Giro 2017, stage 14: Castellania – Oropa 131 km

[DFA123]

Really nice stage finish today, kind of a bit like Cumbre del Sol in the Vuelta a couple of years ago, with the race situation changing every few hundred metres.

Good day obviously for Dumoulin and not bad for Quintana as well, putting time into Nibali and Pinot. I do wonder if Dumoulin might regret going so hard though, rather than racing a bit more conservatively, with his recovery in the final week the big question mark. He did the same at the end of stage 19 in the Vuelta, going deep into the red trying to gain a handful of extra seconds, and then cracked really hard the next day. But a stage win is a stage win, so the ends justify the means I guess.

 

[Irondan]

What happened to Michael Woods today?

7:41 behind Dumoulin and even Tejay was almost a couple minutes faster and Tejay sucked today!

Did Woods have a tumble?

 

[DFA123]

Re:

What happened to Michael Woods today?

7:41 behind Dumoulin and even Tejay was almost a couple minutes faster and Tejay sucked today!

Did Woods have a tumble?

I think he might just have his eye on that nice looking puncheurs finish tomorrow.

 

[classicomano]

Re:

What happened to Michael Woods today?

7:41 behind Dumoulin and even Tejay was almost a couple minutes faster and Tejay sucked today!

Did Woods have a tumble?

What point was there for Woods to try today? Tomorrow is great for him.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Italians still with no stage win, when was the last time the Italians were shut out at their own Grand Tour?

never

No Ulissi, no party.

Great Italians stage hunters such as Brambilla, Colbrelli, Trentin, Ulissi etc. are apprantly all riding TdF which obviously is super disappointing. Not only do they have greater chances of success here, but its the anniversary edition....

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Well, I've seen some stuff in my time. I shall now go to the foot of our stairs.

Good to see Landa up there after his mishap.

Landa is up your stairs?

What's he doing up there?
Silly, Landa. Go back to the race!

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

What happened to Michael Woods today?

7:41 behind Dumoulin and even Tejay was almost a couple minutes faster and Tejay sucked today!

Did Woods have a tumble?

I think he might just have his eye on that nice looking puncheurs finish tomorrow.

Makes good enough sense to me, I was just shocked when I was looking at today's full results sheet.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow then.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

Italians still with no stage win, when was the last time the Italians were shut out at their own Grand Tour?

never

No Ulissi, no party.

Great Italians stage hunters such as Brambilla, Colbrelli, Trentin, Ulissi etc. are apprantly all riding TdF which obviously is super disappointing. Not only do they have greater chances of success here, but its the anniversary edition....

The tifosi will have a field day if the Italians don't win at least ONE stage, doesn't look very likely at all at this point though...

100th Anniversary letdown.

 

[jaylew]

So, would this be the longest ever without an Italian stage win?

 

[Irondan]

Re:

So, would this be the longest ever without an Italian stage win?

Yes, unless you know any different?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

So, would this be the longest ever without an Italian stage win?

Yes, it is !

 

[armchairclimber]

Re: Re:

Well, I've seen some stuff in my time. I shall now go to the foot of our stairs.

Good to see Landa up there after his mishap.

Landa is up your stairs?

Nothing would surprise me after that stage.

 

[dusty red roads]

I hope Adam Hansen's crash wasn't too bad and that he makes it thru the final week, he came in near last today. Would hate to see his consecutive GT streak come to an end!

 

[RedheadDane]

If it does I don't think he'll be too beat up about it. He got his record, and it'll probably be a while before it gets broken.
Though, I also think it would have to be really bad for him to pull out; guy eats pain for breakfast, remember?

 

[Irondan]

Re:

If it does I don't think he'll be too beat up about it. He got his record, and it'll probably be a while before it gets broken.
Though, I also think it would have to be really bad for him to pull out; guy eats pain for breakfast, remember?

Yeah, he'd have to be missing a leg for him to pull out of the Giro.

 

[spalco]

Or miss a time cut, if he's really that hurt.

 

[Irondan]

Re:

Or miss a time cut, if he's really that hurt.

That would be more likely than pulling out of the race.

 

[RedheadDane]

If he's missing a leg, I think there is a reasonable risk he'd miss the time-cut...

 

[Irondan]

Re:

If he's missing a leg, I think there is a reasonable risk he'd miss the time-cut...

Touché

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin's main weakness is still multi-mountain stages, so he needs to attack tomorrow as well and try and gain time on Quintana. 2 minutes and 47 seconds is not enough.

2 minutes, 47 seconds and an ITT in hand. He is getting nearer to a situation where he can get murdered on one multi climb stage and still win.

