Giro d'Italia Stage 21: Verona - Verona (ITT) 15km

[powderpuff]

Thanks Moondance for all the threads.

Damn good race and Basso thoroughly deserved his victory.

Cadel, 1st in Points, 1 stage win, 3 seconds, winner Azzuri Italia, 3rd in KOM and a day in Pink; far from a terrible result. You do what you can do, with what you have and if that's not good enough, so be it.

At least BMC were not the wooden spooners in the Team result.

Time to catch up on sleep before July; that race may be a little harder to stay awake for.

 

[Ashtabula]

I didnt know Larson was riding this year, he came from nowhere.

Obviously he's a great tester and just saved himself for this stage i suppose.

He did a fair amount of support riding for Porte, pace-setting and blocking the wind. He was shepherding Porte across the line the last day Nibali was in Pink just ahead of Nibali.

One thing Larsson does very well is bike handling on a TT bike, and it really showed today. I watched a recording of the World's while riding my trainer this winter, and got very familiar with that race. When Larsson was riding close to Cancellara, himself a great bike handler, he would always gain in the corners, sometimes by a lot.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I had house guests turn up 45 minutes from the end.

Top 5 within 3 and a half minutes is incredible, given 4 of them conceded a 13 minutes to the break.
What a wonderful finishing setting. Italy is unsurpassable, as is it's showcase race.
Il Grande, Grande Giro!


A lot of folks will be experiencing the Monday morning blues, big time.
I am now so sad.

 

[markene2]

Thanks Moondance, forgot to say it before. Your work at the Giro have been extremly good. I am glad that you dont waste your energy on the tdf, its going to be **** compared to the Giro.

 

[DamonAlbarn]

The Saxo's take on todays stage:

(from their official page)

”Gustav (Larsson) is a former mountain biker and he was absolutely fearless on the tricky descent and secured him the stage win on the last part of the course. He is technically superior and combined with his impressive power, he practically tossed his bike around the corners and was finally an obvious winner of the stage. Richie (Porte) did a solid time trial and maintained a magnificent position in the overall classification. We are more than happy about his performance but we may all need a few days to realize his achievements in the race. The Giro being his first grand tour, every day is a learning process and who knows how far he can get in the future,” asks sports director Dan Frost rhetorically.

Team Saxo Bank's Gustav Larsson won the closing stage of the Giro d'Italia and naturally, he was pleased with the result:

”It is my first victory this year and it so cool to be standing on the top step of the podium after the final stage of a Giro where everyone on the team has contributed to our general success throughout the past three weeks. It was undoubtedly a technically difficult descent but I was second best in the intermediate on the top of the climb halfway which surely indicates that I did not win the stage based on technical abilities but on raw power as well,” states stage winner, Gustav Larsson.

 

[BroDeal]

Pinotti lost the stage in the last couple of kilometers. He took the corners way too slow. The people should have been screaming at him on the radio.

 

[ingsve]

Pinotti lost the stage in the last couple of kilometers. He took the corners way too slow. The people should have been screaming at him on the radio.

At the same time Pinotti had his overall position to think about as well so he couldn't risk crashing either.

 

[Ferminal]

It's over

Simoni - what a champ! Carried himself superbly all race.

Not much more to say, great Giro etc etc. I think it's all been said and no doubt will be said again, especially through a painful July.

(I can't resist the chance to "do a hog").

G. E. Larsson is a good bet at 25/1

Thanks for your advice Ferminal.