Author Topic: giro d'italia 2012 (Read 12203 times)

Honest John · « **Reply #75 on:** 17 May, 2012, 12:41:26 pm »

Quote from: citoyen on 17 May, 2012, 11:12:08 am

Cav had it sewn up, so I was a bit confused when he seemed to ease off before the final bend.

....

Interesting to see him still make an effort though - in the past, he probably would have sat up and finished in the bunch, but he obviously realised that Goss was nowhere and the red jersey was up for grabs. Clever boy.

The way I saw it, Cav's train went too fast into the bend and had to slow to avoid the barrier, thus slowing Cav, while Ferrari got the line right (for a change!) and went through.

At least Cav had the presence of mind to still go for a high placing, as you said, so he's got the red jersey for now

Ivo · « **Reply #76 on:** 17 May, 2012, 03:08:15 pm »

Interesting interview with Valerio Piva (Teamdirector of Katusha) on the Belgian TV today. They are not prepared to defend the jersey to the utmost. A non-favourite may take the pink jersey, they won't chase any group, especially if no contender for the final classification is in that group. Question of not blowing their entire team before the real battle starts. The commentator later added that in a later stage the team which wil receive the pink jersey, as a sort of 'gift' from Katusha, could be asked to assist in any chases to defend/attack the pink jersey in the final week.

Justin(e) · « **Reply #77 on:** 19 May, 2012, 05:44:45 pm »

From cyclingnews.com

Quote

Amador, 25, had previously finished third on the Giro's 12th stage. The Costa Rican, who is now in his fourth year with Movistar, has ridden the Giro once before, and was second-to-last overall in last year's Tour de France.

He was the victim of a brutal attack whilst training in Costa Rica in January of 2011. His bike was stolen and he was severely beaten and left for dead in a river bed. However, he recovered quickly enough to ride in the Mallorca Challenge the next month

Well done son on winning stage 14.

citoyen · « **Reply #78 on:** 19 May, 2012, 06:56:19 pm »

Felt sorry for Barta, who deserved the win but looked totally baked by the end of the stage.

Chapeau to Amador, though, especially for his terrifyingly fearless descending. Don't think De Marchi was too impressed with the way he attacked on the final climb though - gave him proper evils.

Chapeau to Hesjedal too for giving us some proper racing at last! Looked like it was going to be a pretty uneventful day until the final 4km... what a thrilling finish that was.

d.

Nuncio · « **Reply #79 on:** 20 May, 2012, 07:36:31 pm »

That's two cracking days of racing.

I assume today's win was gifted.

citoyen · « **Reply #80 on:** 20 May, 2012, 07:57:45 pm »

Quote from: Nuncio on 20 May, 2012, 07:36:31 pm

I assume today's win was gifted.

Hard to say for sure but I didn't think so at the time - looked like J-Rod had genuinely burnt himself out.

Either way, justice was done.

d.

Rhys W · « **Reply #81 on:** 20 May, 2012, 09:31:59 pm »

It didn't look gifted, Rabotinni clearly wanted it more. I think he was quite lucky he got caught with only 400m to go, any further from the line and I don't think he could have stayed on the wheel for long enough. The best man won.

David Harmon mentioned yesterday that he'd heard Cavendish hadn't finished the stage - don't know where he got that from... Cav finished almost 35 minutes down today.

Nuncio · « **Reply #82 on:** 20 May, 2012, 09:48:50 pm »

Yes, I've watched it again and there was no indication of it. I just thought it impossible that he could have had enough energy left to do it. I noticed that he seemed to have pulled out his ear-piece so did he not know that Rodriguez was about to overtake him? He also looked round as he went passed to see if there was anyone else there with him.

citoyen · « **Reply #83 on:** 20 May, 2012, 10:53:50 pm »

Cav seems pretty determined to do the rainbow jersey justice and finish the Giro. And plenty of other people seem to want the world champion to finish too…

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ubw47P5dRs0&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Ubw47P5dRs0&rel=1</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/lyqYBcTUsP4&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/lyqYBcTUsP4&rel=1</a>

d.

Ivo · « **Reply #84 on:** 22 May, 2012, 09:36:47 pm »

Rabotinni did loose a bike on the way to his victory:

http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/MG_opvallend/1.1305094

David Martin · « **Reply #85 on:** 22 May, 2012, 11:05:46 pm »

I think the manager may be having words with that mechanic.. That is a fan who appears to have inherited about 7k of bike.

Karla · « **Reply #86 on:** 22 May, 2012, 11:29:13 pm »

So what do people think about Cav hanging in for the rest of the race? My feeling is that with Wiggins in such good form, Cav wants to win in Milan because he can see that the team starting in Liege in July will be focused on the GC rather than on the sprints.

Nuncio · « **Reply #87 on:** 23 May, 2012, 07:57:48 am »

I don’t think he’ll win in Milan as it’s an ITT stage but given that he’s been putting in the effort to pick up bonus points in intermediate sprints it looks like he intends to try and arrive there in the red jersey. Having the full set of grand tour points jerseys would be no little achievement – he’d only be the fifth, joining Merckx, Jalabert, Abdoujaparov and Petacchi. Whether he can survive the cut on some of the coming stages is one thing. Whether Rodriguez will pick up enough big points to overhaul him is another.

