Giro d'Italia 2020, stage 15: Rivolto - Piancavallo 185 km

[fbjim]

yeah Bilbao was excellent. I'd have loved to have seen De La Cruz here as well, that turn he did at Meribel was amazing to watch.

 

[Luthor]

Well, if one mentions Pogacar. Roglic and Bernal only one of them has done the Giro (iirc), so that was the only pickable option, wasn't it.

And Roglic doing Giro has no relevance as he was never on Piancavallo in a similar form as TdF, wasn't it?

 

[Eshnar]

And Roglic doing Giro has no relevance as he was never on Piancavallo in a similar form as TdF, wasn't it?

true, then let's resume the discussion whenever one of the aforementioned riders manage to break a Pantani record...

 

[Leinster]

I think 'anyone in the top-15' is a bit of a reference to Bilbao who finished 16th in the Tour being 5th on GC.

Obviously things are a bit more complex than that and at a glance Bilbao's relative climbing level in this Giro is not that much different to the level he showed in the Alps in the Tour.

Plus Bilbao was working for Landa at the Tour.

Plus he lost 2 minutes to the leaders today.

 

[Forever The Best]

yes, him. To me he still looked much worse than at the beginning. Regardless, he still followed wheels the whole time so we'll never know I guess.

He looked the strongest on Glieres and dropped everyone with the little dig he made iirc.

 

[fbjim]

hopes for Tuesday: Fuglsang decides that's as close to an Ardennes classic parcours as he's going to get and goes crazy

 

[Breezy1985]

I'm in awe of that ride from Almeida today, was certain he'd lost the jersey when he got dropped but he put in such a ballsy ride to fight for it, left everything on the road.

I'm really rooting for him now after today. Mostly because the lads on Eurosport would not shut up about him cracking or about to crack for the whole climb but if that had been a UK rider he would be cleverly pacing himself.

I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to listen to much more of Hatch either if Teo keeps going well

 

[Bolder]

If Almeida and Kelderman crack next week -- likely as not given the stage profiles -- there are about 10 riders within 2 minutes of each other, any of whom could very well win. The Stelvio climb alone could produce 4-minute gaps. And that's coming off a front-loaded Stage 17.

Regarding the strength of the field, you can only race against who's there. But I have to think that Thomas would have had this in the bag formerly held by Nibali...

 

[titan31]

I think when you look at it, the guys in 1,3, 4 and 5 are racing as a Dom (Hindley), were a Dom at the start of the race (Hart), were a dom for the Giro back in August(Almeida) or a career Dom (Bilbao). Add in the collapse of pretty much every previous GC contender barring Kelderman (so far) and the withdrawals or Yates, Thomas and Kruijswijk, it's why it looks bad.

The overall depth of the race is even worse than the GC field though (Ben Swift is 25th on GC)

 

[fbjim]

this entire WEAK FIELD stuff is silly when the three strongest riders had issues or abandoned early. of course a field is going to lose strength when multiple favorites abandon!

like imagine Roglic/Jumbo, Pogacar and Ineos abandoning the Tour and suddenly everyone is all "ha ha ha Richie Porte won and Enric Mas on the podium, weak field"

 

[cobblesandstones]

Comments about Almeida this week be like:

1st ITT: "Just good because he started early"
1st Mountaintop: "Already dropped there. Won't last long"
every stage between then and second ITT: "Could lose it today, but will definitely lose it in the ITT or on Sunday."
2nd ITT: "He wen't so deep, will pay tomorrow." (what do you guys think others do it a ITT btw?)
Today: "Told you he'd suck. Look at him. Now he'll pay for going so deep." (Yeah, he was the only one going deep today)
.....
give me a break!??! this is getting ridiculous

 

[will-10]

If TGH loses a spot on the podium by the few seconds he wasted by celebrating 5 seconds early today I suspect he will regret it. What's with all the excessive premature showboating going on this year!?

A first GT stage win and a chance to dedicate a stage to a friend, and get a photo he'll cherish long after he finishes racing? No regrets.

 

[will-10]

If this weird truncated season has taught us anything it's to expect surprises. I do enjoy the "weak field" discussions when faced with an unconventional results sheet though. It's like people forget the top 3 favourites are already at home.