Agreed. btw, I always meant to tell you how much I enjoy your handle.

Thanks.

It's going to be a very interesting last week, a classic TTist v climber head to head with the climber needing to go berserk. The loss of Kelderman could play a big role, but I hope not.

Unfortunately for Quintana fans, historically speaking, the TTist usually prevail. Of course some of those were some of the best cyclist of the world including Froome as well. Well, we'll see because Dumoulin still needs to prove that he can do it in the third week on multi-mountain stages.

About the Stage 14, it looks like many people called it before the stage. Eurosport commentators, Flecha, Nibali, and others said that this stage fit Dumoulin perfectly. Well, it did. I only hope that Quintana is not demotivated after this setback.

 

[JosephK]

Very happy for our Dutch friends, today. I am hopeful for Major Tom, though I don't want to get too enthusiastic and jinx him. Last year, it looked like Mr. Kruijswijk had it all but wrapped up, and then that snowbank got in the way. Still, today was a gem.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin's main weakness is still multi-mountain stages, so he needs to attack tomorrow as well and try and gain time on Quintana. 2 minutes and 47 seconds is not enough.

2 minutes, 47 seconds and an ITT in hand. He is getting nearer to a situation where he can get murdered on one multi climb stage and still win.

Agreed. btw, I always meant to tell you how much I enjoy your handle.

Thanks.

It's going to be a very interesting last week, a classic TTist v climber head to head with the climber needing to go berserk. The loss of Kelderman could play a big role, but I hope not.

Unfortunately for Quintana fans, historically speaking, the TTist usually prevail. Of course some of those were some of the best cyclist of the world including Froome as well. Well, we'll see because Dumoulin still needs to rpove that he can do it in the third week on multi-mountain stages.

About the Stage 14, it looks like many people called it before the stage. Eurosport commentators, Flecha, Nibali, and others said that this stage fit Dumoulin perfectly. Well, it did. I only hope that Quintana is not demotivated after this setback.

I doubt he'll be demotivated. Quintana will probably have his whip out and will be laying into his team-mates (Amador!?) for not doing enough on the lower slopes. The tyrant.

After Visconti's outburst, everytime I see Quintana now he just looks like a little Napoleon, riding his horse trying to conquer new lands.

 

[Cookster15]

Wow, just woke up, checked the result and watched the highlights - I didn't expect that! Well done Tom Dumoulin the (former) underdog!

Movistar must be very concerned now! Watching the replay I was most impressed with TD's recovery to be able to ride back then drop Quintana and Zakarin like that. It shows he has incredible form and is a sign of how he must ride when the attacks come in the multiple mountain stages to come. It is now obvious if Dumoulin doesn't completely crack or crash he is easily strong enough to win this Giro with a 30Km flat TT to come.

The other factor is if Quintana is thinking about the Tour does he go deep to try to pull back a super strong Dumoulin here or does he now ride at 95% on the Stelvio stage and hope for TD to have a bad day to give himself the recovery to fight Froome and Porte at the Tour? He and Movistar might well end up with 2 for zero.

 

[Cookster15]

Re:

Dumoulin's main weakness is still multi-mountain stages, so he needs to attack tomorrow as well and try and gain time on Quintana. 2 minutes and 47 seconds is not enough.

Yes this is the theory but its not 2.47 but more like 3.47 with a 30k flat TT to come. Based upon what we saw today and on Blockhaus, Dumoulin has to crack or crash to lose because losing power at 2000+ meters on multiple mountains is not going to deliver Quintana the 4 minutes he needs.

You can't compare to last year's Vuelta because Dumoulin didn't prepare specifically to win then. He did this year and how he rode today shows he isn't just hanging onto Quintana but stronger than him uphill!

 

[Squire]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin's main weakness is still multi-mountain stages, so he needs to attack tomorrow as well and try and gain time on Quintana. 2 minutes and 47 seconds is not enough.

Yes this is the theory but its not 2.47 but more like 3.47 with a 30k flat TT to come. Based upon what we saw today and on Blockhaus, Dumoulin has to crack or crash to lose because losing power at 2000+ meters on multiple mountains is not going to deliver Quintana the 4 minutes he needs.

You can't compare to last year's Vuelta because Dumoulin didn't prepare specifically to win then. He did this year and how he rode today shows he isn't just hanging onto Quintana but stronger than him uphill!

I'd say Quintana definitely needs to get back more than four minutes to stand a chance. Which could be possible, as Dumoulin is not proven to handle the tough mountain forays. If it's likely is another discussion.