2016 Giro d'Italia, stage 12: Noale - Bibione, 182 km

[SafeBet]

Greipel sprint was absolutely fair.
It took Ewan a couple seconds to realize there was no room to pass Greipel on the right, very slow decision making. Someone like Sagan would have jumped on the other side immediately.

Ewan is still so unexperienced at this level. Hopefully this Giro is teaching him a few tricks.

 

[Jungle Cycle]

Ewan move into the inside barrier was inocent to say the least...

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Re: Re:

Greipel didn't do anything different from what Bouhanni got DQed for earlier in the season but the differences here were that Ewen wasn't going fast enough to get properly impeded whereas Matthews probably was going to win. Oh and the fact that it's Bouhanni

Greipel didn't come across as violently as Bouhanni did in P-N, if you watch the overhead the barrier actually come in slightly as Ewan sits up so no reason at all that Greipel would be Dqed

I don't recall any violent movement from Bouhanni either but I'm not criticizing either decision. The crux of it is that Matthews would probably have won and Ewen probably wouldn't

 

[Isaak-Gabriel]

With his future abandon André Greipel will stand a finger to the history and cycling legends who won points classification, what a shame.

 

[StryderHells]

Re:

With his future abandon André Greipel will stand a finger to the history and cycling legends who won points classification, what a shame.

It's pretty common practice for riders to do this, it is a shame he is pulling out but he isn't giving the finger to cycling history or legends

 

[Fernandez]

Re:

With his future abandon André Greipel will stand a finger to the history and cycling legends who won points classification, what a shame.

With the stages that are coming there would be a considerable chance of him finishing out of control in any of them . But yes, sprinters are a shame, they come to win what they can win and the rest is irrelevant for them. Not true cyclists they are in my point of view.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

Greipel sprint was absolutely fair.
It took Ewan a couple seconds to realize there was no room to pass Greipel on the right, very slow decision making. Someone like Sagan would have jumped on the other side immediately.

Ewan is still so unexperienced at this level. Hopefully this Giro is teaching him a few tricks.

This. No way to be sure if he would have won but he needed to make a quicker decision. I think he might even have had a shot to squeeze through on the right if he had made a quicker call.
Too bad. It would have been interesting to see them going side by side.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Re: Re:

But yes, climbers are a shame, they come to win what they can win and the rest is irrelevant for them. Not true cyclists they are in my point of view.

Fixed that for you. Or did any climbers try to win the stage today?

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

I would have liked Ewan to not have his line destroyed just to see how fast he actually could have been against the likes of Greipel

Today, it probably was his best chance as it was a super flat stage where he could hide all day long without burning too much energy.

With his size, the draft was probably carrying him around and he was coasting the first 180km.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

I would have liked Ewan to not have his line destroyed just to see how fast he actually could have been against the likes of Greipel

Today, it probably was his best chance as it was a super flat stage where he could hide all day long without burning too much energy.

With his size, the draft was probably carrying him around and he was coasting the first 180km.

I think stages 17 and 21 wont be much harder but there will be no Greipel anymore, so I think these should actually be even bigger chances.

 

[Fernandez]

Re: Re:

But yes, climbers are a shame, they come to win what they can win and the rest is irrelevant for them. Not true cyclists they are in my point of view.

Fixed that for you. Or did any climbers try to win the stage today?

Do the climbers leave when they have nothing to win?

 

[yaco]

Good progress by Ewan in this Giro - Has been thereabouts in every finish, but in the last 2 stages has improved his work from 1000m to 400m - The most pleasing thing is that he has been able to ride out the stage - Want him to finish the Giro to build up his endurance.

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

But yes, climbers are a shame, they come to win what they can win and the rest is irrelevant for them. Not true cyclists they are in my point of view.

Fixed that for you. Or did any climbers try to win the stage today?

Will Greipel try at least to finish tomorrow's stage? Where is Kittel?

 

[JackRabbitSlims]

Greipel rumoured to not be starting tomorrows stage.
Text book stuff from Lotto.....controlled the race from 5kms out and then let the big man unleash the goods in the final 750m.
From the camera angle I saw, it looked like Ewan took the wrong position (inside Greipel against the barrier) and he just held him there which is perfectly fine.....I doubt he has the top end gas and sheer grunt that Greipel can call on to get him to the line first!

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

But yes, climbers are a shame, they come to win what they can win and the rest is irrelevant for them. Not true cyclists they are in my point of view.

Fixed that for you. Or did any climbers try to win the stage today?

Will Greipel try at least to finish tomorrow's stage? Where is Kittel?

