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

[La Pandera]

Euskaltel with back to back Giro wins, having never previously won a stage. 5th and 6th in the GC. Makes up for losing that "last to win a race" competiton to BMC.

Oh and the last km took nieve nearly 6 minutes.

ACF never around when you want to get a good gloat in!

 

[The Hitch]

This is now the most popular stage thread ever

Third most popular race thread ever, behind 2011 cobbled classics

Pretty amazing when you consider that this only had 30 posts this morning whereas the Paris Roubaix thread already had 500 at that point.

Beats both Andrew Schleck tour victories even though there are far more fanboys at the Tour and 50 posts for every sighting of Armstrong.

Shows just how good this stage was.

Hopefully Colle delle Finestre can challenge it.

 

[will10]

Contador never even tried to lose Rujano, because he wasn't a threat for him...

You're right, that would explain why Contador attacked Rujano twice at the top of Etna.
Fail.

 

[Delicato]

Third most popular race thread ever.

And the first two are ...? Mortirolo-2010 and the chaingate?

 

[The Hitch]

And the first two are ...? Mortirolo-2010 and the chaingate?

Nah.

PR and RVV this year but both had a week before the race to get going and massive build up, so hundreds of posts before the race started. This one only got started the day before yesterday and was overshadowed by other stages hence only had about 30 posts this morning.

I think if you just look at comments made in the hours of the race this would be top or at least very very close.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

You're right, that would explain why Contador attacked Rujano twice at the top of Etna.
Fail.

I think Contador wanted that stage win pretty badly.

 

[ulrikmm]

For me, todays stage confirmed that the Giro is by far the most interesting GT. In the Giro, mountain stages can be conjured up everywhere, and the terrain is far more rough than in TdF.

The racing today was extremely brave and spectacular by a lot of the GC leaders today. A real treat to watch.

 

[Scirea]

Seems like lot of love in the air for Rujano.

 

[Bala Verde]

becoming a fan of team gadret!

Brilliant race by all today! Awesome!

ag 1 r


.....................

 

[Mellow Velo]

This is now the most popular stage thread ever

Third most popular race thread ever, behind 2011 cobbled classics

Pretty amazing when you consider that this only had 30 posts this morning whereas the Paris Roubaix thread already had 500 at that point.

Beats both Andrew Schleck tour victories even though there are far more fanboys at the Tour and 50 posts for every sighting of Armstrong.

Shows just how good this stage was.

Hopefully Colle delle Finestre can challenge it.

It helps when the stage lasts 448 minutes!
1500th post?
I'm still feeling the awe, it has to be said.

 

[Bala Verde]

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?

i thought it was this one:

http://cyclingtorrents.nl/login.php?returnto=/

 

[Squire]

This is now the most popular stage thread ever

Hopefully Colle delle Finestre can challenge it.

I don't think stage 20 has enough climbs to challenge this one. Already before Giau we had lots of breakaway/KoM talk, Garzelli's solo and Contador's little dig. The descent racked up plenty of Nibali posts, before we got another load of Nibali posts coupled with praising of the scenerey when he cracked on Fedaia. Rujano/Nibali descending from Fedaia merited a few posts, before the thread went into complete meltdown when everything happened on the last climb. Stage 20 only has two climbs and one descent, and will not last for 8 hours.

Finestre can only challenge this thread if it gets an introduction ala Crostis/Zoncolan.

 

[lancaster]

This is now the most popular stage thread ever

Third most popular race thread ever, behind 2011 cobbled classics

Pretty amazing when you consider that this only had 30 posts this morning whereas the Paris Roubaix thread already had 500 at that point.

Beats both Andrew Schleck tour victories even though there are far more fanboys at the Tour and 50 posts for every sighting of Armstrong.

Shows just how good this stage was.

Hopefully Colle delle Finestre can challenge it.

do you mean LA wasn't here? i thought he might've just been a little bit behind.

 

[El Pistolero]

do you mean LA wasn't here? i thought he might've just been a little bit behind.

