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That crash on Wednesday that got rid of Schultz and Remco really paid off for Ineos today. If those two were there to do dom duties for Yates and Almeida, you likely distance Castro earlier or have them ride up the rode to help Yates and Almeida.
Just wish last Monday had been dry and raced in full as this could be a much different race if it was.
Today losing Mottarone helped him too here tbf.
He is not fading. He lost around 1min in Sega di Ala and 30s today. We can extrapolate that he loses 15s tomorrow.
I'm not so sure about Bernal just keeping the same pace. Caruso has been the epitome of steady climbing in this Giro and he closed most of the gap Bernal had on him in those last few hundred meters. Almeida was the only one who certainly accelerated at the end dropping Bernal and halving his deficit to Yates. Yates and Caruso on the other hand rode steady strong tempo to the finish with the gap between them hovering between 30-35 second for several kilometers.I really don't think he ran into his limit or cracked at the end at all. He just kept the same pace rather than do the traditional hard effort to the finish. He looked completely different than yesterday at the finish and was in no way giving it his all at the end for a few extra seconds. At this point he's trying not to do any extreme efforts. He and the team did exactly what he said they were going to do yesterday
Its not mentally really hard to ride with other racers on your wheel when you are monitoring you watt-o-meter. Even before watt-o-meters we just rode 180 bpm (ie), it didn't matter if we were solo or had 100 guys on our wheel. Limiting the gap to SY was the focus.no dont think so, it is also mentally really hard to ride the whole climb up with 3 guys in your wheel
Play a risky game and let Almeida to the break tomorrow so QS won't be doing any crazy shenanigans behind. The guy's 8'30" behind so you can give him like 5 min and still be rather comfortable. Other GC guys don't look that great while Yates team's also not that amazing. That's most likely a stupid strategy though.Copeland to RAI: "Simon doesn't care about the podium. We'll try to win the race tomorrow. It's hard because we lost Schultz and Nieve is injured, but perhaps we can get some help from other teams."
Of course, but bike racing has always been the same. We very rarely get to see ‘Mano-a-mano’ racing.
Most of the time it’s Sky/Ineos, but others do the same when they can.
Was that the thing? Iirc, it was only Remco marking Bernal in the first week, not the other way around.I think the only thing Bernal has done wrong this Giro is being the only person on this planet who took Remco serious for GC. He could have taken his time in the early part and done the same as Yates and battered this back end of the race. Luckily he has gained enough and managed to stay in front with time to spare for the ITT. If he can manage tomorrow then it's in his bag. Hoping Caruso can stay on the podium, he should be fine.
He also lost 17 seconds to Almeida in that span. Definitely looked spent. It won't matter, though.
They will still have a hard time beating Roglic and Pogacar in the Tour. They won one grand tour last year in the weakest Giro field seen for years and they may only win one GT this year and their one day results are poor. That's hardly dominance even if they have the strongest squad in most stage races.Again missing my point. They are so strong that later we get to enjoy Tomas do it in the TdF and Carapaz in the Vuelta. Or maybe Hart or Porte all with crazy teams of domestiques. Makes it pretty hard to get excited about tours if you are not an Ineos fan
Bernal closed down Landa on stage 4.Was that the thing? Iirc, it was only Remco marking Bernal in the first week, not the other way around.
But if we look at this from another perspective, by taking Remco seriosuly, Bernal made up some time on Yates as a side effect. If not Remco, he could've been satisfied staying with Yates in 1st week.
I'm not so sure about Bernal just keeping the same pace. Caruso has been the epitome of steady climbing in this Giro and he closed most of the gap Bernal had on him in those last few hundred meters. Almeida was the only one who certainly accelerated at the end dropping Bernal and halving his deficit to Yates. Yates and Caruso on the other hand rode steady strong tempo to the finish with the gap between them hovering between 30-35 second for several kilometers.
Wow, that's talk of a champion if true. I didn't expect that. I would have thought he cared for a podium.Copeland to RAI: "Simon doesn't care about the podium. We'll try to win the race tomorrow. It's hard because we lost Schultz and Nieve is injured, but perhaps we can get some help from other teams."
Would be ~1800 VAM. Good but not stratospheric. Understandable given he attacked early and had no choo choo benefits.If I timed it right Simon did the whole climb in almost exactly 29min.
Bernal has been great this Giro. He was also excellent in the Tour he won, even though his big race-winning attack came under odd circumstances. Pogacar's only GT win, so far, also came in unusual circumstances, including but not limited to Bernal's back injury taking him out of the race. You can only beat whoever's on the start line with you.Crashes. Injuries. Race conditions. Shortened stages. All of these happen and can be called part of racing but also should serve as context for achievements.
Bernal will win this Giro, but he greatly benefited from neither Pogacar and Roglic being in the race, the crash of Landa, the weather impacting Yates. None of this is his fault. However, it doesn't change the calculation that his two grand tours were won with some serious good fortune when you look back at Pinot being hurt and Dumoulin and Roglic absent in 2019.
No doubt one of the best riders, but jury still out on how great he really is until he beats some of the best on equal footing.
Caring about a podium while already having GT win in your palmares? That would be a real lack of ambitionsWow, that's talk of a champion if true. I didn't expect that. I would have thought he cared for a podium.