2013 Giro d'Italia Stage 10 : Cordenons - Altopiano Del Montasio 167 km

[roundabout]

it is BS indeed. betancur if he could, he wouldn't think twice.

the thing is rigo had something in reserve for the last km. because at one point the gap was really really coming down big time but somehow rigo managed to put it back at 30 sec on nibali

GPS made in Italy. They should put a disclaimer about watching the Giro with an own stopwatch and ignoring the graphics.

But Uran never really looked like suffering during his attack.

 

[webbie146]

Delahaye happened
looks like the training camp worked wonders. Their leader was able to stay within 10 seconds of Wiggins and Scarponi.

Lol Delahaye is such a boss, I'm very glad he will never leave Gesink

 

[Ildabaoth]

Well he has to drop Nibali uomo a uomo at this point. He was incredibly strong, however, the Maglia Rosa was in conservation mode with a safe margin at that.

Still he has his cards to play for sure. I'd say 40%, Nibali 80% though.

And the rest of the field has a -20%.

 

[eljimberino]

Good post. Thank you.

Nibali looks like the solid leader atm, but in fact he's just in a Il falco situation. It's like if it's 2005 all over again.

Nibali - Savoldelli
Evans - Simoni
Basso - Wiggins
Hesjedal - Cunego
Uran - Di Luca
Santa - Garate (?)
Betancur - Rujano (?)
Gesink - Honchar/ Bruseghin
Scarponi - Caucchioli
Pozzovivo/ Intxausti - Sella (?)

Astana looked pretty weak today, so Nibali has to avoid that 2-3 competitors launch a back to back attack as he can't chase them all down on his own. Otherwise he just might end up in a Poppvych 2004 situation. On one hand Nibali has his advantage in descending. On the other hand, he has to hope that Evans-Uran-Santa-Beta are not launching a Rujano-Di Luca - Simoni attack if he has a weak moment.

The problem is, Sky/Uran obviously has got the better team. And Uran might not be the better climber/ gc rider, but he has that punch to but Bibali in difficulties. If Evans, Santa and Betancur are also going on the attack, it just might be the question who could place the attack that cracks Nibali. Then Nibali has to find "an Ardillia".

Nibali should let get a break away, but who? Betancur would be a very bad decision as he might end up in just the same situation as Falco did with Rujano in 2005. Pellizotti could be an option as former team mate. I guess delfino is trying to go for the Kom now he lost time once again. But altough he looked not strengh enough so far, it's asking for problems to let him gain back a load of time. Di Luca seems to be Santa's last man atm. He could let go guys like Weening, Sella, Pirazzi, Atapuma of course and control the bunch. But most likely Sky would still set up the tempo like they did today in that case.

So if his team isn't getting any stronger, it will still get difficult for Nibali. He's still in the pole position for the winof course. But I have a feeling that could get very very close in the end and seconds might decide who's the winner.

Just like in 2005 ....

 

[Carstenbf]

Boring? How?

Sorry, got distracted. Not sure, maybe I'm just moody today. Seemed to me like a long grindy final with people slowly drifting off. No attacks as such bar Uran. Had hoped for a more explosive finish.

Kangert only finished 2 minutes back and he's never been an elite climber so I don't think his TT made a difference in today's performance

Not claiming to be the expert here, but he seems to me to be scary strong this year and I've been seeing him as helper #1 for Nibbles. He has no business going all in on the TT if you ask me. Call me old fashioned if you like.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Points jersey competition:

1 EVANS Cadel AUS BMC 73
2 VIVIANI Elia ITA CAN 60
3 CAVENDISH Mark GBR OPQ 58
4 URAN URAN Rigoberto COL SKY 53
5 SANTAMBROGIO Mauro ITA VIN 52
6 BATTAGLIN Enrico ITA BAR 45
7 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA AST 45
8 BETANCUR GOMEZ Carlos A. COL ALM 43
9 BELKOV Maxim RUS KAT 41
10 HANSEN Adam AUS LTB 39

Viviani having a serious go (chapeau), but Evans will be extremely difficult to beat. Uran and Betancur will also move up the leader board.

 

[The Hitch]

Evans interview was painful to listen to.

 

[eljimberino]

Evans interview was painful to listen to.

link? please

 

[The Hitch]

link? please

Was live, not on internet.

 

[JRanton]

Congrats to Captain Uranium.

Hopefully Sky keep riding like that on the mountain stages even if they do end up hurting themselves as much as the others.

 

[ILovecycling]

Evans interview was painful to listen to.

It was indeed as I pointed out that earlier...and if you speak italian(which I dont - just few words) it has to be even worse

Still chapeau to Cadel,he is looking good.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Congrats to Captain Uranium.

Hopefully Sky keep riding like that on the mountain stages even if they do end up hurting themselves as much as the others.

yep, makes things more fun (to watch).

 

[ILovecycling]

As for Betancur,I dont believe him either but as for the climbing,oh god he is looking so smooth,remind me of Quintana a bit.I just love it,. After Alberto leaves our sport it will be up to colombians to dance up the mountains.

 

[Angliru]

I don't believe it either, but Pantano wasn't the leader on the road at the moment Betancur caught him. Uran was. Different scenarios.

...but Betancur didn't know that Pantano wasn't the leader on the road at that moment due to radio communications being down.

 

[l.Harm]

What did Cadel say?

 

[Eshnar]

What did Cadel say?

"Audbudsafmlcvmndpsjvnrnmonsor"
But in a way that vaguely resembled Italian

 

[liamito]

dat podium girl

which one did you/he mean?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

betancurt said he waited until final km to attack because he didn't want to catch uran. uran is his friend and fellow "countryman" (antioquia, not colombia in this) lol, nice for ag2r to hear

in any event wether true or not and amazing display 1-2 for the colombians and both of them were the strongest too.

 

[Eshnar]

which one did you/he mean?

The one at Uran's left. Reddish hair.

 

[will10]

AG2R? Don't think so.

Aren't OPQS the favourites to land him, although it's an odd team for a Colombian GC rider.

This time last year, AG2R wasn't exactly an obvious destination for Betancur or Pozzovivo, either. Although the budget may not extend to three GC guys now.

 

[cineteq]

betancurt said he waited until final km to attack because he didn't want to catch uran. uran is his friend and fellow "countryman" (antioquia, not colombia in this) lol, nice for ag2r to hear

in any event wether true or not and amazing display 1-2 for the colombians and both of them were the strongest too.

What a silly boy - he could've caught him and let him win too + close the gap on white jersey

 

[The Hitch]

What did Cadel say?

at first it was the usual - yeah i feel strong, hard climb ... but then he got a question and his answer went like this

eeeeehhhh, well, ooooooh, ummmmmm, ooooooooo,, iiiiii, oooooo, before he finally answered it. Could not decide which sylable to start with so just went through all the vowels in the alphabet.

I can imagine the bmc team listening to that and just doing 1 big massive facepalm

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

how is that fan btw, who fell from the mountain? I thougth I died laughing when I saw that

 

[The Hitch]

betancurt said he waited until final km to attack because he didn't want to catch uran. uran is his friend and fellow "countryman" (antioquia, not colombia in this)
)

You mean the word "paisa"?

 

[Eshnar]

how is that fan btw, who fell from the mountain? I thougth I died laughing when I saw that

I dunno, he could potentially be heavily injured