2017 Giro d'Italia, Stage 4: Cefalú - Etna 181 km

[dacooley]

Im assured deep down quintana considers the giro being almost packed for him at this point and nibali is probably the one who's able to spoil the party for the colombian.

 

[Climbing]

Rai reported multiple times during the race that there was a very strong headwind, so attacking was very hard and of course being so early nobody wanted to risk it all.

 

[Flamin]

Just a horrible stage. Not only because there was no gc action, since that was only slightly worse than what you could expect, but because such a lame break was allowed to go. Where the hell was Cannondale, Astana,...? That's the biggest disappointment of today imo.

Glad Polanc won so some teams have something to think about.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Pantani Talk? I thought no clinic stuff here?

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

I'm not convinced Quintana got gt winning shape anymore. If so he easily could've gained some seconds like Pantani on Gran Sasso d'Italia! Looks like we've about 5-10 equal guys that could potentially win the Giro on paper.

Kruijswijk is the big winner today actually. He lost zero time since nobody made a move while he's the only contender that certainly gains significant time in the tt against Quintana, without losing a bunch in the mountains afterwards. That was a missed chance for the others to kill him off. If Kruijswijk stays alive after Blockhaus, he might find himself in a quite similar situation to last year's race after the tt.

If Quintana really ain't got his prime shape and since Pinot fails anyway somewhere along the way ... Steven is nicely flying under the radar once again 1 year later.

Quintana announced he's going "easy" in the first week, building form. I expect much higher level at the Blockhaus and the TT, and absolute peak at Stelvio and Dolomites stage.

So Kruiswijk is the only GC contender that certainly gains time on Quintana in the TT? Really? Since when he's such a good TT-ist? What about Nibali, Pinot, Zakarin?! And I'm not sure he'll gain any time on Quintana!

I said Kruiswijk is the only one to do so without losing a bunch of it in the mountains again. Unless Pinot gets his act together or Nibali turns back the clock 3 years.

If Quintana follows the Pantani pattern for the double, riding himself into shape during the start of the gt's, it might become interesting. The Contador plan clearly failed dramatically 2x.

So you think Kruijswijk will be stronger than Nibali in the mountains? I don't...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Last year he was (way stronger even). This year no chance because he is not in the same shape (due to falling in Yorkshire)

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Re:

I'm not convinced Quintana got gt winning shape anymore. If so he easily could've gained some seconds like Pantani on Gran Sasso d'Italia! Looks like we've about 5-10 equal guys that could potentially win the Giro on paper.

Kruijswijk is the big winner today actually. He lost zero time since nobody made a move while he's the only contender that certainly gains significant time in the tt against Quintana, without losing a bunch in the mountains afterwards. That was a missed chance for the others to kill him off. If Kruijswijk stays alive after Blockhaus, he might find himself in a quite similar situation to last year's race after the tt.

If Quintana really ain't got his prime shape and since Pinot fails anyway somewhere along the way ... Steven is nicely flying under the radar once again 1 year later.

Quintana announced he's going "easy" in the first week, building form. I expect much higher level at the Blockhaus and the TT, and absolute peak at Stelvio and Dolomites stage.

So Kruiswijk is the only GC contender that certainly gains time on Quintana in the TT? Really? Since when he's such a good TT-ist? What about Nibali, Pinot, Zakarin?! And I'm not sure he'll gain any time on Quintana!

I said Kruiswijk is the only one to do so without losing a bunch of it in the mountains again. Unless Pinot gets his act together or Nibali turns back the clock 3 years.

If Quintana follows the Pantani pattern for the double, riding himself into shape during the start of the gt's, it might become interesting. The Contador plan clearly failed dramatically 2x.

So you think Kruijswijk will be stronger than Nibali in the mountains? I don't...

If he's got about last year's shape, yes. If he ain't even close to it Kruijswijk's probably weaker than Zakarin.

 

[lenric]

The most ecstatic moment of today's stage was eurosport portuguese commentators hyping the *** out of Rui Costa again.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Dumoulin said the headwind was really bad. He also said it was a bit of a tame climb. He had good legs and a lot of energy left at the finish, which is why he thinks it's too bad there was headwind and the climb itself wasn't that hard

 

[BigMac]

Re:

The most ecstatic moment of today's stage was eurosport portuguese commentators hyping the **** out of Rui Costa again.

Luís Piçarra after seeing Rui Costa was still in a group of 25 riders: ''Well, with a performance like this, Costa might go for something other than stages (implying GC)''

Finishes 1:05 minutes behind.

 

[PeterB]

191 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:36:34
192 Alberto Losada (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:38:46

DNF Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin

Did Losada finish the stage, despite already sitting inside the ambulance..?! Or did Kochetkov just take his bike after he destroyed his?

