Giro d'Italia Stage 2: Amsterdam-Utrecht (209km)

[Four Winds]

There was quite a bit of carnage out there today and a lot of furniture not marshalled by the wee men with flags. There was also a 90 degree turn near the end where the road narrowed by about two thirds and the guys at the back were literally standing still on the pedals for ages waiting to get going again.

Good job some of the "older legs" are not in the Giro or we could be on for another riders protest!

 

[issoisso]

Just saw the finish. Great work by Dean, and to those who said Farrar wasn't really that fast, you might want to watch that again, his burst when he came off Dean's wheel looked pretty fast to me.

The funny part is that when I said that about Farrar you replied with "I agree about Farrar"

 

[theswordsman]

There was quite a bit of carnage out there today and a lot of furniture not marshalled by the wee men with flags. There was also a 90 degree turn near the end where the road narrowed by about two thirds and the guys at the back were literally standing still on the pedals for ages waiting to get going again.

Good job some of the "older legs" are not in the Giro or we could be on for another riders protest!

It was a brutal day out there. The one guy who went over the rail when the road narrowed, and it looked like another rider had to help keep him from rolling down into the canal. I only had Italian commentary and didn't follow text, so I wrote off Farrar after seeing him sat on the median in pain. Well done to him and his team for getting him back and in position to win.

There's more volcano ash talk about problems getting back to Italy. I read that if they end up having to go by bus (coach), the race would make sure all the teams travel on similar ones to keep things fair. The "older legs" you mentioned would never accept that, either.

 

[Barrus]

There was quite a bit of carnage out there today and a lot of furniture not marshalled by the wee men with flags.

If you wanted to put wee men with flag at every piece of furniture during a 200 km ride in the Netherlands all of the spectators who were there in Utrecht would've been needed to wave flags

 

[theyoungest]

If you wanted to put wee men with flag at every piece of furniture during a 200 km ride in the Netherlands all of the spectators who were there in Utrecht would've been needed to wave flags

IMO, the decisive crashes were caused by insane rider behavior, not road furniture (which wasn't anywhere to be seen for large stretches in the final). At one point, half of the Lampre team was lying in a ditch, beside wide open road.

 

[Barrus]

IMO, the decisive crashes were caused by insane rider behavior, not road furniture (which wasn't anywhere to be seen for large stretches in the final). At one point, half of the Lampre team was lying in a ditch, beside wide open road.

I agree, and stated so earlier in this topic. The two large crashes happened without any furniture in sight

 

[Anonymous]

The funny part is that when I said that about Farrar you replied with "I agree about Farrar"

I agreed, but only because of herd mentality...okay, I agreed....<hides face in shame>

 

[Francois the Postman]

If you wanted to put wee men with flag at every piece of furniture during a 200 km ride in the Netherlands all of the spectators who were there in Utrecht would've been needed to wave flags

Or the van to drop them off was given a CN route map to the stage.

There was an interview on Dutch radio with one of the Dutch officials who claimed they had been out with the Giro staff along the entire route, drawing attention to road lay out that they weren't sure about, but the Giro folk who were happy with what was already put in place and waived further alterations. Putting people with flags in front of some of the thinner obstacles was even deemed more dangerous than those obstacles themselves. Saying that, I'm not sure if they had taken into account that large crowds really obscure some of the otherwise clear views of what what lies just around the corner.

But I think it mostly has been a combo of a very nervous "proper" first stage peloton and a good whack of riders totally inexperienced with the peculiar "natural" flow of Dutch roads. Confronted with endless obstacles, it just increased general nervousness of the already spooked, caused a crash, which in turn contributed to more nervous crashes even in places where there wasn't any furniture in sight.

Italian roads are nothing like Dutch roads. Fly a lot of "inexperienced" riders in, and this is a predictable result.

 

[auscyclefan94]

The team wearing the leaders jersey is expected to help the sprinters teams in the chase, it's always like that. Just look at Sky today, they weren't riding for Henderson.
If BMC doesn't help tomorrow they shouldn't expect any help themselves in the rest of the race. It's 'disrespectful' towards the pink jersey and the Giro.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!


Evans is back in Pink. Must change avatar!


Sastre has some time to make already. Shame about Kohler!

BMC had a few crashes unfortunately! I look forward to seeing that great sight of evans in Pink at Verona!

It must of been pretty Dangerous. Many crashes and supposedly kohler's crash was caused by photographers.

 

[The Sheep]

are you secretly a german ACF?

 

[issoisso]

The team wearing the leaders jersey is expected to help the sprinters teams in the chase, it's always like that. Just look at Sky today, they weren't riding for Henderson.
If BMC doesn't help tomorrow they shouldn't expect any help themselves in the rest of the race. It's 'disrespectful' towards the pink jersey and the Giro.

Yes, they're expected, but it's not disrespectful at all. It's race tactics. It's what they should do, and no one will blame them for it. Happens every year in quite a large % of GTs.

Do you actually think the other teams are going to be mad at BMC for not chasing down their riders?

