Giro d'Italia 2016 St 20 Guillestre–S.Anna di Vinadio 134 km

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

This has got to be extra sweet for Nibs after all the criticism he's received during this Giro.

He's gonna have fun re-reading opinion pieces written on Thursday and Friday morning.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

There is of course great acclaim for what Nibali did over the last 2 days, but Atapuma was 2:16 faster than him on those 2 days.

Which is not to claim that the trophy should be going to a Colombian, nor to undermine Nibali's attacks, but to underline that it is not that the pace was unthinkable, but that the endurance to make those inroads into everyone else's time after three weeks of remaining n contention is what is truly impressive.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Also well done to Jungels, I really think he can become a decent GT rider. He did pretty well this Giro when no one expected anything.

He rode very well.

 

[AlexNYC]

I forgot about Jungels. Looks like a future TdF contender.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

There is of course great acclaim for what Nibali did over the last 2 days, but Atapuma was 2:16 faster than him on those 2 days.

Which is not to claim that the trophy should be going to a Colombian, nor to undermine Nibali's attacks, but to underline that it is not that the pace was unthinkable, but that the endurance to make those inroads into everyone else's time after three weeks of remaining n contention is what is truly impressive.

More about Chaves weakening than Nibali doing the ride of the century. Chaves is still coming to grips with riding GTs and his best years are ahead of him but Nibali did what he had to do and Valverde was not far behind him either.

 

[DNP-Old]

This man is the ***!

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

But it's looking better than for a long while with prospects. Gesink and Mollema are no longer in contention. It's Kruijswijk who might go on and actually win one. Well, maybe Dumoulin if we get a TT-heavy course.

Of course it's looking better, but this was a sensational chance to win a GT all things considered: Froome, Contador, Quintana and Aru all riding the Tour, Nibali up and down, Landa sick, young riders still not fully developed. Next year is the 100th Giro so I would imagine the field could be much stronger. You can't be sure he'll have another opportunity like this.

Just ask Uran. He has had similar opportunities where the best riders have not been in the race and has not been able to make the most of it. Both Chaves and SK will have to improve but clearly SK was good enough to win this Giro.

 

[damian13ster]

Re: Re:

Of course. Asterisks are idiotic. He was simply the best in Giro over the three weeks. As simple as that. Put on a real show on last two stages. Really, had just 2 bad days. One in MTT (people forget he lost significant amount of time due to mechanical), and one mountain stage. That's it. Formidable over the rest of the race

Wtf?? He was the best over three weeks? Ok

Yes, he was. Look at the GC.

And great ride by Jungels. I have no clue though whether he can get that extra climbing prowess needed to truly contend in GT.

 

[doperhopper]

Re: Giro d'Italia 2016 St 20 Guillestre–S.Anna di Vinadio 13

... and that's how one stage of a good race brings better racing than several years of Bore de France

This Giro was probably better than at least 15 years of BdF COMBINED.

 

[Escarabajo]

This win tastes like sh!t.

I would have been perfectly fine with SK winning. I feel bad for the dutchies but good at the same time, because they have this huge talent in their hands.

I have always been neutral with Nibali and defended him every now and then. But this comeback is BS. And watching him with Vino is garbage. It is like cheering for the mob. It is like cheering for the bad guys.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

I feel bad for Chaves but he should be proud of what he did. Now he knows that he can improve and win a GT in the future.

 

[RattaKuningas]

As an Estonian I'm very happy with Taaramäe win. Both Taaramäe and Kangert rode well today.

 

[Sorped]

Re: Re:

Of course. Asterisks are idiotic. He was simply the best in Giro over the three weeks. As simple as that. Put on a real show on last two stages. Really, had just 2 bad days. One in MTT (people forget he lost significant amount of time due to mechanical), and one mountain stage. That's it. Formidable over the rest of the race

Wtf?? He was the best over three weeks? Ok

The person who is placed first after 3 weeks is per definition the strongest over those 3 weeks. It's like people saying Leicester didn't deserve to win the PL - bollocks, they were on top after 38 rounds, so by logic, they are the best team over those 38 rounds.

 

[carton]

Re:

As an Estonian I'm very happy with Taaramäe win. Both Taaramäe and Kangert rode well today.

Congrats. Good to see Taaramäe back in the fold.

 

[gatete]

Re:

This win tastes like ****.

I would have been perfectly fine with SK winning. I feel bad for the dutchies but good at the same time, because they have this huge talent in their hands.

I have always been neutral with Nibali and defended him every now and then. But this comeback is BS. And watching him with Vino is garbage. It is like cheering for the mob. It is like cheering for the bad guys.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

I feel bad for Chaves but he should be proud of what he did. Now he knows that he can improve and win a GT in the future.

I started to dislike Nibali since Mortirolo 2011 with all that whining on how AC toyed with him, then 2012 Tour whining again, this Giro in the beginning whining at Valverde, whines, whines whines. I was gutted on 2014 and now with 3+ minutes deficit he wins because of a crash, pff, some people may say I'm a hater but is not hate is just dislike to the man that shows no humility.

 

[Domulec]

Re:

This win tastes like ****.

I would have been perfectly fine with SK winning. I feel bad for the dutchies but good at the same time, because they have this huge talent in their hands.

I have always been neutral with Nibali and defended him every now and then. But this comeback is BS. And watching him with Vino is garbage. It is like cheering for the mob. It is like cheering for the bad guys.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

I feel bad for Chaves but he should be proud of what he did. Now he knows that he can improve and win a GT in the future.

