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

[Ferminal]

Post of the day! (an inexplicably underrated GC rider - I am sure he will wipe away any remaining deficit on the Zoncolan and clearly has Cadel's number already).

Nevertheless some seriously hard riding from Brownie thus far and showing the benefit of experience in these conditions.

I think he's got a point, once they move out of The Netherlands, someone else is going to have to recreate the carnage.

Bustlin' Bruiser Brown would be a good bet to ruin another person's race...

'The Sniper'

 

[Nearly]

I think he's got a point, once they move out of The Netherlands, someone else is going to have to recreate the carnage.

He's quick but you are quicker so what chance?

 

[SpartacusRox]

Been ill, form's off. The thing is that he was suggesting that Cav give up leadership when he doesn't have the form. Now he's in a similar situation.

Perhaps since he can't get the leadership by being a better sprinter than Cav he has taken another tack...making dumber comments than Cav!

"you didn't do anything at all, you rotten dumbass!"

Is that German for; "Despite getting the leadout I needed from the autobots and despite Pettachi and Henderson etc not being there at the end due to crashes, I still failed"

BooHoo! Andre

 

[taiwan]

Perhaps since he can't get the leadership by being a better sprinter than Cav he has taken another tack...making dumber comments than Cav!

"you didn't do anything at all, you rotten dumbass!"

Is that German for; "Despite getting the leadout I needed from the autobots and despite Pettachi and Henderson etc not being there at the end due to crashes, I still failed"

BooHoo! Andre

Yes! You speak German?

 

[Cobblestones]

Post of the day! (an inexplicably underrated GC rider - I am sure he will wipe away any remaining deficit on the Zoncolan and clearly has Cadel's number already).

Nevertheless some seriously hard riding from Brownie thus far and showing the benefit of experience in these conditions.

Well, I kind of felt leaving the top-placed Rabo rider (and top-placed riders of some other teams) on the list for the TTT. Not that I expect much of them, just in case their teams put in a decent TTT.

 

[Nearly]

Richie Porte

Can any Australians shed any light on how good this guy may be? Or, has he just been in the right place at the right time. Seems to be pretty handy at TT's.

Plenty to find via Google but fast rising talent in time trial and GC. Has been cycling for 4 years and came 9th in the 2008 Tour Down Under in only his 2nd year and was 3rd at the Aust Nat TT 2009 behind Rogers and Cameron Meyer.

Seems to have gone to a new level though.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Perhaps since he can't get the leadership by being a better sprinter than Cav he has taken another tack...making dumber comments than Cav!

"you didn't do anything at all, you rotten dumbass!"

Is that German for; "Despite getting the leadout I needed from the autobots and despite Pettachi and Henderson etc not being there at the end due to crashes, I still failed"

BooHoo! Andre

What is it with HTC and their whiny b!tch sprinters? Crypel had an army up there with him and didn't close the deal. Good on Weylands for taking the win.

 

[Nearly]

Well, I kind of felt leaving the top-placed Rabo rider (and top-placed riders of some other teams) on the list for the TTT. Not that I expect much of them, just in case their teams put in a decent TTT.

That's what I assumed and yes the post was appreciated with the TTT approaching -- but I saw Peter Weening at 10th 16 secs back and no mention of Rabo's captain later amongst those way back so I thought "why Brownie?!" Not wanting to be pedantic - the thought of the old warhorse causing carnage in the mountains was too much!

 

[santacruz]

I was hoping to see how Wiggo would fare against the other guys in the mountains, but I guess this is better since he can now focus on his prep for the TdF and not worry too much about the maglia rosa. Perhaps he will try for a stage win whereas he normally would not?? Or will he just ride the days the way he sees fit for training, not really showing us anything. I will be focused on Brad for the TT and mountains, a part of me wants to believe in fairy tales, and snarky brits having a chance at TdF glory.. even though he did shave his head, which will make any victory quite less enjoyable imo, but whatever... Sad about VdV, stage 3 AGAIN?? freakin weird... at least its only a C-Bone, and not several pieces of spinal column or whatnot..

