Giro 2017, stage 19: S.Candido/Innichen - Piancavallo 191 km

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Whoever wins the Giro, he owes Wilco Kelderman. Landa just about the best of them while being in every single breakaway.

In the heat of the moment it's easy to forget how embarrassing is his TT. I seriously doubt he would gain enough time in the mountains to make up for this.

Well it's not easy to forget how strong his team is. Quintana is in pink, Landa wasn't losing many minutes to Quintana either.

 

[vedrafjord]

If Dumoulin can't win it I hope Pinot does. If there's an afterlife I hope Quintana spends it racing the Scheldeprijs for all eternity.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Froome must be laughing and laughing. Quintana will be exhausted. Also now, just as in the Tour last year, it no longer looks like Nairo is in the Froome tier of climber anyway.

Nairo is certainly not the climbing dream he used to be, can he be that by the Tour?

We'll find out but I think people are going to be disappointed.

He did look like this in the Tour last year though, and then was absolutely flying for the whole three weeks in the Vuelta. His form doesn't seem to follow the orthodox theory so much. Nor does Valverde's, so maybe its something in their preparation and training.

It is Unzue's theory that Nairo reacts better to riding two grand tours. He is better in the 2nd GT.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/qui...ur-de-france-but-im-not-a-level-below-froome/

Lots of riders think this. They are almost always wrong. They are just riding against much weaker competition in the Vuelta and usually manage to confuse declining less than many of their rivals with getting better. See also riders who supposedly get stronger in the third week.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

It's more than Quintana being bad. He's profiting from his team as well. If Nibali really had it this year, he'd have creamed him by now.

Nibali has it as mucho as possible and I think he'll still win.

Nibali is my favorite rider and I want him to with the Giro more than anything, but after seeing how bad he looked today in the finale I'm not so convinced he can pull time out of NQ or TD in the next two days.

Anything is possible with Nibali though, he's proved it over and over before.

 

[Squire]

Re: Re:

Whoever wins the Giro, he owes Wilco Kelderman. Landa just about the best of them while being in every single breakaway.

In the heat of the moment it's easy to forget how embarrassing is his TT. I seriously doubt he would gain enough time in the mountains to make up for this.

So embarrassing that last year he gained time on Kruijswijk, Valverde, lost one second to Nibali and 22 to Dumoulin?

 

[ontheroad]

Landa is the story pf what could have been. It's remarakable how much he has dominated in the mountains in this Giro. But for the early crash we could be looking at a Landa victory

 

[Metal earth]

Ah being a fan of Dutch cycling is the equivalent of repeatedly banging your head against the wall.

Will be rooting for Pinot now.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Giro 2017, stage 19: S.Candido/Innichen - Piancavallo 19

What the hell is wrong with the Eurosport previews for upcoming stages? They just showed that 2010 was the last time the giro was on top of the Monte Grappa and two days ago they wrote that the Pordoi hadn't been climbed since 2006

 

[fauniera]

Re: Re:

Anything is possible with Nibali though, he's proved it over and over before.

He might attack on the descent of Monte Grappa.

 

[Irondan]

Re:

Landa is the story pf what could have been. It's remarakable how much he has dominated in the mountains in this Giro. But for the early crash we could be looking at a Landa victory

Well, that's not entirely true.

With all the ITT in this Giro that alone would be his downfall. He's been in the break because he was let in the break, not because he's insanely strong.

He could contend but he would have to improve his ITT before he's considered a real contender.

 

[wolvie15]

Re: Re:

There is no reason for Quintana to attack for handful of seconds because everyone has to save every energy they have left. I think that he is going to have a try tomorrow and it is possible that Dumoulin cracking changed his plans. If you can take time without attacking you have to take it. 1 minute for free basically with no extra energy spent.

I kind of agree. Why risking tiring yourself when there is still a mountain stage left ? He only had to follow Nibali. He and Nibali are equal in TT. Nibali has to attack . Quintana, once he saw Dumoulin cracking did not need to. It lacks panache. But it makes tactical sense

eh??
Nibali will give at least 30-40 seconds to Quintana in the next TT

You wish .. ON stage 10 Nibali was 47 seconds better than Quintana. Can he overcome 48 seconds on a shorter TT ?
Doubtful. But, Nibali doesn't care about finishing second. I expect him to attack near the top of the first climb, then try to use his descending skills to gain a lot of time.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Oh for God's sake, the "Landa would have won" stuff is getting worse than the regular chorus of "Contador would have won". At least Contador has actually previously won the various races his devotees keep imagining him tearing up. Landa's career palmares to date consist of a small number of GT stages. I like the guy, but please God turn the hype dial down about four notches until he actually does something to earn it.

