Giro d'Italia 2018 stage 9: Pesco Sannita–Gran Sasso 225 km

[Stella0596]

I really wonder if Yates can keep this form for two more weeks.. last year he did lose quite a bit of time in the last week of the Tour.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Yeah Dumo is doing alright, but this year there are a lot more rough stages and climbs... not easy.

Looks too mountainous. I count at least 5 stages for Yates to gain time and only 1 for Dumoulin (the TT).

Downright impossible. Plus it might sound weird, but it doesn't exactly suit him that it stays together for so long as today and on Etna. That way the climbers can use an explosive attack and 1/2km to the top and gain time. While if it blows apart earlier, he can TT back on. Now there is no time to TT back on. You see he barely caught the group with Lopez at the end.

 

[Eclipse]

Re:

Think if riders like Yates, Chaves, Pinot or Pozzovivo are within 60 to 90 seconds from Dumoulin after the ITT, they have the rod to go past Dumoulin.

MS have the team to do what the loose collective of riders last year should have done but didn't against Tommy D and really hurt him if they need (presuming the Chaves Yates double act doesn't fall apart)

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Minimal time gaps - pretty much 9 riders finishing together, just with the punchier riders a little in front. Kind of surprising. I don't think there can be much between any of those riders

 

[Red Rick]

It's literally an uphill battle for Tom at this Dumoulin at this point. He needs to be sharper come Zoncolan or he can say arrivederci to the trofeo senza fine

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Minimal time gaps - pretty much 9 riders finishing together, just with the punchier riders a little in front. Kind of surprising. I don't think there can be much between any of those riders

Headwind played its part in this too.

 

[SafeBet]

Formolo has been great both yesterday and today. Perhaps the crash really affected him on Etna, because his shape seems excellent.

 

[DanielSong39]

I think Simon Yates is your winner. But a long way to go! (I thought Steven Kruijswijk had it in the bag in 2016, shows you what I know)

 

[Breh]

No GC relevant stages till Zoncolan. I hope he doesn"t but Froome still has time to find any kind of form, especially with an ITT coming up.

Pinot, Yates, Chaves and Dumoulin look like the main contenders atm. Lopez was disappointing.
Meintjes dropping Froome was pretty funny.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

I really wonder if Yates can keep this form for two more weeks.. last year he did lose quite a bit of time in the last week of the Tour.

I wonder as well. Also in the 20016 Vuelta, he looked better than Chaves early only to fade later in the race. Still, this could be a different Yates. Maybe he's stepped up a level.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Re:

I really wonder if Yates can keep this form for two more weeks.. last year he did lose quite a bit of time in the last week of the Tour.

It's a very different mentality when you're the strongest compared to clinging on to a GC placing; hammer vs anvil.

 

[Jagartrott]

Re:

Yates looking strong and relaxed and using his head when and where to go.

You mean about 150 m before the finish? Impressive thinking, indeed.

 

[Durden93]

Re: Re:

Yeah Dumo is doing alright, but this year there are a lot more rough stages and climbs... not easy.

Looks too mountainous. I count at least 5 stages for Yates to gain time and only 1 for Dumoulin (the TT).

Downright impossible. Plus it might sound weird, but it doesn't exactly suit him that it stays together for so long as today and on Etna. That way the climbers can use an explosive attack and 1/2km to the top and gain time. While if it blows apart earlier, he can TT back on. Now there is no time to TT back on. You see he barely caught the group with Lopez at the end.

That’s fair. But the question is how will Yates do in the TT? In the 2016 Vuelta, Yates lost 4 minutes in a TT which was similiar in length to the upcoming one. In last year’s Tour Yates lost 1:30 in 22km, or aprox 4 seconds per km. Obviously there’s no apples to apples comparison. It’ll depend on the form of both riders, but Dumoulin is a better TTer than Froome and he should put in a bigger gap.i don’t think it’s out of the question for Dumoulin to pull back 3 minutes, but we’ll see.

 

[Breh]

And wow, Carapaz is impressive so far!

 

[MartinGT]

Re: Re:

Yates looking strong and relaxed and using his head when and where to go.

You mean about 150 m before the finish? Impressive thinking, indeed.

Not just today. He's kept his cool throughout I thought

 

[ferryman]

I'm thinking MS still haven't decided who their top boy is yet, up to and after today's stage. My thoughts are, today, if they were all in for Yates they should have told Chavez to attack maybe 500 metres out (he clearly had the legs). Yates would have had an armchair ride behind Pinot and Pozzo and probably would still have won the stage. Dumoulin would have lost more time and Froome would have been put well out the picture. But hey ho, not complaining, all looking good for another couple of weeks of intrigue

 

[SlickMongoose]

Re:

I'm thinking MS still haven't decided who their top boy is yet, up to and after today's stage. My thoughts are, today, if they were all in for Yates they should have told Chavez to attack maybe 500 metres out (he clearly had the legs). Yates would have had an armchair ride behind Pinot and Pozzo and probably would still have won the stage. Dumoulin would have lost more time and Froome would have been put well out the picture. But hey ho, not complaining, all looking good for another couple of weeks of intrigue

They'll let Zoncolan decide the pecking order.

 

[HelloDolly]

Yates looks so impressive because his form is amasing
But can he keep it....in the past both he and his brother dipped in the final week

Maybe he is stronger now as older ...

Dumoulin does not look like a winner to me...just something makes me think he is weaker than last year...in his demeanor..but could hold on for podium
Froome , Aru and MAL dont look it either

 

[staubsauger]

Well if Yates builds up a lead of 1-2 minutes to Dumoulin on the Zoncolan and loses around 2 - 3 minutes in the TT , he's still forced to go for a long-range attack in last week's mountain stages. Which is actually good for us, as it looks like he's got the shape to do so and he can't wait until the Finestre stage to give it a go!

 

[Red Rick]

Yates isn't losing more than 2 minutes in the ITT and I'd put the over/under at like 1'20" right now.

 

[SafeBet]

Yates told RAI he expects to lose 4 seconds per km to Dumoulin in the ITT. Seems a bit pessimistic.

Lopez has been disappointing but he was even worse in the first week of last year Vuelta. And then all of sudden he was the top climber in the race.

Also, next week is harder than it looks on paper, ecpecially considering the very unstable weather. Both Tuesday and Wednesday could be hard days, fuga bidone warning.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Re:

Yates isn't losing more than 2 minutes in the ITT and I'd put the over/under at like 1'20" right now.

Aye - rest day is in Tom's favour, but there are lots of painful climbing days, and they're hurting Yates the least.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

I'm thinking MS still haven't decided who their top boy is yet, up to and after today's stage. My thoughts are, today, if they were all in for Yates they should have told Chavez to attack maybe 500 metres out (he clearly had the legs). Yates would have had an armchair ride behind Pinot and Pozzo and probably would still have won the stage. Dumoulin would have lost more time and Froome would have been put well out the picture. But hey ho, not complaining, all looking good for another couple of weeks of intrigue

They haven’t been forced into a decision yet, so no sense pushing the question until they have to. I’m sure the DS’s have all discussed it at length anyway.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

I'm thinking MS still haven't decided who their top boy is yet, up to and after today's stage.

Agreed. It's still really early. I think they'll want to keep them both in a position to win for now and reevaluate in the 3rd week.

 

[Red Rick]

I'd let them ride their own race at the Zoncolan and unless Chaves is way stronger than Yates there I'd let Chaves ride in service of Yates on the stage to Sappada.