2012 Giro d'Italia; Stage 15: Busto Arsizio - Lecco/Pian dei Resinelli (169km)

[Pippo_San]

Yes, exactly. They're hoping they can win it in one or two stages, which is foolish, because they could be winning it now and not have to pray they don't catch a cold, get caught up by a crash or mechanical, or any other factor that could make things don't go their way on D-Day. This Riis School of GT Winning is seriously flawed.

Anyway, what else could Basso do?
He can't TT.
He can't descend.
He can't sprint.
He can't even accelerate FFS.

He can only ride his own fast tempo and count on his (presumably) better recovery.

 

[Christomir]

we all knew rain and cold weather could ruin it before the Giro. Even Ryo said that if it's cold he feared he would flop....
And it did turn into rain and cold. Worst scenario

Here come the excuses

 

[Parrulo]

Hesjedal still has final TT card above everyone else as well, he is the main favorite along purito imo

when did hesjedal become cancellara to regain the minutes he will lose on the mountains on basso, scarponi and purito?

i still think purito will pull his trademark bad day in the mountains somewhere on the next few days, so imo it's btw basso and scarponi.

Scarponi isn't a great descender either to be honest, if both him and basso reach the top of the giau together with 1 or 2 minutes on every one (which may happy) they will ride together to the finish, so i don't think basso is all that worried about rhe giau descent.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Here come the excuses

how is it an excuse when it was said BEFORe the giro. Just go away troll

 

[airstream]

Basso and Scarponi will roughly drop Rodriguez on Giau. And the descent wont salvage him.

 

[Parrulo]

we all knew rain and cold weather could ruin it before the Giro. Even Ryo said that if it's cold he feared he would flop....
And it did turn into rain and cold. Worst scenario

^^this

Here come the excuses

excuses? Ryo mentioned this a few hundred times in the last couple of months, if you don't believe it just check the rujano thread.

 

[Christomir]

how is it an excuse when it was said BEFORe the giro. Just go away troll

"Troll"? Calm down, I was just teasing you. No bad feeling intended

 

[The Hitch]

we all knew rain and cold weather could ruin it before the Giro. Even Ryo said that if it's cold he feared he would flop....
And it did turn into rain and cold. Worst scenario

Then its kind of Rujanos stupidity for not focusing on the Vuelta instead. How many times has he done the Giro. Has he not yet learnt it gets pretty damn cold?

Im sure one of the Spanish CT teams would be more than willing to take on a potential gt winner (rather than breakaway every day), and the Vuelta would be more than happy to invite them.

 

[El Pistolero]

^^this



excuses? Ryo mentioned this a few hundred times in the last couple of months, if you don't believe it just check the rujano thread.

Yeah, and they were excuses back then as well. He was crap in good weather and crap in bad weather. It's not surprising to see it rain once or twice during a period of 3 weeks you know.

 

[Parrulo]

what is the weather forecast for the next few days?

 

[hrotha]

A preemptive excuse...
Well, this is May in the mountains. Most of the time there's going to be at least some tough stages in cold, rainy weather, and if Rujano absolutely can't cope with that, he's simply not consistent enough.

I'd prefer to focus on Henao though. Now that he won't have to take care of Urán (inconsistent!), what's his limit? Better to take it slowly, what with this being his first GT and all, but he could get even better.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

How did Schleckstrong do?

 

[dgodave]

RAI surely did.
They even showed the minute of silence before the race started.

Oh. I saw the last hour of racing, and didnt learn of the quake until later.
.

 

[trevim]

I don't buy the "they don't have the legs" thing. No one does? They're all at exactly the same level? They can't attack unless they feel like they're just done with the warm-up?

When someone like, say, Scarponi, feels tired, you can bet most of the others must be worse off. That's when he has to attack. Ask Hinault.

And Contador. On some press conference held on Saxo Bank headquarters he said he attacks whens his legs are hurting because others will be hurting even more.

