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

[Valv.Piti]

It would surprise me if he doesn't carry on in this race, but also carry on with the GC. This race means a bunch to him at this stage of his career, putting in a good performance in a GT over 3 weeks is super important and he always has an 'out' if he doesn't deliver now. And he did climb well yesterday although the GPS obviously was off.

Landa on the other hand...

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Is there any official word yet on whether Thomas has actually broken anything or has he only got cuts and bruises? It was a very strange aftermath to the crash; Landa was up straight away and looked OK, but clearly isn't based on his time loss. While Thomas looked in agony, like for sure he had broken a collarbone, but then probably put in a top 10 time climbing Blockhaus and played down the crash in interviews. In which case, I wonder if he could have got back on the bike a bit quicker, notwithstanding the shock of crashing etc...

He said after the stage he felt his shoulder pop out after the crash but was ok to carry on, which probably explains the look of someone who may have had a collarbone injury. Thankfully it wasn't that serious.

No further news other than at this stage he plans to fight on.

Cool, thanks for the update. I saw on Twitter that Landa got some serious swelling in his upper leg as well, so there must be some muscle damage there. I guess now he's well out of the GC though he could do the TT on a road bike if he wanted, which may be necessary if his quads or hamstrings are really tight and immobile.

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

Not sure why the motorbike was stopped there, but hardly a narrow road, maybe he was ordered to stop there. He had a blue flashing light and was as far over as possible so the Polizia guy did his best to be out of the way, imo.

Riders not looking ahead and riders at the head of a pack not giving warning is where i would apportion the blame. It was a straight stretch so riders should have given plenty of warnings.

I dont believe in the neutralising of a race by riders. Movistar had no reason to slow. No gifts.

According to Chad Haga:
"It was stopped just after a right bend, we couldn't see it till the last moment and could only shout."

https://twitter.com/ChadHaga/status/863792195165458432

Not on TV it aint parked on a bend.

https://twitter.com/search?f=images&vertical=news&q=Geraint%20Thomas&src=tyah

just watching a replay of yesterdays stage on Eurosport and they come flying off a right hand bend on the road and the moto bike is there right in front of them in not time at all. the moto bike should not be stopping like that when the racing was on.

and Movistar were putting the foot down before the crash so I see no reason for them to stop pulling, gutted its ruined the chance of a really good race but that's bike racing

 

[rhubroma]

According to today's la Gazzetta dello Sport, the official take as to why the police motorcycle was stopped there was because of a split in the field. There are 30 police motorcycles pacing and ensuring the safety of the peloton. Per custom when there is a split, or splits, in the field, one or more policemen rolls off the pace makers to wait roadside for the following group, or groups as the case may be, to ensure that each split has its vigilante.

Now clearly, however the praxis, the involved policeman simply chose a most inopportune place to park his bike and wait for the pursuants. It was an unfortunate case of poor judgement that lead to the fatality.

 

[oncehadhair]

Tejay Van Garderen continues to race at a level commensurate with his ability. Can't see why BMC believe he is more capable than he regularly demonstrates.

 

[samhocking]

I think the race is far from over for Thomas. Maybe GC is not worth exclusively aiming for now but very unique to have so much racing still left and effectively two GC leaders on the same team with nothing to now loose. This could really open up the racing just below the podium.

 

[dusty red roads]

Contador popped a shoulder in 2015 and still won, Thomas will handle it, he managed to ride around France a few years ago with a broken pelvis after all.

 

[kingjr]

Just for the record I would like to point out again (because some apparently haven't seen it) that the Sunweb rider did indeed warn the other riders, but at that point it was already too late. Seconds earlier at the exit to the bend he was shoulder to shoulder with a Sky rider at the edge of the road, which was surely a distraction.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I think the race is far from over for Thomas. Maybe GC is not worth exclusively aiming for now but very unique to have so much racing still left and effectively two GC leaders on the same team with nothing to now loose. This could really open up the racing just below the podium.

Thomas can top-5 here and grab a stage, that would be ideal. Then he would probably leave Team Sky to get a leader's role in TdF for the remaining 1-2 years of his best years as he has shown to himself and others he can ride well for 3 weeks. You simply can't let opportunities slip when you are going well, more extremes example of that when Landa was in the form of his life in 2015 and was held back from winning the Giro, Kruijswijk crashed out last year (without even winning a stage (he should have won at least one), Igor Antón crashing out of a Vuelta he seemingly also already had won after winning 2 stages early and not ever finding that same form etc. etc.

