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LaFlorecita said:I'm seeing many people who still consider Dumoulin the favorite as they expect Yates to falter (I don't).
Personally in that case I'd have to consider Pozzovivo and Pinot as well, as from what I've seen I think they could potentially gain back their TT losses in the final mountain stages.
Dumo really has to ride a magnificent TT and hope his form gets just a little better... if Yates gets worse, even better for him but if Pinot, Pozzovivo, Superman and even Carapaz start attacking him Dumo could be in trouble.
LaFlorecita said:I'm seeing many people who still consider Dumoulin the favorite as they expect Yates to falter (I don't).
Personally in that case I'd have to consider Pozzovivo and Pinot as well, as from what I've seen I think they could potentially gain back their TT losses in the final mountain stages.
Dumo really has to ride a magnificent TT and hope his form gets just a little better... if Yates gets worse, even better for him but if Pinot, Pozzovivo, Superman and even Carapaz start attacking him Dumo could be in trouble.
This is really lame; he should take responsibility for his own actions. If it would have been quicker to ride by himself then he should have done that. He's the only one of them that has any realistic chance of catching Yates, but instead of focusing solely on that, he was too concerned about the podium battle.Dekker_Tifosi said:Oh well, in the end it doesn't matter anyway, because we were f*cking around in the pursuit. I think would have lost far less time on my own. But because of the bullshitting of others I lose more time today. Pinot did some turns. Pozzovivo did a few weak turns, but that was it. But I get them, it's normal. That is racing and that makes the race nice.
"
Yeah, there are definitely echoes of last year's 'Big Mouth Tom'. I'm guessing he's still adjusting to being one of the big favourites and the burden/responsibilites that come with that. Most riders just aren't going to co-operate with him in many situations - particularly when there is still a big TT to come in the race.roundabout said:Fantastic?
Sounds like he is reverting to his last year's self. He is the best time trialist and the closest on GC in the group so he really should have done more sooner if he really thinks that he would have been faster by himself.
I see what you're getting at and you're right, but he said that on the penultimate climb he went too deep and had to recover a bit so he hoped there would be some help from the others, but he doesn't blame them for f*cking around. Although he said with a smile on his face that him coming back to the group was due to them f*cking around as well without him.DFA123 said:This is really lame; he should take responsibility for his own actions. If it would have been quicker to ride by himself then he should have done that. He's the only one of them that has any realistic chance of catching Yates, but instead of focusing solely on that, he was too concerned about the podium battle.Dekker_Tifosi said:Oh well, in the end it doesn't matter anyway, because we were f*cking around in the pursuit. I think would have lost far less time on my own. But because of the bullshitting of others I lose more time today. Pinot did some turns. Pozzovivo did a few weak turns, but that was it. But I get them, it's normal. That is racing and that makes the race nice.
"
Dekker_Tifosi said:He's reacting is fantastic once again.
Oh well, in the end it doesn't matter anyway, because we were f*cking around in the pursuit. I think would have lost far less time on my own. But because of the bullshitting of others I lose more time today. Pinot did some turns. Pozzovivo did a few weak turns, but that was it. But I get them, it's normal. That is racing and that makes the race nice."
Dekker_Tifosi said:He's reacting is fantastic once again.
"Yates says I can close the two minutes gap in the time trial? I really couldn't care less at the moment. I'm totally done today. I had to go so deep on the climb Yates attacked to stay with the others fout..
Oh well, in the end it doesn't matter anyway, because we were f*cking around in the pursuit. I think would have lost far less time on my own. But because of the bullshitting of others I lose more time today. Pinot did some turns. Pozzovivo did a few weak turns, but that was it. But I get them, it's normal. That is racing and that makes the race nice.
It was my job to adapt my tactics and that's what I did. When they started attacking I just rode my time trial to the finish, that's why I came back to them in the end. But there was nothing I could do about Yates. He was far and away the strongest.
He attacked so hard. It was insane. I didn't even think for a fraction to follow that attack. To win the Giro something crazy must happen now. I always said I will keep on fighting and I'm certainly going to do that. But first there's a restday and then we'll see."
Dekker_Tifosi said:He's reacting is fantastic once again.
"Yates says I can close the two minutes gap in the time trial? I really couldn't care less at the moment. I'm totally done today. I had to go so deep on the climb Yates attacked to stay with the others fout..
Oh well, in the end it doesn't matter anyway, because we were f*cking around in the pursuit. I think would have lost far less time on my own. But because of the bullshitting of others I lose more time today. Pinot did some turns. Pozzovivo did a few weak turns, but that was it. But I get them, it's normal. That is racing and that makes the race nice.
It was my job to adapt my tactics and that's what I did. When they started attacking I just rode my time trial to the finish, that's why I came back to them in the end. But there was nothing I could do about Yates. He was far and away the strongest.
He attacked so hard. It was insane. I didn't even think for a fraction to follow that attack. To win the Giro something crazy must happen now. I always said I will keep on fighting and I'm certainly going to do that. But first there's a restday and then we'll see."