- May 9, 2010
- 11,071
- 2,541
- 28,180
Valverde and Ulissi are definitely the main favorites here. Chaves probably third. I see a lot of riders capable of taking this as the big guys will likely stare at each other. Busato, Preidler, Fuglsang, Kruijswijk, Cunego are interesting names here as well.
Common guys. It is the first MTF and not even that hard. As we all know, everybody can climb the first day so we should all expect a big bunch with minimal time losses. That being said, there may be a few riders that may not enjoy the high pace, short stage. When the big mountains hit, the losses will be measured with a calendar, so this stage is far from being decisive.
Expects fireworks on this stage from GC contenders - These guys need to take time off Dumoulin before the Chianti TT.
- Apr 15, 2014
- 4,254
- 2,341
- 18,680
Re:
Nibali is excellent at these sorts of stages. He is the only GT winner contending for the victory. He was good yesterday and in the prologue. This judgement is based on precisely four days worth of racing, from a man who is well-known for not taking warm-up races seriously. There's absolutely no reason to think he'll struggle.
rune1107 said:
Nibali is excellent at these sorts of stages. He is the only GT winner contending for the victory. He was good yesterday and in the prologue. This judgement is based on precisely four days worth of racing, from a man who is well-known for not taking warm-up races seriously. There's absolutely no reason to think he'll struggle.
- Feb 18, 2015
- 13,820
- 9,810
- 28,180
Re: Re:
-I'm pretty sure this judgement is not based on the four days of racing
-It is based on a warm up race in which he maybe usually isnt absolutely great but at least not as bad as he was in Trentino this year.
-Valverde is also a GT winner and is contending for victory.Cannibal72 said:
-I'm pretty sure this judgement is not based on the four days of racing
-It is based on a warm up race in which he maybe usually isnt absolutely great but at least not as bad as he was in Trentino this year.
Re: Re:
-good point. I forgot about Valverde's GT win (although it's not easy to discuss that win outside the Clinic.)
-I know that, which is why those are not the 'four days' I am referring to: I'm absolutely sure the judgement is based on the 3 days of Trentino and the 1 day of Liege, which is why that's what I'm talking about.
-2014 Dauphine?
Gigs_98 said:
-good point. I forgot about Valverde's GT win (although it's not easy to discuss that win outside the Clinic.)
-I know that, which is why those are not the 'four days' I am referring to: I'm absolutely sure the judgement is based on the 3 days of Trentino and the 1 day of Liege, which is why that's what I'm talking about.
-2014 Dauphine?
- Mar 10, 2009
- 9,245
- 23
- 17,530
Re:
I have to disagree. Oftentimes the first foray in to the mountains results in some contenders not performing up to expectations. As an example, the Courcheval stage of the 2005 Tour where Valverde, Armstrong, Rasssmussen and Mancebo dropped everyone and Basso, whom everyone thought would be the primary opposition to Armstrong, lost more time than anyone could have anticipated. It's been shown that it takes some riders that first mountainous stage to loosen their climbing legs while others it doesn't.
Jancouver said:
I have to disagree. Oftentimes the first foray in to the mountains results in some contenders not performing up to expectations. As an example, the Courcheval stage of the 2005 Tour where Valverde, Armstrong, Rasssmussen and Mancebo dropped everyone and Basso, whom everyone thought would be the primary opposition to Armstrong, lost more time than anyone could have anticipated. It's been shown that it takes some riders that first mountainous stage to loosen their climbing legs while others it doesn't.
- Feb 18, 2015
- 13,820
- 9,810
- 28,180
Re: 2016 Giro d'Italia - Stage 6 Ponte – Roccaraso 157 km MT
I also don't think anything exciting will happen. Maybe one of the top favorites has a bad day which would cause the pace to go up but otherwise I only expect gaps between the gc contenders on the last kilometer. The classical first, flat 2nd category mtf in the giro is usually relatively boring. 2014 was an exception because there was a crash which completely split the peloton and 2015 because there was Contador and even with Contador there weren't any really exciting time gaps.
Moreover the last climb tomorrow really doesnt support attacking from a long way out because of the flat part near the finish.
I also don't think anything exciting will happen. Maybe one of the top favorites has a bad day which would cause the pace to go up but otherwise I only expect gaps between the gc contenders on the last kilometer. The classical first, flat 2nd category mtf in the giro is usually relatively boring. 2014 was an exception because there was a crash which completely split the peloton and 2015 because there was Contador and even with Contador there weren't any really exciting time gaps.
Moreover the last climb tomorrow really doesnt support attacking from a long way out because of the flat part near the finish.
- Jul 16, 2011
- 1,561
- 10
- 10,510
The little prince will go for the mountain points, but will be caught. I expect a sprint with about 15-20 riders. Valverde is the favourite. It's also a good finish for Ullisi. I'll pick the Froome impersonator to come third.
Re: Re:
Sure, it could be the case here as well. Basso was never an explosive climber and longer climbs were better suited to his style. I'm sure there are other climbers around that dont like short, high pace climbs (Hesjedal ??).
Either way, even if you lose a minute tomorrow, there may be 30 minutes between the winner and 10th place at the end.
Angliru said:
Sure, it could be the case here as well. Basso was never an explosive climber and longer climbs were better suited to his style. I'm sure there are other climbers around that dont like short, high pace climbs (Hesjedal ??).
Either way, even if you lose a minute tomorrow, there may be 30 minutes between the winner and 10th place at the end.
- May 9, 2014
- 5,230
- 108
- 17,680
Re:
This is very different though.
1) Sky doesn't have a super team capable of fully controlling things
2) The leader can't rely on TTs and just defend his lead in the mountains. This sky leader actively needs to gain as much time in the mountains as possible
Plus this climb isn't really hard enough to produce major gaps
Jancouver said:
This is very different though.
1) Sky doesn't have a super team capable of fully controlling things
2) The leader can't rely on TTs and just defend his lead in the mountains. This sky leader actively needs to gain as much time in the mountains as possible
Plus this climb isn't really hard enough to produce major gaps
Re: 2016 Giro d'Italia - Stage 6 Ponte – Roccaraso 157 km MT
But seriousley, Preidler is just a great rider. Very talented (pcm comes to my mind
) as his junior results show and i have followed him since. I would say top20 material in Giro/Vuelta, good in TTs, good on the flats, good endurance, good on the hills with a not too bad sprint. Great allrounder, unfortunatly not excellent in a single discipline, hence why he is not winning much. But look at his results, you will barely find races where he finishes outside the top40.
Gigs_98 said:Preidler ftw
But seriousley, Preidler is just a great rider. Very talented (pcm comes to my mind
) as his junior results show and i have followed him since. I would say top20 material in Giro/Vuelta, good in TTs, good on the flats, good endurance, good on the hills with a not too bad sprint. Great allrounder, unfortunatly not excellent in a single discipline, hence why he is not winning much. But look at his results, you will barely find races where he finishes outside the top40.Re: Re:
Hesjedal was once very good on short climbs (he finished 2nd in Amstel in 2010 and had some good placings in Canadian classics), but as he got older, he actually doesn't seem to cope with accelerations very well.Jancouver said:
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