2015 Giro Stage 14: Treviso – Valdobbiadene 59.4 kms ITT

[TheGreenMonkey]

Looks like Porte has had his predictable bad day/days once again.

Looked to me like he quit.

It is hard to know, talk he hurt his knees in yesterday's crash. A story or the truth, I have no idea, we really can't from the outside like we could not really know the extent of Contador's shoulder. Don't expect people to tell the truth on these matters.

 

[HelloDolly]

Well JvdB is back up the GC ....one place off 4th... and there are alot of mountains to come

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

Aru just had the ITT of his life! I'm not one of his biggest fans, but I gotta give the guy major props. He could have easily lost 5-6 minutes in previous years so this is something for him to build on in the future.

He lost 2:55 to Uran last year, and finished 16th so I think this is more or less where he would be expected. If you take into account that Contador was better than Uran last year, but Aru is also a year older.

I was basing my comment on what he has done in years past, and the fact that he went 20k longer than he's ever gone in the ITT. You're basing an argument on a single result which doesn't really indicate anything one way or the other. Go through all of his ITT results and you will see that he improved greatly, even over last year.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Koenig: the new Zubeldia?

Without the time lost yesterday Konig would be 4th and he has been working for Porte. Top 5 still a possibility if he gets to ride for himself. Depends a bit on what Astana do and if they are prepared to risk throwing away Landa and Cataldo's top 10 in an attempt to attack.

What is Amador doing right up there? Surely he will not stay with the best in the real mountains

Van den Broeck seems to have sacrificed climbing for TTing, will lose lots of time in the mountains.
Question marks over Uran as well. Caruso is not good enough.

Amador got allowed in the break on the Formolo stage, and has benefited from having guys up the road in what few climby stages there have been thus far. He's good on low to medium gradient type ascents and in terrible weather, so while he's not exactly renowned as a TTer the conditions suited him today. I can't imagine he'll stay remotely in contention come Cervinia and Sestriere (sure he won Cervinia last time, but no way he gets allowed in the break now, and the stage is harder before the final climb this year), but tomorrow's final climb ought to be one he can limit losses on. He might get a bottom end top 10 by the end of the race which I think would be a success for him. He'll just be asked to follow I think, Beñat's tilt at the GPM will mean he'll be up the road tomorrow and in the Cervinia stage giving Amador the chance to sit in with Movistar not needing to put any pressure on anybody.

Urán, Cataldo, Landa and Kreuziger are pretty much certainties to pass him before we even get to Finestre I'd have thought, JVDB probably though he's not climbing great at the moment. König more than likely too.

The penultimate climb tomorrow is the climb riders who are not top climbers should worry about. If Astana lifts the pace there will not be many together over the top. It will probably come together again a bit but a rider like Amador could lose a lot of time.

I expect Beñat will be up the road trying for the GPM points. Izagirre's a strong descender who's not far from the top 10, so if the gaps aren't too big I can see them managing it well on the descent and false flat portion, though if they aren't able to make the junction back to the heads of state we could be talking 5-10 mins time gap by the end of the day. It would be interesting to see if, if it did play out like that, they would pull Intxausti back if he wasn't going to win the stage to assist - or if they simply don't expect to stay GC-relevant and would leave everybody free to ride their own race like they used to do every year at the Giro pre-Arroyo 2010.

 

[Irondan]

Looks like Porte has had his predictable bad day/days once again.

Looked to me like he quit.

Or he's feeling the effects of yesterdays crash..

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Koenig: the new Zubeldia?

Without the time lost yesterday Konig would be 4th and he has been working for Porte. Top 5 still a possibility if he gets to ride for himself. Depends a bit on what Astana do and if they are prepared to risk throwing away Landa and Cataldo's top 10 in an attempt to attack.

What is Amador doing right up there? Surely he will not stay with the best in the real mountains

Van den Broeck seems to have sacrificed climbing for TTing, will lose lots of time in the mountains.
Question marks over Uran as well. Caruso is not good enough.