 

[auscyclefan94]

i couldnt care less about vino in pink. he doesnt desrve to be allowed back imo.

+1

I think he's got a point, once they move out of The Netherlands, someone else is going to have to recreate the carnage.

Bustlin' Bruiser Brown would be a good bet to ruin another person's race...

'The Sniper'

Did you see the bumping he was doing during the sprint?

Has anyone taught this guy bicycle etiqutte?

 

[auscyclefan94]

I don't believe they would have wanted to have left Cadel isolated but I agree with you in, when they realised they were not going to get back on it would be better to conserve energy for the TTT.

When Cadel was held up, did the peloton wait like the previous day ?? It is an unfortunate part of cycling but Sh&t happens. Sastre gave the excuse of not helping because he had a sore back, the excuses for the rest of the peloton not helping BMC to pull the split back would have been the same, BMC and Cadel aren't making excuses.

The main causes for riders(not just BMC) being caught up is bad luck and inexperience(bad positioning) as we have all stated, this is the first GT for a few of these BMC guys so I think you have to cut some slack here and they are worthy team-mates, they are just very green.

I think LeLangue made the right call. The TTT for BMC is going to be a slog as it is, no need to make it worse.

Where did he say that? Well the opening tt said that they have guys who can time trial. I imagine evans will be taking some big pulls to help them take the effects of drafting.

1) people are saying that bmc finished in the back group today but so did 5 (approx) cervelo riders.
2)BMC has a day of rest so any falls will have 24 hours to heal and they have rest.
3)Yes, all bmc riders were at the back but I think that would have to be lelangue's plan as he is trying to save his riders as you would think there would be at least 1 rider in the first two groups.

 

[Mellow Velo]

No way LeLangue told his BMC bois to soft pedal and save themselves for the TTT. They spent more time grovelling in the ditch than a bunch of Dutch dyke diggers.
Fact is: One puncture further down the road and Evan's Giro would be over.
He got lucky and yet, was unlucky.
I'll bet the air was blue in the team car, when Cadel was isolated, with over 75kms to go.

His team mates are not fit for GT purpose. End of.

 

[rhubroma]

I don't know if was team management or the riders, but Liquigas should have ridden themselves into the ground to allow Basso to put more time in Evans. With today's rest day, they lost a golden opportunity.

 

[Archibald]

I don't know if was team management or the riders, but Liquigas should have ridden themselves into the ground to allow Basso to put more time in Evans. With today's rest day, they lost a golden opportunity.

it used to be the case that if the race leader was involved in a crash or punctured that the peleton would not force the pace...

 

[craig1985]

Poor CVV, feel sorry for the bloke.

 

[powderpuff]

No way LeLangue told his BMC bois to soft pedal and save themselves for the TTT. They spent more time grovelling in the ditch than a bunch of Dutch dyke diggers.
Fact is: One puncture further down the road and Evan's Giro would be over.
He got lucky and yet, was unlucky.
I'll bet the air was blue in the team car, when Cadel was isolated, with over 75kms to go.

His team mates are not fit for GT purpose. End of.

I was talking about the last fall that stopped Cadel, not the earlier one; when the Team Ground caused the last split, Cadel was already isolated, and yes they did expose him but they would have just done themselves out of a lot of energy if they had all jumped on the front over the grupetto and tried to get back to Cadel after that last split. In the time remaining that was impossible.
When Cadel first got isolated I'm sure the word would not have been just let them go Cadel will be all right. Maybe they did put a big effort in but we were hardly shown any pics (understandably so) of what was happening back in the grupetto.

 

[craig1985]

it used to be the case that if the race leader was involved in a crash or punctured that the peleton would not force the pace...

On Stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana, Valverde went back to the team car with 50km to go to get a rain jacket (IIRC), and Astana and Euskaltel put the hammer down and dropped Valverde and he lost more then 3 minutes. Evans is fair game for mine, I would of ordered Liquigas to the front and told them to ride like the wind (for want of a better word).

