Giro 2017, stage 16: Rovetta – Bormio 222 km

[Forever The Best]

Re:

Nibali: "Purito told me to attack on the final km because it's the hardest part of the climb" Why am I not surprised by that?
Pozzovivo is also really strong, probably the strongest Pozzovivo that we've seen since 2012.

If Nibali is gonna listen to Purito's advice on next stages then the last days can be extremely boring with noone attacking

 

[Jungle Cycle]

Re: Re:

It's really important that y'all give us a short gossip update. Bring on RTL Boulevard!

I don't think it's appropriate to discuss the details in public. I can PM, if you want.

down here she "disapeared" so if you dont mind i'ld like to know... PM..

 

[GraftPunk]

Copypasta here as well Flo, please and thank you. I dislike him anyway, but I'm always down to hear the dirt.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Nibali: "Purito told me to attack on the final km because it's the hardest part of the climb" Why am I not surprised by that?
Pozzovivo is also really strong, probably the strongest Pozzovivo that we've seen since 2012.

If Nibali is gonna listen to Purito's advice on next stages then the last days can be extremely boring with noone attacking

And he's going to be in trouble come the TT... 'yeah, that's it Vincenzo, get that head up really high and spin the smallest gear you can'.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re:

Nibali: "Purito told me to attack on the final km because it's the hardest part of the climb" Why am I not surprised by that?
Pozzovivo is also really strong, probably the strongest Pozzovivo that we've seen since 2012.

2015 Pozzo was pretty strong aswell, but then *** happened

 

[mariposa]

Re: Re:

Really, what about Valverde crash in 2012 Vuelta, Landa in Giro 2015...?[/quote]
I think you'll find it was Sky that pushed on after Valverde's crash in 2012, however Valverde was quick to blame Contador, of course.

I clearly recall Valverde going straight to the Sky bus when he finished that stage and being quite forthright with Nico Portal about his lack of a certain part of his anatomy which the commentators tried to fudge over. How was that blaming Contador?

 

[BetOrLose]

But okay Quintana doens't know what waiting means, I can still remember he didn't understand a red flag.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

Nibali: "Purito told me to attack on the final km because it's the hardest part of the climb" Why am I not surprised by that?
Pozzovivo is also really strong, probably the strongest Pozzovivo that we've seen since 2012.

Also Pozzovivo looked very strong in 2014 till Montecampione. In the remaining part of the race he was disappointing after his exploits on Passo del Lupo and Oropa.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Am I the only one who has a problem with that motorcycle in front of Dumoulin during the final descent? He took time back on Nibali.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Nibali: "Purito told me to attack on the final km because it's the hardest part of the climb" Why am I not surprised by that?
Pozzovivo is also really strong, probably the strongest Pozzovivo that we've seen since 2012.

If Nibali is gonna listen to Purito's advice on next stages then the last days can be extremely boring with noone attacking

And he's going to be in trouble come the TT... 'yeah, that's it Vincenzo, get that head up really high and spin the smallest gear you can'.

Lol. Damn I miss this guy.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

What an awful stage. No attacks on the Stelvio. That embarrassing nonsense with Ancona being pulled back to help an attack and then Quintana bottling out of trying one. Then most of the GC anticipation is destroyed not because anyone rides away from their rivals but because three teams press on while the leader is taking a bizarre toilet break. Quintana is now an overwhelming favourite in spite of having done nothing to deserve it other than grabbing a few seconds on Blockhaus.

Now instead of a classic TT specialist versus climbing specialist last week face off, a situation where the excitement depends on the TT guy having a substantial advantage, we are going to get Quintana at his most obnoxiously passive sitting at the end of a mountain train until there is 1500 metres to go.

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

Oh please, not this can of worms again.

It's actually kind of similar though, isn't it? Both incidents were self-inflicted.

I said the same thing then as I said today. But this has been discussed to death, surely. This is just fans being frustrated now.

How is a mechanical like a natural break ? Unless Dumoulin is the Tominator with faulty internals.

A mechanical is not something that is self-inflicted. Andy's was an example of incompetence evidenced by the same thing happening (mis-shifting) at least twice after the infamous Chaingate incident, once at the very start of a time trial.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

What an awful stage. No attacks on the Stelvio. That embarrassing nonsense with Ancona being pulled back to help an attack and then Quintana bottling out of trying one. Then most of the GC anticipation is destroyed not because anyone rides away from their rivals but because three teams press on while the leader is taking a bizarre toilet break. Quintana is now an overwhelming favourite in spite having done nothing to deserve it other than grabbing a few seconds on Blockhaus.

