2014 Giro d' Italia: Stage 14 Aglie - Oropa (162 km)

[CycloAndy]

Poels pulled a Froome there on the finish too bad he probably has to sacrifice his own GC for Uran somewhere in the next couple of stages.

Yeah he cost Uran a couple of seconds by not leading him home within a bike length to give him the same time.

 

[red_flanders]

I occurs to me that the Tour of California has pulled some pretty interesting and animating riders from this race, at least for the flat stages and the intermediate mountains. No Sagan, Cavendish, we can't watch Wiggins panic on descents...

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

I get it might be annoying to see someone wheelsuck and eventually win, but you have to understand riders play with the cards they have. Evans is not as strong as the others here and an attack/spending time at the front is suicide. Simple as that.

I fully understand that. Let me add that Evans should never have won that dull TdF back then. Only the late ITT helped him out.
Ok, hardly to blame him for that, but the organizers; who make the GTs easier and easier, thus the strongest not always wins.
And nobody should come with clinic issues. They are there at 100m sprints, and was there when GTs were 4.500 km long...
Now this Giro may light up now, but for what 2 weeks of non action?
Bring back Angelo Zomegnan, he designed one great Giro after another... No wheelsuckers won there. Now the Giro became the baby TdF. Nobody wants that.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Can we now conclude Basso's days as GT rider are over?

Was nowhere today

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Yeah, would agree this is a pretty weak field and not a particularly interesting race so far. Pozzovivo and Quintana may be able to liven things up tomorrow. If it's going to get interesting, it started today.

The weal field argument is too strong for me. As I see it there are just very little between the top riders these days. A top climber can barely drop heavier guys etc.

 

[Mellow Velo]

A very entertaining stage finale and thread to match.
Always good to learn from Ryo how Colombians can walk
on water, while the rest of the cycling world treads mud.

6 riders still with a serious shot at the overall, but Aru being one, I frankly find amazing.

 

[Afrank]

Can we now conclude Basso's days as GT rider are over?

Was nowhere today

I've already come to that conclusion ages ago.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

A very entertaining stage finale and thread to match.
Always good to learn from Ryo how Colombians can walk
on water, while the rest of the cycling world treads mud.

yeah.. like kelderman wasn't impressive at all and Uran was just taking an easy stroll saving his powers. This guy can't praise any other riders than colombians. And then claims im the biggest chauvinist.

I might be chauvinistic, I also praise other riders all the time...

 

[murali]

Uran only lost an extra 5 secs.

rather, i would say Poels had added a buffer of extra 5 secs to the likes of ROLLAND Pierre,
KISERLOVSKI Robert, BASSO Ivan, HESJEDAL Ryder.

I am going to bet that OPQS is trying for 2 riders in top-10 GC, if things go according to their plan.

Any idea of how good Poels is in MTT as compared to Aru and Kelderman? in the previous TT both the riders were behing poels in the first timecheck iirc.

 

[CycloAndy]

Jeez, what happened to Uran? seems he had nothing left there.

Is it me or does Uran look a bit too muscular to climb? His calves looked huge in the TT yesterday!

 

[Sciatic]

It's all set up beautifully for the final week.

This. Today and tomorrow are just the hors d'oeuvres before the hors categories of next week. My appetite is whetted nicely.

 

[Arredondo]

I fully understand that. Let me add that Evans should never have won that dull TdF back then. Only the late ITT helped him out.
Ok, hardly to blame him for that, but the organizers; who make the GTs easier and easier, thus the strongest not always wins.
And nobody should come with clinic issues. They are there at 100m sprints, and was there when GTs were 4.500 km long...
Now this Giro may light up now, but for what 2 weeks of non action?
Bring back Angelo Zomegnan, he designed one great Giro after another... No wheelsuckers won there. Now the Giro became the baby TdF. Nobody wants that.

Evans won the Tour because he took full initiative on the Galibier. he was the strongest in that Tour. Why didn't Andy drop him at Alpe d'Huez?

 

[el_angliru]

Wow, Rolland and Hesjedal attacking on the penultimate climb and still finishing in front of the main GC contenders. Well done! I wish the "rule" about not attacking before 2k would die. What would the GC look like if Quintana or Pozzivivi (or both) had gone with them?