 

[schadenfreude]

some pics from yesterday's start.

 

[Bala Verde]

some pics from yesterday's start.

Nice pictures!

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Where did he say that? Well the opening tt said that they have guys who can time trial. I imagine evans will be taking some big pulls to help them take the effects of drafting.

1) people are saying that bmc finished in the back group today but so did 5 (approx) cervelo riders.
2)BMC has a day of rest so any falls will have 24 hours to heal and they have rest.
3)Yes, all bmc riders were at the back but I think that would have to be lelangue's plan as he is trying to save his riders as you would think there would be at least 1 rider in the first two groups.

suggesting BMC's ride yesterday was tactical is absurd. Just admit it; BMC are pretty freakn weak. If evans win the giro, no one can say anything though. It will be thoroughly deserved!

Totally agree. Some people seem to want TT's and Mountaintop finishes only and maybe a few highway sprints. The way Vino rode and maintained today proved it's not even close to a lottery.

Every GT should have stages like this.

Yup, I really enjoyed these stages. Rider's nerves contributed to these crashes more then anything.

 

[sublimit]

i read some info on Adam Blythe on wikipedia because as i mentioned earlier that i'd never heard of him and he sounds like a promising rider, he's doing very well for a 20 year old.

Another fast British rider from a track background yet again.

 

[schadenfreude]

Nice pictures!

grazie mille.

 

[red_flanders]

it used to be the case that if the race leader was involved in a crash or punctured that the peleton would not force the pace...

There is no race leader, there is only a guy wearing the Pink Jersey.

Had this happened after the mountains, and the race leader had a mechanical, you'd have seen a different reaction from the group. Right now you have GT guys mixed with sprinters, and the sprinters are stage hunting. There is no truce yet, spoken or otherwise.

 

[Winterfold]

Francois, I think this and your previous post are the most intelligent posts in this thread. The key is really to approach these stages like you would one of the classics.
** ETA: Stage 3, Wanze -> Arenberg (yes that Arenberg)

Agreed, if you approach the stage in isolation, and with the hindsight which we now have. But before you start stage 2 - you cannot go into it thinking you start a 3 week race like you race a 1 day classic. Especially when the 'tricky stages' are sandwiched by an ITT and TTT for which you have to save some energy. You could race balls out like a Classic but where would you be tomorrow? Very hard to know beforehand. However I dont see Astana losing 4 minutes on 33km...

I may have been a bit harsh on Sky earlier as they did take the stage on as a team and stretch it out a bit, as others suggsted, then too bad on that corner but as Sean Yates said 'If he fell off on the corner then he was going too fast.'

Maybe Sky should get Sean out of the car and on a bike, I can't help but think if someone like him had been riding the last 2 stages, Wiggins would not be out of it.

They have a lot of work to do before July. Vino will make sure Contador (and Spartacus, Schleck) does not fall like that.

 

[Winterfold]

I was hoping to see how Wiggo would fare against the other guys in the mountains, but I guess this is better since he can now focus on his prep for the TdF and not worry too much about the maglia rosa. Perhaps he will try for a stage win whereas he normally would not?? Or will he just ride the days the way he sees fit for training, not really showing us anything. I will be focused on Brad for the TT and mountains, a part of me wants to believe in fairy tales, and snarky brits having a chance at TdF glory.. even though he did shave his head, which will make any victory quite less enjoyable imo, but whatever... Sad about VdV, stage 3 AGAIN?? freakin weird... at least its only a C-Bone, and not several pieces of spinal column or whatnot..

Me too - I was hoping he was going to go for this, but it has all gone to Plan B Le Tour too quickly.

Sky just do not seem able to defend a jersey. And now they dont have on to defend I am not sure that they are going to get to practice what they wanted here. Brad may well have the power and have lost the weight to contend, but eg Astana are waaaay cannier as a team.

Stage wins and 3rd week TTs will still be good results, but 4 minutes down on GC after 3 stages, when you were in the jersey on stage 1 is a complete cochk-up IMO.

Would all this have happened if Arvesen was road captain?