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Giro 2017, stage 9: Montenero di Bisaccia - Blockhaus 149 km

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Quintana too strong but bloody motorbikes again ruining races! Dumoulin the big winner I think this Giro might come down to Tom's recovery in the 3rd week. He should take back pink in the TT. If he can hold the power of today this might get interesting. Glad to see Zakarin get shelled.
 
Re: Giro 2017, stage 9: Montenero di Bisaccia - Blockhaus 14

Doumulin had an excellent race, finishing 24 off Quintana is brilliant. I don't know how much he's lost on his TT to be a better climber, but if he didn't lose that much, then I'd say he can gain 2 minutes, possibly more, if Quintana isn't going as well as he can on a TT. If the gains are significant, and Duomulin keeps this climbing form up, it should be an epic battle.

Pinaut had a great ride as well, but I still think Nibali can reach the podium. It's too early in the Giro to rule him out. Mollema has shown in his GT GC career that he can ride well and limit the damage and stay in contention for a podium finish at any stage race, but it's the latter stages that have found him out. How long can he contend here? Will he finally get on a GT podium? Not sure. I was disappointed a bit with Zakarin today. I mean, it wasn't a disaster, but I expected him to hang on longer and lose maybe half of what he lost (2:13) to Quintana. Maybe I am overestimating his abilities right now. I still think he is a candidate for a top 3. He rode well in the last week last year until that nasty and unfortunate crash, and he is a solid TT rider. Pozzovivo can be hit or miss. Kruiswijk disappointing. Jungels probably disappointing as well. The other guys were too far back to mention, some due to the ridiculous crash and others like Van Garderen due to not being good enough.

It was a good stage, obviously livened up the Giro. Hoping for more though!
 
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DanielSong39 said:
deValtos said:
Yea that might finally be the end of the road for TJVG's GT ambitions.

He should peak for 1 week races and then dom for Porte or whoever when needed in GT's. He's still a good rider but time to look to a new direction I guess.

I guess Van Garderen just doesn't have it anymore. I'm a little surprised; he seemed to be coming to life in the Tour of Romandie and showed enough to at least contend for a top 10, maybe a top 5.

He doesn't seem to have what it takes to be a super-dom either. You at least need to be able to get into breaks, chase down attacks, and pace your leader up the mountain. He hasn't shown the ability to do these things.

Maybe he should become a 1-week stage racer while working on his time trial/domestique skills. He's actually decent at time trialling so he might be in the mix if he specializes.

He used to be good at quite a few things. He has two fifth place finishes in the Tour.
 
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Cookster15 said:
Quintana too strong but bloody motorbikes again ruining races! Dumoulin the big winner I think this Giro might come down to Tom's recovery in the 3rd week. He should take back pink in the TT. If he can hold the power of today this might get interesting. Glad to see Zakarin get shelled.

Doumoulin did the same thing in last year's Giro (and 2015 Vuelta); let's see how long he can keep this going. He faded mid-race last year and lasted until the last mountain stage in the 2015 Vuelta.

The other mystery is Doumoulin's time trials. He used to be awesome at them... but maybe not anymore?
 
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Jancouver said:
Tom D to take at least 2min out of Nairito on Tuesday. Probably close to 3min. Same for Pinot. He will also take 2min out of Quintana which should provide some excitement in the final week.

Too bad Dennis crashed out as it was obvious TJ will lose big time on the first major MTF. Time to degrade TJ to (mediocre) domestique duties.

At most. And Pinot should be happy with 1min
 
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Red Rick said:
Seriously, what's Dumoulin gonna do when Movustar has 3 guys in the break on the way to Bormio and Quintana drops him on the Stelvio?

2-3 minutes to take back in mtf's is still a big ask for anyone for the biggest contenders during GC's nowadays. Especially when the toughest mtf of the whole race is now done. But I agree, Quintana will probably find those minutes against Dumoulin one way or another.

Nibali though... I wouldn't be surprised (seeing these first 9 stages) if he is quite good in TT's. And the race has just got much simpler after the voodoo today. I still think he is the one Nairo should be at least remotely afraid of.
 
Re: Giro 2017, stage 9: Montenero di Bisaccia - Blockhaus 14

BullsFan22 said:
Doumulin had an excellent race, finishing 24 off Quintana is brilliant. I don't know how much he's lost on his TT to be a better climber, but if he didn't lose that much, then I'd say he can gain 2 minutes, possibly more, if Quintana isn't going as well as he can on a TT. If the gains are significant, and Duomulin keeps this climbing form up, it should be an epic battle.

