Giro d'Italia Giro d’Italia 2024, Stage 14: Castigliano delle Stiviere – Desenzano del Garda, 31.2k (ITT)

[movingtarget]

Congrats to Ganna on a superb performance. Also congrats to Pog on a very good TT - as I expected he lost under 30 seconds. He and Ganna had the same time around halfway but then Ganna's engine prevailed in the fastest part of the course. It's also possible that Pog actually did a positive split strategy here to maximize his gains in the hillier section (or did it unintentionally) and lacked a bit at the end.

Anyway, Pog put substantial time into GC guys again and his advantage is approaching 4 minutes already. It seems he's almost won the Giro thanks to TTs alone and no big efforts in the mountains are needed. But oh boy, he looks really thin. I don't doubt he could demolish opposition on climbs with todays performance (that rivalled Filippo the Tank Engine for most of this quite fast TT).

Be interesting to see how aggressive he gets in the mountains with the Tour in mind. the TT has won him the race already as long as he avoids the usual pitfalls. He really only has to ride defensively but he won't of course.........

 

[search]

Dani Martinez actually finished ok after a slow start. At the beginning it looked like an off day.

as mentioned earlier on, Bora always tends to save themselves a bit when there's an ITT before a mountain stage. Schachmann also confirmed that in an interview.

Didn't see pictures of Martinez at the finish, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a more controlled effort than from O'Connor, for example, who left everything on the road.

edit: here's an interview with Martinez, but I don't speak Spanish, so no idea if he brought up anything about it

https://twitter.com/x/status/1791852403991470567

View: https://x.com/DeportesRCN/status/1791852403991470567

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Be interesting to see how aggressive he gets in the mountains with the Tour in mind. the TT has won him the race already as long as he avoids the usual pitfalls. He really only has to ride defensively but he won't of course.........

No aggression expected IMO. He's sitting comfortably in the lead. He may do some small solo one day (max. a few km, maybe even tomorrow or in the Dolomites) but other than that only staying in wheels and sprinting if there's a chance for victory.

 

[Sciatic]

No aggression expected IMO. He's sitting comfortably in the lead. He may do some small solo one day (max. a few km, maybe even tomorrow or in the Dolomites) but other than that only staying in wheels and sprinting if there's a chance for victory.

I hope not. I mean even if he uses one of the mtn stages as high intensity training he will distance the others.

 

[Elos Anjos]

So I guess the conclusion regarding Pogacar is that in fact he improved his TT.

 

[Brullnux]

Yeah I think Pogacar's TT was very good. Mou's prophecies were a bit exaggerated but 30s to Ganna in a stage like today is excellent, really.

 

[tobydawq]

Biggest surprise is how Arensman can be in 6th when having a fraud of a trainer even bigger than San Millán!

Also more bald?

 

[Netserk]

Top-10 in GC over the two ITTs put together (72.0 km):

1. Pogi: 1h27'15" (49.5 km/h)
2. Thomas +2'45"
3. Martinez +3'05"
4. O'Connor +3'03"
5. Tiberi +2'11"
6. Arensman +1'38"
7. Zana +4'37"
8. Bardet +5'45"
9. Fortunato +6'58"
10. Baudin +7'10"

 

[Tim Cahill]

Martinez gained time on Thomas over the last intermediate, did Bora get the pacing plans mixed up with the first tt or something.

 

[EddyMazzoleni]

Nice to see Ganna win, he was emotional in the interview. He really suffers the pressure the italian media puts on him.
It's also interesting that Cioni said in the post race show that is numbers today were similar to those he pushed in the WCC*, actually a little less today because the slight downhill in the final made it harder to achieve high power.

* I think he was reffering to last year, but i'm not totally sure about that

 

[Extinction]

Think of Pog's weight compared to Ganna's. Had the Slovenian beaten the Italian I'd have thought that's even too much for the new Merckx (which he isn't because Merckx, Hinault, Lemond could have won such a TT even against the best specialist, not to mention Indurain).

 

[kingjr]

Does anyone know why Pogacar keeps wearing the unacceptably unmatching shorts?

I believe because they only made that one version of the TT suit, no?

 

[Sciatic]

I believe because they only made that one version of the TT suit, no?

I like the two-color scheme than all pink (or all yellow). When they do the all pink or all yellow skinsuits it looks like they’re going on stage with Abba.

 

[Salvarani]

Martinez gained time on Thomas over the last intermediate, did Bora get the pacing plans mixed up with the first tt or something.

Thomas pushed such a big gear so am I not surprised if he may have lost some in the end vs someone like Martinez, who has finished both TTs really well tbf.

 

[Cookster15]

Congrats to Filippo Ganna, I am always happy to see a TT specialist put the GC guys in their place on such a course. Magnus Sheffied was a bit disappointing.

Pog rode a very strong TT. 52.7kph for 35 minutes. Pre race predictions of 30 seconds down proved accurate. A 3:41 lead it will be interesting if anyone has the confidence to attack him in the mountains. Pogacar will likely ride within his limits now to conserve for the TdF. But there will be more pressure on his UAE team.

For best of the rest, I think most rode as expected. We thought Arensman would do a good ride, likewise Thomas rode about exactly as expected. A solid ride from Ben O'Conner on such a course. I suppose Martinez was slightly slower than expected but he still has a 39 sec gap to Thomas on GC. But really 3rd to 10th the gaps were small.

 

[Lequack]

I have this to say

 

[Squire]

Magnus Sheffied was a bit disappointing.

You expected him to beat Pog?

 

[Netserk]

I have this to say

Pathetic. Bring your son to the hot seat.

 

[Cookster15]

You expected him to beat Pog?

No, but to finish higher. Sheffield was tipped for a strong ride after the first TT. But he finished only 10 secs ahead of Martinez.

 

[AmRacer]

No, but to finish higher. Sheffield was tipped for a strong ride after the first TT. But he finished only 10 secs ahead of Martinez.

He crashed

 

[Cookster15]

He crashed

Thank you.

 

[Netserk]

Thank you.

As you can see, he was the 3rd fastest before his crash:

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations to Filippo Ganna for winning the ITT.

At first intermediate Ganna was like no, not this again. Then slowly he started to realize this is the day he was waiting for for so long. Among GC riders Pogi in a league of his own. If Ganna would hesitate for a second, to go all in today, Pogi would have beaten him. Thomas and Arensman great in regards to GC and i feel that although Martínez lost a place he still is in a good position to take the fight to Ineos.

 

[Squire]

No, but to finish higher. Sheffield was tipped for a strong ride after the first TT. But he finished only 10 secs ahead of Martinez.

Yep, as Amracer says. He would likely have been 3rd without crash. At worst 4th, I think.

 

[Cookster15]

Nice to see Ganna win, he was emotional in the interview. He really suffers the pressure the italian media puts on him.
It's also interesting that Cioni said in the post race show that is numbers today were similar to those he pushed in the WCC*, actually a little less today because the slight downhill in the final made it harder to achieve high power.

* I think he was reffering to last year, but i'm not totally sure about that

Agree. I think Ganna was a bit disappointed after the first TT when Pog overhauled him at the end. Today sets the record straight.