Exactly how I feel about this.

Also striking that so many of the tough stages went to the breakaway. Valverde won a stage, but other than that, nothing like last year when both Aru and Landa took two stages.

 

[carton]

Re: Re:

Of course. Asterisks are idiotic. He was simply the best in Giro over the three weeks. As simple as that. Put on a real show on last two stages. Really, had just 2 bad days. One in MTT (people forget he lost significant amount of time due to mechanical), and one mountain stage. That's it. Formidable over the rest of the race

Wtf?? He was the best over three weeks? Ok

The person who is placed first after 3 weeks is per definition the strongest over 3 weeks. It's like people saying Leicester didn't deserve to win the PL - bollocks, they were on top after 38 rounds, so by logic, they are the best team over those 38 rounds.

No. Just, no. Professional sport is first and foremost entertainment. There are artificial rules placed on participants in order to determine a winner, based on an equally artificial scoring system. Not in order to qualitatively ascertain who is is "strongest". The most important thing for both the participants and the organizers is how much money they make, not how hard they try to figure out who was "strongest". Who was "strongest" is entirely a matter of opinion. The "logic" that whoever wins must be the strongest is a tedious fallacy used by lazy commentators to try to imbue sport with some kind of mystical power.

 

[damian13ster]

Yeah, wish all mountain stages were cutthroat from the beginning. But Nibali did get his stage win, and he did get the GC win so can't be dissatisfied with that. He was obviously not in top shape so Astana didn't drive the pace up like madmen, while Kruijswijk's team just didn't have the horsepower to do it

 

[Sorped]

Re: Re:

Of course. Asterisks are idiotic. He was simply the best in Giro over the three weeks. As simple as that. Put on a real show on last two stages. Really, had just 2 bad days. One in MTT (people forget he lost significant amount of time due to mechanical), and one mountain stage. That's it. Formidable over the rest of the race

Wtf?? He was the best over three weeks? Ok

The person who is placed first after 3 weeks is per definition the strongest over 3 weeks. It's like people saying Leicester didn't deserve to win the PL - bollocks, they were on top after 38 rounds, so by logic, they are the best team over those 38 rounds.

No. Just, no. Professional sport is first and foremost entertainment. There are artificial rules place on participants in order to determine a winner base on an equally artificial scoring system, not qualitatively ascertain who is is "strongest". In most important thing for both the participants and the organizers is how much money they make, not how hard they try to figure out who was "strongest". Who was "strongest" is entirely a matter of opinion. The "logic" that whoever wins must be the strongest is a tedious fallacy used by lazy commentators to try to imbue sport with some kind of mystical power.

Then everything in this world is not what it is made out to be. There has to be a baseline. Without EVIDENCE of anything shady affecting anything your imaginary baselines are totally pointless, just your own personal explanations of why things turned out the way they did. Untill you provide EVIDENCE of any of that stuff has actually happened and has had an effect on anything, let's just stick to the official numbers, shall we?

E2A I accidentally left out out a word in the original post in the quote, it should say those 3 weeks (See the original post)

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

This win tastes like ****.

I would have been perfectly fine with SK winning. I feel bad for the dutchies but good at the same time, because they have this huge talent in their hands.

I have always been neutral with Nibali and defended him every now and then. But this comeback is BS. And watching him with Vino is garbage. It is like cheering for the mob. It is like cheering for the bad guys.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

I feel bad for Chaves but he should be proud of what he did. Now he knows that he can improve and win a GT in the future.

You should post this nonsense in the clinic! The man is class on the bike and a great champion, with biggest heart and balls in the whole peloton!

 

[KGB]

Astana finally won giro vs rider without team.Last year Contador was too strong for them .This year luckily Chavez was not that strong.Congratulation ASTANA!!!!

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Re:

Astana finally won giro vs rider without team.Last year Contador was too strong for them .This year luckily Chavez was not that strong.Congratulation ASTANA!!!!

Chaves will never be as strong as Contador.

 

[KGB]

Re: Re:

This win tastes like ****.

I would have been perfectly fine with SK winning. I feel bad for the dutchies but good at the same time, because they have this huge talent in their hands.

I have always been neutral with Nibali and defended him every now and then. But this comeback is BS. And watching him with Vino is garbage. It is like cheering for the mob. It is like cheering for the bad guys.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

I feel bad for Chaves but he should be proud of what he did. Now he knows that he can improve and win a GT in the future.

You should post this nonsense in the clinic! The man is class on the bike and a great champion, with biggest heart and balls in the whole peloton!

If you mean Valverde I agree with that.If someone else,then &#10153

 

[KGB]

Re: Re:

Astana finally won giro vs rider without team.Last year Contador was too strong for them .This year luckily Chavez was not that strong.Congratulation ASTANA!!!!

Chaves will never be as strong as Contador.

Today you saw you don't have to be strongest and still can win GT which means Chaves needs better team!!

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Today was the first ever Giro stage win by an Estonian cyclist.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

This win tastes like ****.

I would have been perfectly fine with SK winning. I feel bad for the dutchies but good at the same time, because they have this huge talent in their hands.

I have always been neutral with Nibali and defended him every now and then. But this comeback is BS. And watching him with Vino is garbage. It is like cheering for the mob. It is like cheering for the bad guys.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist.

I feel bad for Chaves but he should be proud of what he did. Now he knows that he can improve and win a GT in the future.

You should post this nonsense in the clinic! The man is class on the bike and a great champion, with biggest heart and balls in the whole peloton!

How was Valverde's attack on the Agnello?