Now instead of a classic TT specialist versus climbing specialist last week face off, a situation where the excitement depends on the TT guy having a substantial advantage, we are going to get Quintana at his most obnoxiously passive sitting at the end of a mountain train until there is 1500 metres to go.

Nibali is only 41 seconds behind Quintana and gained time on him. He also has the final TT to gain time on Quintana. But Dumo is still the favourite to win the race.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re: Re:

What an awful stage. No attacks on the Stelvio. That embarrassing nonsense with Ancona being pulled back to help an attack and then Quintana bottling out of trying one. Then most of the GC anticipation is destroyed not because anyone rides away from their rivals but because three teams press on while the leader is taking a bizarre toilet break. Quintana is now an overwhelming favourite in spite having done nothing to deserve it other than grabbing a few seconds on Blockhaus.

Now instead of a classic TT specialist versus climbing specialist last week face off, a situation where the excitement depends on the TT guy having a substantial advantage, we are going to get Quintana at his most obnoxiously passive sitting at the end of a mountain train until there is 1500 metres to go.

Nibali is only 41 seconds behind Quintana and gained time on him. He also has the final TT to gain time on Quintana. But Dumo is still the favourite to win the race.

Would be shocked if Nibs didn't lose time to NQ in the stages before the TT. Nibs went deep into the Red today.

 

[William H]

Re: Re:

What an awful stage. No attacks on the Stelvio. That embarrassing nonsense with Ancona being pulled back to help an attack and then Quintana bottling out of trying one. Then most of the GC anticipation is destroyed not because anyone rides away from their rivals but because three teams press on while the leader is taking a bizarre toilet break. Quintana is now an overwhelming favourite in spite having done nothing to deserve it other than grabbing a few seconds on Blockhaus.

Now instead of a classic TT specialist versus climbing specialist last week face off, a situation where the excitement depends on the TT guy having a substantial advantage, we are going to get Quintana at his most obnoxiously passive sitting at the end of a mountain train until there is 1500 metres to go.

Nibali is only 41 seconds behind Quintana and gained time on him. He also has the final TT to gain time on Quintana. But Dumo is still the favourite to win the race.

The bookies have Quintana as odds on. Though I'd still favour Dumoulin if he's not actually sick

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

What an awful stage. No attacks on the Stelvio. That embarrassing nonsense with Ancona being pulled back to help an attack and then Quintana bottling out of trying one. Then most of the GC anticipation is destroyed not because anyone rides away from their rivals but because three teams press on while the leader is taking a bizarre toilet break. Quintana is now an overwhelming favourite in spite having done nothing to deserve it other than grabbing a few seconds on Blockhaus.

Now instead of a classic TT specialist versus climbing specialist last week face off, a situation where the excitement depends on the TT guy having a substantial advantage, we are going to get Quintana at his most obnoxiously passive sitting at the end of a mountain train until there is 1500 metres to go.

Nibali is only 41 seconds behind Quintana and gained time on him. He also has the final TT to gain time on Quintana. But Dumo is still the favourite to win the race.

Think about what that sort of belief implies. If Dumoulin comes back from the psychological and physical hole today put him in, we can only conclude that he is so strong that he would have won the race by 5 minutes plus and furthermore that nobody in the sport is a true GC rival to him bar Froome. There is no Big 4 any more, there is only Big Tom. I don't believe that and I don't think anyone else really does either.

His only chance is that Quintana's passivity is so deep in his character that he leads a group ride home all week. Quintana is infuriatingly passive a lot of the time, but even his passivity is not Marianis Trench deep.

As for Nibali, a 41 second gap might be interesting, but only if it was in his favour.

 

[rehy90]

I think it is between Dumoulin and Nibali now. Quintana didnt look so strong today and I think Nibali will be better and better each day. It all depends on how Tom is going to recover after today. And it is really funny how Nibali is always written off and then a week later he fights for the win.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

What an awful stage. No attacks on the Stelvio. That embarrassing nonsense with Ancona being pulled back to help an attack and then Quintana bottling out of trying one. Then most of the GC anticipation is destroyed not because anyone rides away from their rivals but because three teams press on while the leader is taking a bizarre toilet break. Quintana is now an overwhelming favourite in spite having done nothing to deserve it other than grabbing a few seconds on Blockhaus.

