STAGE15: Cesana Torinese - Col Du Galibier (Valloire) 149 kms

[Bobby G]

Gesink is definitely over, I've got to finally agree with Ryo Hazuki there. In GTs he's a domestique at best. Props to Visconti, lame stage otherwise.

This is the confirmation. All other's have had reasoning/excuses i.e. crashed a plenty at the past 2 Tours, short recovery time at last years Vuelta (in fact that was reasonably encouraging), but this year, save for the cold, there is no excuse. He's prepped for this, been kept safe and is struggling to finish top 15/20 on mountain stages.

The other thing is Kruijswijk & Mollema. Kruijswijk looked like the real thing a few years ago and has plateud, if not fallen off a touch. Less was expected of Mollema from a GT point of view, but it'll be insteresting to see if he can assume the mantle. I would assume he'll lead at the Tour this year, albeit it with little in the way of support.

You do fear for the latest off the production line. Slagter and Kelderman have shown great promise and next year is the one where they both need to kick on.

 

[hfer07]

Spaniard for Quigley.

What an A$$hole Quingley is....just unbearable

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Certainly would need some hard work, but throw in the possibility of the autobus coming in OOT on the Tre Cime stage and it's less far-fetched. That's why Farrar quit the race in 2010, because the -25 points meant he had no chance any longer of holding off Evans.

(I consider that a better possibility to consider than a crash in a bunch sprint taking out Cavendish, especially as he's so far seemed better placed by his train than he was last year when we got situations like the Ferrari sideswipe).

I already prefaced this entire point by noting it relies on Cav making the time limit, and winning the final stage. If he's not involved Betancur is probably equal favourite with Cadel and Mauro, but coming from slightly further back, the other 2 have more chance of catching Cav.

 

[Bala Verde]

Seriously cant you just shush Bala verde why the hate every post bla bla blanco fail, it is as if your trying to get people riled. Gesink was the only guy who made this stage worth watching.

Lol. Dumb tactics are dumb. Nothing to do with hate.

Gesink doesn't ride to entertain us for 5km. If he wants to entertain us he should win or get close to winning. His attempt was premature and stupid, and perhaps some bad luck because no one worked with him.

Wait till the last climb and give it all, a la Sanchez/Kelderman much higher succes rate. He as a GC man should know the last climb is where it usually explodes. Try to sit in the slipstream and instigate the attack, hoping they will let you go. With 4m down they might have. Attacking 30k out and they will keep you on a tight leash or let you swim and sink.

 

[jens_attacks]

rai guys now hypping how much they can the epicness of the stage and the great duel majka-betancur lol

years ago you got pantani-tonkov,simoni-basso,di luca-menchov and look at it now lol

una tappa epica my asz

 

[Zam_Olyas]

rai guys now hypping how much they can the epicness of the stage and the great duel majka-betancur lol

years ago you got pantani-tonkov,simoni-basso,di luca-menchov and look at it now lol

una tappa epica my asz

Eurosport Quigley was hyping it up too.

 

[LaFlorecita]

the slow tempo on cenis really deserved to happen so we all could see the ballistic pace on galibier...oh wait

the weather neutralized the race but it's pretty clear that there aren't campionissimi around who can explode a race in such conditions


visconti was awesome though. heroic ride

the bunch sprint up the galibier not so much

Jens attacks again spot on. The weather wasn't great but it seemed like the GC men were happy with Nibali in pink

 

[TANK91]

As David Harmon been sacked, because Quigley sucks

 

[Cyivel]

As David Harmon been sacked, because Quigley sucks

No he is working on other projects including a new love in his life, back for Tour.

 

[vcampbell]

rai guys now hypping how much they can the epicness of the stage and the great duel majka-betancur lol

I'm a Majka fan, but today he attacked once Betancur caught him, they stopped. From 1 km to go Betancur attacked, Majka caught him, then they sucked Duartes wheel. Unforgettable duel...

 

[brilleaben]

I miss the Sky train

 

[The Hitch]

You're assuming no breakaways get away and Betancur consistently being one of the top 5 climbers + having the benefit of not being taken seriously by the really top guys.

It could happen, but you can't seriously pretend it wouldn't be a surprise. The current best price someone is willing to stake on him at betfair is 40s, so it seems people willing to put their money where their mouth is would agree.

