Giro d'Italia Stage 8: Sapri-Tropea, 217km

[Ryaguas]

explain ryo !

Bad positioning on the little climb for sure...

I really don't get it.
If Contador is really in good shape, why did yesterday suck? (yesterday he DID suck, even if he's not a sprinter (but neither Nibali are, still he followed Scarponi)). If he planned to take some bonus seconds, it was better to do it yesterday, taking this stage as a rest.
I guess (imho) he's not in top form, and this attack was to put some fear into Scarponi et Co. hearts in order to make them attack a bit further tomorrow.

Sorry but fail...
Yesterday Scarponi looked cooked after the finish! Even minutes after finished the stage in the interview He was having little problems to breath... He wasted a lot energies in the finals KMs and was tired... but today Contador didnt waste any energies and took 5+12secs... Brilliant move from him... I'm pretty sure that Riis planned this yesterday...

the other weakest team contenders:

Omega Pharma - win a stage
Rabobank - stage, pink and white jersey wearers
Farnese Vini - win a stage

LoL... Farnese is not a weak team... Gatto and Visconti are two really good riders... that You dont know them is other thing... but if you recall the post of "The weakest team in Il Giro" Farnese was nowhere in the list...

 

[Mellow Velo]

Just catching up.
50kms out and I suddenly had a strong feeling that Oscar Gatto was the most likely winner from the bunch, on this finish.
Unfortunately, too late to do anything about it.

Contador out foxed everyone and stole a few seconds.
The cost? Any thoughts the opposition had that he might be a bit "off colour" went out of the window.
The bluff is blown and the gloves come off tomorrow.

I expect ACF had a seizure after Kristoff nearly made a podium.
A day in a jersey and a 4th spot have made this BMC team's Giro a roaring success.

 

[Eshnar]

Yesterday Scarponi looked cooked after the finish! Even minutes after finished the stage in the interview He was having little problems to breath... He wasted a lot energies in the finals KMs and was tired... but today Contador didnt waste any energies and took 5+12secs... Brilliant move from him...

Contador was breathing hard too during the interview. And even if Scarponi could have wasted some energy, he recovered today. Something that AC can't do, as tomorrow none will rest

 

[Ryaguas]

I meant that I expected him to try to sprint. At least not to let the gap open (but he did let that, and he risked to lose other seconds if Purito didn't close that)

We know that Alberto can't sprint... doesnt have that kick in the flat... various examples last year: Morzine - Mende...

Contador was breathing hard too during the interview. And even if Scarponi could have wasted some energy, he recovered today. Something that AC can't do, as tomorrow none will rest

OFC that was inmediatly after the finish... Scarponi was having problems even in the poststage interview when He was sit in the pink chair... like 20 or 30min after the stage...

 

[peloton]

Contador was breathing hard too during the interview. And even if Scarponi could have wasted some energy, he recovered today. Something that AC can't do, as tomorrow none will rest

I'm with you, AC had to let go on 3 occasions already, the TTT, yesterday and the stage Weening won.
The attack today was not planned, according to him, which makes it even more bizarre before the hard mountain stage.

"I saw a good moment to attack today," team Saxo Bank's Spaniard told journalists along the coast. "I did not take a lot of time, but the bonus seconds are important."
"It was not planned this morning. I was in a good position, I decided why not, try. When I saw some space, I just decided to go solo to the finish," added Contador
"My team did a huge amount of work, I put down my head and that's it."

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...s-at-giro-with-attack-ahead-of-mountains.html

The bonus seconds won't decide the Giro, the mountains will...
We know more after tomorrow, but being a AC fan, I'm worried.

 

[No_Balls]

I'm with you, AC had to let go on 3 occasions already, the TTT, yesterday and the stage Weening won.
The attack today was not planned, according to him, which makes it even more bizarre before the hard mountain stage.


http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...s-at-giro-with-attack-ahead-of-mountains.html

The bonus seconds won't decide the Giro, the mountains will...
We know more after tomorrow, but being a AC fan, I'm worried.

So first it was promised by this forum that he didn´t have the legs, because he didn´t won yesterdays sprint, and now it is bad that he has too much legs and burning himself out?

This made me rembember Indurains go in 1995 (with Bruyneel on the tail). It gave a hugh boost of morale and had an enormous psychological impact on the field. He had that go before the first time trial and Contador has it before the mountains.

Psychological warfare.

