Giro d'Italia 2018 stage 19: Venaria Reale – Jafferau 184km

[Bolder]

I rewatched this stage during confinement. He just didn't stop. Although Sastre grabbed a bunch of time too...

I also rewatched a lot of mid-90s/mid-2000s GT stages. Froome's performance was Chiappucci- or Schleck-like rather than Landis-like. (There's also Lance-like and Pantani-like).

The racing 20 years ago was often a lot more wide open, with the exception of Indurain and Armstrong, although to be fair Eurosport has been cherry picking the best historic stages.

Maybe now it seems tighter? There's been a lot of advances in training and the infusion of riders/races from outside the traditional cycling power countries seems to have raised the overall level of the GT peloton. And different tactics -- maybe just an impression but with fewer pure sprint stages (Petacchi won what, 9 stages at the Gire one year??) teams have more doms who can climb.

 

[gregrowlerson]

I understand losing that much time on the descent is poor from Dumoulin but I wonder what the difference would be between them if peak Froome and peak Dumoulin rode a 90km TT over the same course. I have absolutely no idea because it’s never been done but I’d expect Froome to take it by a significant margin.

I disagree. If they race this in 2018 then most likely Dumoulin takes it, though by probably a small margin. In stage 19 of the 2018 Giro, not only was Froome simply better on the day, but the stage itself was 184 kms long, so we are talking an attack of roughly 90 kms, after already having ridden roughly the same amount, and after having ridden 18 stages. That's different to a - assuming - one-off ITT between the two.

 

[SHAD0W93]

It appears like we need to completely re-write the scale of climbs. Looks like we got:

1. Honest flats.
2. False flats.
3. Whatever's between a false flat and a hill. (False hills)
4. Hills.
5. Medium mountains.
6. Mountains.

But maybe it's more like... gradually. So, something that be a 2.5... I dunno…

 

[Sciatic]

“False flat” has always had a funny duel meaning for me, because when I start climbing one and don’t realize it, I can’t understand why I’m slowly down, and glance back at my rear wheel to see if I might be getting a flat tire, I.e., a “false flat”

seems like this mainly happened riding along a plateau or ridge line in n the mountains, where the surrounding vertical topography creates small optical illusions re:distances and gradient.

 

[rick james]

I disagree. If they race this in 2018 then most likely Dumoulin takes it, though by probably a small margin. In stage 19 of the 2018 Giro, not only was Froome simply better on the day, but the stage itself was 184 kms long, so we are talking an attack of roughly 90 kms, after already having ridden roughly the same amount, and after having ridden 18 stages. That's different to a - assuming - one-off ITT between the two.

If Froome never crashed in Israel, we would have seen a different race..he would have smoked Ton D

 

[Red Rick]

He really was Contador's successor. After the winning days hypothetically smoking became where it's at

 

[Brumdog66]

If Froome never crashed in Israel, we would have seen a different race..he would have smoked Ton D

I think it was less the crash and more a case of Froome trying to have two peaks so he could go for the tour as well

 

[Brumdog66]

I disagree. If they race this in 2018 then most likely Dumoulin takes it, though by probably a small margin. In stage 19 of the 2018 Giro, not only was Froome simply better on the day, but the stage itself was 184 kms long, so we are talking an attack of roughly 90 kms, after already having ridden roughly the same amount, and after having ridden 18 stages. That's different to a - assuming - one-off ITT between the two.

Thats a fair opinion but I would still back Froome I think he has showed no signs of being over his peak (although obviously the crash could have ruined his career).