Im not assuming anything. I never said he would win it, i was just wondering aloud whether his 4 podiums so far had put him up there in the competition.

Looking at the numbers posted it seems they have not done that much for him and he doesn't have much of a chance.

 

[theyoungest]

Lol. Dumb tactics are dumb. Nothing to do with hate.

Gesink doesn't ride to entertain us for 5km. If he wants to entertain us he should win or get close to winning. His attempt was premature and stupid, and perhaps some bad luck because no one worked with him.

Wait till the last climb and give it all, a la Sanchez/Kelderman much higher succes rate. He as a GC man should know the last climb is where it usually explodes. Try to sit in the slipstream and instigate the attack, hoping they will let you go. With 4m down they might have. Attacking 30k out and they will keep you on a tight leash or let you swim and sink.

The problem is, Gesink himself seems to search desperately for the 'old' Gesink, and that was a guy whose diesel got turned on about halfway through a climb, and could just go on and on and on where others slipped away. This makes an early attack worthwhile. But he's not that rider anymore, the diesel doesn't switch on and he fades away.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Im not assuming anything. I never said he would win it, i was just wondering aloud whether his 4 podiums so far had put him up there in the competition.

Looking at the numbers posted it seems they have not done that much for him and he doesn't have much of a chance.

Apols, thought the placings you posted were predictions for the remaining stages (because he would need to basically duplicate them in the remaining stages to get the job done).

 

[hfer07]

rai guys now hypping how much they can the epicness of the stage and the great duel majka-betancur lol

years ago you got pantani-tonkov,simoni-basso,di luca-menchov and look at it now lol

una tappa epica my asz

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

I'm a Majka fan, but today he attacked once Betancur caught him, they stopped. From 1 km to go Betancur attacked, Majka caught him, then they sucked Duartes wheel. Unforgettable duel...

Betancur actually almost came to a standstill once. Personally I think they were all very exausted. Usually Betancur doesn't do half hearted attacks. Today they just padeled away from the other GC contenders a bit being, not being followed.

 

[jens_attacks]

grupetto at 28 minutes

and with cenis neutralized

 

[movingtarget]

I don't expect every mountain stage to be great. The GC guys realised that no one was going to be allowed to get a good break. Sky were pretty anonomous but it was one of those stages. Quite a lot happened but the end result wasn't meaningful. Pozovivo lost some time. Great ride by Visentini. The constant cold wouldn't be helping and it seemed pretty windy on the Galibier.

 

[boladelmundo]

rai guys now hypping how much they can the epicness of the stage and the great duel majka-betancur lol

They are still young and you have, let's say, two of several most promising GC talents in this year's Giro, chasing that white jersey, it is more exciting than seeing Cadel-wheel-sucking-I-will-follow-you-forever-Evans for sure....

 

[Hugo87]

Respect for Visconti, he did very well in this tough conditions.

Betancur another honorable 2nd place, it's becoming predictable but in the end was a boring stage, GC contenders are afraid of Nibali and can't launch notable attacks to disrupt the race.

Weening no gas in the tank.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Blanco circus day out. Add Lotto to that too. What a joke.

Nice for Visconti though.

Bbbbboring.

 

[KarottenKarl]

Time limit

What will be the t limit?

 

[argyllflyer]

As David Harmon been sacked, because Quigley sucks

As said already above, DH is scaling back his commentary but will do TdF.

He seems to have told Eurosport quite suddenly and they had no real contingency plan.

Carlton Kirby is the obvious Number 2 commentator at Eurosport as if there are two races on, DH does one and him the other. However, Carlton has an agreement to cover all RCS Sport races with English commentary, through the company that Anthony McCrossan and Dan Loyd work run, Cyclevox. That means CK can't do any Italian races for Eurosport unless they take the international feed.

Anthony McCrossan is another who gets a regular gig on Eurosport, but he often works in the Italian races at the finish line.

Rob Hatch had 4 prior arrangements lined up so couldn't do the Giro.

All left after that was DQ and Jonathan Harris-Bass who's doing Tour of Norway this week.

 

[the asian]

What an A$$hole Quingley is....just unbearable

Complain to him on Twitter. He usually responds and corrects his mistakes.

 

[Hugo87]

What will be the t limit?

They all should go home, this shouldn't be faced like a cyclotourism course, they just rode 60/70 km at the normal pace and manage to drop 28 minutes, shameful.