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

[Waterloo Sunrise]

PS: Ryo, why are Sky's Colombians so thoroughly tamed.

Presumably they took 1 look at Rujano's career and decided it was best to do as they're told.

 

[Red Rick]

^^
I'm quite satisfied I didn't see one single post in any italian forum claiming this is a good Giro (or single stage).

The dutch at Wielerflits were also very disappointed, so

Faith in humanity restored

 

[roundabout]

Nice. Good group and they appear to have got the gap. 1'-45" should now see them go clear.

Back to the "negative" Giro speak.

Take today: We all think the Mortirolo is the place to attack, right?
So, which is better. Put another big climb in before it and finish in Aprica,
or follow it with the Stelvio?
I know which I think is the more likely to trigger the early action we all desire.

Business men know a lot about business, but not a lot about designing great GT courses.

Simply putting Mortirolo at 50 to go is asking for less action.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/giro08/?id=stages/giro0820

Shame this forum wasn't around in 2008.

 

[LaFleur]

The gap has gone down 30 secs in a short time.. someone clearly wants to take this break back ASAP.

 

[Red Rick]

Somebody in the clinic came up with a pic of the top of the stelvio, seems like there's massive tailwind on the stelvio. That would mean carnage

 

[SafeBet]

Finally, we might get a strong breakaway. And Caruso moving - maybe Liquigas will have woken up. Then again, I guess it's more likely they told him to do his thing since Basso simply can't win.

I think so too.
But that's good for Caurso, he'll have a chance to test himself.

 

[Red Rick]

Nice. Good group and they appear to have got the gap. 1'-45" should now see them go clear.

Back to the "negative" Giro speak.

Take today: We all think the Mortirolo is the place to attack, right?
So, which is better. Put another big climb in before it and finish in Aprica,
or follow it with the Stelvio?
I know which I think is the more likely to trigger the early action we all desire.

Business men know a lot about business, but not a lot about designing great GT courses.

True, they could do the last stage of the 2008 Giro, without descending the aprica

 

[SafeBet]

Nice breakaway: Slagter, Kreuziger, Denifl, Zaugg, Caruso, Samoilau, Kristoff, Vandevelde, Rabottini, Frank, Serpa, Perget and Bono.

Amador and Clement also in.

 

[Mellow Velo]

RAI already showing the race live, with 147 kms to go.........

 

[Eshnar]

Simply putting Mortirolo at 50 to go is asking for less action.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/giro08/?id=stages/giro0820

Shame this forum wasn't around in 2008.

yes instead at 40 kms to go is epic
That one was the worse Mortirolo ever, but it wasn't due to those 10 kms of distance more (that was just the descent of Aprica, btw). It was just the situation of the race, been straight after the stage to Monte Pora, the best raced of that Giro.

 

[FjPavels]

RAI already showing the race live, with 147 kms to go.........

I guess someone will ask for a stream soon so http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/dirette/...8ed-8e0a-3d8afe7c5f8f.html?channel=RaiSport 2

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Slagter is going to do a "Garate-action" today, for sure: Preventing this Grand Tour to become a totale failure for Rabobank by winning the last mountain stage on a legendary climb!

Irony i hope? The guy is yet to turn 23. That means he is nearly 10 years away from his top form. He made himself be seen, is riding top 30, a massive improvement over his previous GT.

EDIT: sorry, misread your post. You said "this" and not "his"...

 

[hrotha]

The dutch at Wielerflits were also very disappointed, so

Faith in humanity restored

Foro de Ciclismo is overwhelmingly negative about this Giro too. Pictures like this are a hit over there:

 

[roundabout]

yes instead at 40 kms to go is epic
That one was the worse Mortirolo ever, but it wasn't due to those 10 kms of distance more (that was just the descent of Aprica, btw). It was just the situation of the race, been straight after the stage to Monte Pora, the best raced of that Giro.

There were, what, 11 people within 90 seconds over the Mortirolo back then? 8 or 9 within 40?

