2019 Giro d'Italia Stage 12: Cuneo - Pinerolo 158km

[Red Rick]

Yeah MAL, Landa and Yates will have to attack. At the very least they need to put pressure on guys like Mollema and Nibali, hope they crack and gain minutes that way.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Yates is effectively down 4+ minutes when the additional time he will siphon away in the final ITT is taken into account. Assuming he's still riding for the win he can't afford to let stages pass without attacking

 

[DanielSong39]

My prediction:

Break takes it
GC contenders call truce, keep the powder dry for the next two days
Conti keeps pink
At least one contender loses significant time on the Montoso

 

[Lequack]

The sprinters have fled. Both Viviani and Ewan are out of the Giro. I guess no one wants to wait for stage 18 for another sprint finish.

 

[Tigerion]

I see this as more the stage to clear out the top 20 of those who won't be there and make it easier to see what the time gaps are.
I will not be surprised if Conti holds on to pink
MTS to try and get a couple of riders into the break. If they manage that I can see Yates attacking hard over the top and have them sit up to pace him along the valley.
If select group over the top then Nibali and Roglic might test the others out on the descent.

 

[HelloDolly]

Yates will attack on the climb...he has as good as said so on The Cycling Podcast

The thing who can and who will go with him ?
Landa & MAL need to but they do not have the speed of Yates on a climb like this
Mollema looks good as does Bilboa..They need to attack to bring out Roglic but they may not

 

[movingtarget]

Expect Michelton to be active, Chaves has to get involved also Astana and Movistar of course. Nibali will sit back and watch it unfold, he has no need to do anything on a stage like this except keep up with Roglic who shouldn't have issues on this stage. Riders like Yates and Lopez have to start attacking and keep attacking. Roglic's team is about to be tested.

 

[Escarabajo]

Not much will happen tomorrow. Too much flat and only one climb. Breakaway will take it. Some big losers of first 12 days might try to go.

 

[Nirvana]

Like i said after the presentation this stage is an insult to Coppi not a celebration.

Anyway another good stage wasted for Ulissi babysitting Conti and that looks even worse if you consider that they are preserving Polanc to ride an obscure top 15/20 in the GC that values nothing compared to a stage win.

 

[Tigerion]

How long should it take from the top of the main climb to the finish?
Have ETA for finish but think might just watch the climb live then hit the hay. Just not sure on the logistics of that

 

[Pantani_lives]

It's the first of four tough stages, so the GC contenders might ride conservatively. On the other hand this is exactly the kind of stage where they could try to isolate Roglic by dropping his teammates on the climb. If they attack afterwards on the flat Roglic would have to close all the gaps on his own. But will they have the guts to do this?

I hope to see some strong stage hunters in the breakaway, e.g. De Gendt, Gallopin, Moscon, Bakelants... Ciccone will be there for the points. Conti might hold on to pink for one more day if the big guys ride conservatively. Otherwise the first Slovenian to take pink might regain it.

 

[silvergrenade]

Re:

My prediction:

Break takes it
GC contenders call truce, keep the powder dry for the next two days
Conti keeps pink
At least one contender loses significant time on the Montoso

This could be how the day goes but I dont see Conti keeping pink.

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Pantani_lives - if Moscon gets in the break, there might be complaints as he's not at the Giro.

 

[yaco]

You have to be cautious in today's stage - You follow the bunch unless a Nibali or Roglic is in trouble and then it's full gas - There are bigger fish to fry.

 

[Salvarani]

I think one hard climb suits Roglic more than anyone.

A rider in great form at the moment is more likely to drop everyone, than the other way around. We´ll see though.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Re: Re:

Pantani_lives - if Moscon gets in the break, there might be complaints as he's not at the Giro.

Details. In this Giro anything is possible.

They can send Puccio instead. Francesco Gavazzi would be a good option for Androni.

 

[Nirvana]

Re:

You have to be cautious in today's stage - You follow the bunch unless a Nibali or Roglic is in trouble and then it's full gas - There are bigger fish to fry.

If they want to drop Nibali they should go hard not wait, it's probably the worst stage for him in the whole Giro with "almost" flat and a single climb after 120 kms, that are the situations in which 20/25 riders can drop him if they decide to go with a fast pace and sharp accelerations.
Roglic i don't think will have any problem, he has showed that he's very explosive, there are more doubt for hard and long stages but mainly because he's untested on such efforts.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I don't expect much action from the GC riders here, but hopefully we'll get a good battle between the breakaway artists. Ciccone, Gallopin, Vuillermoz, Brambilla, De Gendt could/should all be there.

 

[search]

I don't really see this as a breakaway stage. It'll take ages to establish, as usually, and then there's almost no room to get enough of a gap before the GC teams put the hammer down before the climb. Especially as UAE will try to honor pink as good as they can

 

[Red Rick]

Imagine getting a mechanical on the flat part after the climb.

 

[Climbing]

I think a lot depends on what distanced GC riders want to do today.
Do you really want to push hard today with the monster stage looming on Friday?!
I'd bet on a breakway win and not much GC action.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

I think a lot depends on what distanced GC riders want to do today.
Do you really want to push hard today with the monster stage looming on Friday?!
I'd bet on a breakway win and not much GC action.

If you have 2 or 3 domestiques in the first group I think attacking can pay off simply cause uphill if you attack everyone has to answer or risk being in the wrong group on the flats.

You can always decide on the flat if working yourself is worth it or not. This is also the reason I'd bring the break back before Montoso if I were Jumo-Visma. No breakaway takes all incentive to attack away

 

[Blanco]

I think this stage is going to tell us how strong Jumbo-Visma is. Roglic can handle this stage, but the question is can his team do the same. First, they need to control the break, preferably not to allow presence of men from dangerous teams (Astana, Mitchelton, Movistar, Bahrain). But if they somehow manage to send their men in the break, then Jumbo needs to reel them in before the climb, or at worst before the top.
If other teams smells weakness from Jumbo, there will be attacks for sure. If Roglic is isolated already on the climb, I just can't see why for example Astana wouldn't attack, or Movistar. First with 2nd options, Bilbao, Chaves, Carapaz and then maybe even with the main guys.
But if Jumbo appears to be strong enough, we'll see action only on that Muro in Pinerolo.

 

[Bolder]

I hope someone like Landa or Yates tries a serious attack to see how Roglic/Nibali respond. If they can't follow, then we could really see a significant gap, ie. 30-45 seconds, which for a single climb stage would be impressive. Even if Roglic has to TT his way back in the flats, that would be a sign that he's maybe vulnerable...btw, a 9.5 percent average grade over anything more than 5-6k is brutal at least for my 51 year old legs...

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

I hope someone like Landa or Yates tries a serious attack to see how Roglic/Nibali respond. If they can't follow, then we could really see a significant gap, ie. 30-45 seconds, which for a single climb stage would be impressive. Even if Roglic has to TT his way back in the flats, that would be a sign that he's maybe vulnerable...btw, a 9.5 percent average grade over anything more than 5-6k is brutal at least for my 51 year old legs...

Did a climb that was 9% for like 400m maybe earlier this week and it already felt brutal.

But yeah the climb is really really hard and shouldn't be underestimated.

If anything the racing could be similar to that mountain stage Nieve won in 2016.