Stage 19: Friday, May 25: Treviso-Alpe di Pampeago. 198km

[Bernie's eyesore]

Probably because penalty for second infraction is lifetime ban

LOL, so true.

 

[wirral]

Stannard and Thomas are in. Waiting for the Cav train.

 

[Froome19]

He faster in the tt, Basso or Scarponi?

Scarponi should be, yet Basso came 2nd in a totally flat TT to Zabriskie in 2005... of course he had a bit of aid.

He came 16th last Giro in the ITT, yet basso came 15th in 2010.
They are both not at the same level they were then, but I would say Basso has dropped a bit further and i dont see him beating Scarponi in the TT.

 

[dlwssonic]

So I guess Jrod is the fav for the points jersey now??
Haha LOL cav!

 

[autologous]

I don't see how Scarponi gave it a serious go. He tried not to take any risks, and he can't win the Giro like that (but then again, he never takes risks). To me it's pretty clear those were just sort of mandatory accelerations, to be at ease with himself and be able to say he tried.

No way. Scarponi was responsible for breaking Basso. You could see Basso took slightly longer to reel it in with every Scarponi surge. Of course, Ryder could respond and eventually attacked, but Scarponi made the first big selection.

 

[Caruut]

Probably because penalty for second infraction is lifetime ban

Which is like what, 1 year, for Basso?

 

[More Strides than Rides]

I think the strong point of Basso and Scarponi is endurance. If they let the stage go by without making it hard, it's no wonder other riders can keep up with them or even beat them. Their only chance to win this Giro was to turn it into an endurance match. They didn't, which is why riders like Purito and Hesjedal, who go better on the hills, were better than them.

There are many ways to try. If you wait for the last 3 km of course it's going to be a straight showdown and the strongest in those 3 km will win. But they had a choice. They didn't need to wait. Would the relative strengths remain the same if it was a contest over 30 km as over 3 km? I seriously doubt it.

At any rate, they needed to put serious time into Hesjedal. Attacking with only 3 km to go, they would only take serious time if Hesjedal collapsed. That's a gamble. For Basso, it's ridiculous to have his team race on the front for 3 weeks and then gamble it all on something he had no control over - Hesjedal collpasing by himself.

I agree that Basso and Scarponi would fail better (to say that they would crack less, and hang on better relative to the rest of the field) from 30k out.

With retrospect on this stage: finishing strong inside the last 3k isn't about speed and acceleration, but how much was left in the tank; how fresh they were. Seeing how Basso had so much less than the others, he wouldn't have been able to sustain his own ambitions if he went from 30k out. Similar with Scarponi, I think. Just my thoughts

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

He dropped Basso, Urán, Purito and Pozzo with those "mandatory accelerations though". Ryder responded well, but the others got caught out.

When exactly did the cord finally snap? I thought that they were finally dropped when Hesjedal took his turn to attack.

 

[meat puppet]

This has nothing to do with how they race, but all with what they are capable of. Hesjedal is the only one who gave it a go, because he was the only one strong enough to do so. You can call all the others disgraceful, but I doubt they could have gone any faster than they did. Actually, in my opinion you calling them disgraceful shows a great lack of respect towards athletes riding at the best of their capabilities.

This. The voice of sanity.

I agree that Basso and Scarponi would fail better (to say that they would crack less, and hang on better relative to the rest of the field) from 30k out.

With retrospect on this stage: finishing strong inside the last 3k isn't about speed and acceleration, but how much was left in the tank; how fresh they were. Seeing how Basso had so much less than the others, he wouldn't have been able to sustain his own ambitions if he went from 30k out. Similar with Scarponi, I think. Just my thoughts

And good ones.

I actually enjoy this edition more than the last one. Even if I have to rationalise a bit to understand how the slow burn tempo riding does damage via day by day fatigue accumulation as there are not so much manifest attacks, I don't have to constantly think against my own thought to remind me that this is make-believe.

 

[Justin Pain]

Does anyone know what the cut off time for the stage would be.
Cav might not make it!

56min 43sec is the magic number. We have Ian Stannard in at 28:35, so cav shouldnt be that far behind.

 

[Gloin22]

So I guess Jrod is the fav for the points jersey now??
Haha LOL cav!

If he finishes 5th or lower tomorrow Cav wins it I think. And it isn't funny really. If Cav didnt crash twice he would have won it easily anyway.

 

[Froome19]

So I guess Jrod is the fav for the points jersey now??
Haha LOL cav!

Purito has to get 3rd as well tomorow and that is without Cav getting in a break and taking the intermediate
Going on today i dont know whether he is capable of that, or not.
It will certainly be tight.

 

[Red Rick]

The racing is lame for a couple of reasons

1: The difference between the contenders in level are extremely small
2: The differences between the contenders in time are very small
3: The team captain of the controlling team needs a high pace till halfway the final mountain
4: I still think some riders are a little bit below par

 

[roundabout]

When exactly did the cord finally snap? I thought that they were finally dropped when Hesjedal took his turn to attack.

