Author Topic: Giro d'Italia  (Read 6272 times)

marcusjb

  • Full of bon courage.
Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #25 on: 18 May, 2014, 08:47:40 pm »
It's nice to know the Cannondale boys all dress to the left.  Bless.

Marginal gains - it counteracts the weight of the chainset being on the right.

No wonder I have such a small granny ring..... :'(
Right! What's next?

Ooooh. That sounds like a daft idea.  I am in!

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #26 on: 28 May, 2014, 11:34:10 am »
Stage 16 Ponte di Legno - Val Martello   Whether it was right or wrong to continue the original stage route under yesterday's conditions, it was certainly compelling TV.   It looked bit like some year's Brian Chapman event.
However I am at a loss to understand the tactics of Team Sky.   They had a rider alone at the head of the race (Cataldo) from the foot of the descent off the Stelvio until the start of the final climb, approximately 40 kms.   The only time a team car appeared was about the foot of the final climb.   Contrast that with Quintana in the chasing group, the Moviestar team car was in continual attendance over the same period, giving him sustenance at regular intervals.   Perhaps someone can offer an explanation? 
   

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #27 on: 30 May, 2014, 08:22:52 am »
Yes, I was surprised to see him passing his jacket to a neutral support car. I guess it was because of the difficulty of getting past riders all over the road on the tricky descent.  I wonder if the communications are affected by weather/altitude.  There appeared to be confusion all around.  Descent neutralized?  If so, what did that mean?  Was a red flag/beacon just a warning, or something that should not have been passed?

What a race for the Colombians! Quintana looks super-assured having hung-on in through illness and the results of a heavy fall through the first week-and-a-half. It looks as if he'll be a fixture in Grand Tours for years to come. I'd love to see him ride the Tour so that we could have two teams with internal rivalries - Valverde and Quintana, and Froome and Wiggins.  But I don't expect it will happen.

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #28 on: 30 May, 2014, 08:46:27 am »
Stage 16 Ponte di Legno - Val Martello   Whether it was right or wrong to continue the original stage route under yesterday's conditions, it was certainly compelling TV.   It looked bit like some year's Brian Chapman event.
However I am at a loss to understand the tactics of Team Sky.   They had a rider alone at the head of the race (Cataldo) from the foot of the descent off the Stelvio until the start of the final climb, approximately 40 kms.   The only time a team car appeared was about the foot of the final climb.   Contrast that with Quintana in the chasing group, the Moviestar team car was in continual attendance over the same period, giving him sustenance at regular intervals.   Perhaps someone can offer an explanation? 
 

No 1 team car usually stays with protected GC riders - hence Quintana has his car. Maybe Sky decided it wasn't a strategically important move and left it to the neutral service - common practice. No 2 team car was probably busy with the second group on the road, but probably wouldn't have got past all the groups to move up to the front in any case - even if the comms would let it.

It can also be difficult on some parcourses to get past a strangling group, and again the comms could then have said no.

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #29 on: 02 June, 2014, 01:19:51 pm »
Some wonderful photos from the final stages amongst this lot.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #30 on: 02 June, 2014, 07:22:46 pm »
 http://twitter.com/AigorGaldeano/status/472327802843570176/photo/1

I don't know why I find this so amusing, but ...
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #31 on: 02 June, 2014, 10:32:49 pm »
Stage 16 Ponte di Legno - Val Martello   Whether it was right or wrong to continue the original stage route under yesterday's conditions, it was certainly compelling TV.   It looked bit like some year's Brian Chapman event.
However I am at a loss to understand the tactics of Team Sky.   They had a rider alone at the head of the race (Cataldo) from the foot of the descent off the Stelvio until the start of the final climb, approximately 40 kms.   The only time a team car appeared was about the foot of the final climb.   Contrast that with Quintana in the chasing group, the Moviestar team car was in continual attendance over the same period, giving him sustenance at regular intervals.   Perhaps someone can offer an explanation? 
 


The foot of the final climb is the moment you want to kit such a rider out. He's a lonely outpost. His job will be to help his teamcaptain once the teampcaptain catches up with him. So he'll be kitted out with a few bottles and other stuff which he can hand to his teamcaptain. If you have a GC contender in your team and your well ahead as a non-climber in the mountains, you're simply an outpost to be used.
No 1 team car usually stays with protected GC riders - hence Quintana has his car. Maybe Sky decided it wasn't a strategically important move and left it to the neutral service - common practice. No 2 team car was probably busy with the second group on the road, but probably wouldn't have got past all the groups to move up to the front in any case - even if the comms would let it.

