2016 Giro d'Italia - Stage 14: Farra d'Alpago–Corvara 210 km

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

What a boring stage, LOL

Extremely entertaining. I could not have hoped for more, Kruijswijk, Chaves and Atapuma are among my favourite riders.

Kruijswijk and Chaves have just stepped up to be genuine GT contenders, Nibali will still be dangerous, but a new GT winner is looking to be favourite.

Surely Nibali will still be the pretty big favourite. He's got the best team, has proven excellent recovery in GTs and has just taken over two minutes on his biggest rival pre-stage.

Open you eyes. There's a new big candidate for the win, and that's Kruijswijk.

For sure Nibs is still in with a chance. But the best climbers in the race are Kruijswijk and Chavito.

We've had one proper mountain stage - and a ridiculous one at that. There are still five more to go - I think the bookies are right to back the rider who has proven to be able to maintain his form over three weeks.

Chaves was great early in the Vuelta last year and faded big time. Kruijswijk is a bit of an unknown quantity, but has never had to defend a lead before.

I think I'll wait a few days before declaring who is the best climber in the race.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Contento

 

[bassano]

Re: Re:

A lot of people are saying Nibali looked weak. I think he looked the same as when he won the Tour and Giro. One big attack, and soloing to the top. That's what he did today, but today there were better riders in the field, something he didn't have to deal with in the past.

You really think that had these versions of Chavez and Crushweak been at the Tour in 2014, they would have dropped Nibali?

No way, but strange is that since that heroic 2014 tour Nibali did not went so good anymore, my bet on him was good today but he simply was not enough good to Krujswik and Chaves today, I can´t wait for last week
still believe Nibali will win this Giro

 

[webvan]

Kruijswijk to put in more time into Nibs tomorrow and then just needs to follow Astana, no need to have a team for that. If Fugly hadn't dropped like a stone it would be more dangerous. Only real problem might be controlling Chaves...will have to stay cool especially with Chaves' third week in the Vuelta 2015.

 

[TheGreenMonkey]

Re: Re:

What a boring stage, LOL

Extremely entertaining. I could not have hoped for more, Kruijswijk, Chaves and Atapuma are among my favourite riders.

Kruijswijk and Chaves have just stepped up to be genuine GT contenders, Nibali will still be dangerous, but a new GT winner is looking to be favourite.

Surely Nibali will still be the pretty big favourite. He's got the best team, has proven excellent recovery in GTs and has just taken over two minutes on his biggest rival pre-stage.

He was just beaten by the two other riders who have a chance of winning. He could still win but certainly not a big favourite.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

Majka and zakarin might actually have to attack now

Majka is always missing this "one percent".. he got the potential but .. always missing.. something. Just like Roche.

 

[hfer07]

bittersweet feelings....

I soo wanted El Puma to win the stage,,,,,,,,,,but at least Chavito go it for Colombia

 

[gunara]

What was Preidler's plan actually? He looked like a disoriented man starting that move from that far away.

And yes, today I realize Majka is boring and lazy beyond imagination, having to work always irritates him

Majka looked pissed zakarin wouldn't take s turn at the end there. Just ride hard and limit losses

He also did the gesture when the trio started to form, at that moment I suspected he still had something left, but doing a bit more work than others in his group was too big an annoyance for him.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

A lot of people are saying Nibali looked weak. I think he looked the same as when he won the Tour and Giro. One big attack, and soloing to the top. That's what he did today, but today there were better riders in the field, something he didn't have to deal with in the past.

You really think that had these versions of Chavez and Crushweak been at the Tour in 2014, they would have dropped Nibali?

No way, but strange is that since that heroic 2014 tour Nibali did not went so good anymore, my bet on him was good today but he simply was not enough good to Krujswik and Chaves today, I can´t wait for last week
still believe Nibali will win this Giro

Well, 2014 was his best ever level. Perhaps he will never be that good again. It happens, it's called a peak. Look no further than Contador 2009 for something similar.

 

[Ataraxus]

Re: Re:

A lot of people are saying Nibali looked weak. I think he looked the same as when he won the Tour and Giro. One big attack, and soloing to the top. That's what he did today, but today there were better riders in the field, something he didn't have to deal with in the past.

Not sure you can compare the stages he won in the Tour with today's stage. Today's had 2,000m more climbing than any of those; it was a war of attrition; no-one had enough left to put in a really killer attack - just enough to drop those who were on the absolute limit.

Nibali has always been outclimbed by his competitors when the climbing altitude of the stage came close to 5000m. And, in fact, it is expected for him (and Valverde) not to excel in suchlike stages.
This is a good sign for him. It means there is still hope.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

A lot of people are saying Nibali looked weak. I think he looked the same as when he won the Tour and Giro. One big attack, and soloing to the top. That's what he did today, but today there were better riders in the field, something he didn't have to deal with in the past.

You really think that had these versions of Chavez and Crushweak been at the Tour in 2014, they would have dropped Nibali?

Qué?

Steve Crushweak. Dutch rider who did well today

 

[TheGreenMonkey]

Re: Re:

What a boring stage, LOL

Extremely entertaining. I could not have hoped for more, Kruijswijk, Chaves and Atapuma are among my favourite riders.

Kruijswijk and Chaves have just stepped up to be genuine GT contenders, Nibali will still be dangerous, but a new GT winner is looking to be favourite.

