Stage 20: Saturday May 26th, Caldes/Val di Sole - Passo dello Stelvio 219km

[will10]

Let's just say I'd never put a bet on EBH winning a real classic.

Thomas was sixth on Alpe Dhuez and fourth in the time trial. That shows he was still fresh in the third week. You know why he sucked in the first two weeks of the Tour? He crashed badly, but didn't give up.

This year he missed out on the echelon stage of Paris-Nice, so he decided to forget about GC and target a stage win again. And he was quite successful at that.

He dropped out in Catalunya because of the bad weather. As did most others. Or do you think Albasini is a great climber or something?

At Tour de Suisse he won a mountain stage. Yes, it was from a break-away, but he held off Andy Schleck. He proved it wasn't a fluke at the Tour that year. He can climb AND time trial.

Is his performance a surprise? Yes, it is. Is it an as big surprise as Froome? HELL NO.

Agree with all of this

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Seems i missed something big today (to be noted, the only big thing in this giro), b/c i was enjoying the sun. Anyway. Great outcome. As i wished yesterday, somebody should attack today to keep the italian cowards (outside Cunego) off 1st and 2nd on CG. Man, this is awesome. As predicted it happened as i wished for. Especially i like my Cunego prediction.
In the end it´s even better. The italian cowards may even won´t make the podium. I am very very satisfied.

 

[Red Rick]

Major props to Cunego for attacking throughout the giro, and it should net him at least a top 6 while really only having the legs for a top 15 position. Just goes to show you that being creative with your cycling can take you a long way.

+ 100. I really liked the way he rode. He wasn't in his best shape, last year he was much stronger in the Tour, but he took every half opportunity he got. That thing now pays of big time

 

[burning]

+ 100. I really liked the way he rode. He wasn't in his best shape, last year he was much stronger in the Tour, but he took every half opportunity he got. That thing now pays of big time

I'm pretty sure that Scarponi didnt like how he rode although us spectators enjoyed it

 

[jsem94]

My wild prediction: Cav to take points jersey in tomorrow's TT.

 

[Parrulo]

Agree with all of this

same for me, very good post by el pisti

 

[SafeBet]

I'm pretty sure that Scarponi didnt like how he rode although us spectators enjoyed it

Whatever. After his mediocre performance throughout the Giro, he can't say anything.

 

[hughmoore]

I really enjoyed last nights stage, thought it was great, been supporting Ryder and loved the worked he and his team did.

Great ride by De Gent, fantastic work by Ryders teammates on the front keeping the pace high.

Not sure why Cunego didnt drop back to help his team mate, its a team sport isnt it?


Hugh

 

[Caruut]

I really enjoyed last nights stage, thought it was great, been supporting Ryder and loved the worked he and his team did.

Great ride by De Gent, fantastic work by Ryders teammates on the front keeping the pace high.

Not sure why Cunego didnt drop back to help his team mate, its a team sport isnt it?


Hugh

What on earth had Scarponi done over the past 3 weeks to suggest that he deserved Cunego's help? Where did he need Cunego, too? His race strategy relied on Ryder having to pull and cracking - having Cunego up the road is then actually good for Scarponi. It gives Ryder something to chase and Scarponi an excuse not to.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Have just seen the replay on ESP. What a ride by De Gendt. I loved it. Cunego too, hats up. And tomorrow i´ll love it when JRod drops off. This guy wasted his chances on the stage where the riders went on "strike". Plus attacking always just 1 km from finish every time, knowing you are not a TT´ler, deserves to lose the giro on the last day... Scarponi did nothing in three weeks. That´s right Caruut. I´ll love that that too, when he loses the podium to De Gendt.... Just remind you all: The "Sports gods" favour the bold. Nice, nice, nice!

 

[hrotha]

I'm a bit bummed because if Cunego had planned his season around this Giro he would have probably won. In fact, I think I'm going to use Ulissi as a scapegoat. Yep, that'll do.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

At least we got what we wanted. Revenge for the BS racing of 3 weeks. You shall be happy now. Everything worked out as discussed yesterday.

P.S.: So much of long range attacks don´t work anymore...

 

[Caruut]

Jodríguez did what he could but wasn't strong enough - for that reason he deserves to lose. Hesjedal did just about enough, despite the team car's best efforts to lose the race. Scarponi and Basso rode for three weeks in a manner which could certainly be interpreted as lacking respect for the other contenders. They showed little willingness to make it into a race or force a selection (as diesels like them are required to do), and rode as if they just expected everyone else to melt away and the race to go according to the PR script.