 

[Squire]

Re: Re:

Landa is the story pf what could have been. It's remarakable how much he has dominated in the mountains in this Giro. But for the early crash we could be looking at a Landa victory

Well, that's not entirely true.

With all the ITT in this Giro that alone would be his downfall. He's been in the break because he was let in the break, not because he's insanely strong.

He could contend but he would have to improve his ITT before he's considered a real contender.

That rainy day in Chianti was a TT, you know...

 

[Irondan]

Re:

Oh for God's sake, the "Landa would have won" stuff is getting worse than the regular chorus of "Contador would have won". At least Contador has actually previously won the various races his devotees keep imagining him tearing up. Landa's career palmares to date consist of a small number of GT stages. I like the guy, but please God turn the hype dial down about four notches until he actually does something to earn it.

Thank You!

 

[huangho]

Why so much hate to Quintana? He is in pink ATM, so he did something right at this point, he has attacked before and sure it has spent TD.

Nibbs is not in pink but he still has the TT to get pink, and he has Quintana on sight so he is also doing something right.

Giro is delivering a lot! Even at this moment we cannot know the real form of each contender, Tibopino couldn't get a bunch of time today and can pay it tomorrow, on the other hand it seems that nobody taks about Zaka and he is also on sight before the TT, so this is a 4 horse final where anything can happen!!

Tomorrow has to be a big day, but sunday... Sunday will be the TT of our lives!! Tomorrow Nairo has to attack, he has no more options, excitement has arrived ladies and gentlemen!!

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

Horrible to see Nairo gets rewarded by racing so negatively.

Bad shape or not.

I think that's harsh. The other side of the same coin is that he's putting in an amazing battling performance to haul himself into pink, despite not having the legs.

He could follow all of Nib's acceleration. Then you can at least try something. Or just taking the responsibility of the race and let Rojas ride full tempo in that last 5 km.

He could have gapped Dumoulin even more if he didn't play those stupid mind games with Nibali and co.

Now he needs to take care of Pinot also, who is in better shape and is a superior timetrialist. And Nairo surely doesn't have the legs atm to attack and put the others on the rope.

I'm not sure he could have done. He was hauled back in easily by Reichenbach yesterday. When he attacked on Oropa he ended up losing time. He just doesn't have the legs, and so he had to basically mark Nibali today, as losing any time to Nibali would have been a disaster and would almost certainly have ended his chances.

Agree that Pinot is definitely a big threat; mostly because of how strong he looked relative to the others. He's got a very nice team as well. But has he got the confidence and ambition to try something as early as Grappa?

Not necessary by attacking, but by letting Rojas and the other Movistar rider (don't know who it was) ride full tempo when they were reeled in and get into their wheel to prevent the tempo dramatically drops, which was the case now.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Oh for God's sake, the "Landa would have won" stuff is getting worse than the regular chorus of "Contador would have won". At least Contador has actually previously won the various races his devotees keep imagining him tearing up. Landa's career palmares to date consist of a small number of GT stages. I like the guy, but please God turn the hype dial down about four notches until he actually does something to earn it.

Given how this stage went, Contador, without crashes, would've definitly had a decent shot at winning in my book. Coulda woulda shoulda don't matter tho

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

what the hell happened to Quintana in Colombia? He was devastating in Europe earlier this year

This is how he would have looked at the Tour if he wasn't at the Giro now.

huh

If he was just focused on the Tour then he would be at 100% instead of like this

That's the point. It happened last year. He thought he was 100% at the Tour but he wasn't. He hasn't had a good handle on how to arrive at 100% at the race and maintain it. Just look at how he looked before the race and Blockhauss. Sublime form. Now energy is gone. Similar in the Tour. It could be the heat, the long stages, the flats, the wind, etc. He doesn't seem to know.

 

[yaco]

A brave rider with good legs could make a difference tomorrow - Who will it be.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

Landa is the story pf what could have been. It's remarakable how much he has dominated in the mountains in this Giro. But for the early crash we could be looking at a Landa victory

Well, that's not entirely true.