 

[Ferminal]

Its a Catch 22 situation. BMC are "obliged" to keep any break at a respectable distance, so as the sprinter teams have the option to take up the chase in the final kms.
If BMC don't pull the peloton from the formation of the break, no one sprinter team will accept the role.
They key in managing the break is making sure that its the right break that goes away.
Providing BMC do their expected job, they will be relieved, in the final 40kms.
Besides, Evans will want to display his new colour scheme.

Otherwise, we could have an Oscar Pereiro scenario.

Maybe... This is Phonak after all

Amazing stage, bizarre!

Nice early sprint by CJ trying to exploit the 90 degree bend with only 300m to go. Ultimately Farrar had the perfect sit though, and finished the job.

Bad luck Cuddles

 

[craig1985]

So what actually caused all the crashes, the road furniture and/or guys not paying attention?

 

[auscyclefan94]

are you secretly a german ACF?

No, but i speak the language fluently. BMC have a rest day after today so they won't be too tired. Unfortunately Schar, bookwalter and schar fell over but none are serious and all will start!

 

[Jamsque]

So what actually caused all the crashes, the road furniture and/or guys not paying attention?

The first few were caused by road furniture, and the last few (which made the big spilts) were just moments of inattention from someone in the pack. The pace was pretty high, the roads were narrow, and I can imagine the riders would have been a little skittish and nervous after the earlier falls, so it's understandable.

 

[craig1985]

Ich hoffe, Cadel kann bis ins Ziel in einem Stück erhalten, ohne einen Absturz oder Pech, und er hält seine rosa Trikot bis zum TTT.

?

 

[auscyclefan94]

1. Farrar
2. Anyone but Henderson
3. Anyone but Henderson
4. Anyone but Henderson
5. Anyone but Henderson

Right, but why do you hate him so much?

I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to avoid this place for a bit because ACF is going to go nuts that Cuddles is in pink for a day (I can't imagine BMC wants to try and defend, but I could be wrong).

I am staying calm and collected!

Will this increase ACF's posting tomorrow by at least a factor of two?

No, I don't have much time with work and uni.

It will just be the village idiot singing a little louder than normal.
TBH I can't imagine he's really happy with this.

I am feeling happy but not estatic. They lost kohler and I would trade pink for having kohler back as he is reasonable in a short tt.

The team wearing the leaders jersey is expected to help the sprinters teams in the chase, it's always like that. Just look at Sky today, they weren't riding for Henderson.
If BMC doesn't help tomorrow they shouldn't expect any help themselves in the rest of the race. It's 'disrespectful' towards the pink jersey and the Giro.

Your rational thinking is being over done by your hate for evans

 

[auscyclefan94]

Ich hoffe, Cadel kann bis ins Ziel in einem Stück erhalten, ohne einen Absturz oder Pech, und er hält seine rosa Trikot bis zum TTT.

?

Ich auch und sein team!

Absolutely furious that NOTHING about evans on the news when yesterday when he got third he got on the news. We get EPl, AFl and cricket. BORING!

 

[Spare Tyre]

Absolutely furious that NOTHING about evans on the news when yesterday when he got third he got on the news. We get EPl, AFl and cricket. BORING!

In today's "Age":
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cycl...rrar-wins-in-tour-of-italy-20100510-um32.html

 

[hughmoore]

It was on Sky News this morning and on ABC Adelaide tonight.

 

[Animal]

I hope Cadel has some better help in this Giro than he did when he lost that epic stage.

I remember watching it. He was turning green, and he had Andrea Noe (I think it was him) setting an absolutely infernal pace. In my opinion, Noe was riding to crack Evans, being that Evans is not Italian.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Your rational thinking is being over done by your hate for evans

Again, I don't hate Evans, I just don't care for him. Is that really so hard to understand for you?

 

[schadenfreude]

some pics from the start.

 

[cyclopeon]

... We get EPl, AFl and ...

Are those new kinds of dope?

 

[thehog]

Classic write up on EuroSport website:

Riddled with as many crashes as last year's international stock markets, stage two of the Giro required more bandages than an Egyptian mummy conference.
New pink jersey Cadel Evans labelled it "one of the most ridiculously dangerous stages I've seen in my career", and said he won the maglia rosa "for best crash avoidance".

With bodies strewn along the verges as if they were victims of a bloody battle, this was more like a Ridley Scott-Russell Crowe film version of the Giro. At one point, the pile of riders was so dense that their bikes were welded together.

The thing is, if you have overly thin roads with unmarked traffic furniture either side (or in the middle) at regular intervals while 200 riders are all vying to get to the front in a vain bid to keep out of trouble, then you're going to get a fair load of high-speed spills.

Presumably this is why there is no Tour of the Netherlands - no one would finish the race. As Eyebrows Evans said, these Dutch stages are basically in the Classics mould and can cause utter carnage when tackled by a nervous Grand Tour field. And we've got it all to look forward to again in July for the Tour.