First ofall JvdB is still a top climber
Caruso is good enough
Uran will podium
And sure Konig woud be up if not lost time in the crash....but working for Porte ....no way has he done anything for Porte .....he has rode by himself the last 2 weeks.... have alook...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's quite nice Kiryienka won today, it's now four years to the day since the death of Xavier Tondó; I alluded earlier to Vasya's epic Sestriere win in 2011 which was such a big moment for Movistar during their year of hell. And of course, Beñat Intxausti is still in the maglia azzurra and so he gets to stand on the podium as well.

 

[indianfanboy]

Now go and read the preview for today's stage by all Cycling news,Velonews,etc

 

[Ramira]

Re: Re:

Aru just had the ITT of his life! I'm not one of his biggest fans, but I gotta give the guy major props. He could have easily lost 5-6 minutes in previous years so this is something for him to build on in the future.

He lost 2:55 to Uran last year, and finished 16th so I think this is more or less where he would be expected. If you take into account that Contador was better than Uran last year, but Aru is also a year older.

I was basing my comment on what he has done in years past, and the fact that he went 20k longer than he's ever gone in the ITT. You're basing an argument on a single result which doesn't really indicate anything one way or the other. Go through all of his ITT results and you will see that he improved greatly, even over last year.

I was basing my expectations on the closest thing to today's stage. An ITT in a GT where he was looking to finish on the podium. Yeah he's improved, but there's a lot of climbers who's ITT's when they're not going for a GC are completely irrelevant because they simply don't prepare for it in the same way.

In the end I think today's performance was pretty much on par with his performance in last year's Giro, so it can hardly be considered shocking.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Re: Re:

Contador to lose 12" to Kiri at the end

Good post Poursuivant

I gave you props for that earlier. Good call.

 

[Tank Engine]

Re:

The Ryder-can't-TT trolls have been self-silenced. Not too late to delete your posts.

No, I think I'll repost it . I was pretty much on the mark with Ryder and Bertie . Way off the mark with Zakarin
Maybe he was taking it easy today, I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

A lot of love for this post. It's true Ryder is a diesel and will do really well in a long time trial (by his standards, that means top 30, maybe sneak into the top 20 ). I'll go with Zakarin. I'm interested how Amador will do, I'm not sure if he'll last the distance as his best results have come in relatively short efforts, but he is obviously in great form. If Duran Duran hampered by injuries, I think Bertie will be the best of the GC guys, as his recuperation is better than Porte-Cabin's. Contador could even win this. I just hope that Aru is in better shape than today and has been working on his TT, otherwise it's going to be a long day.

As for Porte and Uran, they were certainly worse than I thought they'd be. Anyway, it will free Koenig up.

I think I was mixing Amador up with Malori to some degree, but he also put in a good effort.

 

[thehook]

Re: Re:

Contador to lose 12" to Kiri at the end

Good post Poursuivant

I gave you props for that earlier. Good call.

Wow! Did you bet some cash on the stage? Great Prediction!
Chapeau

 

[Carols]

Congrats to Kiri!!! He is such a workhorse I enjoy it when he has a chance to shine.

Alberto well he has stamped his authority on the race. I'll bet he wants a stage win so it won't be all defense, all the time. As Mick said a couple days back 'He is Alberto, when he feels good he attacks' while laughing. So I think we'll get a show at least once from here on out.

Aru, I feel badly for him. So happy to be in Pink only to have it ripped right away. It would have been nice if he had it for a couple days earlier in the race. Still his star is on the rise and there will be a Giro with his name on it.

Uran was disappointing, but he's had a rough go of it the entire race. Hopefully he can get on the podium.

Lil Richie, no comment.......

 

[Jagartrott]

This TT doesn't lie.
Contador the best by far. Will be interesting to see what happens with guys like Amador, Landa, etc. the next stages. I expect them to have at least one bad day and drop out of contention for the podium. Difficult to gauge Uran, but Aru seems off his best form and doesn't seem to like the weather at all. JVDB looked strong, wonder whether he'll pick up on his climbing again (I don't think the first stages or Romandie were real indicators).