Now instead of a classic TT specialist versus climbing specialist last week face off, a situation where the excitement depends on the TT guy having a substantial advantage, we are going to get Quintana at his most obnoxiously passive sitting at the end of a mountain train until there is 1500 metres to go.

Nibali is only 41 seconds behind Quintana and gained time on him. He also has the final TT to gain time on Quintana. But Dumo is still the favourite to win the race.

Don't be ridiculous. If Dumoulin comes back from the psychological and physical hole today put him in, we can only conclude that he is so strong that he would have won the race by 5 minutes plus and furthermore that nobody in the sport is a true GC rival to him bar Froome. His only chance is that Quintana's passivity is so deep in his character that he leads a group ride home all week. Quintana is infuriatingly passive a lot of the time, but even his passivity is not Marianis Trench deep.

As for Nibali, a 41 second gap might be interesting, but only if it was in his favour.

Nibali will probably go all-out, and if Quintana follows him then Dumoulin can be on some serious trouble. But if we wait for Quintana to do something we will probably wait till the last kilometers.

 

[hfer07]

Re:

What's Rojas on about here?

https://twitter.com/jjrojillas/status/867060843212668935

Can't understand it from google translate.

JJ: Jamás en mi vida había bajado un puerto en carrera pasando grupetas de aficionados Excelente organización @giroditalia INCREÍBLE

translation: I have never ever in my life descended a mountain during a professional race with an "aficionado gruppetto" (mad) excellent organization @ giroditalia - Incredible (sarcastic)

 

[starlord]

This turned out to be a bit of a strange stage, with that "sh*t happens" incident and confusion in the group of favourites whether wait or not to wait. I think they wouldn't have been so hesitant, if Dumoulin hadn't come up with that "wait for him" approach a couple od days earlier.
I guess we had all expected more action, but I'm perfectly ok with what we got, one could see fatigue in their faces after all. Dumoulin would have finished with Quintana IMO, but I still think he can be happy with the outcome, he is very strong and did a good job after that call of nature. The question is how deep he had to go, we'll see. On the other hand, Quintana didn't look as mighty as I expected him to. Fine victory for Nibali.

 

[starlord]

Re: Re:

Tom shows true sportsmanship. No sticky bottles at all. Nibbles should learn.

I saw him getting pushed by car similarly to Nibali a few years back when he got dsq.

Video? That is some serious **** if he actually did that? I didn't see anything.

I mean that wasn't a long push but didn't seem fair to me.

Agree, it kinda left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Angliru]

Re:

Secret insider knowledge.

@movingtarget ,and whether Schleck's mechanical was self-inflicted was nothing that Contador could spot at once either. The point is that they should always keep riding. I'm not asking them to attack specifically because someone has a problem, but I don't want them to wait either. Just keep doing what you're doing. Which in Contador's case was going full gas.

As he was responding to Andy's attack, it seems rather ridiculous to think just because Andy had aborted his attack involuntarily due to his missed shift/throwing of his chain, that his rivals would suddenly discontinue their own accelerations. Andy initiated the aggressions and the race was on at that point.

 

[May0maniac]

Jan Hirt is pretty awesome, it's his first gt and that's always a learning experience and rigght now he's 16th on gc, that's impressive.

 

[Cookster15]

I'm a bit concerned at reports that Dumoulin said he has stomach problems at high altitude If so, he will be in more trouble on stage 18 with 3 passes over 2000m. If not then I think he can recover and win this Giro.

 

[BullsFan22]

I still believe it all depends on what Dumoulin does. If he sorts out his bowel or whatever issues he had today, he'll be fine. He looked decent going up the final climb despite not having anyone to work with, let alone a teammate or two to pace him. He said he felt good physically, but had no choice but to stop. Should have done it earlier, but that's nobody else's fault but his. He still has half a minute buffer on Quintana and over one minute on Nibali. That is good, all things considered, but I expect more aggressive riding in the final stages. If he is healthy and legs are good, then he should be able to at least limit the damage to manageable gaps before the final TT.

I don't think any GC spot is safe. Zakarin had a good stage today, despite losing half a minute to Nibali on the 20km descent. He stayed in fifth, but gained on everyone apart from Nibali and Quintana. He is two seconds behind Pinot. I expect him to make a few attacks to try and make up some ground on the him but the three other GC favorites as well, though I don't think that will be simple.