2014 Giro d'Italia, Stage 20: Maniago-Monte Zoncolan (167 Km)

[Lupi33]

lol at the sour grapes and innuendo in this thread

 

[Poursuivant]

So Tinkoff trying to steal in on the glory at the end, even though he hinted Rogers would be fired if he didnt win his appeal. Classy to the end.

 

[jens_attacks]

never was fan of these crawling climbs. on these, the idiots can actually run at the speed of the riders, even walk. lots of them today, seems more than ever.
what can i say, 'grats to mick, strongest of the breakaway to me anyway
the favourites pushed hard only towards the end...they went pretty fast taking into account the speed of the stage and that it's the end of the giro
41;30-41;35 minutes for rigo and nairito

http://www.climbing-records.com/2014/05/the-colombians-fastest-on-zoncolan.html

 

[yespatterns]

That is the MTT results, not GC.

I was lol ing Seb Henao there....

 

[Afrank]

This stage was boring because the best climbers were suppose to climb at 7 watts/kg and they didn't. And Aru, Pozzo and Rolland were suppose to skyrocket to the top of the Zoncolan. Too many questions for me in today's cycling!!!

Ummm...not exactly. This stage was boring because the best climbers...did nothing. We don't need 7 W/kg. But some attacking by the GC contenders and less riding a nice pace in a group up the climb isn't too much to ask IMO.

 

[Orbit501]

GC top-ten before the start of today's stage.

1 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 79:03:45
2 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:03:07
3 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:03:48
4 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 0:05:26
5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:06:16
6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:06:59
7 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:09:25
8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:09:29
9 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin Sharp 0:10:11
10 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing 0:13:59

##########After Zoncolon ##########

1 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 83:50:25
2 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team 0:03:07
3 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:04:04
4 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 0:05:46
5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:06:41
6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:07:13
7 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team 0:11:09
8 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:12:00
9 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin Sharp 0:13:35
10 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing 0:15:49

Look at the new gaps. Not sure what else a rider can do but go as fast as they can on a Zoncolan. Because if they don't, they fall waaaaay down on GC. And they aren't going to hop over the GC rider in front of them assuming everyone is racing "pan y agua."

Er, you've mixed up yesterday's STAGE Top Ten with yesterday's GC Top Ten.

No changes on GC in the Top Ten today I think (without checking) Perhaps Kiserlovski swapped places with Ryder maybe?

 

[jens_attacks]

I'm a bit disappointed at Quintana. I don't want him to become the kind of rider that goes all in in one stage, takes the lead and then goes "defensive mode" for the rest of the stages. I really expected him to try and win this stage. He may have the mentality of a winner, but not of a champion.

indurain,valverde, unzue..see?see?

plus since 2006 basso, no one dared to go all-in day after day. he showed he is the strongest and that's it...

roll on the dauphine

 

[mastermind]

Er, you've mixed up yesterday's STAGE Top Ten with yesterday's GC Top Ten.

No changes on GC in the Top Ten today I think (without checking) Perhaps Kiserlovski swapped places with Ryder maybe?

I thought Kelderman switched with Evans

 

[DirtyWorks]

You got yesterday's stage times here, not GC times

I saw that too late and fixed it. Too late!!!

 

[Lupi33]

too many nuts on the climb
they need more military or something to keep them under control

it just felt like something bad could happen on those middle slops

 

[GuyIncognito]

How embarrassing to be beaten by 24 seconds by a former WC and TDF winner after spending all day in the breakaway. Oh lol. The embarrassment Rogers will feel after the elation of winning the Giro's Queens stage wears off. I would love to be a fly on the wall when someone tells him.

It's very very funny just how completely and utterly you missed the point of the post you're criticizing. I can't stop laughing

 

[roundabout]

never was fan of these crawling climbs. on these, the idiots can actually run at the speed of the riders, even walk. lots of them today, seems more than ever.
what can i say, 'grats to mick, strongest of the breakaway to me anyway
the favourites pushed hard only towards the end...they went pretty fast taking into account the speed of the stage and that it's the end of the giro
41;30-41;35 minutes for rigo and nairito

http://www.climbing-records.com/2014/05/the-colombians-fastest-on-zoncolan.html

7 riders in 42 minutes or under then

 

[DirtyWorks]

too many nuts on the climb
they need more military or something to keep them under control

it just felt like something bad could happen on those middle slops

That was better than the past though. There was only a couple of times when there were too many fans too close.

 

[rainman]

have to feel disappointed. Quintana such a great climber doing the absolute minimum he needed to. Feel sorry for Bongiorno, that tool really messed up his day, what a forgettable stage.

 

[UlleGigo]

lol at the sour grapes and innuendo in this thread

Exactly mate. It's hilarious. As though Quintana owes it to a few peons on this forum to put minutes into people everyday. Or that the challengers owe everyone equally to attack until they either get away or die on the side of the road trying.

