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

[Bushman]

Wonder what Rogers thinks of the fan that may have given him the win?

Im actually quite sure he thinks that the fan is an idiot for interfering with the race.

 

[PirazziAttacksVino]

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

Indurain was not a pure climber. I just hope he doesn't develop the same mentality as Valverde, else his future GT wins won't be as entertaining as some think. Aru is lucky he has Nibbs and even Vino as his mentors. Huge balls potential out there

 

[rainman]

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?

Yes I had too much expectation after the last two stages. Must have been hell on those slopes.

 

[yespatterns]

I think nairo could have pushed ... If he needed to... But he didn't. Not many alien performances in this giro as in the past. I also agree the race design could have been better, but ultimately it's the riders who make the race. I am super interested in seeing concrete race schedules for the top ten for the rest of the year--- rematches!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

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

You surely caught that it was passing judgement on Evans' climbing time rather than Rogers' then, which makes your defence of Rogers' time seem a bit strange.

 

[movingtarget]

What a race for Rogers. Banned, reinstated then two stage wins and a top 20 on GC I think. Giro organisers will hopefully learn something from this race re organisation and stages. The top heavy final week did not work. One thing they got right was the TTs but I think the final TT is better on the last day or second last day. Zoncolan and Angliru type stages are starting to look like novelties, either have them earlier in the race or don't have two climbs before them on the same stage. It was obvious today that the GC riders were just too tired.

 

[Arredondo]

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

I doubt Contador was the best climber that year. He got dropped easily on Bola del Mundo, and partly profited from a strange stage and (rumoured) sickness from Purito

 

[Arnout]

+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.

In my opinion this Giro really lacked some stages with smaller hills near the end, and and at least one downhill finish. And they should've spread around the MTFs a bit.

It's not a bad Giro, it's just been a bit standard.

 

[ILovecycling]

One of the bad Zoncolan stages this was,but riders were empty except of Rigo and Nairo imo.In the second group they were so equal that attacking didnt have a point.So Im not so disappointed.
Great battle for stage victory tho,Rogers is a beast!
Only one day without crashes and we can celebrate colombian double

 

[Libertine Seguros]

What a race for Rogers. Banned, reinstated then two stage wins and a top 20 on GC I think. Giro organisers will hopefully learn something from this race re organisation and stages. The top heavy final week did not work. One thing they got right was the TTs but I think the final TT is better on the last day or second last day. Zoncolan and Angliru type stages are starting to look like novelties, either have them earlier in the race or don't have two climbs before them on the same stage. It was obvious today that the GC riders were just too tired.

TT on the last day. Final day sprint parades are too commonplace. I particularly detest having them in races that aren't three weeks long, but for some reason lots of races think that having one makes them like the Tour de France. Apart from Le Tour and maybe arguably La Vuelta, no race should have them that doesn't have to due to geography.

 

[Arnout]

One of the bad Zoncolan stages this was,but riders were empty except of Rigo and Nairo imo.In the second group they were so equal that attacking didnt have a point.So Im not so disappointed.
Great battle for stage victory tho,Rogers is a beast!
Only one day without crashes and we can celebrate colombian double

Also a problem of the Zoncolan. It's too steep to attack versus equals so as long as noone cracks, this is gonna happen.

 

[Arnout]

TT on the last day. Final day sprint parades are too commonplace. I particularly detest having them in races that aren't three weeks long, but for some reason lots of races think that having one makes them like the Tour de France. Apart from Le Tour and maybe arguably La Vuelta, no race should have them that doesn't have to due to geography.

Vuelta should have a MTF on the last day in my opinion. Preferably one with a flat run-in.

 

[lenric]

LOL Rigo!!!!

They lied to me in this forum. They told me that Uran is an average climber and cannot climb with the best. I don't understand then why the results!!

Do you really want me to answer this? You answered yourself mate

But what's wrong with fellows like Contador, Rodriguez and Froome? They are taking too long to climb Zoncolan. And Quintana sucks. Despite having a 3 minutes lead to Uran, he still should have attacked and Uran would have followed, just to make you right, heh mate? And Oropa and Montecampione yeah, Uran had a bad day, along with Val Martello, where Uran lost around 2 minutes to Quintana... oh Uran didn't have his team with him!! And Quintana had the ghost of Valverde, Rui Costa and Intxausti with him, that's why he won time...


Dude, just talk about something else



I'd say that Zoncolan would be a good climb to be done in the 2nd week.

 

[movingtarget]

I dunno why some people are laughing about Evans today. He has struggled all through the final week but managed a better TT than I expected yesterday. And today he was dropped on the second climb. Got back on the descent and was dropped with 6km to go on the Zoncolan. Hesjedal also had a bad day. He looked exhausted.

