2014 Giro d'Italia Stage 6: Sassano – Montecassino | 257 km

[Better Call Saul]

Stop being a suckup ILoveCycling Quintana is not a great ITT rider.

Agreed. Ryo's ridiculous hyperbole of rujano wore out my patience. Here it is all over again w 'once in a lifetime' Quintana.

 

[manafana]

for a man of his size etc quintana does pretty well in normal itt I think.

BMC made a mistake too they had no GC allie with them it was just them and Matthews who sold his friends for the pot of gold.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

One odd factor in today's stage.

Perhaps because of the misfortune that befell others, Panama's finest had his best stage yet:
15.05 131 Stage 6: Sassano › Montecassino
14.05 193 Stage 5: Taranto › Viggiano
13.05 181 Stage 4: Giovinazzo › Bari
11.05 194 Stage 3: Armagh › Dublin
10.05 195 Stage 2: Belfast › Belfast

 

[UlleGigo]

Great riding by Cadel as always. Smartest rider in the race. He never ever gets caught out. Showed why he's a champion today.

 

[Arnout]

Yes i love PCM reason i got rid of Quintana is because he was 82 in mountain and he could reach 84 and 80 hill. So i thought my signing of Contadr was realistic. I no this is going way off topic but Froome was crazy this was his victories in 2014 Vuelta Mallorca, Tour Of Oman, Paris Nice, Volta ciclist Cataluna, his first defeat was at Pais Vasco(Valverde won) he then won Tour de Romandie, Giro di I'talia(6 stage wins, Quitana second) and the Dauphinee.

He went into the TDF with 60 race days which mean he was tyred, Contador who had 42 race days and came 5th in Giro went onto win. Froome has 1013 WT points. How did your first few years go what results you get? Sorry for going off topic.

75% bolletje ftw.

 

[cineteq]

great riding by cadel as always. Smartest rider in the race. He never ever gets caught out. Showed why he's a champion today.

ˆˆˆˆˆthis!

 

[42x16ss]

but what he showed in avenir 2010 was truly remarkable as a climber. he hasn't shown that level yet. I hope he will and also keep working his itt that was also strong as an u23

It's funny you say this about Matthews, he's always had some talent on climbs. Back in 2008 I was doing a large amateur stage race (Tour of Bright) and on the Mt Hotham stage (30 km @ 5%) some skinny kid from B grade came past us A graders like we were standing still, after starting nearly 5 minutes later.

Michael Matthews was not only doing his first ever stage race, but his first climb over 5kms! Not bad for a 16 yo who had been riding less than a year

 

[ljpoyz]

BMC spend a lot of petrol keeping Cadel at the front for this very reason. Smart riding. Good first week for the Australians but still think Uran and Quintana in best seat for GC.

 

[Carols]

Should they have waited?
No, I don't think so. Sure, if there's a big pileup early in a race it's very common to slack the speed a Little and let those involved get back up.
But with about ten K? There's simply no time for waiting.

I Agree 100%. It's a bike race, the race was on. Plus the race Leader was riding and actually won the stage.

I'm old school, being older; No Waiting Unless You Cause the crash (Like Sky when Valverde went down when they crossed in front of the group to make an echelon---that was just cheap; long way out and they caused it, he was wearing the Leaders jersey)

 

[auscyclefan94]

The way Evans is riding is quite similar to the 2011 Tour de France. Stays out of trouble and rides smarter than everyone else. That is why I am feeling confident and everyone said in 2011 that he would crumble on the climbs...never happened.

 

[The Eggman]

BMC spend a lot of petrol keeping Cadel at the front for this very reason. Smart riding. Good first week for the Australians but still think Uran and Quintana in best seat for GC.

Exactly. Why the hell should BMC & Cadel work so damn hard to avoid this stuff and not be able to reap the benefits

 

[Zam_Olyas]

In all honousty, I like Kelderman a lot but I think he doesn't have the skills for high mountains (yet, if ever). But yeah, now that a lot of contenders have literally fallen out, you never know.

Majka still there, if he recovers well from the crash he could be on the podium. But.. how bad was his crash?

How ironic that a dutchie/belkin rider improving his postion coz of other's crashing.

 

[hughmoore]

Did Quintana actually crash, was he injured at all?

Im wondering why he didnt get on the front and chase back. Pozzi slowed down when he found himself on the front on the climb, is he injured as well?


Hugh

 

[Afrank]

No, Quintana kept it up and avoided the crash.

 

[hughmoore]

No, Quintana kept it up and avoided the crash.

OK Thanks, the Gap at the bottom appeared to be around 30 seconds, but was more at the top, surprising that Quintana didn't try to close the Gap?