 

[cineteq]

I'm a bit bummed because if Cunego had planned his season around this Giro he would have probably won. In fact, I think I'm going to use Ulissi as a scapegoat. Yep, that'll do.

Cunego was my pick to win it all, but few stages into the Giro it was apparent that the only protected Lampre rider was Scarponi

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Jodríguez did what he could but wasn't strong enough - for that reason he deserves to lose. Hesjedal did just about enough, despite the team car's best efforts to lose the race. Scarponi and Basso rode for three weeks in a manner which could certainly be interpreted as lacking respect for the other contenders. They showed little willingness to make it into a race or force a selection (as diesels like them are required to do), and rode as if they just expected everyone else to melt away and the race to go according to the PR script.

JRod almost always got at least 20/30 (?) seconds to the italians in the last km. So if he started just a little earlier he´d be in a better position. But the worst part was being on strike on the stage that suited him to gain more seconds. He really deserves to lose the giro, since he (& his counterparts of course) wasted one evening for all of us.

"despite the team car's best efforts to lose the race"... love that one, so i leave it uncommented. Anyway, Hesjedal deserves the win. He was the most active of the contenders, he gave it all.

Yop, Scarponi and Basso.... I am still really annoyed. Thanks god they are out of contention. Especially i love that the Szmyd-destroy-all-stages-train worked out... not at all.

Yes, yes, the PR-Script didn´t work out for the italians (again, i am not at all criticising Cunego here, but the other pretenders). Juhu.

 

[Caruut]

JRod almost always got at least 20/30 (?) seconds to the italians in the last km. So if he started just a little earlier he´d be in a better position. But the worst part was being on strike on the stage that suited him to gain more seconds. He really deserves to lose the giro, since he (& his counterparts of course) wasted one evening for all of us.

"despite the team car's best efforts to lose the race"... love that one, so i leave it uncommented. Anyway, Hesjedal deserves the win. He was the most active of the contenders, he gave it all.

Yop, Scarponi and Basso.... I am still really annoyed. Thanks god they are out of contention. Especially i love that the Szmyd-destroy-all-stages-train worked out... not at all.

Yes, yes, the PR-Script didn´t work out for the italians (again, i am not at all criticising Cunego here, but the other pretenders). Juhu.

I'm not sure about the idea that Rodríguez should have gone earlier. He has built a career out of being able to hang onto people and then race the last 1-2km really fast - I'd say I more or less trust his judgement on when to go. If he goes earlier he risks having two useless cartons of lactic acid instead of a pair of legs.

Very happy that after all the work they did to prevent anything happening, Liquigas failed. Would have been a disaster if other teams started trying to emulate it.

I didn't mean Cunego either - but I don't think he was part of the PR script. Pozzovivo neither - I was rooting for him, but at the end of the day, he's just no quite GT winning material. Would have been nice to see him going a bit earlier, but since I wasn't expecting him to hang with the favourites so often anyway, I can hardly complain.

Still, tomorrow the win is going to either De Gendt or Hesjedal and either would be a worthy winner. Hesjedal has been the strongest over the 3 weeks, and De Gendt has been the ballsiest. Hope it goes to De Gendt, but it's nice that either will deserve the win should they get it.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

I'm not sure about the idea that Rodríguez should have gone earlier. He has built a career out of being able to hang onto people and then race the last 1-2km really fast - I'd say I more or less trust his judgement on when to go. If he goes earlier he risks having two useless cartons of lactic acid instead of a pair of legs.

Very happy that after all the work they did to prevent anything happening, Liquigas failed. Would have been a disaster if other teams started trying to emulate it.

I didn't mean Cunego either - but I don't think he was part of the PR script. Pozzovivo neither - I was rooting for him, but at the end of the day, he's just no quite GT winning material. Would have been nice to see him going a bit earlier, but since I wasn't expecting him to hang with the favourites so often anyway, I can hardly complain.

Still, tomorrow the win is going to either De Gendt or Hesjedal and either would be a worthy winner. Hesjedal has been the strongest over the 3 weeks, and De Gendt has been the ballsiest. Hope it goes to De Gendt, but it's nice that either will deserve the win should they get it.

Even his DS said JRod should have gone earlier. Just read about it now. It seems he lacks confidence here. I mean it´s the first time ever that i heared a DS was more willing to take risks than his rider/player (i count all sports).