And not to forget, the talk of having no legs was, as always, utterly crap. This shows he is strong and playing cat and mouse with his rivals.

 

[theswordsman]

Contador is still racing himself into shape. I expect that after his win a few weeks ago, Scarponi might be peaking now, or in the next few days. He'd best try to gain time while he can.

I've read bits and pieces of his interview afterwards. The attack was spontaneous - he felt good, saw an opening and went for it. Navarro said he was even caught off guard because Alberto didn't say anything. I'm amazed that absolutely nobody left the peloton to chase, and it came down to a bunch sprint. There are so many times during a race that you see Saxo at the front and to the side just to protect Contador from crashes. I guess the other GC guys got used to it and failed to see it as a threat. There's a ton of racing to come, but leapfrogging Nibali & Scarponi and putting good time into Garzelli was worth two kilometers of effort. Can't wait for Sunday. Maybe Etna will erupt as a guy crosses the line with arms upraised

 

[boomcie]

The big guns seem to be afraid of what's ahead. With so many good riders somebody should have been prepared to take some risks in the first week, but no. Even the Androni kids race like sheep.

Hopefully tomorrow won't be another letdown. It's sad that Contador is the one that has to launch the first real attack.

I've got to add that despite the lame riding by the favorites, I've enjoyed most stages.

 

[Irish2009]

You shouldn't get to excited about him putting time into Garzelli. Garzelli had a problem with 6.5 K to go and was only back on to a strung out bunch when they hit the start of the narrowing road, for Garzelli to lose only 26seconds is amazing when you consider the bottle neck caused in the hairpins on that final climb.

 

[El Pistolero]

You shouldn't get to excited about him putting time into Garzelli. Garzelli had a problem with 6.5 K to go and was only back on to a strung out bunch when they hit the start of the narrowing road, for Garzelli to lose only 26seconds is amazing when you consider the bottle neck caused in the hairpins on that final climb.

I don't think anyone sees Garzelli as someone who can win the Giro(yes I know he won once)

 

[will10]

LoL... Farnese is not a weak team... Gatto and Visconti are two really good riders... that You dont know them is other thing... but if you recall the post of "The weakest team in Il Giro" Farnese was nowhere in the list...

Who other than Gatto or Visconti is going to win a stage or even get close?

And who honestly thought prior to the Giro that Gatto could win a stage, let alone as impressively as he did so today?

(of course you will all say "I did!" but that's easy with hindsight isn't it )

 

[boomcie]

You shouldn't get to excited about him putting time into Garzelli. Garzelli had a problem with 6.5 K to go and was only back on to a strung out bunch when they hit the start of the narrowing road, for Garzelli to lose only 26seconds is amazing when you consider the bottle neck caused in the hairpins on that final climb.

I missed the point where someone got excited.

 

[taiwan]

Who other than Gatto or Visconti is going to win a stage or even get close?

And who honestly thought prior to the Giro that Gatto could win a stage, let alone as impressively as he did so today?

(of course you will all say "I did!" but that's easy with hindsight isn't it )

Gatto's been good at the Monte Paschi Eroica and the Clasica Sarda already this year, and had a win early in the season. You wouldn't expect a stage win, but he'd be a reasonable candidate as one of the leaders at this team's only GT. Probably the next rider on the list with a chance would be Elia Favilli, who seems to have a decent sprint.

 

[Climbing]

Who other than Gatto or Visconti is going to win a stage or even get close?

And who honestly thought prior to the Giro that Gatto could win a stage, let alone as impressively as he did so today?

(of course you will all say "I did!" but that's easy with hindsight isn't it )

Gatto is well considered, had many victories in pre pro time and was expected to shine since gone pro.
I think they got all wrong when they considered him a sprinter... he is indeed fast, but pretty good on short climbs and though stages.
I hope he will fare good, cause he's still young (26 i think).

 

[Ryaguas]

Contador is still racing himself into shape. I expect that after his win a few weeks ago, Scarponi might be peaking now, or in the next few days. He'd best try to gain time while he can

This...
I'm fan of Michele and I'm afraid that He started this Giro on peak... I think that He knows it and that's why He's trying to get some time or attacking like happened on Strade Bianchi stage and yesterday...
Alberto is going still uphill with his form the same for Igor, Purito and Menchov... I'm pretty sure that He will make a nice peak for the finish of the 2nd week and beggining of the 3rd week... Glossknocker, Zoncolan and the ITT will see his peak...