A climb like this after a long and difficult stage the day before should have caused bigger selection.

 

[Eshnar]

Foro de Ciclismo is overwhelmingly negative about this Giro. Pictures like this are a hit over there:

It's because they know about cycling. I know that forum, quite a good one.

 

[airstream]

yes instead at 40 kms to go is epic
That one was the worse Mortirolo ever, but it wasn't due to those 10 kms of distance more (that was just the descent of Aprica, btw). It was just the situation of the race, been straight after the stage to Monte Pora, the best raced of that Giro.

since today we will remember that mortirolo with nostalgy

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

But to say the race we're seeing has been *good*? That's got to be trolling or something.
(

That´s indeed ridiculous. Seems it´s the first GT for those kids watching. The new cycling attracks new people. We are the scapegoats. What a shame.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Somebody in the clinic came up with a pic of the top of the stelvio, seems like there's massive tailwind on the stelvio. That would mean carnage

Hopefully that´s real and not just wishful thinking

 

[Eshnar]

There were, what, 11 people within 90 seconds over the Mortirolo back then? 8 or 9 within 40?

A climb like this after a long and difficult stage the day before should have caused bigger selection.

AC was in charge and had no interest in upping the pace. Di Luca cracked after the effort of the day before and Riccò was afraid of attacking and having to ride Aprica all alone against a relatively large group.

 

[greenedge]

One of Basso, Scarponi, Hesjedal, JROD or Pozzovivo to win.

I am hoping for Basso so he can cement a solid 2nd place.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Quickstep driver just yelled to us, saying a TV helicopter was flying too low and blew a big rock off the cliff into top of their car. Ouch. (James Huang tweet from a service car)

Ouch indeed

 

[Dutchsmurf]

But to say the race we're seeing has been *good*? That's got to be trolling or something.

It sure hasn't been the best racing ever, I can give you that. But it certainly hasn't been pathetic either. With this set of riders it is the best we could hope for. You can put the most hard stages in a Giro, but it still is the riders making the race. And when the strongest riders are mostly diesels, you get boring racing. We shouldn't however been blaming that on those riders. We should blame the importance of the Tour and the selections made by the managers. Because that is what causes the weak field.

 

[Lanark]

Oh man, the 2008 Mortirolo, I still have nightmares of that stage's boredom. The day before was absolutely epic, tons of cojones by Di Luca (can't really stand the guy, but man did he make most Giro's epic), Ricco strong behind that, and Contador seemed to really crack in the end. You would expect a full-out battle the next day, but absolutely nothing happened.

I agree that it's possible that there's too much terrain between the Mortirolo and the foot of the Stelvio, but I don't really mind that they're trying something new. We've seen the Mortirolo/Aprica combo enough, maybe it'll turn out great today (I know, I know, with this Giro, every stage is more boring than even a cynic could expect, but there's still hope, even if it's just a fool's hope )

 

[Eshnar]

It sure hasn't been the best racing ever, I can give you that. But it certainly hasn't been pathetic either. With this set of riders it is the best we could hope for. You can put the most hard stages in a Giro, but it still is the riders making the race. And when the strongest riders are mostly diesels, you get boring racing. We shouldn't however been blaming that on those riders. We should blame the importance of the Tour and the selections made by the managers. Because that is what causes the weak field.

The "diesel" Basso still made the 2010 Giro one of the best ever.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

It sure hasn't been the best racing ever, I can give you that. But it certainly hasn't been pathetic either. With this set of riders it is the best we could hope for. You can put the most hard stages in a Giro, but it still is the riders making the race. And when the strongest riders are mostly diesels, you get boring racing. We shouldn't however been blaming that on those riders. We should blame the importance of the Tour and the selections made by the managers. Because that is what causes the weak field.

Not true. TdF´s indeed are more boring than the giro´s (outside of 2012, of course). It´s not (only) the riders, but the race designs and the computerized DS´s. I tought that should be clear by now.