2018 Giro d'Italia - STAGE 3: Be'er Sheva – Eilat 229 km

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

GC battle up next? 900 m at 8,5%? Could even be a Dumoulin vs. Froome battle. Simon Yates is my favorite.

I doubt it will be gc per se. Froome and Dumoulin will be involved but not actively searching to win, just to avoid losing time. People like Ulissi or Wellens are favourites, Yates too.

Edit: I hope ciccone is just going for mountains or stages, and he isn't injured.

This looks like a stage for the puncheurs. Are there actually any in this race? Maybe a good stage for Yates.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

GC battle up next? 900 m at 8,5%? Could even be a Dumoulin vs. Froome battle. Simon Yates is my favorite.

I doubt it will be gc per se. Froome and Dumoulin will be involved but not actively searching to win, just to avoid losing time. People like Ulissi or Wellens are favourites, Yates too.

Edit: I hope ciccone is just going for mountains or stages, and he isn't injured.

This looks like a stage for the puncheurs. Are there actually any in this race? Maybe a good stage for Yates.

I think it's a bit too easy for Yates. Wellens is a good guess, Ulissi would usually be the favorite for me, but I think he'll probably guide Aru on the final kilometer instead of going for the stage win, which is a pity.

 

[carton]

Thank god this part of the giro is over. Not just because I'm against the giro in Israel but mostly because those horrible flat stages are finally over. Now give me some hilly Italian roads

The thing is, if you ignore the politics (and I appreciate that is a difficult ask for many), there is the potential to put together an AWESOME race in Israel. The terrain is there, and the options are there.

But just like with Italy in 2014 and even the Netherlands two years ago, it seems like the Giro has taken to trying to produce the absolute least selective openings possible. I'm really dead set against this "three stages to open the race with the only one of any relevance being on Friday, and the weekend stages being sprints" format they're seemingly set on introducing, since they actively sought out the least interesting courses in Ireland / Northern Ireland too, avoiding some genuine options to make the race interesting and instead serving up utter dreck. Even with Gelderland, there's more that could have been done to not make the stages two complete wastes of days.

TFW the aerial shots of hills and rock formations slowly pan to the riders on the perfectly level asphalt that cuts accross the stunning landscape.

Seriously, I'm glad they're breaking new ground with these trips and trying to include different countries on the route. But it's time to start including some broken ground and explore the difference these trips might make on the race.

 

[Breh]

#29 and counting...
More wins than Bora, Katusha, Cannondale, UAE, Sunweb and Dimension Data combined.

I liked the scenery today. I kinda enjoy deserts.

 

[yaco]

Posted a while ago that Bennett can be too aggressive in sprints - He needs to temper his aggression - In reference to LS's post about boring starts for overseas Grand Departs at the Giro - Will be interesting if Yorkshire wins a GD for the Vuelta in the next few years - Yorkshire has the parcours which suits the way the Vuelta likes to set up their opening stages.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Dumoulin said he felt as rotten as after a mountain stage after the final. It was very high speed and stressful

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

GC battle up next? 900 m at 8,5%? Could even be a Dumoulin vs. Froome battle. Simon Yates is my favorite.

I doubt it will be gc per se. Froome and Dumoulin will be involved but not actively searching to win, just to avoid losing time. People like Ulissi or Wellens are favourites, Yates too.

Edit: I hope ciccone is just going for mountains or stages, and he isn't injured.

This looks like a stage for the puncheurs. Are there actually any in this race? Maybe a good stage for Yates.

I think it's a bit too easy for Yates. Wellens is a good guess, Ulissi would usually be the favorite for me, but I think he'll probably guide Aru on the final kilometer instead of going for the stage win, which is a pity.

TY. Good point on Wellens. He'll definitely give it a go.

 

[Lequack]

Re:

Dumoulin said he felt as rotten as after a mountain stage after the final. It was very high speed and stressful

Oh yeah, what race was he in? Certainly not the one I was watching.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The last 30km they constantly went above 70km/h

It might look easy, but it was hard as hell. Maybe you should try it if you think it's easy

 

[Red Rick]

Tailwind always makes it harder

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

The last 30km they constantly went above 70km/h

It might look easy, but it was hard as hell. Maybe you should try it if you think it's easy

Long stage in the desert, heat, stress... yup, super hard, but boring and without any gaps at all. They are pretty important in a GT, as long as it isn't the second day in a row, in a weekend.

 

[Valv.Piti]

This idea with a TT/TTT, then 2 flat stages on the weekend is really, really horrible. Haven't it pretty much been like that in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018?