It can also be difficult on some parcourses to get past a strangling group, and again the comms could then have said no.

Thor

  • Super-sonnicus idioticus
Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #32 on: 12 May, 2015, 10:17:15 am »
Found myself in Genoa at the weekend - genuinely didn't realise that the 2015 Giro d'Italia stage 2 was finishing there on Sunday  :-[

Until I saw pink balloons and fountains



Great atmosphere and rather better weather than last year in Northern Ireland





Saxo and Sky getting into position in the closing minutes.

It was a day like any other in Ireland, only it wasn't raining

"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #34 on: 15 May, 2015, 01:48:14 pm »
And a mere 264km to ride on it today.

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #35 on: 15 May, 2015, 02:00:46 pm »
And a mere 264km to ride on it today.

And a mountain stage tomorrow.

Mind you, it might not be quite as bad as riding with a broken collarbone - has anyone got the number of Tyler Hamilton's orthodontist?
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #36 on: 20 May, 2015, 08:45:59 am »
I would like to comment that this giro is one of the best stage races it has ever been my privilege to watch.    It has so many different facets, the first few stages when Orica Greenedge won the TTT then managed to hold onto the pink jersey with two different riders.   The fascinating duel between Astana and Saxo-Tinkoff, the number of stages which have been won by lesser known riders, culminating in yesterdays stage when the sprinters' teams got it all wrong and the stage was won by another "domestique" who had been in a breakaway for most of the stage.
IMO the race is set up for a fascinating finale, the time trial will determine whether Porte can gain enough time to be in the running and the final showdown in the Dolomites will be hopefully well worth the wait.

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #37 on: 20 May, 2015, 08:52:18 am »
Rainmaker, I agree totally, the Giro has long been my favourite race.

As for the decision to dock 2 minutes from Porte, what a farce!
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #38 on: 20 May, 2015, 08:55:06 am »
I've got no problems with the penalty. Usually there is some payment or quid-pro-quo involved when one team assists another, so you don't want to make it too obvious. There are a lot of cameras about nowadays.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

tiermat

  • According to Jane, I'm a Unisex SpaceAdmin
Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #39 on: 20 May, 2015, 08:59:07 am »
Yes it is in the rules, but so is "Observing level crossings" and "Sticky Bidon" rules, but they are regularly flaunted, with no negative effect to the riders involved. 

Interestingly, someone on twitter last night suggested that if Contador and Arun wanted to they could, effectively, overturn the penalty (I'll leave you to work out just how).  I can't see it happening, but stranger things have happened.
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #40 on: 20 May, 2015, 09:00:51 am »
There are a lot of cameras about nowadays.

Apparently Porte tweeted his thanks for the wheel change, so presumably wasn't expecting a penalty. But, rules is rules. Those up ahead could presumably have waited...
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #41 on: 20 May, 2015, 09:05:48 am »
I was not aware, when I made my previous comments about the time trial, that Porte had been penalised two minutes.   In view of the fact that he had already lost time I feel that the penalty is somewhat excessive.

PS.   Anyone interested in a different view of the race, go to the Orica Greenedge website, go onto "videos" and watch the daily backstage pass.     

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #42 on: 20 May, 2015, 09:54:19 am »
I've got no problems with the penalty.

Coming from an Aussie too!

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #43 on: 29 May, 2015, 10:56:31 am »
Well it's mostly been very exciting, even before the hardest stage today and Contador now with an unassailable lead.  If ignoring  etiquette means you get the peloton smashed into pieces and attacks from 50k out then bugger etiquette.

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #44 on: 29 May, 2015, 11:13:40 am »
I lost interest as soon as it was obvious there was no challenger.  Not so much a race for GC as a parade.

Re: Giro d'Italia
« Reply #45 on: 31 May, 2015, 08:32:30 am »
Pity you feel that way, as they say "it's not over 'till the fat lady sings".
Yesterday's stage was very entertaining, Contador gave another display of why he is the best Grand Tour rider at the moment, even if as Greg Lemond suggested he was helped to some degree by some poor team tactics by Astana after they had ridden so well to isolate him.