2018 Giro d'Italia stage 11: Assisi – Osimo 156 km

[The Chicken]

Re:

Chris Juul-Jensen (about Yates): "He's as cool as a polar bear's toenails."
Is that a common saying in English?

lmfao NO but I'm gonna start using it from now on :lol:

 

[armchairclimber]

Froome is a long way from being my favourite rider but I am impressed that he seems determined to continue. He looks skinnier than at the start.

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

The fanboyism from Waterloo, the chicken and the other new user account, is reaching record levels. Hating a teammate that is very likeable because it's perceived as a menace for their own agenda, hating a GT rival for being able to keep the distance short...

At this rate, you guys will succeed at making us cheer against Yates

Indeed. The Yates fanclub has gone from barely existent to the most annoying in the whole forum real quick.

 

[yaco]

Ugh, really hoped for a good stage today

Well, we can'expect carnage every day...

No but for the exact reason that there was carnage yesterday and that the gc teams don't want to chase I expected a huge breakaway today. It just puzzles me that so many teams are therefore satisfied with this break. Pretty much every team which is stagehunting should have tried to put a man in the break. And additionally riders which aren't that far down in the gc could have used that situation trying to snatch the pink jersey. These L'Aqulia like stages don't happen often however yesterday's stage was a perfect set up for one, but the set up simply wasn't used

The stage was fine - I thought the break would go early and they'd get to 8-10 minutes but instead it took nearly 40 kms of racing for the break - Do you realise you have contradicted yourself in your post.

 

[armchairclimber]

I don't know what's funnier ... the lipstick marks or the cod Englishman abroad Italianglish.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

The fanboyism from Waterloo, the chicken and the other new user account, is reaching record levels. Hating a teammate that is very likeable because it's perceived as a menace for their own agenda, hating a GT rival for being able to keep the distance short...

At this rate, you guys will succeed at making us cheer against Yates

This part seems especially silly, considering that the people involved by all accounts get along very well.

 

[Netserk]

Very good finale, much better than the typical murito finish.

I'm very glad that those who should have been in a break but chose to stay in the pack and have their teams chase, ended up with absolutely nothing.

This is shaping up to be a great duel - I like the Di Luca/Menchov comparison. We'll need Zonc for confirmation though.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Dumoulin is a beast on these hills. Hardly surprising he could limit his losses.

Yes, people are forgetting when he first came to GC fame at the 2015 Vuelta.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Impressed by DUMO. Yates looks extremely strong still. Pinot a little disappointing today but not a disaster. We can finally write off Froome.
Exciting last few km although I would have liked to see Luisle win.

Sort of sums up Pinot. He leaks too much time on stages where he shouldn't.

Thibaut is not a puncheur.

No and the final climb caught out out quite a few GC riders. Wellens attack was a total miscalculation.

 

[Climber123]

Dumoulin is a very likeable rider. Not boring at all. He is going to win this. The race has barely started and his form is on the rise.

 

[Climbing]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin is a beast on these hills. Hardly surprising he could limit his losses.

Yes, people are forgetting when he first came to GC fame at the 2015 Vuelta.

Yeah, plus that very similar finale with cobblestones like today, where he put in trouble Aru (the day before the disaster).

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Chris Juul-Jensen (about Yates): "He's as cool as a polar bear's toenails."
Is that a common saying in English?

Haha, no. CJJ is just a zany guy.

 

[hulkhogansknees]

Re:

Chris Juul-Jensen (about Yates): "He's as cool as a polar bear's toenails."
Is that a common saying in English?

OutKast reference! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NywdVBwzurU
Juul-Jensen is a cool dude.

 

[search]

Re: Re:

Impressed by DUMO. Yates looks extremely strong still. Pinot a little disappointing today but not a disaster. We can finally write off Froome.
Exciting last few km although I would have liked to see Luisle win.

Sort of sums up Pinot. He leaks too much time on stages where he shouldn't.

Thibaut is not a puncheur.

No and the final climb caught out out quite a few GC riders. Wellens attack was a total miscalculation.

well, in his daily blog Wellens said that he wasn't expecting to be able to fight for the win, having pain in the knee, the neck and a headache. So an early move was probably his only chance - especially in hindsight, as even in top shape he couldn't have kept up with Yates today anyway

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Dumoulin was holding the gap but Yates impressive yet again.Seems like game over for Froome for good this time. Wellens attack was optimistic. Not sure why he didn't wait till closer to the finish. Decent ride also by Dennis.

This is true about almost every race he ever rides.

 

[The Chicken]

Re:

The fanboyism from Waterloo, the chicken and the other new user account, is reaching record levels. Hating a teammate that is very likeable because it's perceived as a menace for their own agenda, hating a GT rival for being able to keep the distance short...

