Giro d'Italia 2024 Giro d'Italia Women: 7/7 - 14/7

[awavey]

ELB won the sprint behind. Kopecky didn't look great there

In what way ? When ELB counter attacked with only a few kms to go, gets 3 or 4 bike lengths gap Kopecky just cruised back up onto her wheel, unless ELB had a shifting mechanical or something else at that moment ? It looked to me at least Kopecky tried an attack didn't work knew the bonus secs were gone so just kept in touch with ELB as I don't doubt the longest stage on the hottest day probably had an inpact on how they were feeling.

 

[Didinho]

Kopecky didn’t have to sprint for anything anymore. She was just trying to stay in that group in the sprint without using energy.

 

[JR1012]

I don't know. She might have had a mechanical, or she emptied herself in the attack earlier, but it didn't really look like that at the time.

Well if she got a mechanical or a slight crash then she should be given the same time as the main group just we saw at the Tour with Roglic.

But ok she is still in reach to a good GC finish. The longer climbs tomorrow should suit her more then this uphill sprint finishes.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

In what way ? When ELB counter attacked with only a few kms to go, gets 3 or 4 bike lengths gap Kopecky just cruised back up onto her wheel, unless ELB had a shifting mechanical or something else at that moment ? It looked to me at least Kopecky tried an attack didn't work knew the bonus secs were gone so just kept in touch with ELB as I don't doubt the longest stage on the hottest day probably had an inpact on how they were feeling.

She obviously didn't have to do anything, but to me it still looked like she gave it up a bit. Anyway we'll see tomorrow who the strongest between them is. ELB is my favourite right now, but a lot can happen. If Realini finds her best climbing legs, it could mean trouble for SDW.

 

[yaco]

Trek will continue to ride defensively, while I have a big question mark on Kopecky in stage six. I wonder about her backing up in mountain stages. It could be another day fro the break.

 

[Didinho]

Trek will continue to ride defensively, while I have a big question mark on Kopecky in stage six. I wonder about her backing up in mountain stages. It could be another day fro the break.

I still believe Kopecky when she said before the start not going for GC. Why going too hard just before her Olympic goals with a possibility of being less fresh/fit in Paris.

We’ll see tomorrow.

 

[awavey]

Well

I still believe Kopecky when she said before the start not going for GC. Why going too hard just before her Olympic goals with a possibility of being less fresh/fit in Paris.

We’ll see tomorrow.

well the Blockhaus became a defining climb for another Belgian rider once a long time back

I get she's not going to bust a gut for GC, which is really what shes saying with that kind of thing, such that she burns out and misses her Olympic goals because Lidl Trek clearly came to win the Giro, but shes also clearly still one of the strongest riders in the womens peloton, and for all the ELB is stamping her authority on the race headlines, Lotte is still a serious overall GC contender at this stage, and would be in the pink jersey possibly if not for those 4 bonus seconds sacrificed for Fisher Blacks stage win.

At the very least she probably gets to take the points jersey.

But I do expect the time gaps to open up tomorrow

 

[awavey]

Chabbey non starter today fractured a bone in her foot in a crash yesterday, not expected to impact her Olympics

 

[Valv.Piti]

How many stages in history have been harder than Lanciano + Blockhaus in women's cycling? Given the small knowledge I have on this topic, the field tends to split on very easy climbs, so today should be absolute carnage given than Lanciano in itself is a monstrous climb and don't get me started on Blockhaus.

 

[awavey]

Chiara Consonni also dns today due to pain caused from a crash and Olympic considerations

 

[Samu Cuenca]

How many stages in history have been harder than Lanciano + Blockhaus in women's cycling? Given the small knowledge I have on this topic, the field tends to split on very easy climbs, so today should be absolute carnage given than Lanciano in itself is a monstrous climb and don't get me started on Blockhaus.

Last year's Tourmalet stage finished at higher altitude, but it was shorter and had less climbing in it. Glandon + AdH in this year's TdFF is probably the hardest we've seen in many years.

It's often difficult to find exact route details for older races, but I think this stage from the 2002 Grande Boucle Féminine is the most extreme, I've seen a profile of. Especially since it was the third MTF in a row (they had climbed Madeleine from the other side and finished at Courchevel the day before).

 

[Didinho]

Chiara Consonni also dns today due to pain caused from a crash and Olympic considerations

Hope she’s okay. Wise decision with Olympics in mind.
I want to see her race there.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

How many stages in history have been harder than Lanciano + Blockhaus in women's cycling? Given the small knowledge I have on this topic, the field tends to split on very easy climbs, so today should be absolute carnage given than Lanciano in itself is a monstrous climb and don't get me started on Blockhaus.

It's a lot harder to find profiles from the old Grand Boucle days and the Giro under Fanini and before, so hard to say what there was back in the days of Canins, Marsal and their likes, although through the Luperini days, Monte Serra was the main MTF, often climbed twice in the stage, so nothing that you'd say is comparable to Lanciano and Blockhaus. There were stages with Glandon or Croix-de-Fer preceding the traditional Vaujany MTF in the Grand Boucle but overall stage profiles are difficult to come by. There were some very hard stages in the 90s, but the field wasn't really deep enough to sustain it, and the organisers then overcompensated by almost wiping the proper mountain stage off the map and it's been a hard battle to get them back.