As Pantani said in Oropa after his rivals were moaning he wasn't giving anything up to them, you need to strike when the iron is hot. And Thomas seems in good shape - you won't get many more opportunities, he isn't young anymore.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Kudos to Geraint for not buying into all this non-sense. He is a straight up guy and I like that about him. And he is a real fighter, I can respect him. Wasn't to keen on him, but he is showing character, I hope he will be on the attack.

However, what I don't respect is the whining and the hypocrisy and its mainly the big Anglophone-teams doing that - Orica, Sky, Cannondale and BMC while the other, more traditional teams, if you will, keep their mouth shout (generally speaking) and just go about their own thing.

Well that's not really true is it, I remember Movistar having a whinge after stage 11 of last years Tour about the stage being dangerous when Quintana lost time to Froome in the crosswinds. All the teams and riders complain when they think they've been wronged.

Exactly, and don't forget the Movistar whinge over the whole Valverde and Sky incident during the Vuelta a few years back, even though Sky were already massing at the front when Valverde crashed.

Every team has a moan when they are upset about something, let's not start discriminating please.

Red Jersey was Down...big difference then a 'possible' contender. There is many decades of precedent when it is the race leader and many more allowances are made. Still it is up to the team. Sky chose to ride on Hard after crashing the Red Jersey. And despite the opinions to the contrary rewatching the race shows Sky started the crash when they did their massing. In this case MS had been on the front hauling butt for 50KM and the Pink Jersey wasn't affected. Totally difference circumstances.

 

[Carols]

Re:

Contador popped a shoulder in 2015 and still won, Thomas will handle it, he managed to ride around France a few years ago with a broken pelvis after all.

This. Contador had a dislocated shoulder early and still ended up in Pink. If Thomas has no other injuries he can still make a race of it. He is a tough guy.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re: Re:

Kudos to Geraint for not buying into all this non-sense. He is a straight up guy and I like that about him. And he is a real fighter, I can respect him. Wasn't to keen on him, but he is showing character, I hope he will be on the attack.

However, what I don't respect is the whining and the hypocrisy and its mainly the big Anglophone-teams doing that - Orica, Sky, Cannondale and BMC while the other, more traditional teams, if you will, keep their mouth shout (generally speaking) and just go about their own thing.

Well that's not really true is it, I remember Movistar having a whinge after stage 11 of last years Tour about the stage being dangerous when Quintana lost time to Froome in the crosswinds. All the teams and riders complain when they think they've been wronged.

Exactly, and don't forget the Movistar whinge over the whole Valverde and Sky incident during the Vuelta a few years back, even though Sky were already massing at the front when Valverde crashed.

Every team has a moan when they are upset about something, let's not start discriminating please.

Red Jersey was Down...big difference then a 'possible' contender. There is many decades of precedent when it is the race leader and many more allowances are made. Still it is up to the team. Sky chose to ride on Hard after crashing the Red Jersey. And despite the opinions to the contrary rewatching the race shows Sky started the crash when they did their massing. In this case MS had been on the front hauling butt for 50KM and the Pink Jersey wasn't affected. Totally difference circumstances.

Talking of leaders, wasn't it a couple of years ago when Froome had a mechanical in the maillot Jaune, clearly seen by the rest of the GC group yet someone from the bunch accelerated? Pretty sure it was Nibali in 2015?

I seem to recall at the time everyone said the group shouldn't have waited and i see no difference between a crash and a mechanical, If anything a mechanical can be even less of a riders fault.

It just further reiterates my point that every team has a moan when when things don't go their way, regardless of team, nationality etc.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I dont think Nibali did nothing wrong as he was out of the GC picture, it had been very different if it was Quintana attacking at that point. That said, I at least hoped Quintana would attack when Froome bridged up again as that stage was the opportunity to win the race.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Kudos to Geraint for not buying into all this non-sense. He is a straight up guy and I like that about him. And he is a real fighter, I can respect him. Wasn't to keen on him, but he is showing character, I hope he will be on the attack.

However, what I don't respect is the whining and the hypocrisy and its mainly the big Anglophone-teams doing that - Orica, Sky, Cannondale and BMC while the other, more traditional teams, if you will, keep their mouth shout (generally speaking) and just go about their own thing.

Well that's not really true is it, I remember Movistar having a whinge after stage 11 of last years Tour about the stage being dangerous when Quintana lost time to Froome in the crosswinds. All the teams and riders complain when they think they've been wronged.

Exactly, and don't forget the Movistar whinge over the whole Valverde and Sky incident during the Vuelta a few years back, even though Sky were already massing at the front when Valverde crashed.

Every team has a moan when they are upset about something, let's not start discriminating please.

