2019 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1: Bologna - San Luca ITT 8km

[barmaher]

This is my kind of GT opening salvo. I know others hate them, but I think it is great to have a prologue or TTT at the start of a GT, as it is fabulous for the fans at roadside.

The fact that the course of this prologue is so fascinating is a bonus.

I think Roglic will take the first MR.

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

This is my kind of GT opening salvo. I know others hate them, but I think it is great to have a prologue or TTT at the start of a GT, as it is fabulous for the fans at roadside.

The fact that the course of this prologue is so fascinating is a bonus.

I think Roglic will take the first MR.

I agree with this. I'm generally not a fan of them but I can understand why GTs include them. The atmosphere on the colonnade is going to be incredible!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Could easily have 30s+ gaps here already

0% chance Dumoulin and Roglic don't get top 2 without crashing

I could easily Yates see finish second ahead of Dumoulin on this kind of time trial.

I'll have what you're smoking.

I quit cigarettes 2 years ago and Im not on da weeeed

Seriously, its not as unlikely as you think when you stated with 100% certainty that those two will end up top 2. But lets wait and see, I may end up looking like a fool.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Could easily have 30s+ gaps here already

0% chance Dumoulin and Roglic don't get top 2 without crashing

I could easily Yates see finish second ahead of Dumoulin on this kind of time trial.

I'll have what you're smoking.

I quit cigarettes 2 years ago and Im not on da weeeed

Seriously, its not as unlikely as you think when you stated with 100% certainty that those two will end up top 2. But lets wait and see, I may end up looking like a fool.

You're implying I may not look like a fool after claiming I had a better chance of dating ScarJo than Thomas of winning the Tour?

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

This is my kind of GT opening salvo. I know others hate them, but I think it is great to have a prologue or TTT at the start of a GT, as it is fabulous for the fans at roadside.

The fact that the course of this prologue is so fascinating is a bonus.

I think Roglic will take the first MR.

It is not the TT that fans hate, but the TTT only. Just to clarify.

Somebody should make this a sticky by now.
Thanks.

 

[Mayomaniac]

The flat part could be short enough to pick a slightly modified roadbike with tt bars.
I think that very few riders will be able to perform well on such a climb on a proper tt bike and I don't know if the flat part is long enough so that a bike change makes sense. If you loose 2 seconds per km I'd probably still pick a roadbike with tt bars for the flat part.

 

[Bolder]

I think you could lose a lot more time on a 2k/10% grade than 6k of flats, especially if it's a city course rather than a straight shot on secondary roads. Thus i think it favors pure climbers who can TT a bit, i.e. == Roglic and Yates. Dumoulin is no slouch and will probably carry 10 seconds advantage into the climb, but I don't think that will be enough.

 

[Lequack]

Yates could do a Yates like he did in Paris-Nice.

 

[movingtarget]

Nice course for the GC riders.

 

[Koronin]

On this TT course and with what Yates did at Paris-Nice he could very well be right there with Dumoulin and Roglic. Nibali should be close at the end. I think this TT could determine which other GC riders still have a shot at winning.

 

[Red Rick]

Don't think Yates will be close.

Yates will be the very last man to come into this Giro at 100%.

 

[Salvarani]

I dont think the result of this TT matter much. Of course it is not ideal to lose 40+ seconds or something but it is not a big worry with the second half of the race. If you show yourself to be really strong there.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Re:

Could easily have 30s+ gaps here already

0% chance Dumoulin and Roglic don't get top 2 without crashing

Lol. Amazing how people forget riders who don't race a lots in the build up.

This is the sort of climb that Yates comfortably beat everyone on in both GTs he entered last year - and his flat TT is more than adequate to not lose much in 5km.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Could easily have 30s+ gaps here already

0% chance Dumoulin and Roglic don't get top 2 without crashing

Lol. Amazing how people forget riders who don't race a lots in the build up.

This is the sort of climb that Yates comfortably beat everyone on in both GTs he entered last year - and his flat TT is more than adequate to not lose much in 5km.

I think it's quite amazing how people think Dumoulin will ship major time on the hill. He lost like 2s to Yates on the Osimo stage last year.

