Giro Stage 3: Grado - Valdobbiadene

[stefrees]

+1... that's what I saw... I mentioned it in an earlier post. It looked like he bonked on that last incline

well not really, it was obvious he wasn't going to get back on and sat up. if in the bunch he would have been protected and wouldnt have been expending so much energy. fact is if the group he was in would have caught up there is no way cav would have won. i doubt cav would have won today anyway. but to get the slagging off from people today is ludicrous. leipheimer (who i dont like) and basso came out well from today, at least sitting up when they realised the maglia rosa was involved in a crash-that could have gained both of those valuable time (they were both in a group of 10ish clear) but lpr went down even further today.

 

[lanternrouge]

well not really, it was obvious he wasn't going to get back on and sat up. if in the bunch he would have been protected and wouldnt have been expending so much energy. fact is if the group he was in would have caught up there is no way cav would have won. i doubt cav would have won today anyway. but to get the slagging off from people today is ludicrous. leipheimer (who i dont like) and basso came out well from today, at least sitting up when they realised the maglia rosa was involved in a crash-that could have gained both of those valuable time (they were both in a group of 10ish clear) but lpr went down even further today.

+1
Well said sir.

 

[Bala Verde]

well not really, it was obvious he wasn't going to get back on and sat up. if in the bunch he would have been protected and wouldnt have been expending so much energy. fact is if the group he was in would have caught up there is no way cav would have won. i doubt cav would have won today anyway. but to get the slagging off from people today is ludicrous. leipheimer (who i dont like) and basso came out well from today, at least sitting up when they realised the maglia rosa was involved in a crash-that could have gained both of those valuable time (they were both in a group of 10ish clear) but lpr went down even further today.

As far as I saw it, he was not good in the chase (never taking any turns in order to even get back) and then on the last incline he couldn't follow. Quite possibly, and no disrespect, because menchov flew up that bump, so as not to lose more time.

Cavendish only sat up on the final climb, the last 3 km. If he had given up before, he could have ordered his team mate to not take turns, and just let it go and wait for the larger group behind him at the 10km, when the gap was obvious.

However, he initially chose to chase the lead group, in an attempt to safeguard his MR and perhaps, to still be competitive. I mean, if you don't get back, you always lose.

Cavendish thus fell trough. If he had been strong enough (and he did try to save energy in the chase) and desperately wanted to keep the MR he could have tried to follow Menchov, who ended 24s behind Allessandro. He failed to do so, quite possibly because he blew himself up in a final attempt to safeguard the MR. He is now 1:29 down, and he lost 1:25 today...

 

[Cartesian Centaur]

Cavendish only sat up on the final climb, the last 3 km. If he had given up before, he could have ordered his team mate to not take turns, and just let it go and wait for the larger group behind him at the 10km, when the gap was obvious.

Considering the team mate with him was Thomas Lövkvist, who did chase back on and kept the white jersey (kind of, since Farrar won't be wearing it)...I'm guessing Lövkvist wasn't riding exclusively at the service of Mark Cavendish.

 

[ingsve]

Considering the team mate with him was Thomas Lövkvist, who did chase back on and kept the white jersey (kind of, since Farrar won't be wearing it)...I'm guessing Lövkvist wasn't riding exclusively at the service of Mark Cavendish.

It wasn't Lövkvist that was with him it was Boasson Hagen and he also didn't make it back to the main group. Noone in that chase group did.

 

[Leopejo]

leipheimer (who i dont like) and basso came out well from today, at least sitting up when they realised the maglia rosa was involved in a crash-that could have gained both of those valuable time (they were both in a group of 10ish clear) but lpr went down even further today.

For what it's worth, Petacchi said he didn't realize that Cav was caught behind the crash until after the stage.

 

[Mellow Velo]

leipheimer (who i dont like) and basso came out well from today, at least sitting up when they realised the maglia rosa was involved in a crash-that could have gained both of those valuable time (they were both in a group of 10ish clear) but lpr went down even further today.

No need to change that opinion. From today's news on this site:-


Thomas Voeckler was even more surprised that Astana's Levi Leipheimer didn't give it his all. "He wanted to be nice to me and he told me that he was afraid of me," he said. "Afraid of what? If he thinks that I'm able to beat him on the general classification of the Giro, he’s totally wrong."

Had me spitting up my coffee! :lol:

 

[Cartesian Centaur]

It wasn't Lövkvist that was with him it was Boasson Hagen and he also didn't make it back to the main group. Noone in that chase group did.

Fair enough, could have sworn it was Lövkvist, that'll teach me to post in the middle of the night.

 

[ingsve]

Fair enough, could have sworn it was Lövkvist, that'll teach me to post in the middle of the night.

Could have been confusing since Boasson Hagen rode in the white jersey on stage 2 and Lövkvist was in the white jersey in stage 3. And they are both young and not entirely diffrent looking.