Someone mentioned how Contador was vulnerable in the 2008 Giro but was handed the win because his rivals let him into the race again. Same has happened with Savoldelli, I think? Hesjedal's Giro win in 2012 (16 seconds margin) was also handed to him (an extremely tough Mortirolo climb and perhaps the entire Stelvio stage was completely wasted). I like it when the riders take their opportunities and use it to their benefit. Great stage today

 

[murali]

Can we now conclude Basso's days as GT rider are over?

Was nowhere today

he lost only abt a minute to Uran.
he may come top-10 or top-20.
i dont really remember whether he was ever a top-5 material.(i know this is not c*****c ;-) ).

 

[Netserk]

Evans won the Tour because he took full initiative on the Galibier. he was the strongest in that Tour. Why didn't Andy drop him at Alpe d'Huez?

Because he had done a record time on Galibier just before?

 

[The Hitch]

Kiserlovski and Basso were definitely some of the big losers today - perhaps the biggest, even.

Maybe this means they'll attack for stages now.

Basso has to try on Zonc.

 

[BigMac]

yeah.. like kelderman wasn't impressive at all and Uran was just taking an easy stroll saving his powers. This guy can't praise any other riders than colombians. And then claims im the biggest chauvinist.

I might be chauvinistic, I also praise other riders all the time...

And then morronicly insults those who logically disagree with his viewpoints on colombians. I wonder if he even gets warned.

He called others blind countless times here in this thread and then responds to TANK with an image of a blind person.

 

[CycloAndy]

Can we now conclude Basso's days as GT rider are over?

Was nowhere today

Yes. I concluded that last year. I thought people mentioning him as a contender were just joking.

 

[argyllflyer]

Wow, Rolland and Hesjedal attacking on the penultimate climb and still finishing in front of the main GC contenders. Well done! I wish the "rule" about not attacking before 2k would die. What would the GC look like if Quintana or Pozzivivi (or both) had gone with them?

It's have been pulled back if any of the real contenders had gone for it - they let them go because they are no massive overall threat, outsiders at best.

Whether the acceleration to create a gap is with 50km to go or 500m to go, it makes little difference if the gap at the finish line remains the same. If Quintana and Pozzo had gone with Rolland and Thurau then Evans, Uran, Aru etc would have chased them and they'd have all arrived at the final climb together, either as the main peloton or a chasing group. You can't attack constantly for 50km.

 

[The Hitch]

Yeah, Ryo, Uran dropped and even forgot to sprint because he was enjoying the landscape and Quintana forgot to attack Pozzovivo cause he was actually busy trying to find the proof for Fermat's conjecture in his mind cause you know, they're Colombian

Red Rick. Road Race forum MVP 2014.

Though Uran is quite clever so maybe you aren't far off. Half the people he follows on twitter are politicians.

 

[The Hitch]

Evans followed Uran, because Uran is his main rival at this point. Plus, he's not as good as Quintana and Pozzo in the mountains, so why should he waste energie trying to follow them? He simply chose to follow Uran, because trying to follow the duo PQ and risking breaking the engines and loosing even more time to Uran was a dumber choice.

Evans was dropped. he followed Uran becuase that was the only group he could physically follow. What you are arguing is like Ryo that he voluntarily lost contact with a rival rather than because he was feeling bad.

Also if Evans was really so much stronger than Uran it would be stupid not to go in the last 1k or so to try and take back 15 or 20 seconds, rather than sprint for a worthless 3.

 

[lenric]

You know he was second last year, right?

Yes, which means he was the second rider who was in the best shape, doesn't mean he was the second best cyclist, just like it doesn't mean a thing to this year's Giro.

 

[saneguy]

This result sets up tomorrow's stage beautifully! Uran and Evans both seem very vulnerable. Quite evident today. Quintana was able to pull out 25 secs+ on Uran without any crazy attacks. Almost followed Pozzovivo through to the end. I think he seems very much in control. Tomorrow should definitely give us more clues on how well he is doing.

 

[cycladianpirate]

Red Rick. Road Race forum MVP 2014.

Though Uran is quite clever so maybe you aren't far off. Half the people he follows on twitter are politicians.

That, to you, suggests he is "clever"???

 

[inri2000]

Because he had done a record time on Galibier just before?

If Andy had worked with Contador when they were in a two man break early on the Alpe stage he probably would have won the Tour