Giro d'Italia 2018 stage 6: Caltanissetta - Etna 164 km

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Already getting annoyed by people with a - for Dumoulin. Expect him to answer accelerations directly now by pure climbers? He finished in the front group and looked like he wasn't struggling in that sprint at the end either. Just doesn't have that acceleration. I think he's fine.

Just Yates was super strong

Yes, I don’t think getting Puritoed by Yates says anything much about his form. However, I do think it’s clear now that Yates is a serious threat, perhaps more so than Froome.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Already getting annoyed by people with a - for Dumoulin. Expect him to answer accelerations directly now by pure climbers? He finished in the front group and looked like he wasn't struggling in that sprint at the end either. Just doesn't have that acceleration. I think he's fine.

Just Yates was super strong

I think the bigger questions are about the team Sky performance. Astana seem to burn themselves too early on the climb, Chaves being up the road made the stage much tougher than it would have been.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Already getting annoyed by people with a - for Dumoulin. Expect him to answer accelerations directly now by pure climbers? He finished in the front group and looked like he wasn't struggling in that sprint at the end either. Just doesn't have that acceleration. I think he's fine.

Just Yates was super strong

Well sorry to be a bit disappointed by his ride... He's perfectly capable to do better than this.

Etna 2018 could just be the LPDBF 2017, by the way.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Re:

Yeah in the event that Yates proves demonstrably stronger than Chaves over 3 weeks, how incredibly valuable will it be to have Chaves in his corner? If he had chased won Chaves and kicked past him for the win, do you think Chaves would want to help him?

Having said that, putting 26s on the main GC field seemingly while breathing through his nose...wow.

I take the point, but equally, Chaves has spent his whole career as a protected rider, including lots of races where Yates has lowered his own chances to help him. I'm not sure what value he has as a team mate if he's really such a diva as to be upset about giving the bonus seconds to the stronger rider who already has a lead.

In reality, I expect both Chaves and team management to consider Chaves the leader, and Yates is going to have to hold the jersey for a while for that to change despite his results all year, so the logic above does not even come in to it

 

[Scarponi]

Re:

Chaves will be even better in the 3rd week, I reckon. Not a lot of racing days thus far the season, he will improve.

As for the not-so-good performances of the day, I think Lopez was downright disappointing having his team set him up for no reason at all other than making sure Chaves didn't get too big of an advantage. Also, Pozzo must be frustrated having gained nothing despite looking the strongest for the past few days.

To be fair he tried atleast 4-5 times. He might of told the team he was strong

 

[Flat Out]

More attacks and tactics in one Giro climb than in one whole TdF. Good stuff today. Froome with a 75rpm standing pedalling seen more than once. Unusual

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Yeah in the event that Yates proves demonstrably stronger than Chaves over 3 weeks, how incredibly valuable will it be to have Chaves in his corner? If he had chased won Chaves and kicked past him for the win, do you think Chaves would want to help him?

Having said that, putting 26s on the main GC field seemingly while breathing through his nose...wow.

I take the point, but equally, Chaves has spent his whole career as a protected rider, including lots of races where Yates has lowered his own chances to help him. I'm not sure what value he has as a team mate if he's really such a diva as to be upset about giving the bonus seconds to the stronger rider who already has a lead.

In reality, I expect both Chaves and team management to consider Chaves the leader, and Yates is going to have to hold the jersey for a while for that to change despite his results all year, so the logic above does not even come in to it

Have you ever seen Chaves off the bike?

I don't think there is a cyclist in the peloton to whom the word diva fits less.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Re:

Already getting annoyed by people with a - for Dumoulin. Expect him to answer accelerations directly now by pure climbers? He finished in the front group and looked like he wasn't struggling in that sprint at the end either. Just doesn't have that acceleration. I think he's fine.

Just Yates was super strong

I thought he seemed to be struggling a bit in the last couple KMs. However to be fair pretty much every rider bar Yates had Thier struggles on this climb.

Going to be interesting to see how dumo goes on zoncolan.

 

[Craigee]

The celebrations and camaraderie demonstrated by Chaves and Yates which looked legitimate to me, reminds me of Wiggins and Froome and how close they were.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

The celebrations and camaraderie demonstrated by Chaves and Yates which looked legitimate to me, reminds me of Wiggins and Froome and how close they were.

Odds of twitter war between Yates and Chaves SOs? Do they even have GFs?

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Dennis lost less than a minute - I had expected him to lose much more.

Sensible ride for Dennis.

Brave ride by Dennis

but in fairness when you look at the competetion nowadays in a GT Dennis should maybe rethink his plans

He is a marvelous TTer ...a little more on this and he could clean up
Plus win week stage races

He is making his life so much harder by persuing GTs ...and I cant see it happening for him
At best a top 10 if that

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

I really think giving Yates the stage win would have been a horrible mistake by MS. Imagine how pissed Chaves would be if he had been dropped by his own teammated almost in sight of the finish line. If Yates goes into the last week in pink, something unexpected happens and Chaves has to sacrifice himself to save the giro for Yates, you don't want that the two dislike each other. Those 4 seconds were absolutely worth it.

I just got told Chaves isn't a diva so I'm sure he'd have managed. Yates got over it when Chaves went awol in paris nice and they he lost the GC thanks to lack of team support on the final day.

 

[seldon71]

In RaiDue they just co-interviewed Yatesy & Chavito...

Last question was "Who is the captain?" Chaves immediately answered MAGLIA ROSA and pointed SImon. Camaraderie seemed great and Chaves will IMO ride for Yates if that will be required...

