Giro d'Italia Stage 3: Amsterdam-Middelburg (209km)

[Anonymous]

Why aren't you counting?

I lost count at 1, i failed maths in school..

 

[Ferminal]

I lost count at 1, i failed maths in school..

Don't be sad, no one ever said you needed maths to tweet!

 

[python]

This is where you are wrong, no matter how good you are at dodging falls there is only 1 safe place and that is leading the front group. Any other position and all it takes is the guy in front of you to fall and thats it.

Evans by the looks of things didn't even fall yet still lost 47 seconds, being held up by people falling in front was enough to split him from the main group, even Vino the doper can't ride over the top of 10 bikes laying on the road.

this phrase alone tells all we need to know about your attitude and bike racing knowledge.

 

[Anonymous]

here is a bit more nostalgic grand tour stupid routing for you all

took me an age to get this up..

 

[Andy99]

Adam Blythe 5th.

AWESOME

 

[theyoungest]

This is where you are wrong, no matter how good you are at dodging falls there is only 1 safe place and that is leading the front group. Any other position and all it takes is the guy in front of you to fall and thats it.

Evans by the looks of things didn't even fall yet still lost 47 seconds, being held up by people falling in front was enough to split him from the main group, even Vino the doper can't ride over the top of 10 bikes laying on the road.

I'm not going to disagree with you, I've defended Gesink quite a few times for the exact same reason (you can't help it if the rider in front of you crashes) but Vino really looked majestic today. Never in trouble, always under control.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Oh I remember that... we in holland all had our hopes on Boogerd that tour, who finished 5th in '98. And there we lost our hope Passage du Gois... lol

 

[powderpuff]

Brownie finally gets something for Rabo. Sprint jersey leader.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh I remember that... we in holland all had our hopes on Boogerd that tour, who finished 5th in '98. And there we lost our hope Passage du Gois... lol

the tour goes back there next year.. book your hotel now..

 

[Hugo Koblet]

This is where you are wrong, no matter how good you are at dodging falls there is only 1 safe place and that is leading the front group. Any other position and all it takes is the guy in front of you to fall and thats it.

Evans by the looks of things didn't even fall yet still lost 47 seconds, being held up by people falling in front was enough to split him from the main group, even Vino the doper can't ride over the top of 10 bikes laying on the road.

This is why I said that Vino did well to dodge crashes. He was among the front 10 all day long. Evans and others were up there too, but not as consequently as Vino. Sure, there's an element of (bad) luck involved too.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I think that today was just a taster of what Cadel can expect in the mountains.
BMC had 7 men out the back at the first injection of pace. BMC will have 7 men out the back, every time the pace goes up in the mountains.
After all, haven't many of us been saying it all along?

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

With regards to Sky, one bad crash with the whole team is bad luck. A 2nd a day later is just unprofessional. They looked like they were too keen going into that bend and overshot it. Not good enough really.

I'm going with a combination of a stupid route and equally stupid riders. The route is the same for all the riders so, given Sky have been involved in 3 major crashes now you have to question the bike handling ability of the riders and their preparation.

 

[theyoungest]

I think that today was just a taster of what Cadel can expect in the mountains.
BMC had 7 men out the back at the first injection of pace. BMC will have 7 men out the back, every time the pace goes up in the mountains.
After all, haven't many of us been saying it all along?

Menchov won the Giro last year with a supposedly weak team, but really, when you look at it, it wasn't half as bad as this bunch of continentals.

 

[Bernardus]

Menchov won the Giro last year with a supposedly weak team, but really, when you look at it, it wasn't half as bad as this bunch of continentals.

I agree Rabo wasn't the strongest team in last year's Giro, but that doesn't make it a "weak team".

 

[Jan the Man]

Avoiding crashes has a large element of luck together with a large element of skill. Some crashes happen and it means even the best bike handlers etc bmxers like McEwen will get caught.

The skill comes in minimising the possibility of crashes by being in the right position/insitinctively knowing when to move up in the peloton etc.

For what it's worth, I don't think Evans and Wiggins could do much more today, they simply unlucky.

 

[Sydney Sider]

Vino looked at ease all day but what a ride by Richie Porte , showed maturity beyond his years (prob a fair bit of luck involved aswell)

 

[Jan the Man]

Rabo weren't the strongest, but they had riders like Ten Dam who is a good workhorse for the mountains; who have BMC of the same caliber, maybe Santambrogio? But he hasn't ridden much over the past months.