BTW TheSwordman follow me on twitter! you can't see my replies! haha

Even the Androni kids race like sheep.

Yep that is not normal from my PoV... They are always attacking and giving a nice spectacle but not this time... Well they got their win pretty early and that is so much less pressure... now I think that they are considering a high place in the GC...

I don't think anyone sees Garzelli as someone who can win the Giro(yes I know he won once)

Too old... not even him think in winning Il Giro... they are going for the stage win...

Who other than Gatto or Visconti is going to win a stage or even get close?

And who honestly thought prior to the Giro that Gatto could win a stage, let alone as impressively as he did so today?

lol?
2 leaders is more than enough... OFC they are not a team that has 4 or 5 ppl that could take an stage but as I told you... no one picked or put them in the list of "weakest team", Why? cuz they have a decent team... a shame that Sinkewitz fack it up...

 

[Escarabajo]

how did the rest of his team fare?? talk about dumb tactics. garzelli dropped his whole team in his cars slipstream

+1.

And he is probably get sanctioned with a few seconds so he is on par with his teammates.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Who other than Gatto or Visconti is going to win a stage or even get close?

And who honestly thought prior to the Giro that Gatto could win a stage, let alone as impressively as he did so today?

(of course you will all say "I did!" but that's easy with hindsight isn't it )

I didn't think he WOULD win a stage necessarily, but I did think that Gatto had a decent chance if he got in the right break - didn't think he'd win from the péloton like today. But he's a hard worker, an exciting and devoted attacker and one of those guys who'll volunteer for a lonely day alone off the front, and the job he did at last year's Tour of Turkey was outstanding.

A shame about Sinky, because with him and Visconti Farnese Vini could have been a real spanner in the works of some major teams, with multiple punches and attacking early on those trickier finishes. They already are one - but they could have destroyed nearly every sprint with an obstacle inside 20 to go.

 

[roundabout]

I remember Gatto in Gerolsteiner being one of the first people to get dropped whenever the road went up.

Shows there's hope for all of us.

 

[boomcie]

...

...A shame about Sinky, because with him and Visconti Farnese Vini could have been a real spanner in the works of some major teams, with multiple punches and attacking early on those trickier finishes. They already are one - but they could have destroyed nearly every sprint with an obstacle inside 20 to go.

You're joking right?
Having Sinkewitz wouldn't have changed a great deal IMO, certainly not such a great deal.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

He's still pretty useless on long climbs (his uphill finishes in the '09 Giro: 191st, 152nd, 163rd, 119th, 117th, 149th). But he's got strong enough to muscle his way over short ones and not too steep ones. He's hardly going to top 10 Montelupone any time soon.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You're joking right?
Having Sinkewitz wouldn't have changed a great deal IMO, certainly not such a great deal.

Maybe should have dropped the distance by a factor of 10

Sinky is pretty good at uphill finishes. Certainly he wasn't going to be a factor in the GC of the race given the amount of tough mountains, but with two, three, maybe even four riders who can terrorise those wanting a sprint on a tricky finish, could have seen things broken up more.

I'm just watching Farnese Vini turning into a sprint team when Guardini's around, and pining for halcyon days when sprints were the #1 thing they set out to avoid. As should be the modus operandi for all good teams.

 

[roundabout]

I strongly believe that 2011 Gatto would have been a contender on a stage to Anagni instead of finishing in the bottom third.

 

[Cobblestoned]

Who other than Gatto or Visconti is going to win a stage or even get close?

And who honestly thought prior to the Giro that Gatto could win a stage, let alone as impressively as he did so today?

(of course you will all say "I did!" but that's easy with hindsight isn't it )

Honestly, me and few other "managers" did.
Proir to the start of Giro. Proven in the thread.

It looked more impressive than it was, because the group hesitated too long - except Alberto.

But, to be honest again, I have to admit that choosing Visconti for my team was a big fail. But he is injured and does his best, so its ok for me.

 

[c&cfan]

after what happened, can someone explain to me how on earth it is possible to be andy's shleck fan with a true champ like doing what he does?

 

[El Pistolero]

Cause if Andy was Portuguese you'd be all over him.

This season he actually tried to not make a complete fool out of him self. Only worked out half decently, but better than nothing.

He was good at AGR and LBL, helped his brother win the Criterium International. Tour is where he will shine. Has said he wants to win a stage at Cali this year, so will probably not turn it into a complete booze fest like last year.

Besides, he's a great comedian with all that anger in his belly.