Surely Nibali will still be the pretty big favourite. He's got the best team, has proven excellent recovery in GTs and has just taken over two minutes on his biggest rival pre-stage.

Open you eyes. There's a new big candidate for the win, and that's Kruijswijk.

For sure Nibs is still in with a chance. But the best climbers in the race are Kruijswijk and Chavito.

We've had one proper mountain stage - and a ridiculous one at that. There are still five more to go - I think the bookies are right to back the rider who has proven to be able to maintain his form over three weeks.

Chaves was great early in the Vuelta last year and faded big time. Kruijswijk is a bit of an unknown quantity, but has never had to defend a lead before.

I think I'll wait a few days before declaring who is the best climber in the race.

You are right, Kruijswijk has never had to deal with defending a jersey but he has a history of being stronger in the third weeks of Giro's after losing time early.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Why does nibali's team matter for kruiswijk? He still needs to drop him, unless he does it in the descents but he doesn't seem that amazing on it lately

Because it allows Nibali to control the tempo of the race on the climbs. When he's feeling good he can get his team to push really hard; when he's feeling bad he can tell them to hold back a bit. Kruijswijk can't take advantage of Nibali in the same way, because his team is too weak.

He basically needs to gain time by himself and limit his losses by himself. Of course that's a big factor.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Stage

GC

 

[Miburo]

Just became a fan of chavez after that interview, what a lovable guy

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

Contento

I remember reading somewhere, Ian boswell was traing with Froome. Boswell has been using strava and Froome was curios about it. He saw Chaves number on Strava and he kept asking about it, and said; we will beat Chaves time tomorrow. So I was wondering if Chaves has been improving a lot in his climbing. Today is a proof of that. I hope he recovers well and win it or at least on the podium. It's nice to see a youngster breakthrough. Giro has a history of surprising revelation. That's why I love the Giro. TDF is overrated.

 

[Hayabusa]

Great stage to watch as a neutral. Will be interesting to see how this progresses, it's still pretty open and any one of the Top 3 could take this.

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

What a boring stage, LOL

Extremely entertaining. I could not have hoped for more, Kruijswijk, Chaves and Atapuma are among my favourite riders.

Kruijswijk and Chaves have just stepped up to be genuine GT contenders, Nibali will still be dangerous, but a new GT winner is looking to be favourite.

Surely Nibali will still be the pretty big favourite. He's got the best team, has proven excellent recovery in GTs and has just taken over two minutes on his biggest rival pre-stage.

Open you eyes. There's a new big candidate for the win, and that's Kruijswijk.

For sure Nibs is still in with a chance. But the best climbers in the race are Kruijswijk and Chavito.

We've had one proper mountain stage - and a ridiculous one at that. There are still five more to go - I think the bookies are right to back the rider who has proven to be able to maintain his form over three weeks.

Chaves was great early in the Vuelta last year and faded big time. Kruijswijk is a bit of an unknown quantity, but has never had to defend a lead before.

I think I'll wait a few days before declaring who is the best climber in the race.

Chaves didn't fade big time. He was among the 5 best climbers in the Cercedilla stage. He had on off day on Cumbre del Sol.

And being the best climber is something else then being the best GT rider. It's also about coping with the pressure, have the strongest team, managing your bad days etc...

Kruijswijk can still be the best climber, but Nibs can win this Giro because he can manage all those other factors better.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Why does nibali's team matter for kruiswijk? He still needs to drop him, unless he does it in the descents but he doesn't seem that amazing on it lately

Because it allows Nibali to control the tempo of the race on the climbs. When he's feeling good he can get his team to push really hard; when he's feeling bad he can tell them to hold back a bit. Kruijswijk can't take advantage of Nibali in the same way, because his team is too weak.

He basically needs to gain time by himself and limit his losses by himself. Of course that's a big factor.

As it stands now, Kruijswijk doesn't need to gain time

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

Stage
GC

too bad Chaves lost lots of time on ITT chianti. If not, he will give Nibali a run for his money. Right now he has a lot of work ahead of him.

 

[Rollthedice]

Krushweak can't open the champagne, this shows he lacks the experience to win the Giro.

 

[AlexNYC]

And all geniuses complaining of the stage with 100 km to go

 

[WildspokeJoe]

How can you not like Chaves? Thanking everyone. Thanking the staff back at the office. Class.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Why does nibali's team matter for kruiswijk? He still needs to drop him, unless he does it in the descents but he doesn't seem that amazing on it lately

Because it allows Nibali to control the tempo of the race on the climbs. When he's feeling good he can get his team to push really hard; when he's feeling bad he can tell them to hold back a bit. Kruijswijk can't take advantage of Nibali in the same way, because his team is too weak.

He basically needs to gain time by himself and limit his losses by himself. Of course that's a big factor.

As it stands now, Kruijswijk doesn't need to gain time

Yes, if he doesn't have a weak moment at all in the next week he can win. But that is pretty unlikely.

Having a strong team is not the only factor, but it is clearly a significant factor in Nibali's favour. This is beginning to look a bit like the Dumoulin situation again, with people writing off the team factor, experience, recovery etc... way too early.

 

[bassano]

Re:

And all geniuses complaining of the stage with 100 km to go

I expected attack just on Giau could be even better but gaps were serious today and it was a nice stage