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

[Goldberger]

Vandevelde must be so bitter right now, that guy has some serious bad luck

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

It's funny how this team of misfits has gelled over the early part of this season:

Not appearing in this picture: Team RadioShack

 

[jonjungel]

Looking at the young rider classification... There are many names I don't know, but it seems to be a battle between Porte and Mollema. Maybe Rodriguez at 5'. The rest are too far back, I think. Any thoughts on the relative strength of these three?

 

[red_flanders]

Yep. Never seen so many crashes.

Missed most of the stage in the commute. Saw the finale and that's it.

 

[Cobblestones]

I like the GC with Vino in front, then Evans then Sastre. Vino might have peaked a little bit too early in the season to be top notch in week 3. So he'd have to hang in there. Evans is looking solidly, but has to ride Vino off his wheel at some point. That's going to be interesting. Sastre, who I think might be the strongest of the three in the mountains is furthest behind. It'll be fun to see him to try to claw back. Then you have Basso and Nibali sprinkled in there. I'm still not sure what they're capable of. At the least they're holding a great position right now. Hopefully there's some Leakygas fireworks at one point.

I think it's a wonderful setup for the next few weeks. I'm excited. Could hardly be better. Ah and Wigans is pretty much out of the race so all the (undeserved IMHO) hype should stop now.

 

[python]

It's funny how this team of misfits has gelled over the early part of this season:

note that there were 3 astana riders in the 1st group. only columbia had more.

vino is looked after very well.

 

[D Avoid]

It's funny how this team of misfits has gelled over the early part of this season:

Pastana have put the spicy sauce into the Giro, More punk(add S as Esquired) per Kilometre than any other (S)team, salt has been added for those lacking in good taste etiquette.

 

[theyoungest]

Looking at the young rider classification... There are many names I don't know, but it seems to be a battle between Porte and Mollema. Maybe Rodriguez at 5'. The rest are too far back, I think. Any thoughts on the relative strength of these three?

It's hard to say, really. The main thing in a GT is consistency, and both Porte and Mollema have yet to show that they can be up there every day. If you have a bad day on, say, the Zoncolan, you could lose 15 minutes and say goodbye to the white jersey.

 

[Barrus]

note that there were 3 astana riders in the 1st group. only columbia had more.

vino is looked after very well.

Liquigas had either 4 or 5

Edit: at the end they had 3, Vanotti was between them and the second group, probably by the fall of Modolo

 

[Publicus]

Pastana have put the spicy sauce into the Giro, More punk(add S as Esquired) per Kilometre than any other (S)team, salt has been added for those lacking in good taste etiquette.

I see you just went ahead and jumped into the vat of haterade today.

 

[python]

Liquigas had either 4 or 5

no . once again you failed to check easily available sources.

1 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step 5:00:06
2 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
3 Robert Forster (Ger) Team Milram
4 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Lampre-Farnese Vini
5 Adam Blythe (GBr) Omega Pharma-Lotto
6 Andre Greipel (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia
7 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram
8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
9 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram
10 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana
11 Baden Cooke (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
12 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions
13 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone
14 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia
15 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo
16 Jackson Rodriguez (Ven) Androni Giocattoli
17 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
18 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank
19 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli
20 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha
21 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia
22 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana
23 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana
24 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
25 Laurent Didier (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
26 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo

 

[Barrus]

Already adjusted it even prior to your post. BTW still cross about that in the Clinic, you do realize that that last outburst of you there against me was due to a simple miscommunication between us and that you simple misinterpreted what I meant there

 

[python]

Already adjusted it even prior to your post. BTW still cross about that in the Clinic, you do realize that that last outburst of you there against me was due to a simple miscommunication between us and that you simple misinterpreted what I meant there

all i can say is check the facts first. and that's not misinterpretation on my part and not the first time.

 

[D Avoid]

Yes well done to him..another rider i've never heard of and a great ride. more reading required on him by myself on that one.

i also agree its time for people to get off Vino's back and let him get on with his racing, and that includes me to be fair. **** knows what happened to Sky- a total disaster but they live to fight another day.

Looking for David Millar to grab pink in a couple of days time but Garmin may have lost Vandevelde for the TTT which is not good.

I saw him as a junior a number of times, his sprint is superior, always took them, he could get away fairly easily, with only the best staying with him until the finish or dropping them before it. Second in the Hillingdon Grand prix against the best home based pros, that as a junior as well. Fierce fierce altogether, never noisy, loud or full of himself. His fellow graduates from that year are struggling in minor races in Europe,except for Kennaugh. I'm not sure how it works but some go stellar, while others go into catastrophic meltdown.

 

[Barrus]

all i can say is check the facts first. and that's not misinterpretation on my part and not the first time.

Perhaps but you do not to realise that HTC and Liquigas both had more men in the last group and had it not been for that latest crash these groups can be seen to be in an especially good position, especially HTC when you realise that they had three more riders originally in the final group (Pinotti was another person in the crash.

What I also find interesting is that Sastre was not really that good surrounded near the ending, most Cervelo riders ended several minutes behind

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Karpets is looking good too.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Yep. Never seen so many crashes.

what the hell are you talking about?

Today there was only 1 semi-big crash, and that was when Team Sky overrated a corner and went too fast...

All the rest was done by the wind. Stop spreading BS please.

 

[python]

yesterday was a real crashfest. not today. an astana ds said he never saw so many crashes in a gt.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

what the hell are you talking about?

Today there was only 1 semi-big crash, and that was when Team Sky overrated a corner and went too fast...

All the rest was done by the wind. Stop spreading BS please.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

what the hell are you talking about?

Today there was only 1 semi-big crash, and that was when Team Sky overrated a corner and went too fast...

All the rest was done by the wind. Stop spreading BS please.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

deleted by mod

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

OK, folks, enough. Stop it now.

Susan

 

[Francois the Postman]

[deleted] Thanks Susan.

 

[luckyboy]

Looking good for the rest of the Giro after this stage. Be good to see what Sastre can do..

 

[Cobblestones]

Ok, let me contribute something useful:

GC watch:


1 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 10:07:18
2 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank 0:00
3 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions 0:01
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:05
5 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia 0:07
8 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) Team Milram 0:12
9 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone 0:15
11 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:16
12 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 0:17
14 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:18
22 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 0:29
24 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:43
37 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 1:26
43 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 1:40
50 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 2:07
55 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 4:28
135 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini 9:24
145 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) COG 9:30
178 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Team Katusha 12:42


Oh shucks, even with a typewriter font, I can't make it to line up. Text editor pwns me.
Anyway, should be a starting point for discussion of the TTT.