Giro d'Italia Stage 15: Conegliano - Gardeccia-Val di Fassa 229km

[will10]

Everyone who finishes this stage is a hero.

 

[LukeSchmid]

137 Richie Porte 39:59

Did alot of work for Contador early in the stage and then just rode to get to the finish I guess. Pretty knocked about from his crash apparently.

 

[DenisMenchov]

166 in.... Looks like everybody who is still racing will make it.

 

[Ferminal]

Did alot of work for Contador early in the stage and then just rode to get to the finish I guess. Pretty knocked about from his crash apparently.

He was with him right until the attacks on Giau, good ride.

 

[superconfex]

I think in my OP presentation i under-hyped the stage.

Come on Hitch you know you got it spot on.....do your flies up son

 

[GoAndyGo]

166 in now. That may be all of them. I am not sure of an actual start number. 169?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Hmm, Garzelli should be able to hold on from there.

Contador only has the ITT, Finestre and Sestriere to contend.

It will be close, I guess, depends how hard Saxo want to work for it.

But if Contador wins all of those, he will pick up 39 points. And I think we wouldn't be unreasonable in suggesting that he may well pick up all 39.

Garzelli would therefore need 16 points to consider himself safe. There's 14 available in stage 17, 9 in stage 18 and 20 in stage 19.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Garzelli go in the break in either stage 17 for the points on Tonale and Aprica, or stage 19 for the points over Mottarone (Macugnaga will likely be irrelevant as I expect a breakaway to take the points there rather than the Contador show, with Finestre the following day). If he can secure it without needing any points from the ITT (he's going to be absolutely shattered today) or Finestre/Sestrières then he'll want to do it that way.

 

[whittashau]

Been sick for 10 days already.

Bronchitis i've heard. I'm surprised he hasnt pulled out to save himself for the tour because Basso is going to need him there.

 

[LukeSchmid]

He was with him right until the attacks on Giau, good ride.

Yes, there was probably only about 40-50 left when Contador went for it near the top and blew things totally to bits.

 

[maltiv]

Kristoff made it, impressive. Not many other sprinters left.

 

[Ryaguas]

Don't worry guys, Contador struggles with endurance, on the long hard stages..............

Hahahaha...

Was that Gadret finishing in front of the second best climber in the world, Rujano?

Did you see how Rujano was drilling it in Fedaia?? and Still finishing 6th and making his way in the top 10?

Ya, and he appeared beatable...

Huh? Did you see the stage???
Contador Killed it... I never saw him in troubles... I was afraid that He could bonk big time cuz He didnt eat but You saw what He did today...

Massive respects for Nieve... Grande Euskaltel! Zoroniak! Back to back!! Marca forum is full of joy
Respect for Lo Squalo... He went FTW today taking big risks and taking advantages of his skills but Contador is just in another league...
Also what a ride from Alberto... uffff... Attacking before Cima Coppi and putting pressure in the others... Nice Rujano that followed him He was great today...
I think that Alberto was not happy on the podium cuz He wanted the stage...

Just WOW... WOW WOW WOW... Nice nice nice... just EPIC this stage... Crostis what?? =D

 

[Frosty]

I really doubt Kristoff is going to make it.

Cardoso and Rabon abandoned today as well as Lancaster and Oroz.

Kristoff came home in 163rd, 43.09 down.

 

[will10]

I think that's probably everyone in who is still riding.

What's up with Spilak this Giro?

 

[Frosty]

Russell Downing made it through. Well done to him.

EDIT: Rasmussen made it too.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

so how is the top 20 gc

Gazzetta is listing the GC only after everyone is in. Which isn't that cool as they could do that differently with a bit more programming I guess. But anyways the do list it.
And like everyone else here you could just go to the Gazzetta page and look it up. It ain't hard and not much work. And the link has been posted about fourhundretzillion times by now.

 

[Ferminal]

But if Contador wins all of those, he will pick up 39 points. And I think we wouldn't be unreasonable in suggesting that he may well pick up all 39.

Garzelli would therefore need 16 points to consider himself safe. There's 14 available in stage 17, 9 in stage 18 and 20 in stage 19.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Garzelli go in the break in either stage 17 for the points on Tonale and Aprica, or stage 19 for the points over Mottarone (Macugnaga will likely be irrelevant as I expect a breakaway to take the points there rather than the Contador show, with Finestre the following day). If he can secure it without needing any points from the ITT (he's going to be absolutely shattered today) or Finestre/Sestrières then he'll want to do it that way.

Yes, Garzelli definitely needs to get in the breaks before Stage 20.

If Contador only needs 15-20 points come Finestre-Sestriere it will probably be a big enough carrot for him to go for it.

 

[LukeSchmid]

Kristoff came home in 163rd, 43.09 down.

Made it comfortable. Downing and Farrari the other sprinters made it easily as well.

 

[jaylew]

what an epic stage!!! Best one this giro.

Amazing stage though, a true queen stage, best one we've had since Mortirolo last year at least.

Awesome stage. Simply awesome.

I'm exhausted. That was a glorious stage.

best day of racing for the year anyway.

I didn't really get as much out of the stage because I was babysitting and couldn't relax and watch. I'd see 5-10 minutes, then miss 5-10 minutes. I wasn't able to watch uninterrupted until the final climb was underway so I could never really get a sense of how the race was unfolding.

Judging from the responses, I'm going to have to find a full replay of it somewhere. What's that site I see people post here sometimes where you can download full stages?

 

[Frosty]

Made it comfortable. Downing and Farrari the other sprinters made it easily as well.

Yes, the break pulled out a lot of time at first so maybe the main group was going slow enough for them all to stay with it until the climb of the Giau started properly. Still a lot of tough climbing from then though.

 

[KassyC]

So is that everyone in now?

 

[theswordsman]

Fabulous stage. Lots of great battles & individual efforts. It might be my eyes, but I checked the official stage listing and only counted seven Saxo riders. Hernandez and Navarro were only twenty minutes back, but a couple of guys were in 40 minute territory.

 

[DenisMenchov]

GC

Pos Nome Naz Team Tempo Dist
1 CONTADOR Alberto ESP SBS 62:14:42 0:00
2 SCARPONI Michele ITA LAM 62:19:02 4:20
3 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA LIQ 62:19:53 5:11
4 GADRET John FRA ALM 62:20:50 6:08
5 NIEVE ITURALDE Mikel ESP EUS 62:21:45 7:03
6 RUJANO GUILLEN Jose' VEN AND 62:23:21 8:39
7 MENCHOV Denis RUS GEO 62:23:28 8:46
8 KREUZIGER Roman CZE AST 62:23:40 8:58
9 RODRIGUEZ Joaquin ESP KAT 62:24:02 9:20
10 ARROYO DURAN David ESP MOV 62:24:12 9:30

 

[screaming fist]

Fabulous stage. Lots of great battles & individual efforts. It might be my eyes, but I checked the official stage listing and only counted seven Saxo riders. Hernandez and Navarro were only twenty minutes back, but a couple of guys were in 40 minute territory.

all nine are in

 

[whittashau]

How technical is the Finestre descent? And is it long enough for Nibbles to perhaps get a decent headstart on Scarponi?

 

[El Pistolero]

Awesome awesome..

Oh and Contador looked fine at the finish again. I'm sure he just took it easy again. Savign energy for the TdF...

And again awesome awesome. What an epic stage... The attacks didn't start on the last climb... No, it all started on the climb when there will still 2 climbs to go! omg...

Contador has been the only one who has been consistent at all mountain stages this Giro.

Every climber who finished close to him in a mountain stage has cracked the other day so far.