Hesjedal "accelerated", Scarponi followed him, the rest didn't.

 

[hrotha]

No way. Scarponi was responsible for breaking Basso. You could see Basso took slightly longer to reel it in with every Scarponi surge. Of course, Ryder could respond and eventually attacked, but Scarponi made the first big selection.

I didn't say he didn't go hard in the finale. I'm saying when the current Giro champion doesn't launch a single attack that could win him the race unless absolutely everything went his way, he's not giving it a serious go.

 

[Havetts]

that was brilliant racing finally

ryder deserves this giro,he looks like alex zulle a lot to me,super engine.i said from the beginning that he looks like a proper contender for the win
today he humiliate them all,tomorrow i think it will be the same.chapeau hesjedal!

for the statistics fans(got to verify the today's one though):

Alpe di Pampeago da Tesero
2012:7,7 km@9,9%---24:56---average speed 18.53 km/h(Ryder Hesjedal)-stage 19 Giro d'Italia-198 km-dislivello 5100 m-a.s.=31.27 km-h
2008:7,7 km@9,9%---26:25---average speed (Emanuelle Sella)-stage 14 Giro d'Italia-195 km-dislivello 4300 m-a.s.=34.69 km/h
25:16---average speed 18.28 km/h(Denis Menchov)
2003:around 24 :16(Gilberto Simoni)-stage 14 Giro d'Italia-162 km-dislivello 3600 m-a.s.=33.90 km/h
1999:7,7 km@9,9%---24:07---average speed 19.16 km/h(Marco Pantani)-stage 19 Giro d'Italia-166 km-dislivello 3700 m-a.s.=31.80 km/h
1998:7,7 km@9,9%---24:13---average speed 19.08 km/h(Pavel Tonkov)-stage 18 Giro d'Italia-115 km-dislivello -a.s.=31.81 km/h


brutal performance,the stage was a killer.and when you think what will wait the riders tomorrow...

Wow.. Pantani's time in 1999 "only contained" 3700 meters of gained height compared to 5100 and he was 50 seconds faster. This means this climb has been ridden extremely fast and there werent more attacks cause the full pace was on constantly.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

The racing is lame for a couple of reasons

1: The difference between the contenders in level are extremely small
2: The differences between the contenders in time are very small
3: The team captain of the controlling team needs a high pace till halfway the final mountain
4: I still think some riders are a little bit below par

I think so to. Basso does not look as good based on today. on s17 i thought maybe he is holding back a bit, think i was wrong.

 

[Caruut]

A decent mid-race ITT would have put some time gaps in so we could see some real racing.

 

[hrotha]

Guys, did you see Kreuziger today? Because he was a GC contender just two days ago, and suddenly today he could up the ante. It's not a matter of strength, but of balls.

 

[Ildabaoth]

It is very easy to make post-hoc analysis and state cyclists would have done better had they done something else. For example, I remembered when the state of the art idea was that Contador's main weakness was endurance, but every DS and cyclists around the world were dumb enough not to use that kryptonite against him. Until that long hard stage at the Tour de France arrived and it was raced really hard from halfway to go (sorry for the lack of proper references; I have the memory skills of a goldfish, but somebody could give me a hand). Of course, a lot of forum members were right and Contador was beaten awfully... Just kidding; he smoked the field by far.

I can say they should have tried to attack at Sella di Roa and use their endurance skills to put Hesjedal and Rodríguez in trouble. Reality and logic don't work that way, tho. They worked hard, they did their best, but it wasn't enough because, you know, Hesjedal has legs too. It is as simple as that.

 

[dlwssonic]

I think so to. Basso does not look as good based on today. on s17 i thought maybe he is holding back a bit, think i was wrong.

I am still waiting for the 2010 giro basso. Don't think it will ever be back.

 

[roundabout]

Looks like the 34:44 group at the finish are the ones who were 15:50 behind at the first passage of the finish line.

 

[mr. tibbs]

In theory, you'd have to assume that Hesjedal should be weaker in a real endurance ride. But on the other hand, it was him putting his support riders on the front at the bottom of the final climb because it was too slow. I suspect that this might have demoralised Basso and Scarponi a bit and discouraged them from ramping it up early on the climb.

Ah, you're right. It is just theorizing. That final part of your post was my thinking when Garmin took over: Hesjedal telling the others he was feeling good.

But I do still think that he was only that strong because of the pace over the final climbs. If Scarponi, Basso, et al had been on the fron for the last climb, setting a fast, steady pace with maybe one or two accelerations that kicked out everyone but the top five or six, then we may have seen a different Hesjedal at the end. I do feel that the climbers have more endurance in the mountains over the long run than Hesjedal, but they have to make that strength known over a longer distance.

 

[dlwssonic]

Phinney is safe, he seems good for the final TT.

 

[Eshnar]

only good side of this stage is that Liquigas failed so hard they'll have to do something on Mortirolo tomorrow.
Strongest team:
no wins
not even GC podium.

Congratulations guys.