Giro d'Italia Stage 4: Savigliano - Cuneo (TTT) 32.5km

[Cobblestones]

My take on it.

Honest short version: bla bla bla no idea who'll win the TTT.

 

[theswordsman]

I don't know who will win or who has the strongest TT team on paper, but I'll be rooting for Astana and Vino.

He said he was happy with their results in the prologue, and likes being in the maglia rosa because they get to go last on Wednesday. It's usually the first five riders who count, so if someone isn't up to speed on the day, they could drop him. Or maybe let a few guys go all out pulling at the front and then go with five like Garmin did last year.

Mostly I want to see Astana do well because it's a chance for guys who JB wouldn't bother with thrive at a race RS didn't bother to enter.

 

[Ibanez]

Or maybe let a few guys go all out pulling at the front and then go with five like Garmin did last year.

Damn that was awesome watching those 4 dudes pound it with Hesjedal hanging on for dear life.

 

[ferryman]

Damn that was awesome watching those 4 dudes pound it with Hesjedal hanging on for dear life.

It was wasn't it

I fear for Cadel in this one.

Sky
Columbia
Liquigas
Astana

for me without any real confidence in the pick

 

[blaxland]

1st=Columbia
2nd=Sky
3rd=Liqiugas
And Team BMC will only loose 1min 15 seconds...not as much as i first thought....And Astana will loose about 50 seconds....

 

[Anonymous]

how many stickies?

 

[Kender]

dyachenko is considered by vino the greatest kazakh talent, his blood donor if he works hard.

fixed it for you

 

[cyclopeon]

I really have no idea how this will play out. There are a lot of teams with a lot to play for, and the only thing we can be sure of is that one of them is going to disappoint. I don't think being a man down will be a huge disadvantage to Garmin and BMC (although for sure Garmin lost the bigger engine), the course is long enough that most teams will probably be shedding riders at one point or another.

That pretty much sums up where I sit on this ttt.
Add to which I hope to see the pink jersey move along again, I like this daily changing thing; very democratic in a way.

I hope the uphill finish doesn't skew the results.

 

[Ferminal]

how many stickies?

Six

(I know you're not good at maths!)

 

[Ferminal]

how many stickies?

Good question... how many stickies????

I await your answer with anticipation

 

[PCutter]

It was wasn't it

I fear for Cadel in this one.

Sky
Columbia
Liquigas
Astana

for me without any real confidence in the pick

Cadel doens't have to fear losing time, even a few minutes to Sky, Columbia or Garmin as they don't have any GC threats (given Wiggins is using the Giro as a tune-up). All he has to ensure is that he doesn't lose big time to Liquigas, Astana and Cervelo. Out of those 3, Astana is the real threat to him, he may even make time on Cervelo, who aren't great TTTers.

 

[Ferminal]

HTC-Columbia
Sky
SaxoBank
Garmin
Astana +40"
Liquigas +55"
Cervelo +1'20"
BMC + 1'40"

 

[offbyone]

HTC-Columbia
Sky
SaxoBank
Garmin
Astana +40"
Liquigas +55"
Cervelo +1'20"
BMC + 1'40"

It is 32 kilometers, the gaps will be much bigger.

 

[luckyboy]

I'm not even going to try and predict anything, but let's keep our eyes on Bbox

 

[Ferminal]

It is 32 kilometers, the gaps will be much bigger.

The top5 in the TdF last year were all within one minute. Guess what, Astana, Saxo, Garmin and HTC were all in the top 5 then. All the teams I listed will be within 90seconds apart from BMC, who are a complete uncertainty (could go either way).

Not sure where you got that idea from?

 

[danjo007]

my top 3:
Sky
HTC
Liquigas

i dont think BMC will do as bad as people think

 

[trompe le monde]

I'm not even going to try and predict anything, but let's keep our eyes on Bbox

Not enough turns for some unexpected field grazing. They should do better than second last or at least I hope. Plus they don't even have a legitimate threat GC contender, Trofimov was 7'59 down yesterday, so the end result of where they place is somewhat irrelevant.

 

[offbyone]

The top5 in the TdF last year were all within one minute. Guess what, Astana, Saxo, Garmin and HTC were all in the top 5 then. All the teams I listed will be within 90seconds apart from BMC, who are a complete uncertainty (could go either way).

Not sure where you got that idea from?

Their teams at the Giro are not their TdF squads.

 

[Ferminal]

Their teams at the Giro are not their TdF squads.

So there's greater variance in the performances of B teams than the A teams?

The Giro last year was two thirds the distance, the top 15 were within 1 minute.

 

[Kazistuta]

Look out for a Milram surprise..... Gerdeman, Voss, Wegmann, Roberts and Fothen should be good enough to make them go top5.

 

[auscyclefan94]

HTC-Columbia
Sky
SaxoBank
Garmin
Astana +40"
Liquigas +55"
Cervelo +1'20"
BMC + 1'40"

Kind of like what i would have. I think generally people are OVER estimating Liquigas. Yes they have Nibali who can tt and ivan is alright but is the rest of the team that flash?

BMC in the prologue put out better results than cervelo and liquigas. I think BMC will take time on Cervelo. BMC recconned the ttt course quite a bit.

Probably my take,
Sky
HTC-Columbia +10"
Astana +30"
Saxo +35"
Liquigas+1"00
BMC+1"20'
Cervelo +1"25

 

[Hugo Koblet]

My prediction:

1: Sky
2: HTC
3: Garmin
4: Liquigas
5: Astana
6: Saxo Bank

 

[TomasC]

Why do you bother with tomorrow's TTT when the real question is how much can Wiggins lose on a rest day?

 

[Ferminal]

Why do you bother with tomorrow's TTT when the real question is how much can Wiggins lose on a rest day?

At least two kilos.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Just look to yesterday for which teams will be on the front and which, off the back of the TTT finishing order.

Let's put it this way, I don't fancy Domenico Pozzovivo to be clawing back any time.

Cadel? He's already struggling to keep his Mr Happy mask in place, both with Sky and more crucially, his team:

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...ed-in-giro-d-italia-blames-sky-for-crash.html