 

[Peccio89]

I think Liquigas is riding in the right way, maybe taking a little to much responsability early in the stage, but at the end they're reaching their goal for this first two week: blocking the race. Basso entered the giro not in top condition, so right now they're hoping he is improving, and in the meantime they want to keep the gaps as close as possible to let him take the race in one of the final two mountain stages.

Friday stage in particular is the hardest gt stage of the last 15 years, gaps there will be in the order of minutes not second. That's where Basso will try to do something if he has the leg. And if he feels good, that stage alone might be enough to win the giro.

If he will fail it won't be for conservative riding in yestarday and today stage, but because of a not perfect condition.

I understand you are all disappointed because of the fact that liqui pace is making thing more boring, but that's exactly what they had to do.

 

[Parrulo]

A preemptive excuse...
Well, this is May in the mountains. Most of the time there's going to be at least some tough stages in cold, rainy weather, and if Rujano absolutely can't cope with that, he's simply not consistent enough.

I'd prefer to focus on Henao though. Now that he won't have to take care of Urán (inconsistent!), what's his limit? Better to take it slowly, what with this being his first GT and all, but he could get even better.

i agree, henao seems to be the real deal. i was mighty surprised to see him follow scarponi's attack like that, he clearly is a massive talent. Uran does really seem to be too inconsistent for a GT rider remember his ride last year on the galibier?

also too be honest, rujano doesn't strike me as the smartest rider out there so it's no surprise to see him make a lot of bad decisions.

what's the weather forecast like for the next few days?

 

[Froome19]

I think Liquigas is riding in the right way, maybe taking a little to much responsability early in the stage, but at the end they're reaching their goal for this first two week: blocking the race. Basso entered the giro not in top condition, so right now they're hoping he is improving, and in the meantime they want to keep the gaps as close as possible to let him take the race in one of the final two mountain stages.

Friday stage in particular is the hardest gt stage of the last 15 years, gaps there will be in the order of minutes not second. That's where Basso will try to do something if he has the leg. And if he feels good, that stage alone might be enough to win the giro.

If he will fail it won't be for conservative riding in yestarday and today stage, but because of a not perfect condition.

I understand you are all disappointed because of the fact that liqui pace is making thing more boring, but that's exactly what they had to do.

Exactly, well said.

Btw did you go to see the race today?

 

[FabulousCandelabra]

good move by Ryder temporarily giving up the jersey to relieve the pressure. He will grab it back in the TT.

 

[Froome19]

i agree, henao seems to be the real deal. i was mighty surprised to see him follow scarponi's attack like that, he clearly is a massive talent. Uran does really seem to be too inconsistent for a GT rider remember his ride last year on the galibier?
?

He was very ill towards the end of the tour and it was all he could do to finish it.
Apparently he was the first rider dropped on the Telegraphe and Thomas effectively shepherded him through the whole stage.

 

[Peccio89]

Exactly, well said.

Btw did you go to see the race today?

With that kind of weather is better to watch on tv, i might go next sunday in Milan hoping to see Basso in pink.

 

[Lexman]

not to bad for a first year pro...

31 BULGAC Brian NED LTB 5:19:30 4:00

 

[roundabout]

And Contador. On some press conference held on Saxo Bank headquarters he said he attacks whens his legs are hurting because others will be hurting even more.

Contador attacks when he has the form to attack. When he doesn't have the form to attack he doesn't attack. Same as most other riders. The only difference is that he is occasionally few percent superior than the rest and with a combination of explosiveness and endurance it is easier for him to attack.

Here the riders do seem to be very close in level.

 

[richwagmn]

How did Schleckstrong do?

Had an emergency trip to Spain to make.

Bruyneel must be out of his mind right now.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Henao was indeed very good. It will be interesting to see how he does in the 3rd week.

Too bad Slagter dropped in the descend, he seems really disappointed when he crossed the finish line

 

[SafeBet]

what's the weather forecast like for the next few days?

Bad enough.

Henao looked strong. He's definately a top5 candidate.