See my sig

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

What a race! There's no way I could consider posting during the race, as it felt like I couldn't dare take my eyes from the screen even for a few seconds for fear of missing a key piece of the action.

 

[jens_attacks]

one of the best stages i've ever seen(right now i think it's the best).that's why i love staying hour after hour watching these amazing athletes fighting the pain.
that's not better reward than this one.
absolutely fuccin epic.
seeing alberto and rujano attacking on giau with 50 to go,i was stunned,moment of the day for me.near heart attack moment.and then nibali....wow.
incredible stage.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

What a race! There's no way I could consider posting during the race, as it felt like I couldn't dare take my eyes from the screen even for a few seconds for fear of missing a key piece of the action.

Double monitors, my friend.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

When Contador says it's his toughest day on a bike, you know there's been a serious race that day.

Absolutely epic. When the contenders start fighting 50k and two hours or so away from the finish line, it's going to be spectacular.

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

Doh! Damn, outgunned in the technological arms race again!


I had to leave for about 15 minutes just after the descent of the Giau. I was so inspired I passed about 10 people on blind corners during a 700m descent, shaving seconds to get back to my place. Oh yeah - I was in a car

 

[lancaster]

i'm no champion on a bike, but if i average 30km/h in a decent length ride i'm pleased, safe to say it's never happened with mountains in it.

 

[lancaster]

See my sig

prompted by you sig

 

[icefire]

When Contador says it's his toughest day on a bike, you know there's been a serious race that day.

Absolutely epic. When the contenders start fighting 50k and two hours or so away from the finish line, it's going to be spectacular.

AC was even talking about setting limits in stage length and climbing. Doesn't he know they already exist?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

one of the best stages i've ever seen(right now i think it's the best).that's why i love staying hour after hour watching these amazing athletes fighting the pain.
that's not better reward than this one.
absolutely fuccin epic.
seeing alberto and rujano attacking on giau with 50 to go,i was stunned,moment of the day for me.near heart attack moment.and then nibali....wow.
incredible stage.

There was some serious mano-a-mano stuff going on today. I don't think Mikel Nieve has ever ridden an ITT as long as he spent riding solo today, first chasing after Garzelli, then dropping him and leaving him behind. A lot of love for the members of the breakaway who attacked and split it on Giau - Garzelli, Nieve, Seeldraeyers, Bakelandts, Sella and di Luca all rode more than 60km either solo or in groups of two. I may be forgetting a couple of these brave warriors too (there was a group of a few a bit further back with Tschopp and Deignan in it but we didn't see much of them and they were at least together for all of the bits we saw of them). From the point where GARZELLI had 58-59km to go (so probably about 65km, maybe even more for the GC men), domestiques were a luxury after Rodríguez and Arroyo started hostilities. The GC men showed us why they are the GC men today, having to fend for themselves and mark one another for more than 60km. This is surely Mikel Nieve's defining moment. The three-man TTT that helped him across to the break to win on Cotobello was brilliant, sure, but today he was in the break from the start, and he handled the end of Giau, the whole of Fedaia, the descent and the Val di Fassa climb all on his own, riding solo for almost all of it (only a short period of the descent of Giau was Bakelandts with him) before catching and dropping (and eventually putting a minute and a half into) a (admittedly ageing) GT winner.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Nieve was so magnificent today. He fought like a warrior. His attack on Garzelli was sheer power of will. You could see him going through absolute pain in the last 2k. Beautiful stage. Absolutely sublime.

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

Ya, talk about leaving it all on the race course. That's two stages in a row where it looked like the winner was going to cross the line at a 45 degree angle...

Si many awe-inspiring rides today, everyone really. For a guy who got almost no time on camera, Scarponi was massive. (unless I just failed to mark him because I'm not used to him in red)

When the race fragments like that, some low-flying helicopter sweeps up the course would sure be useful. Once that breakaway group stated to fragment, there were guys up front that we didn't see for the whole race!