 

[Domulec]

Surprised by the great performance of Kruijswijk. Such a shame he lost like 8 minutes in stage four where Astana went wild. If it wasn't for that moment of inattention, he would have been right up there battling for a top-5 position.

 

[MotorRouleur]

GC Movement after TT

1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 00:00 2nd to 1st place
2 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 2:28 1 to 2
3 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 3:36 8 to 3 major gain
4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx - Quick-Step 4:14 6 to 4
5 Jurgen VD Broeck (Bel) Lotto Soudal 4:17 11 to 5 major gain
6 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 4:50 5 to 6
7 Mikel Landa (Spa) Astana Pro Team 4:55 3 to 7 loss
8 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 4:56 7 to 8
9 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo 4:57 4 to 9 loss
10 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 5:35 15 to 10 major gain
11 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 6:01 13 to 11
12 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 6:04 9 to 12 loss

13 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha 7:01 10 to 13 loss
14 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini 7:47 12 to 14
15 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Cannondale-Garm 8:05 20 to 15 major gain
16 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr 8:13 no change
17 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky 8:52 no change
18 Jon Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team 8:55 21 to 18 gain
19 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Garm 9:05 14 to 19 loss

20 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team 10:52 18 to 20
21 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 11:03 23 to 21
22 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 11:21 no change
23 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team 12:45 19 to 23 loss
[/color]

 

[Mongolian Mayhem]

Porte didn't have a meltdown today....the whole Giro has been a meltdown for him....but that's racing I guess.

 

[Singer01]

Re:

Well JvdB is back up the GC ....one place off 4th... and there are alot of mountains to come

So 5th then?

 

[MotorRouleur]

The Ryder-can't-TT trolls have been self-silenced. Not too late to delete your posts.

No, I think I'll repost it . I was pretty much on the mark with Ryder and Bertie . Way off the mark with Zakarin Maybe he was taking it easy today, I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

A lot of love for this post. It's true Ryder is a diesel and will do really well in a long time trial (by his standards, that means top 30, maybe sneak into the top 20 ). I'll go with Zakarin. I'm interested how Amador will do, I'm not sure if he'll last the distance as his best results have come in relatively short efforts, but he is obviously in great form. If Duran Duran hampered by injuries, I think Bertie will be the best of the GC guys, as his recuperation is better than Porte-Cabin's. Contador could even win this. I just hope that Aru is in better shape than today and has been working on his TT, otherwise it's going to be a long day.

As for Porte and Uran, they were certainly worse than I thought they'd be. Anyway, it will free Koenig up. I think I was mixing Amador up with Malori to some degree, but he also put in a good effort.

You had some good calls in there. The real surprise for me was Felline. In last year's Giro TT he was around 139th and 8:22 down. This year, 8th, and he beat Durbridge!

The thing about Ryder is he's a very good rider, and respected, yet everyone finishes describing him with a "but he ...." As a result (and partially because he's such a west-coast, laid back guy), he stays well under the radar. He gets much less notice than weaker personalities. That's a big advantage going into the 3rd week.

An example of this is the comparison to Zakarin; finishes the TT 5 minutes down, sits way back in GC over an hour down, and is nowhere in Pts or Mtn classifications. Yet has his own thread in here and was quoted in every 4th or 5th post.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

Koenig: the new Zubeldia?

Without the time lost yesterday Konig would be 4th and he has been working for Porte. Top 5 still a possibility if he gets to ride for himself. Depends a bit on what Astana do and if they are prepared to risk throwing away Landa and Cataldo's top 10 in an attempt to attack.

What is Amador doing right up there? Surely he will not stay with the best in the real mountains

Van den Broeck seems to have sacrificed climbing for TTing, will lose lots of time in the mountains.
Question marks over Uran as well. Caruso is not good enough.