I think the Vuelta top 10 will look even weirder than this one.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

it feels like anyone from top 15 tour would have smashed the giro

Or Remco Evenepoel, who would lead the race in Merckxian fashion of 1968. With a squad of Almeida, Knox, Masnada and Honore.

But to be honest, I don't care if weak field or not. It's still a very entertaining race without any goddamn trains. The stage Sagan won, was alone far more entertaining than any TdF mountain stage in the last years.

Stelvio will make huge gaps, I guess. Last time they did it from the Prato side Ivan Basso cracked. In 1994 Indurain got a hunger flat and Berzin was in deep trouble as well. Not on Stelvio, but later on Mortirolo (Still the best designed mountain stage of all time). In 1980 Jean-René Bernaudeau and Bernard Hinault put four and a half minutes into everyone. Prepare for an epic battle and I think quite a few riders might crack here.

 

[Red Rick]

Or Remco Evenepoel, who would lead the race in Merckxian fashion of 1968. With a squad of Almeida, Knox, Masnada and Honore.

But to be honest, I don't care if weak field or not. It's still a very entertaining race without any goddamn trains. The stage Sagan won, was alone far more entertaining than any TdF mountain stage in the last years.

Stelvio will make huge gaps, I guess. Last time they did it from the Prato side Ivan Basso cracked. In 1994 Indurain got a hunger flat and Berzin was in deep trouble as well. Not on Stelvio, but later on Mortirolo (Still the best designed mountain stage of all time). In 1980 Jean-René Bernaudeau and Bernard Hinault put four and a half minutes into everyone. Prepare for an epic battle and I think quite a few riders might crack here.

Except today was a choo choo that was even stronger than the Tour.

 

[JosefK]

Incoming call: "Hello, Mr. Kelderman? This is The Bag calling . . . we've noticed you haven't yet called for a reservation. -- Just checking on your status."

 

[(F)lexer]

What a great performance by Almeida.

Kelderman's GC situation is amazing, but he really wasn't looking that strong today imo . We've got a very chaotic 3rd week coming up, especially with what's in store on thursday and saturday. Let's hope Nibali, Pozzo, Fuglsang etc. bring it.

 

[Cookster15]

Happy to see young Jay Hindley doing so well, Australia has a new GC contender? Annoying to see all this discussion on here complaining the Giro field is weak. I don't care and the climbing times suggest this is overstated (Edit: Okay, I just read the "other" forum ). And had Thomas stayed on his bike there was still three weeks of opportunity to fall off as he is always prone to do. Wiggins discovered the same.

 

[Leinster]

this entire WEAK FIELD stuff is silly when the three strongest riders had issues or abandoned early. of course a field is going to lose strength when multiple favorites abandon!

like imagine Roglic/Jumbo, Pogacar and Ineos abandoning the Tour and suddenly everyone is all "ha ha ha Richie Porte won and Enric Mas on the podium, weak field"

By a lot of these “Weak Field” definitions, the 2007 Tour was won against a weak field. It had 1 former and 3 future Tour winners. (G finished 140th/141!)

 

[fbjim]

Except today was a choo choo that was even stronger than the Tour.

It's different when it actually does damage, rather than the Tour where it kept everyone together but at a high enough tempo that nobody could attack.

 

[Lequack]

Not sure Kelderman can find 15 seconds on Almeida, there are only shallow finishing climbs left. And the final short ITT should again suit Almeida more.

 

[Forever The Best]

Well when I said that Thomas would have dominated it, they were riding in a not so hard tempo, then ES went to adverts and when it came back the race suddenly exploded. But I think he would have been in Maglia Rosa at the moment.

 

[Red Rick]

Not sure Kelderman can find 15 seconds on Almeida, there are only shallow finishing climbs left. And the final short ITT should again suit Almeida more.

He might actually have to attack

 

[Forever The Best]

He might actually have to attack

In before Hindley carries him all the way over the final week. ( And don't forget Hamilton and Oomen )

 

[Red Rick]

In before Hindley carries him all the way over the final week. ( And don't forget Hamilton and Oomen )

I can't think of anything more underwhelming.