenders lost time on stage 4
Almeida out of the reckoning as Bernal, Landa, Vlasov, Ciccone and Carthy gain time
I guess if there is one silver lining, George won't be heavily marked if he can make a move late on a mountain stage - they'll probably let him go.
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@chris-b said in Road Cycling:
@williethewaiter Yeah - that's pretty shambolic. As soon as I saw the headline this morning that he'd had a shocker, I wondered about the cold because he's struggled with that before.
This article lists the times of just the real GC contenders, which is quite handy.
Giro d'Italia: Which GC contenders lost time on stage 4
Almeida out of the reckoning as Bernal, Landa, Vlasov, Ciccone and Carthy gain time
I guess if there is one silver lining, George won't be heavily marked if he can make a move late on a mountain stage - they'll probably let him go.
he'd have to lose a bit more time yet for that to happen.. and to be honest I don't think he's really got it in him - always been a bit of a diesel climber with no real kick / acceleration at the end of a climb.
I can't imagine the directors would have been too happy with him.. but to be fair the team of nobodies they surrounded him with showed they weren't really too concerned with the giro it's all about the tour.
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@williethewaiter I'm think late in a climb - 3kms to go sort of thing - hopefully, they might just ignore a bit of an acceleration.
The TJV guy telling the story certainly sounds pretty terse about it!
I guess it's not quite as bad as when Roglic needed the guys in the car and they were having a piss in the bushes!
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Stage 6 looks interesting 100 kms of uphill (various gradients) with 1300m elevation followed by 40km back down again then back up 1000m over 15km.
So long grind with an opportunity for good descenders to spread the field but then they have to hold it together for a fairly brutal up again.
Who would fit the bill here? -
@crucial Won't be poor Mikel Landa, who looked the business yesterday, but has crashed and is out of the race.
Good one for a breakaway win, I'd say - if they go over the first climb with several minutes in hand, the big guns in the peloton might not have too many assistants to help chase them down.
Picks for the Top 3 on GC at the very end. I'm going to say Bernal, Carthy, Yates. Despite that he had a pretty poor day yesterday, I'll keep Buchmann as my dark horse.
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Here's what George has to say about yesterday...
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@chris-b said in Road Cycling:
Here's what George has to say about yesterday...
One thing about the Giro as opposed to TdF is that riders seem to be able to come steaming into contention in the late stages.
I guess it's because team protection isn't as strong . -
@crucial Yeah - the last time George did well in it - 8th - I recall Yates looked absolutely dominant for 9/10s and then fell apart.
Meanwhile Froome, who'd looked extremely vulnerable and got pretty badly dropped on one climb, steamed back to win with a near miraculous solo ride.
Which is heartening for George's top-5 prospects. If he was actually going to be top 5 then the 90 seconds he lost yesterday will probably only cost a place or two - at worst.
Edit: How about Mikel Nieve to win tonight - or someone a bit like him - good climber, a bit down on time - Bike Exchange might let him go in a break.
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@chris-b I just realised that the new UCI rules are in place regarding riding in a supertuck. I wonder how many will get caught on this downhill stretch.
30 secs for 1st offence.
2 minutes for 2nd time you are caught
3 strike is DQMy stage pick is Mollema.
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@crucial Ha - looked at Mollema as well.
He fits my profile, but I thought maybe Nibali will want to keep him close at hand for support.
(You could say the same for Yates and Nieve - but, I figured they let Chris Juul-Jensen have a crack).
I just stumbled across the supertuck ruling a couple of days ago. I'm thinking everyone will know about it, so you'd be a bit thick to get caught!
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Desperately disappointing to see George crack again so early.
This was his big chance and he will not get another I would imagine to lead the team.
I had hoped he would at least stay in amongst it to the final week as it was going to be nice to follow a kiwi deep into a grand tour.
Be nice if he can take a chance at a stage later on. Presumably on a warmer day as it appears the wet and cold are kryptonite to him
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@davesofthunder said in Road Cycling:
Desperately disappointing to see George crack again so early.
This was his big chance and he will not get another I would imagine to lead the team.
I had hoped he would at least stay in amongst it to the final week as it was going to be nice to follow a kiwi deep into a grand tour.
Be nice if he can take a chance at a stage later on. Presumably on a warmer day as it appears the wet and cold are kryptonite to him
Yeah - hugely disappointing.
Something not right, because he was falling off the back on the lower slopes of the final climb when Ganna was still making the pace.
I guess having a little bit of body fat is a good thing in the cold!
Good punt on Mollema, Crucial. If he hadn't had to do so much work to get in the break he might well have won.
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@davesofthunder I just wonder if he has some underlying condition. He’s been top 10 in Grand Tours before, as a domestique. He’s not had to do any real work yet in this race, and he’s cracked twice. He’s shown glimpses of form already this year; he must be desperately disappointed.
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@scribe I suppose all will be revealed. I don't think these two were even classified as mountain stages.
I guess if he got cold enough to be moderately hypothermic a couple of days ago, then riding a grand tour and another icy day probably not the best way to recover.
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@chris-b said in Road Cycling:
@scribe I suppose all will be revealed. I don't think these two were even classified as mountain stages.
I guess if he got cold enough to be moderately hypothermic a couple of days ago, then riding a grand tour and another icy day probably not the best way to recover.
Cat 2 climbs. I think the stage was rated 4 star. But yes, nothing compared to next week's real mountain stages.
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did you see that team car just smash in to the back of that bloke?
I haven't seen that before, but i can't believe it doesn't happen more often
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@mariner4life said in Road Cycling:
did you see that team car just smash in to the back of that bloke?
I haven't seen that before, but i can't believe it doesn't happen more often
When we watched the Paris-Roubaix a rider coming back to the pack had a team car in front of him slam the brakes on. He went through their back window.
Those guys drive like maniacs. -
@mariner4life said in Road Cycling:
did you see that team car just smash in to the back of that bloke?
I haven't seen that before, but i can't believe it doesn't happen more often
Driver was too busy handing something to the car beside him. Their team should take a time hit, might make them a bit less blasé
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George got in the break last night - and showed a bit more form than previously, though still not looking hugely impressive.
A group of 17 including George and Bouwman from TJV. Quite a few other strong riders - Mollema, LL Sanchez, Storer, Bouchard and a few others.
Seemed to me that George actually did more work on the front than Bouwman, which might explain what unfolded.
George made the first selection - four of them got away and then were joined by several others. That was his best bit and he looked pretty competitive - maybe 25kms from home.
Carr and Bouchard then got away late on that penultimate hill and they had 7-8 other guys chasing them across a big flat with a tail wind. That group split - with Mollema, Storer and Bouwman getting away and that was the end of George.
In the end Bouchard got clear for a long solo ride on the final hill. Bouwman broke away from his group and caught him on the final gravel section - but, it all came to a heart-breaking nothing - because Bernal led a withering burst from the GC riders who swamped them 500 metres from home.
Horrendous crash for Mohoric - don't watch if you're squeamish. It's a good thing he was wearing a helmet and not one of those little caps they wore in the 1970s.
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