Pinaut had a great ride as well, but I still think Nibali can reach the podium. It's too early in the Giro to rule him out. Mollema has shown in his GT GC career that he can ride well and limit the damage and stay in contention for a podium finish at any stage race, but it's the latter stages that have found him out. How long can he contend here? Will he finally get on a GT podium? Not sure. I was disappointed a bit with Zakarin today. I mean, it wasn't a disaster, but I expected him to hang on longer and lose maybe half of what he lost (2:13) to Quintana. Maybe I am overestimating his abilities right now. I still think he is a candidate for a top 3. He rode well in the last week last year until that nasty and unfortunate crash, and he is a solid TT rider. Pozzovivo can be hit or miss. Kruiswijk disappointing. Jungels probably disappointing as well. The other guys were too far back to mention, some due to the ridiculous crash and others like Van Garderen due to not being good enough.

It was a good stage, obviously livened up the Giro. Hoping for more though!

I'm not sold on Nibali. The TT should reveal more about his form. But Zakarin and Steven K are out of it already. TJVG lived up to expectations.
 
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Red Rick said:
Seriously, what's Dumoulin gonna do when Movustar has 3 guys in the break on the way to Bormio and Quintana drops him on the Stelvio?
Yep. If he genuinely wants to continue with his GC ambitions (personally, I'm sceptical that's the best use of his abilities), then he clearly needs to move to a better team. He could pick from most of the teams in the peloton as leader for Giro I imagine, given his ability to deliver results in other ways as well.
 
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DanielSong39 said:
Cookster15 said:
Quintana too strong but bloody motorbikes again ruining races! Dumoulin the big winner I think this Giro might come down to Tom's recovery in the 3rd week. He should take back pink in the TT. If he can hold the power of today this might get interesting. Glad to see Zakarin get shelled.

Doumoulin did the same thing in last year's Giro (and 2015 Vuelta); let's see how long he can keep this going. He faded mid-race last year and lasted until the last mountain stage in the 2015 Vuelta.

The other mystery is Doumoulin's time trials. He used to be awesome at them... but maybe not anymore?

Also I don't know what are Dumoulin's references in 2000+ m cols ? I don't remember them climbing that high at the 2015 Vuelta.
Quintana and Pinot, on the other hand, tend to strive at these altitudes.
 
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Red Rick said:
Seriously, what's Dumoulin gonna do when Movustar has 3 guys in the break on the way to Bormio and Quintana drops him on the Stelvio?
Dumoulin only has to worry about one wheel - Quintana's. Movistar can do what they like it will be man against man. I just hope TD's TT is still up to scratch then it's game on.
 
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bambino said:
Red Rick said:
Seriously, what's Dumoulin gonna do when Movustar has 3 guys in the break on the way to Bormio and Quintana drops him on the Stelvio?

2-3 minutes to take back in mtf's is still a big ask for anyone for the biggest contenders during GC's nowadays. Especially when the toughest mtf of the whole race is now done. But I agree, Quintana will probably find those minutes against Dumoulin one way or another.

Nibali though... I wouldn't be surprised (seeing these first 9 stages) if he is quite good in TT's. And the race has just got much simpler after the voodoo today. I still think he is the one Nairo should be at least remotely afraid of.
Dumoulin lost six minutes to Aru in the Vuelta, on the only multi-mountain stage after he became a really serious GC threat. He's already marked as a serious threat here and Movistar have about four opportunities in that last week to do what Astana.

Perhaps the biggest problem for Dumoulin, as Red Rick says, is that his team is hopeless. And that his style of climbing - trying to pace himself and limit losses - means he will get dropped and will be isolated. Movistar can take their pick of stages when they want to crush him in that final week.
 
Re: Giro 2017, stage 9: Montenero di Bisaccia - Blockhaus 14

Classic Movistar always seem to do best in GT's when others have issues.
IE: 2014 Giro stage with the neutralized descent.

They didn't have to wait but they could have chosen to.
 