 

[Jamsque]

With regards to crashes, Sky and BMC did pretty damn well compared to Caisse D'Epargne.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

They have every right to whine, the final was ridiculous. Although maybe Evans could have done with a slightly better team... what with his entire team finishing in the last group.

yup. but that is cycling. sometimes in can work in your favor (stage 2) and sometimes not.

But yes, BMC are already showing lots of signs of weaknesses. Yesterday sastre didn't have to pull himself, he had his team. Today Evans was isolated. He should have guys around him always, so if things like this happen, they work their a$ses off for him.

Rabo weren't the strongest, but they had riders like Ten Dam who is a good workhorse for the mountains; who have BMC of the same caliber, maybe Santambrogio? But he hasn't ridden much over the past months.

LTD was very very good for menchov at last years giro. Very good rider when in form.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

1 VINOKOUROV Alexandre KAZ AST 10:07:18 0:00
2 PORTE Richie AUS SAX 10:07:18 0:00
3 MILLAR David GBR GRM 10:07:19 0:01
4 NIBALI Vincenzo ITA LIQ 10:07:23 0:05
5 SIEBERG Marcel GER THR 10:07:25 0:07
6 GOSS Matthew Harley AUS THR 10:07:28 0:10
7 GREIPEL Andre GER THR 10:07:28 0:10
8 GERDEMANN Linus GER MRM 10:07:30 0:12
9 GARZELLI Stefano ITA ASA 10:07:33 0:15
10 WEENING Pieter NED RAB 10:07:34 0:16
11 SCARPONI Michele ITA AND 10:07:34 0:16
12 KARPETS Vladimir RUS KAT 10:07:35 0:17
13 COOKE Baden AUS SAX 10:07:36 0:18
14 BASSO Ivan ITA LIQ 10:07:36 0:18
15 FORSTER Robert GER MRM 10:07:39 0:21
16 WEYLANDT Wouter BEL QST 10:07:39 0:21
17 ROHREGGER Thomas AUT MRM 10:07:42 0:24
18 AGNOLI Valerio ITA LIQ 10:07:43 0:25
19 TIRALONGO Paolo ITA AST 10:07:44 0:26
20 DIDIER Laurent LUX SAX 10:07:46 0:28

24 EVANS Cadel AUS BMC 10:08:01 0:43
38 ARROYO DURAN David ESP GCE 10:08:45 1:27
43 SASTRE CANDIL Carlos ESP CTT 10:08:58 1:40
44 MOLLEMA Bauke NED RAB 10:08:59 1:41
50 CUNEGO Damiano ITA LAM 10:09:25 2:07
55 WIGGINS Bradley GBR SKY 10:11:46 4:28
135 SIMONI Gilberto ITA LAM 10:16:42 9:24
145 POZZOVIVO Domenico ITA COG 10:16:48 9:30
160 SERPA PEREZ Jose Rodolfo COL AND 10:17:07 9:49
189 URAN URAN Rigoberto COL GCE 10:23:20 16:02

Oh dear Colombians

 

[theyoungest]

Weening sneaks his way into the top-10. I'd given him a better chance to do well in the Giro than Mollema, and the plan is working to perfection, so far.

 

[jens_attacks]

great job mr. Vino!
so happy for him.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Weening sneaks his way into the top-10. I'd given him a better chance to do well in the Giro than Mollema, and the plan is working to perfection, so far.

Hmm, but Weening on these steep Giro mountains with his insane 53x11 climbing style? He'll drop like a fly.

 

[ludwig]

1 VINOKOUROV Alexandre KAZ

55 WIGGINS Bradley GBR SKY 10:11:46 4:28
135 SIMONI Gilberto ITA LAM 10:16:42 9:24
145 POZZOVIVO Domenico ITA COG 10:16:48 9:30
160 SERPA PEREZ Jose Rodolfo COL AND 10:17:07 9:49
189 URAN URAN Rigoberto COL GCE 10:23:20 16:02

So much for any of these guys being GC contenders.

Sastre's already lost real time too.

 

[Jamsque]

Well, Wiggins is well and truly out of the running now, as too is Cunego almost certainly. Evans is still very much in touch, but will have work to do in the third week, especially if he loses any more time to Vino and/or Nibali/Basso in the TTT. I wouldn't put it past Sastre to pull back his time gap in week 3 either.