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

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Jagartrott said:
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.
We saw on Etna that these don't suit him...
Of course he'll say this, but I don't think he'll sleep well.
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.
 
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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.
 
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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.
The thing is that if the Finestre is ridden hard there's no such thing as big groups anymore.
 
Not expecting major attacks on Finestre unless one of the leaders has trouble. The long break between Sestriere and Jafferau kind of discourages that. There will be serious attrition, though, and anybody with a teammate or two in the break or with them will have big advantage.

Final climb suits Yates if he can get there in good shape. Froome will shoot his shot.
 
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
 
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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
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?

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.
 
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DFA123 said:
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
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?

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.
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 move
 
Re: Giro d'Italia 2018 stage 19: Venaria Reale – Jafferau 18

this is it!!!

It is all 4 riders at the top fighting it out. Yates has a serious threat to his lead, since Froome & Pozzo's fight for podium mean they're going to carry Dumo along every time either one of them attacks, so Yates is going to feel the heat coming in all directions.
The ace card is going to be POELS for Froome, since we know he's the 3rd week marvel ready to drag the Magic Kenyan at high pace in the critical moments-but then Pozzo is going to be following Froome & Dumo will jump on that rally, so Yates has no other choice but to respond right away to whoever attacks......... how many attacks can Simon cover on his own this time?

Interesting epilogue for this Giro :)
 
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Eyeballs Out said:
DFA123 said:
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
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?

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.
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 move
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.
 
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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.
 
Re: Giro d'Italia 2018 stage 19: Venaria Reale – Jafferau 18

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.

I wish this was the final stage, you are right. There is still Saturday.
 
Re: Giro d'Italia 2018 stage 19: Venaria Reale – Jafferau 18

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.

ain't going to happen. It is going to be played out more or less like today's stage, where Superman Lopez or Carapaz are going to start the fireworks, then either Froome or Pozzo carry on with the attacks, just to have Dumo reacting to them while Yates goes on defense mode- so is like a snow ball effect this time around......
 
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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.

I fully expect Astana to get 2 or 3 riders in the break. Lopez wants this.