I assume he’ll mainly be on his own, or with a much reduced number of helpers in the Tour de France and if, after the first week, it doesn’t look like he has any chance of the green journey he’ll step off on a mountain somewhere. (But I know nothing)

citoyen · « **Reply #88 on:** 23 May, 2012, 10:00:02 am »

Tweeted last night:

"@MarkCavendish: The stage profile for tomorrow. Oh shit. http://pic.twitter.com/6Irzs4lN"

If he makes the cut over the next few days, then he truly deserves the jersey. If he makes it all the way to the end of the race, it would be a shame if Rodriguez nicked it off him.

d.

Nuncio · « **Reply #89 on:** 25 May, 2012, 08:44:14 am »

http://inrng.com/2012/05/giro-stage-19-preview/

Mouth-watering

Rainmaker · « **Reply #90 on:** 25 May, 2012, 08:46:03 am »

Has anyone seen any explanation of what happened to Schmidt (?) Basso's climbing domestic when he stopped at the bottom of the final climb on Wednesday's stage?

Nuncio · « **Reply #91 on:** 25 May, 2012, 11:51:46 am »

Sylvester Szmyd . No. It was rather odd wasn’t it? He’d just taken over duties at the start of the Giau and then almost came to a stop very suddenly but not quite, leaving Basso a bit exposed. Then a few minutes later he was still struggling and being passed by the next groups. What kind of mechanical would have caused that? It didn’t look like a puncture.

mcshroom · « **Reply #92 on:** 25 May, 2012, 11:54:13 am »

shifter/mech failure? Being stuck in a high gear could be very slow and painful

citoyen · « **Reply #93 on:** 25 May, 2012, 12:08:51 pm »

Quote from: Nuncio on 25 May, 2012, 11:51:46 am

leaving Basso a bit exposed.

Not that it seemed to make any difference to him, more's the pity.

Fingers crossed Cav will a) still be in the race by the end of today's stage, and b) still wearing the red jersey...

Also, fingers crossed for some proper racing before the final 4km.

d.

David Martin · « **Reply #94 on:** 25 May, 2012, 12:36:18 pm »

It will be touch and go for Cav for red - if he loses it by less than 5 points he will be really annoyed.

The points go 25 20 16 14 for the stage finish, so if JR has two fourth places or worse then Cav is in red. Will that happen? we wait and see.

citoyen · « **Reply #95 on:** 25 May, 2012, 01:14:48 pm »

I wouldn't want to bet against J-Rod winning either today's stage or tomorrow's. Maybe even both. And the way the race has gone so far, you'd expect him to finish in the top few places on both stages. So you have to say it's not looking good for Cav's chances, but fingers crossed, you never know...

Looks like hostilities are yet to commence on today's stage, but they're just about to hit the start of the first big climb...

d.

Nuncio · « **Reply #96 on:** 25 May, 2012, 01:22:51 pm »

Quote from: mcshroom on 25 May, 2012, 11:54:13 am

shifter/mech failure? Being stuck in a high gear could be very slow and painful

I don't think so because it was quite abrupt, and it didn't look as if he was 'grinding'.

Quote from: David Martin on 25 May, 2012, 12:36:18 pm

The points go 25 20 16 14 for the stage finish, so if JR has two fourth places or worse then Cav is in red.

Assuming neither gets points in the intermediates nor the ITT. A fairly safe assumption, I guess. No bonus seconds today nor tommorrow, so less incentive for Katusha/JR to chase down any escapees, should any survive for the finales.

Quote from: citoyen on 25 May, 2012, 12:08:51 pm

Not that it seemed to make any difference to him, more's the pity.

You really don't like him, do you. Is it 'cos of his, er, history?(Avoiding the D word)

Quote from: David Martin on 25 May, 2012, 12:36:18 pm

It will be touch and go for Cav for red - if he loses it by less than 5 points he will be really annoyed.

I think we saw a foretaste of that yesterday as he crossed the line. He really did seem unjustly annoyed with Guardini, but a later tweet confirmed he was angry with himself for kicking too late and letting down the team.

citoyen · « **Reply #97 on:** 25 May, 2012, 02:52:39 pm »

Quote from: Nuncio on 25 May, 2012, 01:22:51 pm

No bonus seconds today nor tommorrow

Do you know this for a fact? I heard there were bonus sprints on both stages but haven't seen any official information to corroborate it.

Quote

You really don't like him, do you. Is it 'cos of his, er, history?(Avoiding the D word)

I'm not sure, really. I think it's more that he's not an exciting rider to watch. Fair play to Liquigas, they've bossed this race, but it's not been pretty. Admittedly much the same tactics as Wiggins and Sky employed in the Vuelta last year but I have a pre-established allegiance to Wiggins that boring tactics can't shake.

Plus I'd rather have seen Nibali leading the team in this race.

d.

citoyen · « **Reply #98 on:** 25 May, 2012, 03:06:48 pm »

Szmyd's blown!

Karla · « **Reply #99 on:** 25 May, 2012, 03:43:03 pm »

Come on Casar!

For a little bit of Casar hagiography, let's recall the time when Sandy Casar ran over a dog in the Tour de France and still won the stage

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/8aBD1oLKpQ4&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/8aBD1oLKpQ4&rel=1</a>