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

This idea with a TT/TTT, then 2 flat stages on the weekend is really, really horrible. Haven't it pretty much been like that in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018?

Pretty much.

Have to note that the 2010 Giro went over the same terrain as the 2nd stage of the 2015 Tour, both resulting in echelons.

Honestly I could accept if there was one sprint. 2 inevitable sprints is too much. Wasn't necessary in Ireland. Wasn't necessary in the Netherlands. Most certainly wasn't necessary here.

 

[Robert5091]

Congrats again to QS & Viviani - glad no major crashes with that fast finish. The 3 guys in the break for 200 km deserve some kind of reward.

On to Sicily!

 

[Red Rick]

Gesink did some work for Van Poppel in setting him up for the sprint

Complains about gearing.

Was doing 80kph at 130 rpm and couldn't go faster.

Tailwind much?

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Gesink did some work for Van Poppel in setting him up for the sprint

Complains about gearing.

Was doing 80kph at 130 rpm and couldn't go faster.

Tailwind much?

He needed the Tony Martin gear.

 

[jmdirt]

Nice sprint Eviv!

 

[Robert5091]

That only 1 rider ended up in hospital seems almost miraculous.

http://www.velonews.com/2018/05/giro-ditalia/dumoulin-blasts-dangerous-giro-finale_465348

“I am glad it’s over,” Dumoulin said. “The desert? Boring. The first day was OK in Jerusalem, and it’s nice because I won the time trial. But the past two days haven’t been so nice. It was too dangerous. It was not safe anywhere in the peloton.”

Riders seemed relieved to finish the Giro’s three-day Israeli adventure.

 

[Jagartrott]

Yes, it was a great decision to start the Giro d'Italia in Israel.
Uninspiring and dangerous at the same time.

 

[hrotha]

So Bennett wasn't relegated? What gives.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

Yes, it was a great decision to start the Giro d'Italia in Israel.
Uninspiring and dangerous at the same time.

That's because the Giro actively tries to avoid doing anything interesting with its foreign excursions. Doing it all in reverse - Eilat to Be'er Sheva and then Tel Aviv to Haifa - would have been infinitely more interesting. There's a lot of great terrain in Israel, none of which was used.

 

[staubsauger]

Like LS rightfully claims: The first 2 sprint stages are the first 2 sprint stages. They're very likely to be just as pan-flat and boring if they are in Italy. Whether they're a bit more exciting or absolutely lame like yesterday's stage in the end only matters on the very same day. It's not as if Sardinia last year, the Netherlands in 2016 or Northern Ireland in 2014 have been much better. Vegni apparently wants it that way.

The only meaningful opening stage nowadays, actually is the grande partenza itself! That's the one stage everyone waited for since last years fall. The stage that triggers you for the rest of the Giro d'Italia and decides whether you gonna watch the kinda lame flat stages or not.

From that perspective the Giro d'Italia Start in Israel has been an absolute success. The prolog in Jerusalem was on a very demanding course and produced a first little test balloon between the favorites. Additionally you had all that picturesque shots of the city.

 

[Breh]

I imagine the people behind the Israeli start had a say in the parcours aswell. Two cities, one break.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

Posted a while ago that Bennett can be too aggressive in sprints - He needs to temper his aggression - In reference to LS's post about boring starts for overseas Grand Departs at the Giro - Will be interesting if Yorkshire wins a GD for the Vuelta in the next few years - Yorkshire has the parcours which suits the way the Vuelta likes to set up their opening stages.

I think what saved Bennett was that he came back to his left away from the barrier and allowed Viviani through. If Cav or Bouhanni or a few other current sprinters had been in Bennett’s position, you can be sure they would have kept the door closed.

Yorkshire won’t want a Giro start on Yorkshire roads on the same weekend as them. Unless the calendar adjusts so Yorkshire could be a Giro warmup, I really can’t see it happening. Even with that, most GC riders for the Giro would probably want to skip a 3-day hilly stage race that close to the Gran Partenza.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re: Re:

Yorkshire won’t want a Giro start on Yorkshire roads on the same weekend as them. Unless the calendar adjusts so Yorkshire could be a Giro warmup, I really can’t see it happening. Even with that, most GC riders for the Giro would probably want to skip a 3-day hilly stage race that close to the Gran Partenza.

Most years, TdY is a week before the Giro's start, and could indeed be a warm up race, although many might want easier roads. The clash this week was because the Bank Holiday is as late as it can be.