Anyway, very likeable 4 winners so far, basically all of them from teams with no GC ambitions so at least they could take something from the Giro.

 

[carolina]

Re: Re:

The most ecstatic moment of today's stage was eurosport portuguese commentators hyping the **** out of Rui Costa again.

Luís Piçarra after seeing Rui Costa was still in a group of 25 riders: ''Well, with a performance like this, Costa might cgo for something other than stages (implying GC)''

Finishes 1:05 minutes behind.

Don't worry, they won't give up the hype. I'm sure they will find an excuse and try to sell it in next few days. At least until saturday.

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Re:

The most ecstatic moment of today's stage was eurosport portuguese commentators hyping the **** out of Rui Costa again.

Luís Piçarra after seeing Rui Costa was still in a group of 25 riders: ''Well, with a performance like this, Costa might go for something other than stages (implying GC)''

Finishes 1:05 minutes behind.

Finishes behind Simone Petilli most notably! :lol:

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Btw, Kruijswijk himself says legs felt good, he expanded some energy coming back from that crash tho.

I think it's just his usual 1st week level. Last year he was lucky there wasn't really a tough mt finish in the 1st week. And yet, he didn't lose time today. All in all, too early to call. (definately too early to call for Kruijswijk. Considering he's been 10+ minutes behind and still finishing 7th)

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

The most ecstatic moment of today's stage was eurosport portuguese commentators hyping the **** out of Rui Costa again.

Luís Piçarra after seeing Rui Costa was still in a group of 25 riders: ''Well, with a performance like this, Costa might go for something other than stages (implying GC)''

Finishes 1:05 minutes behind.

I confess that I wasn't paying much attention to the finale, but I believe one of them said something like "such a good climb from Rui Costa... but it could be worst, not everything is lost."

When I was hearing this I could only think about Florecita and all the remaining most dedicated Contador fans.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

The most ecstatic moment of today's stage was eurosport portuguese commentators hyping the **** out of Rui Costa again.

Luís Piçarra after seeing Rui Costa was still in a group of 25 riders: ''Well, with a performance like this, Costa might go for something other than stages (implying GC)''

Finishes 1:05 minutes behind.

I confess that I wasn't paying much attention to the finale, but I believe one of them said something like "such a good climb from Rui Costa... but it could be worst, not everything is lost."

When I was hearing this I could only think about Florecita and all the remaining most dedicated Contador fans.

Yeah, because said poster is usually not pessimistic at all when said rider drops like a stone on the first MTF of a GT.

 

[Red Rick]

Anyway, proper wet fart of a stage.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

The most ecstatic moment of today's stage was eurosport portuguese commentators hyping the **** out of Rui Costa again.

Luís Piçarra after seeing Rui Costa was still in a group of 25 riders: ''Well, with a performance like this, Costa might go for something other than stages (implying GC)''

Finishes 1:05 minutes behind.

I confess that I wasn't paying much attention to the finale, but I believe one of them said something like "such a good climb from Rui Costa... but it could be worst, not everything is lost."

When I was hearing this I could only think about Florecita and all the remaining most dedicated Contador fans.

Yeah, because said poster is usually not pessimistic at all when said rider drops like a stone on the first MTF of a GT.

Thankfully, we have different opinions.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Re:

Anyway, proper wet fart of a stage.

Yep.

I still think Nibali is relaxing and laughing in his motorhome right about now. "You suckers fell for it." Perfect outcome for him.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Dumoulin said the headwind was really bad. He also said it was a bit of a tame climb. He had good legs and a lot of energy left at the finish, which is why he thinks it's too bad there was headwind and the climb itself wasn't that hard

The last 8,5 km was 7,8% tho coming at the end of a relative hard stage (if you are considering the remaining 10 kms of Etna as well), so I think it was plenty hard to make a difference if you felt really good if there wasn't this much wind. And of course, not being on the 4th stage of the race, everything really worked against this stage.

 

[SafeBet]

Moreno disqualified.

Btw, Petilli is a very good climber. Could even sneak inside the top 15 if all stars align.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Everyone fresh and headwind is good enough to keep that group to a man or 20. As I feared. Hope Blockhaus is better but not sure.

The more I look at the Giro the more I think it's relatively easy compared to other years. Or is it just me?

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

Everyone fresh and headwind is good enough to keep that group to a man or 20. As I feared. Hope Blockhaus is better but not sure.

The more I look at the Giro the more I think it's relatively easy compared to other years. Or is it just me?

The last 6 days are brutal. Dreams are going to get crushed there.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

Moreno disqualified.

Btw, Petilli is a very good climber. Could even sneak inside the top 15 if all stars align.

Apparently he punched Diego Rosa.
Not Cool

 

[SafeBet]

Not apparently. It was internationally broadcasted. Right decision.