It's the same after almost every race. Now they'll stand around congratulating each other on recognising that this Giro was in fact the worst ever and they said it would be back in 2010 because they know so much about cycling and how much it sucks.

I for one really enjoyed the race like I enjoy every race.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

never was fan of these crawling climbs. on these, the idiots can actually run at the speed of the riders, even walk. lots of them today, seems more than ever.
what can i say, 'grats to mick, strongest of the breakaway to me anyway
the favourites pushed hard only towards the end...they went pretty fast taking into account the speed of the stage and that it's the end of the giro
41;30-41;35 minutes for rigo and nairito

http://www.climbing-records.com/2014/05/the-colombians-fastest-on-zoncolan.html

I think Poels was on par with Quintana/Uran today if he didn't have to work

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

one less big mountain stage and one more low stage would've improved this race quite a bit.

never thought i'd say that but they made this one far too tough

it was as if it were designed by someone whose following cycling for about two years. very one dimensional.

you can over do those classic MTFs

It´s not about too many MTFs. It´s about how and when...
They have the blueprint for perfect Giros in 2010 and 2011. But what did they do? Fire Zomengan, the race designer.

 

[arvc40]

Stunning Scenery up there today. Don't you just love Pro Cycling.

 

[Orbit501]

Exactly mate. It's hilarious. As though Quintana owes it to a few peons on this forum to put minutes into people everyday. Or that the challengers owe everyone equally to attack until they either get away or die on the side of the road trying.

It's the same after almost every race. Now they'll stand around congratulating each other on recognising that this Giro was in fact the worst ever and they said it would be back in 2010 because they know so much about cycling and how much it sucks.

I for one really enjoyed the race like I enjoy every race.

Blimey! If it wasn't so long I'd nab that as my signature.

Very well said!

 

[arvc40]

Sure that was Oleg at the finish first to get to Rogers ?

 

[Escarabajo]

Ummm...not exactly. This stage was boring because the best climbers...did nothing. We don't need 7 W/kg. But some attacking by the GC contenders and less riding a nice pace in a group up the climb isn't too much to ask IMO.

I understand what you are saying but this stage was very hard after three weeks of hard racing. Especially this last week. I was not expecting anything else but survival mode for every rider, unless we come back to the full EPO mode again. It is just not happening now.

I predicted a race of survival for today and that was what happened.

 

[DirtyWorks]

have to feel disappointed. Quintana such a great climber doing the absolute minimum he needed to. Feel sorry for Bongiorno, that tool really messed up his day, what a forgettable stage.

Bongiorno wasn't going to stay with Rogers.

What did you want Quintana to do? What were the other guys on GC going to do except defy gravity as fast as possible?

 

[UlleGigo]

It's very very funny just how completely and utterly you missed the point of the post you're criticizing. I can't stop laughing

No no don't think I did. Carry on having a laugh though. Don't let being completely wrong stop you. lol.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Exactly mate. It's hilarious. As though Quintana owes it to a few peons on this forum to put minutes into people everyday. Or that the challengers owe everyone equally to attack until they either get away or die on the side of the road trying.

It's the same after almost every race. Now they'll stand around congratulating each other on recognising that this Giro was in fact the worst ever and they said it would be back in 2010 because they know so much about cycling and how much it sucks.

I for one really enjoyed the race like I enjoy every race.

Nobody in their right mind is ever going to say this Giro was worse than the international look-at-one-another festival that was the 2012 edition. This was the best Giro since 2010, it's just that, like the 2011 Giro and the 2012 Vuelta, the final GC-relevant stage was a mountain stage and the best climber already had the jersey, just like when the better TTer has the jersey going into a final TT (eg the Lance years), therefore the big epic mountain was not as epic as other times. Even the beloved 2010 Giro had this problem as, because of the lack of cooperation in the maglia rosa group on Aprica, Arroyo lost the maglia rosa, and Basso was able to control things on Gavia and Tonale and Arroyo was too shattered to risk it a second day running in the descent to take the time back with a TT the next day. Major GC intrigue on the final weekend tends to be where there are better climbers than the maglia rosa wearer (such as Finestre 2005) or a top climber is still in close enough contention but is too lopsided to be in the lead going in (eg Bola del Mundo 2010).

 

[Escarabajo]

Exactly mate. It's hilarious. As though Quintana owes it to a few peons on this forum to put minutes into people everyday. Or that the challengers owe everyone equally to attack until they either get away or die on the side of the road trying.

It's the same after almost every race. Now they'll stand around congratulating each other on recognising that this Giro was in fact the worst ever and they said it would be back in 2010 because they know so much about cycling and how much it sucks.

I for one really enjoyed the race like I enjoy every race.

+111111111111

It is always the same no matter what. I think is the video games what is screwing up the races for the fans so much.

These riders are humans. They are not robots.

Maybe a medium mountain stage would have been more suited for fireworks. But this stage, it was criminal. Everybody was on survival mode.