This is the type of effort Dumoulin absolutely loves. Also very likely most riders will ride the entire thing on a TT bike which is right up Dumoulin's alley.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Could easily have 30s+ gaps here already

0% chance Dumoulin and Roglic don't get top 2 without crashing

Lol. Amazing how people forget riders who don't race a lots in the build up.

This is the sort of climb that Yates comfortably beat everyone on in both GTs he entered last year - and his flat TT is more than adequate to not lose much in 5km.

I think it's quite amazing how people think Dumoulin will ship major time on the hill. He lost like 2s to Yates on the Osimo stage last year.

This is the type of effort Dumoulin absolutely loves. Also very likely most riders will ride the entire thing on a TT bike which is right up Dumoulin's alley.

It's not about Dumoulin shipping major time on the hill. It's about Yates looking like he has improved massively at TTs in the last few months, and him holding his own with the best on the flat part.

 

[Red Rick]

One ITT. His ITT in Andalucia was nothing special. Also Yates will probably be wary of coming into the Giro too hot.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Dumoulin is obviously still more likely to finish ahead of Simon, the reason I took it up was you made it up to be an absolutely certainty that Dumo would finish ahead.

Daaaamn I look forward to this race now. The Giro will start, the Danish election has just started now as well, good times to be alive.

 

[Red Rick]

So according to Ammattipyoraily TT bike vs road bike is like 6 seconds difference for the same power output.

As for climbing times, they don't have that same 180 degree turn in Giro d'Emilia correct? They have a flying start?

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

So according to Ammattipyoraily TT bike vs road bike is like 6 seconds difference for the same power output.

As for climbing times, they don't have that same 180 degree turn in Giro d'Emilia correct? They have a flying start?

I think it's the same sharp turn as in Emilia.

 

[Eshnar]

in the recent editions of Emilia (at least) they approached from the other side of the road, so they had no sharp turn. Flying start.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

So according to Ammattipyoraily TT bike vs road bike is like 6 seconds difference for the same power output.

As for climbing times, they don't have that same 180 degree turn in Giro d'Emilia correct? They have a flying start?

That's not much. However, the calculation does not take into account the comfort level of the Road bike in the climb. That could be enough to be even.

It depends on the comfort level of cyclists using a TT bike on the climb. Some climbers look uncomfortable. The best Time Trialers like Dumo for sure can kill it.

 

[QuickZulu]

Roglic is the clear favourite for me for this stage. Having said that I have no idea what sort of shape Dumoulin will pitch up in and how his preparation has gone.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

I think on such a short course a bike change is fraught with risk

If the course were longer then maybe...Remember Bergen but that didnt always workout well as far as I remember

For most GC men a road bike with bars seems sensible.Most advantage they can get is on the climb and even on road bikes their flat section performance wont be too much in jeopardy

The one with the biggest dilemma will be Dumoulin who could one would surmise be stronger on the flat than Roglic & Yates. Can he push home that advantage and include a bike change ? Or will he lose it on a road bike with bars

Remember Bergen, 3km climb similar to this at the end. Dumo TT biked all the way up and destroyed the field.
Dumoulin also famously won the Alto de Aia TT in Itzulia against steep hill specialist Purito... I think he is feeling confident on his TT bike here

 

[Climbing]

Re: Re:

So according to Ammattipyoraily TT bike vs road bike is like 6 seconds difference for the same power output.

As for climbing times, they don't have that same 180 degree turn in Giro d'Emilia correct? They have a flying start?

I think it's the same sharp turn as in Emilia.

Nah... Emilia come from the other side and it's almost full speed, as far as I remember.

 

[Cinemaniak]

Re:

Roglic is the clear favourite for me for this stage. Having said that I have no idea what sort of shape Dumoulin will pitch up in and how his preparation has gone.

This... When they are both in their best shape, Dumoulin will always win this stage, but I have the feeling he'll be at his very best in the third week and for the longer TT's. So, Roglic with a 5-10 second bonus on TD (maybe less) and Yates losing around 30-40 seconds.