 

[LaFlorecita]

I doubt Contador was the best climber that year. He got dropped easily on Bola del Mundo, and partly profited from a strange stage and (rumoured) sickness from Purito

Contador was sick during the last stage

Half the team was ill. They all got it from Noval.

 

[Arredondo]

This Giro was surely better than 2012, and far more than 2013, which was just horrible in every sense (expect the first week).

We had a great stage (Val Martello), some good stages (Panarotta, Oropa, Montecampione, Barolo, Grappa), we had some stages where the action was perhaps more than we expected (Sestola, Vittorio Veneto), some disappointed stages (Savona, they could have done more with that, Zoncolan, Montecassino of the outcome) and some medium stages without great surprises.

 

[Arredondo]

Contador was sick during the last stage

Half the team was ill. They all got it from Noval.

Well, than it's 1-1

I think there were really equal to each other. Perhaps Purito was a little bit better, but in fact they both deserved it (says the fan)

 

[Lupi33]

I doubt Contador was the best climber that year. He got dropped easily on Bola del Mundo, and partly profited from a strange stage and (rumoured) sickness from Purito

he snuck away in a break on a flat phase
weird stage

i felt so disappointed for purito that year

 

[movingtarget]

TT on the last day. Final day sprint parades are too commonplace. I particularly detest having them in races that aren't three weeks long, but for some reason lots of races think that having one makes them like the Tour de France. Apart from Le Tour and maybe arguably La Vuelta, no race should have them that doesn't have to due to geography.

Yes even the Tour was better when the TT was on the final day. Now the Paris stage is just for the tourist dollar and TV rights and sometimes the Green jersey gets decided also.

 

[Lupi33]

This Giro was surely better than 2012, and far more than 2013, which was just horrible in every sense (expect the first week).

We had a great stage (Val Martello), some good stages (Panarotta, Oropa, Montecampione, Barolo, Grappa), we had some stages where the action was perhaps more than we expected (Sestola, Vittorio Veneto), some disappointed stages (Savona, they could have done more with that, Zoncolan, Montecassino of the outcome) and some medium stages without great surprises.

snow kind of ruined 2013

 

[Arredondo]

he snuck away in a break on a flat phase
weird stage

i felt so disappointed for purito that year

Even more than the Giro '12. That Vuelta he had in his hands

But this is perhaps not the best thread to discuss this

 

[movingtarget]

This Giro was surely better than 2012, and far more than 2013, which was just horrible in every sense (expect the first week).

We had a great stage (Val Martello), some good stages (Panarotta, Oropa, Montecampione, Barolo, Grappa), we had some stages where the action was perhaps more than we expected (Sestola, Vittorio Veneto), some disappointed stages (Savona, they could have done more with that, Zoncolan, Montecassino of the outcome) and some medium stages without great surprises.

I think it's been a very entertaining race but could have been better. I agree much better than the last two editions.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Vuelta should have a MTF on the last day in my opinion. Preferably one with a flat run-in.

Maybe Vuelta should go the anti-Tour route, and have a traditional START in Madrid, then finish in different places each year, various major cities around Spain.

Barcelona with a Montjuïc circuit, after final mountains in Pyrenées and Montseny?
Bilbao finish on Artxanda? San Sebastián after Jaizkibel? Maybe even add Monte Igueldo?
Santander with a hilly TT after Peña Cabarga or Fuente del Chivo on the penultimate day
Oviedo (Monte Naranco MTT?) - so many great closing stages possible here
Valencia - probably have to be a flat stage, but Xorret del Catí, Aitana or even Mont Carò right near the end
Murcía - hilly stage with Cresta del Gallo?
Almería, Granada - various southern mountains. Granada could be amazing, with a final day Sierra Nevada stage
Jaén - climb to the castle, or La Guardia de Jaén I guess
Málaga - something like the original design for 2010 stage 3, with the double climb of the Puerto del León then the puncheur finish
Sevilla - TT I guess, but close to have mountains on stages 19-20 or so
Santiago de Compostela, Vigo - some really cool hilly stages into these would be possible
Ávila - that cobbled climb on the final day would be a spectacle. Maybe a circuit with it!

 

[Krzysztof_O]

I expected more fight between favourites but it is possible that they had little in tank at the end of Giro and no one could make a strong attack (time differences in GC were not small). They didn't risk bonking in last kilometers. Aru was surely paying for yesterdays effort and Quintana was very calm. I know that time differences on Zoncolan and Angliru could be large but I also have an impression that it is easiest to gain time over rivals on slopes with gradient of 7-9%.

 

[movingtarget]

I think the last two Vueltas have been very good. Probably the best in the last few years for GTs.