However, given that Chavito is 3rd in GC - team would be smart to keep him in contention as an insurance for crashes, illness etc.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

The celebrations and camaraderie demonstrated by Chaves and Yates which looked legitimate to me, reminds me of Wiggins and Froome and how close they were.

Odds of twitter war between Yates and Chaves SOs? Do they even have GFs?

Chaves is married some years

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

Yeah in the event that Yates proves demonstrably stronger than Chaves over 3 weeks, how incredibly valuable will it be to have Chaves in his corner? If he had chased won Chaves and kicked past him for the win, do you think Chaves would want to help him?

Having said that, putting 26s on the main GC field seemingly while breathing through his nose...wow.

I take the point, but equally, Chaves has spent his whole career as a protected rider, including lots of races where Yates has lowered his own chances to help him. I'm not sure what value he has as a team mate if he's really such a diva as to be upset about giving the bonus seconds to the stronger rider who already has a lead.

In reality, I expect both Chaves and team management to consider Chaves the leader, and Yates is going to have to hold the jersey for a while for that to change despite his results all year, so the logic above does not even come in to it

I think that logic does come into it if Yates believes he’s going to be seriously contesting the GC win in the final week. That’s quite independent of what the team (or Chaves) thinks. If Yates continues to be stronger on the road, Chaves is in theory the strongest teammate in the race and can be extraordinarily useful. A grateful teammate is more likely to produce that kind of strength in Yates service than a resentful one. I doubt if Chaves would throw the rattle out of the pram if Yates had taken the stage, but there’s a lot of room between unprofessionally sulking and grateful loyalty and Yates is probably wise to bank good will rather than four seconds.

 

[DFA123]

I still see Yates as more of a Dan Martin type rider than a serious GT contender. Not sure he can hold it together for three weeks, particularly on the toughest mountain stages. But he can put time into almost anyone in the world on the final 1-2km of a climb if he's in a decent position.

Then again, Froome aside, this is a really weak GC line up. So he could sneak a podium.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

I still see Yates as more of a Dan Martin type rider than a serious GT contender. Not sure he can hold it together for three weeks, particularly on the toughest mountain stages. But he can put time into almost anyone in the world on the final 1-2km of a climb if he's in a decent position.

Then again, Froome aside, this is a really weak GC line up. So he could sneak a podium.

All the GT winners of last year are here.

By that standard, the Tour isn't gonna be much better, especially if Froome finishes the Giro.

 

[skippo12]

Climbers will regret that they didn´t drop Froome and Dumoulin today. Both looked vulnerable but nobody wanted to work with Pozzo and Bennett. Yates timed his attack perfectly and had the legs to back it up.

 

[Red Rick]

Climbers will regret that they didn´t drop Froome and Dumoulin today. Both looked vulnerable but nobody wanted to work with Pozzo and Bennett. Yates timed his attack perfectly and had the legs to back it up.

Climbers might regret that the Etna isn't very steep and it takes some huge power to get away and stay away.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Then again, Froome aside, this is a really weak GC line up.

Are you trolling here? By definition a GC line up featuring the reigning champions of all three GTs is not “really weak”. By Giro standards this is a super strong GC line up.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Dennis lost less than a minute - I had expected him to lose much more.

Sensible ride for Dennis.

Brave ride by Dennis

but in fairness when you look at the competetion nowadays in a GT Dennis should maybe rethink his plans

He is a marvelous TTer ...a little more on this and he could clean up
Plus win week stage races

He is making his life so much harder by persuing GTs ...and I cant see it happening for him
At best a top 10 if that

First he has to finish. The third week is hard. Bennett looks like more of a GT rider than Dennis. I expected a top 15 at best for Dennis. A top 10 would be surprising.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Dennis lost less than a minute - I had expected him to lose much more.

Sensible ride for Dennis.

Brave ride by Dennis

but in fairness when you look at the competetion nowadays in a GT Dennis should maybe rethink his plans

He is a marvelous TTer ...a little more on this and he could clean up
Plus win week stage races

He is making his life so much harder by persuing GTs ...and I cant see it happening for him
At best a top 10 if that

First he has to finish. The third week is hard. Bennett looks like more of a GT rider than Dennis. I expected a top 15 at best for Dennis. A top 10 would be surprising.

I'm pretty sure that never trying is something you might regret regardless of if it would work.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re: Re:

Then again, Froome aside, this is a really weak GC line up.

Are you trolling here? By definition a GC line up featuring the reigning champions of all three GTs is not “really weak”. By Giro standards this is a super strong GC line up.

That dude is always trolling, just don't read it. That's what I do.

 

[shalgo]

Nice rides today from the Wilier-Triestina team:

162 MARECZKO Jakub Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia 26:26
163 ZARDINI Edoardo Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia ,,
164 TURRIN Alex Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia ,,
165 ZHUPA Eugert Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia ,,
166 MOSCA Jacopo Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia ,,
167 COLEDAN Marco Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia ,,
168 BERTAZZO Liam Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia ,,
169 DRUCKER Jean-Pierre BMC Racing Team ,,
170 VILLELLA Davide Astana Pro Team ,,
171 FONZI Giuseppe Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia ,,

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

I still see Yates as more of a Dan Martin type rider than a serious GT contender. Not sure he can hold it together for three weeks, particularly on the toughest mountain stages. But he can put time into almost anyone in the world on the final 1-2km of a climb if he's in a decent position.

Then again, Froome aside, this is a really weak GC line up. So he could sneak a podium.

You have two of the top three GC riders in the world, and then a lot of very good second tier riders. It's almost as good as it can get. Just beyond the top 10 it's not that deep.