Yates seems very confident, says the uno mountain stages don’t suit him, but Friday and Saturday do. Doesn’t rule out attacking.
We saw on Etna that these don't suit him...Poursuivant said:Yates seems very confident, says the uno mountain stages don’t suit him, but Friday and Saturday do. Doesn’t rule out attacking.
Exactly. There's also a difference between a climb not suiting him, where he might lose a handful of seconds here and then to a Froome or Dumoulin. And a climb not suiting him to the extent that he can't even hold the wheel of Konrad and Bilbao in the gentle final km.Jagartrott said:We saw on Etna that these don't suit him...Poursuivant said:Yates seems very confident, says the uno mountain stages don’t suit him, but Friday and Saturday do. Doesn’t rule out attacking.
Of course he'll say this, but I don't think he'll sleep well.
Velolover2 said:Stage would have been better without Jafferau.
The thing is that if the Finestre is ridden hard there's no such thing as big groups anymore.luckyboy said:Velolover2 said:Stage would have been better without Jafferau.
Should be Sestriere-Finestre-Sestriere like 2005. Unless the gaps are already big then the descent from Sestriere to Oulx isn't very technical, and then another 15km in the valley/false flat highway to Bardonecchia. Not amazing for small groups attacking.
I'm not sure its so simple. Do they really want to spend loads of energy chasing down breaks in the first couple of hours - potentially leaving Yates with little support for the last 100km of the day?Eyeballs Out said:MTS are not stupid and they know all they have to do in the first hour is stop the leading GC teams getting in the break. They really ought to be strong enough. That opening Cat 2 is really a Cat 3 at best. If they do lose control then they could be in trouble
It would be Bewley, Tuft, Juul Jensen and maybe Kreuziger in the first hour - these would not be involved later in the stage regardless. No doubt they will get help from other teams at times also when those teams miss the current moveDFA123 said:I'm not sure its so simple. Do they really want to spend loads of energy chasing down breaks in the first couple of hours - potentially leaving Yates with little support for the last 100km of the day?Eyeballs Out said:MTS are not stupid and they know all they have to do in the first hour is stop the leading GC teams getting in the break. They really ought to be strong enough. That opening Cat 2 is really a Cat 3 at best. If they do lose control then they could be in trouble
He's only got a 30 second lead, it's not as though they just have to prevent some kind of spectacular ambush to ensure victory. If he's on his own and has to fetch bottles, survive and mechanicals and mark all attacks by himself towards the end of the race, that 30 seconds is a tiny gap. I think MS are better keeping their men as fresh as possible and have them around as late into the stage as possible. Let the breaks go, or even better, get a man or two in there themselves.
I still think its better to try to get some of those guys in the break, rather than use them up closing down other attempts. If Yates gets dropped on Finestre or Sestriere, he's going to be losing way more than 30 seconds anyway. Better to have someone like Kreuziger or Juul Jensen in the break who can drop back and provide bottles and support, in case the pace is so high on Finestre that it drops Nieve and Haig.Eyeballs Out said:It would be Bewley, Tuft, Juul Jensen and maybe Kreuziger in the first hour - these would not be involved later in the stage regardless. No doubt they will get help from other teams at times also when those teams miss the current moveDFA123 said:I'm not sure its so simple. Do they really want to spend loads of energy chasing down breaks in the first couple of hours - potentially leaving Yates with little support for the last 100km of the day?Eyeballs Out said:MTS are not stupid and they know all they have to do in the first hour is stop the leading GC teams getting in the break. They really ought to be strong enough. That opening Cat 2 is really a Cat 3 at best. If they do lose control then they could be in trouble
He's only got a 30 second lead, it's not as though they just have to prevent some kind of spectacular ambush to ensure victory. If he's on his own and has to fetch bottles, survive and mechanicals and mark all attacks by himself towards the end of the race, that 30 seconds is a tiny gap. I think MS are better keeping their men as fresh as possible and have them around as late into the stage as possible. Let the breaks go, or even better, get a man or two in there themselves.
Gigs_98 said:I'm starting to fear that Froome and others will wait for Jafferau, will look how the gc stands afterwards and depending on the standings rather go for the long range attack one day later. It would suck massively but at times one can easily overrate cyclists. I just don't want to hype this as the stage of the year already just to get disappointed.
Gigs_98 said:I'm starting to fear that Froome and others will wait for Jafferau, will look how the gc stands afterwards and depending on the standings rather go for the long range attack one day later. It would suck massively but at times one can easily overrate cyclists. I just don't want to hype this as the stage of the year already just to get disappointed.
You can record it and watch the stage delayed. I did that in most of the stages so far.Sestriere said:Why does this have to be in a Friday? Gonna sit in a particle physics seminar until 1600. They're probably past Sestriere until I'm home :sad:
Sestriere said:Why does this have to be in a Friday? Gonna sit in a particle physics seminar until 1600. They're probably past Sestriere until I'm home :sad:
Particle physics makes sense. This Giro doesn't. You know what you really should focus on.Sestriere said:Why does this have to be in a Friday? Gonna sit in a particle physics seminar until 1600. They're probably past Sestriere until I'm home :sad:
That is an attitude I cannot endorseRedheadDane said:Sestriere said:Why does this have to be in a Friday? Gonna sit in a particle physics seminar until 1600. They're probably past Sestriere until I'm home :sad:
Sneak out!