At this rate, you guys will succeed at making us cheer against Yates

I don't hate anyone. My point about Chaves costing Yates time on Etna is right though. And my point about Dumoulin is also right. How can you root for the guy who never animates the race? Jeez, you probably hated watching Pantani.

 

[yaco]

Brave ride by Yates to go so early and a super ride by Dumoulin to limit the damage.

 

[HelloDolly]

So Maximilian Schachmann ...eh ?...super rider
Future Strade Bianche winner me thinks ...as well as other classics

 

[yaco]

It's important that MS are patient on Zoncolan and ride a steady tempo - It's a tough climb and riders eventually fall off the peleton - Put pressure on too early and you may blow up - My view is if Yates keeps the same form he has a podium wrapped up, drops a little and its top 5, falls off a cliff and its top 10.

 

[ontheroad]

Re:

It's important that MS are patient on Zoncolan and ride a steady tempo - It's a tough climb and riders eventually fall off the peleton - Put pressure on too early and you may blow up - My view is if Yates keeps the same form he has a podium wrapped up, drops a little and its top 5, falls off a cliff and its top 10.

It depends on what he wants. Does he want to try and actually win the race or is he satisfied with a podium. Given his strength I would suggest he has to go for the win and put Dumoulin under pressure before the TT. To do this he needs to take at least another 1:00-1:30. If MS ride tempo they will simply be playing into Dumoulin's hands. Dumoulin will just ride to limit losses knowing he will have enough in hand to take pink in the TT.

 

[Frankschleck]

Re: Re:

The fanboyism from Waterloo, the chicken and the other new user account, is reaching record levels. Hating a teammate that is very likeable because it's perceived as a menace for their own agenda, hating a GT rival for being able to keep the distance short...

At this rate, you guys will succeed at making us cheer against Yates

I don't hate anyone. My point about Chaves costing Yates time on Etna is right though. And my point about Dumoulin is also right. How can you root for the guy who never animates the race? Jeez, you probably hated watching Pantani.

you could argue he cost him under 10 secsonds but i would say Chavez helped him gain time. He didn't have to take a single pull on the way up, which gives hiim a rather bigadvantage when it is that windy. And Doumalin animated last years eneco, and why should he. Why attack when you can play on your strenghs. Thats the same as asking why root for a guy who can't timetrial?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

All we know so far is that Yates is the best Purito. All time gains/wins have been 2km punches. 2km punch from a 20 man group on Etna. less than 200m punch from a 10 man group on Sasso Tetto.
2km punch on a tiny hill today.

We've not have any indication how he, or Dumoulin, or Pinot, or Pozzo, do for that matter on a multi mountain stage where the field HAS to split apart sooner. So until then, I'd say it's still anyone's game. Yates is the best puncheur, that's what we know, so don't wait until the final 2km. Thats's clear.

However, I remember Yates being super strong in Paris Nice, yet cracking when put under pressure early in the final stage. He lost in the end to Soler but could've lost even podium if he hadn't returned in with the help of the Izagirre guys falling and dropping to his group.
There's still a lot of this Giro to go. Even if Yates is good on Zoncolan I wouldn't call it a day. because of that reason. I remember the cracking Yates, and that guy is just a human.

 

[yetiyeti]

I'm choosing to ignore the Chaves/Yates/Etna comments as they are almost making me want to cheer against Yates. Hopefully Chaves is back to normal for the tough weekend ahead, as it would be a great help for Yates. I like Dumoulin as well and want him to keep it close enough that he might take the Pink jersey after the TT and keep things interesting. While Dumoulin doesn't have an aggressive attacking style, he isn't just a wheel-sucker - he just has to ride his pace and often ends up doing that alone after his rivals attack. He endures a special kind of pain as he diesels his way back in after getting dropped by a hard acceleration. The two different styles actually make for really interesting racing.

 

[Gigs_98]

The one thing I'm really afraid of is that Yates will dominate the Zoncolan, be in pink after the ITT and the final week becomes a borefest. Let's not forget Yates has an incredible team with Haig, Kreuziger, Nieve and now also Chaves as his mountain domestiques. That's sky at the tour de france level. The problem is that as it stands Dumoulin is his main rival, but as soon as we get to the point where Dumoulin actually has to gain time in the mountains this will be very very hard to win. Behind Dumoulin we have Pozzovivo and Pinot who both don't have superb teams and especially in the case of Pozzo I think he'll be satisfied with a podium. Pinot might not be, but then again I don't think Pinot has ever shown to be a super aggressive rider. The big hopes for being super aggressive would be Lopez and Aru, but both are so far down that I don't think they'll ever get anywhere close to pink again.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Like I said, I'm not to sure about Yates mountain superiority if he goes from further out. He's Puritoing this Giro.

Take today, he had 4/5 seconds at 1km but finished 2s ahead. Give it a KM longer....