Perhaps he wanted to make it more interesting in the Mountains.
Hugh

 

[42x16ss]

How ironic that a dutchie/belkin rider improving his postion coz of other's crashing.

Crazy. Next thing it will be a basque climber

 

[Galic Ho]

Basso only 1:45 behind Evans....good times ahead, folks.

1st and 2nd Zam. First and second. Put Hesjedal up for a podium spot as well.

 

[The Tibetan Hat]

Great riding by Cadel as always. Smartest rider in the race. He never ever gets caught out. Showed why he's a champion today.

Thing is, none of us having seen what caused the crash, I'm not really sure how you can say this, that it was all smarts rather than [some] luck. Likelihood whatever happened was very very near the front.

I mean the way you're talking there, perhaps Tim Wellens or Matteo Rabottini are just as great as Cadel? Not lucky to have found themselves in the exclusive lead group either. Champions in waiting!

 

[stetre76]

latest update from TeamBelkin via Twitter

#Giro - UPDATE CRASH - All @TeamBelkin riders will start today despite their injuries ... 1/2

#Giro - UPDATE CRASH - @s_kruijswijk has a minor fracture in elbow & @RickFlens will start with broken index finger. Hang in there guys! 2/2

 

[Dazed and Confused]

OK Thanks, the Gap at the bottom appeared to be around 30 seconds, but was more at the top, surprising that Quintana didn't try to close the Gap?

Perhaps he wanted to make it more interesting in the Mountains.
Hugh

Yep, the chase group lost time to Evans' group.
From what I can tell Evans and Pozzo were in solid form coming into the giro, where others are perhaps building for the 3rd week. The Giro is heavily back loaded.

If the picture continues as currently however, Evans will win the race with minutes in hand imo.

 

[SafeBet]

Thing is, none of us having seen what caused the crash, I'm not really sure how you can say this, that it was all smarts rather than [some] luck. Likelihood whatever happened was very very near the front.

I mean the way you're talking there, perhaps Tim Wellens or Matteo Rabottini are just as great as Cadel? Not lucky to have found themselves in the exclusive lead group either. Champions in waiting!

I concur with this. It's a mix of smartness and luck.
The massive crash involved plenty of riders who were in the first part of the peloton.

Also check this picture:

So you've got 150 riders at full speed (beware it was slightly downhill), peloton with a broad front cause nobody wants to hit the cilmb in a bad position. And you get to this roundabout with a parked car on the left side, giving you no way out in case you're not well positioned. What's gonna happen?

 

[ILovecycling]

Agreed. Ryo's ridiculous hyperbole of rujano wore out my patience. Here it is all over again w 'once in a lifetime' Quintana.

you are really overlooking exceptionality of this guy lol
wanna avatar/signature bet?
If Quintana wins Giro or something else?

 

[UlleGigo]

Thing is, none of us having seen what caused the crash, I'm not really sure how you can say this, that it was all smarts rather than [some] luck. Likelihood whatever happened was very very near the front.

I mean the way you're talking there, perhaps Tim Wellens or Matteo Rabottini are just as great as Cadel? Not lucky to have found themselves in the exclusive lead group either. Champions in waiting!

Did I say it did not involve luck did I? I don't think I did. You see I didn't say it didn't involve luck because everything involves luck especially bike races. This is actually the entire point I was making about Cadel. He manages risk better than anyone and in so doing he makes intelligent choices both before and during races.

On not seeing the crash. Has it dawned on you yet? I'm actually making a point that didn't require me having seen the crash. Or any crash. Just so that's crystal clear for you. I'm making an argument based upon having watched Cadel's entire career and seeing his tactics and results. I would consider it a pretty well reasoned argument. Thing is, do you even reason bro?

 

[Ferminal]

Late to the party on this one...

You have 250km, six hours where 95% of the competitors do absolutely nothing. Even in the last 50km the pace barely seemed a tick over 40kmh. This scenario of a full bunch with strong legs but fading concentration, tension and positional fight approaching an important climb, the slippery roads acting as a catalyst... No surprise what the end result was. Maybe a more consistent pace towards the end would have mitigated some of the danger.

Unfortunate but is what it is, at the end of the day you can't complain about both racing and not racing.

 

[Yingge]

The way Evans is riding is quite similar to the 2011 Tour de France. Stays out of trouble and rides smarter than everyone else. That is why I am feeling confident and everyone said in 2011 that he would crumble on the climbs...never happened.

My thoughts exactly.

As for the flak that has been directed at BMC and OGE in this forum for riding on, I haven't read any complaints coming from the other Teams. It's racing, near to the end (as opposed to early or half way through a stage) and sad for the riders who were injured or delayed.