He already said that he'll leave after today.

 

[Jagartrott]

Modolo's team mate f*cked it up for him. Not leading out but stopping and leaving a gap to Ewan.
Modolo's lead-out of Nizzolo was still decent though.

Btw: If the giro wants to retain the top sprinters until the end, they should not put all the hard mountain stages in the final week.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Modolo's team mate f*cked it up for him. Not leading out but stopping and leaving a gap to Ewan.
Modolo's lead-out of Nizzolo was still decent though.

Btw: If the giro wants to retain the top sprinters until the end, they should not put all the hard mountain stages in the final week.

I'm ok with that I like the idea of a less backloaded Giro, but then I want a few really hard mountain stages (mosty medium mountains) durning the first week. The idea behind the 2009 Giro was interesting, even if the actual route was pretty poor. You could find a way to have the Dolomites in the first week, there are lots of great climbs that finish below 2000m.
Even if it's not the Dolomites in the first week, just give us really hard medium mountain stages that have the potential to be total carnage.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

But yes, climbers are a shame, they come to win what they can win and the rest is irrelevant for them. Not true cyclists they are in my point of view.

Fixed that for you. Or did any climbers try to win the stage today?

Do the climbers leave when they have nothing to win?

In Paris Roubaix. After 100 km when the cobbles start they are gone!!!

 

[carolina]

They should only give the prize money to the riders that finish the race. The only exception would be if they crash or get ill, but these would have to be approved/confirmed by the race doctor, not the team doctor.

Kittel and Greipel "stole" lots of points from the other sprinters that are actually interested in winning the points jersey. It's bad enough that they can't win a stage because they're so much weaker, but also loosing the points... it's ridiculous.

Before anyone mentions the time limit thing, I'm sorry, but guys like Kittel or Greipel only arrive after the time limit if they want to, there is really no excuse.

 

[Escarabajo]

Greipel words, "Let's not do this":

For a guy his size is like torture!

 

[staubsauger]

Actually it's not the Giro's fault this time around. It's just disgusting from Greipel and Kittel. Both were in pole position to win the red jersey. A jersey formerly been won by the greatest sprinters like Bontempi, Cipollini, Pettachi, Cavendish etc. Kittel even openly zalked about reaching Torino at the start of the race. Greipel leads the points classification with 2 sprint stages to come where it's highly unlikely he gets beaten by Nizzolo or Demare given his current shape. Instead he retires from the race, because he targets another few stage wins at the Tour. A race where he (and Kittel) got like zero chance to get the green jersey against Sagan.

That all when he has literally nailed the red jersey. Now it's gonna be won by Nizzolo who hopefully at least wins the final two sprints. The classification is worthless and a joke then nevertheless. That's what Greipel and Kittel are guilty of. Especially Greipel. This can't be forgiven easily. You ain't gonna pull out of a Grand Tour while you've literally just secured a major jersey.

The Tour de France ain't THAT important to justify this action. And sadly enough I don't think a rider from a traditional cycling country would've done the same in this situation. Not even a French sprinter. Greipel (and Kittel) just insulted himself as a major goof. I hate to say that. But it's the hard truth!

 

[therhodeo]

Given that the points jersey in Italy was won just a few years ago by mega sprinters Cadel Evans, Joaquim Rodriguez, and Michele Scarponi it has to be a huge blow to Greipel and Kittels legacies to not have that on their palmares.

 

[shalgo]

Re:

That all when he has literally nailed the red jersey. Now it's gonna be won by Nizzolo who hopefully at least wins the final two sprints. The classification is worthless and a joke then nevertheless. That's what Greipel and Kittel are guilty of. Especially Greipel. This can't be forgiven easily. You ain't gonna pull out of a Grand Tour while you've literally just secured a major jersey.

Out of curiosity (because I don't remember), were people angry when Ullrich pulled out of the 2000 Vuelta while in the lead so that he could rest for the Olympics?

 

[staubsauger]

That was before the organizers changed the points system of the red jersey classification to make it been won by a sprinter, actually!

Since I was 10 years old in 2000 and just started watching cycling in 2001 I ain't got no clue tbh

 

[shalgo]

Actually, I just looked it up. Ullrich was in fourth place, not first, when he dropped out. That shows just how little I remember from that race. So not really the same situation.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/results/2000/aug00/vuelta00/stages/vuelta0012r.shtml

"Finally, although Jan Ullrich was lying 4th overall after this stage and finished in the top group, he chose to abandon afterwards in order to better prepare for the Olympics."