Since the turn of the millennium we've largely seen the major mountain stages be dominated by Unipuerto as a theory, which a number of people (Edita Pučinskaite, Nicole Cooke, Nicole Brändli, Annemiek van Vleuten and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig to name a few) have criticised. The Giro went to a policy of having a 'classic' climb most years, often cribbed from men's cycling, with the Madonna del Ghisallo the most commonplace. Oftentimes there isn't really a pure mountain stage as tough as this, but there are some with cumulative climbing that totals up to a comparable amount - take the 2016 Alassio stage with Ginestro (9km @ 6%), Nava (11km @ 6,5%), Caprauna (8km @ 7,5%) and Madonna della Guardia MTF (10km @ 5,7%), or the San Lorenzo Dorsino stage in 2022 with Fai della Paganella (14km @ 6%), Durone (10km @ 6%) and Daone (7km @ 9%) before two uncategorised climbs at the end. The 2010 Giro had a hard back to back, with stage 8 from Chiavenna to Livigno including Malojapass (32km @ 4,7%) and then the easy side of Berninapass (18km @ 3,5%) and Forcola di Livgno (4km @ 7%) before stage 9 being a short stage of Livigno to Stelvio with Eira (6,5km @ 6%), Foscagno (4km @ 6,7%) and of course the Stelvio MTF from Bormio (21km @ 7,5%). However that was a super short stage and Stelvio isn't much harder than Blockhaus (though altitude is a factor of course) while Lanciano is clearly tougher than the preceding climbs there.

Now, at the same time, the Tour de France Féminin has a stage with Glandon and Alpe d'Huez ready for next month which surely is at a similar level - Blockhaus is harder than Alpe d'Huez but Glandon is harder than Lanciano - but definitely although a similar profile, this doublette is harder than Aspin-Tourmalet from the 2023 Tour. The Markstein stage in 2022 was otherwise the toughest, with Petit Ballon (9,5km @ 8%), Platzerwasel (7km @ 8,5%) and Grand Ballon (14km @ 6,5%). The Vuelta lags behind also; the same format of "two tough climbs, MTF at second one" that is becoming more popular for women's races appears to have been used for the Lagos de Covadonga stage in 2023, but they climbed the easier side of Mohandi that year as lead in, and likewise for this year's queen stage to Valdesquí, but with Morcuera and Cotos, and ain't nobody ever going to suggest that those are a harder doublette than Lanciano and Blockhaus.

Smaller races are much less likely to go all in on the climbing, with many simply happy to go Unipuerto as shorter race distances mean big mountains are more likely to imbalance the parcours. Occasionally the Tour de l'Ardêche may give us something (2020's stage to Font d'Urle with Limouches (11km @ 6,2%), La Bataille (8km @ 5,5%), Col de Carri via Col de La Machine (19km @ 5% with the first 8km @ 8%) and an MTF at Font d'Urle (7km @ 5,5%), for example, and they've also had the Col de la Mûre and MTFs at Mont-Serein and Mont Ventoux). Emakumeen Bira would frequently have a lot of up and down, but given the nature of climbs in the Basque Country, never would they be as long and involved as these ascents.

There is the possibility that some of the non-UCI races in Latin America are tougher, but even then I wouldn't count on it as the scene varies in strength, however there have been some pretty strong mountain stages in the Vuelta a Colombia Feminina; a lot however prefer circuit races with a Unipuerto or similar and on top of that, getting profiles from some of these races is hard. You can usually tell how difficult a race in that neck of the woods will have been by judging on how far Lilibeth Chacón wins it by.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I had hoped a group would go clear on Lanciano, but it looks like it hasn't happened. They've also decided that it didn't make sense to go to live pictures before the top anyway.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Ok, they are not over the top yet. Quite a small group left.

Many riders have abandoned today, the latest one being Clara Emond which is obviously a shame.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Nidermaier seems to want to always be in either first or second wheel. I guess she doesn't want to ride too close to Žigart again

 

[RedheadDane]

According to PCS the peloton is complete.
It's also only 19 women, rather small for a peloton.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

According to PCS the peloton is complete.
It's also only 19 women, rather small for a peloton.

And there aren't 19 in front anymore.

 

[RedheadDane]

And there aren't 19 in front anymore.

They'll probably just continue referring to the front group as being the complete peloton.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

They'll probably just continue referring to the front group as being the complete peloton.

Everyone has also pretty much made it back now.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Cille and Labous in trouble already.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Labous is coming back on her own now.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Realini's pace setting doesn't seem to have worked too much yet. Maybe ELB should have let the wheel go earlier to see how the others had reacted.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Finally an attack from Bradbury.

 

[RedheadDane]

At least PCS is not referring to Bradbury and Rooijakkers as "Peloton" and the ELB group as "Chasers".