Red Jersey was Down...big difference then a 'possible' contender. There is many decades of precedent when it is the race leader and many more allowances are made. Still it is up to the team. Sky chose to ride on Hard after crashing the Red Jersey. And despite the opinions to the contrary rewatching the race shows Sky started the crash when they did their massing. In this case MS had been on the front hauling butt for 50KM and the Pink Jersey wasn't affected. Totally difference circumstances.

Talking of leaders, wasn't it a couple of years ago when Froome had a mechanical in the maillot Jaune, clearly seen by the rest of the GC group yet someone from the bunch accelerated? Pretty sure it was Nibali in 2015?

I seem to recall at the time everyone said the group shouldn't have waited and i see no difference between a crash and a mechanical, If anything a mechanical can be even less of a riders fault.

It just further reiterates my point that every team has a moan when when things don't go their way, regardless of team, nationality etc.

Well IMO Nibali's actions were Not appropriate. It was the leader in trouble and there is precedent for that, even if he caused it himself. Not that that precedent is always observed. All I'm saying is you were comparing apples to oranges......

 

[Alexandre B.]

Jan Polanc (3'28" to Quintana)
Adam Yates (4'39" to Quintana)

 

[Valv.Piti]

At one point they were comparing heart rates, in the bottom on the climb, when Adam Yates was pinging at 193 bpm which is very close to 100% if not 100%. So I'm not really surprised by that, you are gonna pay for such an effort.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

Contador popped a shoulder in 2015 and still won, Thomas will handle it, he managed to ride around France a few years ago with a broken pelvis after all.

This. Contador had a dislocated shoulder early and still ended up in Pink. If Thomas has no other injuries he can still make a race of it. He is a tough guy.

Contador wasn't 5 minutes away from the favorites. Thomas is. That's the difference. A pretty big one, in fact.

 

[dusty red roads]

Re: Re:

Contador popped a shoulder in 2015 and still won, Thomas will handle it, he managed to ride around France a few years ago with a broken pelvis after all.

This. Contador had a dislocated shoulder early and still ended up in Pink. If Thomas has no other injuries he can still make a race of it. He is a tough guy.

Contador wasn't 5 minutes away from the favorites. Thomas is. That's the difference. A pretty big one, in fact.

I didn't mean he has any chance to get pink, my point was he'll race on. He's way to tough to quit.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

At one point they were comparing heart rates, in the bottom on the climb, when Adam Yates was pinging at 193 bpm which is very close to 100% if not 100%. So I'm not really surprised by that, you are gonna pay for such an effort.

I'm not sure why you would trust those statistics when they've spent years trying to get the GPS times to work, yet they still can't figure it out.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re:

According to today's la Gazzetta dello Sport, the official take as to why the police motorcycle was stopped there was because of a split in the field. There are 30 police motorcycles pacing and ensuring the safety of the peloton. Per custom when there is a split, or splits, in the field, one or more policemen rolls off the pace makers to wait roadside for the following group, or groups as the case may be, to ensure that each split has its vigilante.

Now clearly, however the praxis, the involved policeman simply chose a most inopportune place to park his bike and wait for the pursuants. It was an unfortunate case of poor judgement that lead to the fatality.

Let's not make unnecessary drama: some riders lost their chance to win, not their lives.

Hopefully police motorbikes are not pacing the peloton or any break: is that the phrasing the official explanation gave?

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

I dont think Nibali did nothing wrong as he was out of the GC picture, it had been very different if it was Quintana attacking at that point. That said, I at least hoped Quintana would attack when Froome bridged up again as that stage was the opportunity to win the race.

Imagine if Movistar had used the same tactics back then as they did on Blockhaus. Quintana would right now probably be trying to win his fourth GT. Anyway, although it's not part of the rules I don't think it's a very sportsmanlike move to attack when your rival has a mechanical. After all I'm an Andy Schleck fan, so I have to say that :lol:

 

[DanielSong39]

Re: Re:

According to today's la Gazzetta dello Sport, the official take as to why the police motorcycle was stopped there was because of a split in the field. There are 30 police motorcycles pacing and ensuring the safety of the peloton. Per custom when there is a split, or splits, in the field, one or more policemen rolls off the pace makers to wait roadside for the following group, or groups as the case may be, to ensure that each split has its vigilante.

Now clearly, however the praxis, the involved policeman simply chose a most inopportune place to park his bike and wait for the pursuants. It was an unfortunate case of poor judgement that lead to the fatality.

Let's not make unnecessary drama: some riders lost their chance to win, not their lives.

Hopefully police motorbikes are not pacing the peloton or any break: is that the phrasing the official explanation gave?

Not pleased with the "official" explanation given - sounds like a bunch of political junk.

If they had said something like, "The cop messed up, next time we'll make sure they park their bikes 3 feet off the road", it would be a lot easier to swallow. And it would address the problem.