With all the ITT in this Giro that alone would be his downfall. He's been in the break because he was let in the break, not because he's insanely strong.

He could contend but he would have to improve his ITT before he's considered a real contender.

That rainy day in Chianti was a TT, you know...

And your point is what? He lost 4 minutes to Dumoulin, you know...

 

[BullsFan22]

Re: Re:

Horrible to see Nairo gets rewarded by racing so negatively.

Bad shape or not.

Just so frustrating.

I agreed. Taunting as the best climber and the top favorite... he showed meh in the 3rd week. A bit disappointing. Froome will eat him alive in the TDF. Hope Contador can stay upright and arrives in superb form. Otherwise, Froome will kill everyone in the first week already.

Doesn't this just confirm why Quintana was top favourite? He's clearly well below his best, hasn't got the legs to even attack properly on his favoured terrain. Yet he's still leading the race right now, with a reasonable chance of winning it.

Are you serious? He just took the maglia rosa from a guy that's held it for how many stages? And you have to also consider the fact that Dumoulin would still be leading the race had it not been for the nature break in stage 16 AND the fact that they attacked him when he was taking another nature break today.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Landa is the story pf what could have been. It's remarakable how much he has dominated in the mountains in this Giro. But for the early crash we could be looking at a Landa victory

Well, that's not entirely true.

With all the ITT in this Giro that alone would be his downfall. He's been in the break because he was let in the break, not because he's insanely strong.

He could contend but he would have to improve his ITT before he's considered a real contender.

That rainy day in Chianti was a TT, you know...

And your point is what? He lost 4 minutes to Dumoulin, you know...

Barely more than a minute to Quintana, who's in the lead and seems to be doing a lot more fading then Landa.

 

[wolvie15]

Re:

Oh for God's sake, the "Landa would have won" stuff is getting worse than the regular chorus of "Contador would have won". At least Contador has actually previously won the various races his devotees keep imagining him tearing up. Landa's career palmares to date consist of a small number of GT stages. I like the guy, but please God turn the hype dial down about four notches until he actually does something to earn it.

This, totally this. And, it could very well have been that Landa , at this stage, would have been helping Geraint Thomas .

And teh Pinot will win the Giro as well. I love Pinot. I love him a LOT. But, he is a weak TT . On a TT in stage 10 that should have suited him, he lost almost 2 minutes on Dumoulin and 35 seconds on Nibali. He will ose even more on a flat TT like the one on Sunday.

 

[Billie]

Re: Re:

Horrible to see Nairo gets rewarded by racing so negatively.

Bad shape or not.

Just so frustrating.

I agreed. Taunting as the best climber and the top favorite... he showed meh in the 3rd week. A bit disappointing. Froome will eat him alive in the TDF. Hope Contador can stay upright and arrives in superb form. Otherwise, Froome will kill everyone in the first week already.

Doesn't this just confirm why Quintana was top favourite? He's clearly well below his best, hasn't got the legs to even attack properly on his favoured terrain. Yet he's still leading the race right now, with a reasonable chance of winning it.

Are you serious? He just took the maglia rosa from a guy that's held it for how many stages? And you have to also consider the fact that Dumoulin would still be leading the race had it not been for the nature break in stage 16 AND the fact that they attacked him when he was taking another nature break today.

They= his own team
nature break= being at the back cause he didn't have the legs

 

[RattaKuningas]

Re: Re:

Horrible to see Nairo gets rewarded by racing so negatively.

Bad shape or not.

Just so frustrating.

I agreed. Taunting as the best climber and the top favorite... he showed meh in the 3rd week. A bit disappointing. Froome will eat him alive in the TDF. Hope Contador can stay upright and arrives in superb form. Otherwise, Froome will kill everyone in the first week already.

Doesn't this just confirm why Quintana was top favourite? He's clearly well below his best, hasn't got the legs to even attack properly on his favoured terrain. Yet he's still leading the race right now, with a reasonable chance of winning it.

Are you serious? He just took the maglia rosa from a guy that's held it for how many stages? And you have to also consider the fact that Dumoulin would still be leading the race had it not been for the nature break in stage 16 AND the fact that they attacked him when he was taking another nature break today.

They didn't attack him during nature break today. Dumoulin himself post race said that he just made a rookie mistake with positioning.