Amador got allowed in the break on the Formolo stage, and has benefited from having guys up the road in what few climby stages there have been thus far. He's good on low to medium gradient type ascents and in terrible weather, so while he's not exactly renowned as a TTer the conditions suited him today. I can't imagine he'll stay remotely in contention come Cervinia and Sestriere (sure he won Cervinia last time, but no way he gets allowed in the break now, and the stage is harder before the final climb this year), but tomorrow's final climb ought to be one he can limit losses on. He might get a bottom end top 10 by the end of the race which I think would be a success for him. He'll just be asked to follow I think, Beñat's tilt at the GPM will mean he'll be up the road tomorrow and in the Cervinia stage giving Amador the chance to sit in with Movistar not needing to put any pressure on anybody.

Urán, Cataldo, Landa and Kreuziger are pretty much certainties to pass him before we even get to Finestre I'd have thought, JVDB probably though he's not climbing great at the moment. König more than likely too.

The penultimate climb tomorrow is the climb riders who are not top climbers should worry about. If Astana lifts the pace there will not be many together over the top. It will probably come together again a bit but a rider like Amador could lose a lot of time.

I expect Beñat will be up the road trying for the GPM points. Izagirre's a strong descender who's not far from the top 10, so if the gaps aren't too big I can see them managing it well on the descent and false flat portion, though if they aren't able to make the junction back to the heads of state we could be talking 5-10 mins time gap by the end of the day. It would be interesting to see if, if it did play out like that, they would pull Intxausti back if he wasn't going to win the stage to assist - or if they simply don't expect to stay GC-relevant and would leave everybody free to ride their own race like they used to do every year at the Giro pre-Arroyo 2010.

I think it's great to see Amador at the right end of the races. He certainly isn't a typical climber, but he has been climbing very well so far, better than Izaguirre actually.

Movistar has a great team for this race which bodes from some aggressive racing. As you say, Intxausti will definitely try to get in the break and they have Fernandez and Herrada to assist him. Visconti and Amador will probably sit back for now and play it defensively, but I think Izaguirre should go on the attack if he has the chance. Much rather get a stage win than 11-15th place on GC.

 

[Campervan man]

http://imgur.com/RT22Nnr Aru
http://imgur.com/9JXmLYk Contador
Difference is striking
Edit got my phone wet so it's not working great will post more pics. From where I stood Amador,JVDB,Contador looked good. Astana boys not so. Can anyone let me know roughly what happened , thanks in advance.

 

[Carols]

Re:

http://imgur.com/RT22Nnr Aru
http://imgur.com/9JXmLYk Contador
Difference is striking
Edit got my phone wet so it's not working great will post more pics. From where I stood Amador,JVDB,Contador looked good. Astana boys not so. Can anyone let me know roughly what happened , thanks in advance.

Kiri won! Alberto came 3rd by 14". GC now:

1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 00:00 2nd to 1st place
2 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 2:28 1 to 2
3 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 3:36 8 to 3 major gain
4 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx - Quick-Step 4:14 6 to 4
5 Jurgen VD Broeck (Bel) Lotto Soudal 4:17 11 to 5 major gain
6 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team 4:50 5 to 6
7 Mikel Landa (Spa) Astana Pro Team 4:55 3 to 7 loss
8 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 4:56 7 to 8
9 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Tinkoff-Saxo 4:57 4 to 9 loss
10 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 5:35 15 to 10 major gain
11 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 6:01 13 to 11
12 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 6:04 9 to 12 loss

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

http://imgur.com/RT22Nnr Aru
http://imgur.com/9JXmLYk Contador
Difference is striking
Edit got my phone wet so it's not working great will post more pics. From where I stood Amador,JVDB,Contador looked good. Astana boys not so. Can anyone let me know roughly what happened , thanks in advance.

Wow Aru looks DEAD, he did well to limit the damage

 

[thehook]

Gotta admit. I thought AC would lose some time to Uran & Porte.

For me aside form Contador. Who I think is the best GT rider of his generation. Uran did a food ride not spectacular. Which is what most thought he would do and needed. But he did move up. And Could podium.

 

[Campervan man]

http://imgur.com/IJhbcuU Uran look at the fans face!http://imgur.com/P4ypy2K Amador flying
http://imgur.com/P4ypy2K