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Cookster15 said:
Red Rick said:
Seriously, what's Dumoulin gonna do when Movustar has 3 guys in the break on the way to Bormio and Quintana drops him on the Stelvio?
Dumoulin only has to worry about one wheel - Quintana's. Movistar can do what they like it will be man against man. I just hope TD's TT is still up to scratch then it's game on.
It won't be man against man. That's just a nonsense cliche. It will be Movistar against Dumoulin. Dumoulin can't match Quintana's accelerations - he'll blow up if he does that. And he knows it; so he paces himself well when he loses the wheel.

On a multi mountain stage with some significant valley sections, unfortunately that leaves him hugely vulnerable to pretty basic tactics.
 
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DFA123 said:
bambino said:
Red Rick said:
Seriously, what's Dumoulin gonna do when Movustar has 3 guys in the break on the way to Bormio and Quintana drops him on the Stelvio?

2-3 minutes to take back in mtf's is still a big ask for anyone for the biggest contenders during GC's nowadays. Especially when the toughest mtf of the whole race is now done. But I agree, Quintana will probably find those minutes against Dumoulin one way or another.

Nibali though... I wouldn't be surprised (seeing these first 9 stages) if he is quite good in TT's. And the race has just got much simpler after the voodoo today. I still think he is the one Nairo should be at least remotely afraid of.
Dumoulin lost six minutes to Aru in the Vuelta, on the only multi-mountain stage after he became a really serious GC threat. He's already marked as a serious threat here and Movistar have about four opportunities in that last week to do what Astana.

Perhaps the biggest problem for Dumoulin, as Red Rick says, is that his team is hopeless. And that his style of climbing - trying to pace himself and limit losses - means he will get dropped and will be isolated. Movistar can take their pick of stages when they want to crush him in that final week.

The worst thing that can happen is that he gets caught out between climbs without team mates around. He will have to hope that he can work with Mollema, Pinot and others.
 
About the crash - I dont think the motorbike driver is the one to blame. Ok he probably should stop on the right side of the road, on the other hand he stoped as far on the left as he could (almost in a ditch). And the road was straight and wide. This was completely the riders fault - the giant riders to be precise. I mean even 10 years old cyclists know that when there is an obstacle on the road you should show it to riders behind you. The first giant riders saw that motorcycle and had enough time to warn the riders behind. They are professionals, but sometimes they act like total amateurs.
 
Re: Giro 2017, stage 9: Montenero di Bisaccia - Blockhaus 14

Oliwright said:
Classic Movistar always seem to do best in GT's when others have issues.
IE: 2014 Giro stage with the neutralized descent.

They didn't have to wait but they could have chosen to.

such an argument is relevant to any dominant perfomance. Sky deliver the most impressive train exactly when Bertie has nothing to do but abandon and quintana has health issues, as well as Astana won the Vuelta where Dimoulin has no team at the most decisive moment and so on... History often repeats itself.
 
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rehy90 said:
About the crash - I dont think the motorbike driver is the one to blame. Ok he probably should stop on the right side of the road, on the other hand he stoped as far on the left as he could (almost in a ditch). And the road was straight and wide. This was completely the riders fault - the giant riders to be precise. I mean even 10 years old cyclists know that when there is an obstacle on the road you should show it to riders behind you. The first giant riders saw that motorcycle and had enough time to warn the riders behind. They are professionals, but sometimes they act like total amateurs.
Stopping on the left is a mistake, you can't deny that, but Giant really had a brainfart and Kelderman actually went closer to the motobike.
 
Re:

rehy90 said:
About the crash - I dont think the motorbike driver is the one to blame. Ok he probably should stop on the right side of the road, on the other hand he stoped as far on the left as he could (almost in a ditch). And the road was straight and wide. This was completely the riders fault - the giant riders to be precise. I mean even 10 years old cyclists know that when there is an obstacle on the road you should show it to riders behind you. The first giant riders saw that motorcycle and had enough time to warn the riders behind. They are professionals, but sometimes they act like total amateurs.

He had no room to park further to the left. A combination of the pressure being on and the riders having their heads down maybe and no time to react to the obstacle.
 
Re:

rehy90 said:
About the crash - I dont think the motorbike driver is the one to blame. Ok he probably should stop on the right side of the road, on the other hand he stoped as far on the left as he could (almost in a ditch). And the road was straight and wide. This was completely the riders fault - the giant riders to be precise. I mean even 10 years old cyclists know that when there is an obstacle on the road you should show it to riders behind you. The first giant riders saw that motorcycle and had enough time to warn the riders behind. They are professionals, but sometimes they act like total amateurs.
Which he did. It was happening too fast though.