Pretty much agree 100% with everything else on your post. 1+

 

[greenedge]

An epic stage. Where the hell did De Gendts' performance come from? I have always liked him as a rider but never in my wildest dreams could i envisage this.
Nice ride by Scarponi and JROD but too little, too late.
Cunego moved up to 6th on GC but he should have worked for Scarponi.
Hesjedal has this wrapped up i think.

I am peeved at Basso failing.

 

[cineteq]

Hesjedal has been the strongest over the 3 weeks, and De Gendt has been the ballsiest. Hope it goes to De Gendt, but it's nice that either will deserve the win should they get it.

Even though I like De Gendt, he doesn't deserve to win the Giro. He's advantage today was a product of team tactics. If he wins, it will be a good lesson for Garmin and JV. They should have taken a hint from BMC's Evans memorable performance on last year's TdF stage 18.

 

[cineteq]

Even his DS said JRod should have gone earlier. Just read about it now. It seems he lacks confidence here. I mean it´s the first time ever that i heared a DS was more willing to take risks than his rider/player (i count all sports).

Confidence? Pure BS. The rider always knows better what his limitations are, and that should never be questioned...unless that rider is called Rujano

 

[Caruut]

An epic stage. Where the hell did De Gendts' performance come from? I have always liked him as a rider but never in my wildest dreams could i envisage this.
Nice ride by Scarponi and JROD but too little, too late.
Cunego moved up to 6th on GC but he should have worked for Scarponi.
Hesjedal has this wrapped up i think.

I am peeved at Basso failing.

What should he have done for Scarponi? Sit in the wheels beside him? Stay back when he attacked with a few km to go? Even though he was riding for himself (as a rider of his calibre should have the right to sometimes), his ride today helped Scarponi more than being there to hold hands would have. By being up the road, he not only absolved Scarponi of any chasing duties, but also forced Ryder to work, which was the only way Scarponi was going to beat him.

Does anyone know when Cunego's contract runs 'til? He deserves better than he's had this Giro, I think.

 

[Afrank]

Scarponi and Basso rode for three weeks in a manner which could certainly be interpreted as lacking respect for the other contenders. They showed little willingness to make it into a race or force a selection (as diesels like them are required to do), and rode as if they just expected everyone else to melt away and the race to go according to the PR script.

Agree with this, aside from a couple attacks from Scarponi (which didn't do anything) they basically just sucked other peoples wheels and rode tempo. Liquigas in my opinion should have sent Nibali instead of Basso, I don't see Basso being a real grand tour contendor anymore. And at least Nibali would have made it a race.

 

[Caruut]

Even though I like De Gendt, he doesn't deserve to win the Giro. He's advantage today was a product of team tactics. If he wins, it will be a good lesson for Garmin and JV. They should have taken a hint from BMC's Evans memorable performance on last year's TdF stage 18.

Maybe not in your opinion. He was by far the bravest, and to me that counts for a lot. One team getting their tactics right and the other getting them wrong has a lot to do with who "deserves" the win, in my book.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Hesjedal has been the strongest over the 3 weeks, and De Gendt has been the ballsiest.

Well, i don't necessarilly agree. De Gendt lost over one minute in the TTT. He also lost time because he had a flat tire the final 2 kilometres of the first mountain stage and finished on the rim of his wheel. He came unprepared yet lost very little time on the contenders in the previous mountain stages. So stronger because he took 3 times 1 minute on De Gendt instead of 1 time 3 minutes?

Even though I like De Gendt, he doesn't deserve to win the Giro. He's advantage today was a product of team tactics. If he wins, it will be a good lesson for Garmin and JV. They should have taken a hint from BMC's Evans memorable performance on last year's TdF stage 18.

Oh? Dropping Cunego & Nieve on the final climb was "tactics"? Actually GAINING time on the favorites on the final climb is "tactics"? (Not talking about what happened in the valley). And he still needs to take nearly two minutes in the ITT if he wants to win. And if he does that, you want to tell me he didn't deserve it? Read the first part of this post as well.

Also, people need to stop pretending like he took back 20 minutes because they handed it to him. He took back 3 and a half minutes and had to work for it, though he was helped by the circumstances. But if those 3 and a half minutes put him within sight of overall victory, surely that indicates he wasn't trailing by much over the course of 3 weeks. It also indicates the other contenders were either too stupid or too weak to do anything about it.

 

[The Hitch]

For those who say the pace of this Giro was low, what about those good riders who underperformed. Gadret, Basso, Scarponi to a lesser extent Dupont. szmyd.

Kreuziger may not be a top gt contender but is someone like him going to lose 30 on a stage if the pace is so low?