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Giro d'Italia Discussion
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| Bikex |
Posted on 29-07-2015 16:30
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Wow exciting last mountain stage to come. Didn't think Ricco would still be in pink going into stage 20.  |
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| Smowz |
Posted on 29-07-2015 16:34
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First off who the frigging hell is Sergei Pomoshnikov?
Okay just had to get that off my chest  Sorry Oleg but another random Russian for sneak GC
Typical late GT TT, GC men on fire including Schleck and pink clad Ricco. Schleck now perhaps 3rd favourite for win? Then again Madrazo always manages to miss +5 day in mountains? Ricco surely if put under any pressure will blow like the proverbial atom bomb?
Ricco STILL STILL STILL in Pink and is just one AI fail from actually winning the thing. That would be more surprising for me that Alarcorn's Mountain chaos button win at last years Vuelta.
We have had quite the stories in GT's when it comes to MG, it re-writes things doesn't it? Old bastard Cunego denies MG's Pou Pou Pluichkin at 2014 Giro... South American raider stuns benign Iberian defensive shysters in 2014 Vuelta... Schleck produces display after display of mountain brutality (Pou Pou again in Pou position) at 2014 Tour.... What to call this? Ricco's Italian road knowledge beats 85 monster GT trucks. Somehow someway it could happen.
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| beagle |
Posted on 29-07-2015 17:20
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If AI allow, it could be awesome battle in final mountain stage. Hopefully Faiers won´t crack and maintain his fabulous 6th place!
Manager of Polar in Man-Game
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| jph27 |
Posted on 29-07-2015 17:31
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Please Pinot, be the jammy breakaway winner tomorrow. Because otherwise, we probably won't even maintain this Top 15...
I remember when he was 10th.  |
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| Roman |
Posted on 29-07-2015 19:08
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The AI is amazingly bad this season. Absolutely can't understand how it can allow such a thing like Faiers gaining over 20 minutes in a stage... And the fact that riders like Majka and Rabottini are able to drop König by 10 minutes from a breakaway, just wow. Velits disappointing results as well. Glad this Giro is going to be over soon. Already can't wait for Vuelta to see Howard missing all sprints exactly like he has missed something like 90% of them in this season so far.
The battle for the victory is going to be interesting though. Thanks for the reports, absolutely amazing pace all Giro long.
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| viking90 |
Posted on 29-07-2015 19:09
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Will for sure be exciting to see how this race ends, set for drama and maybe horror for some managers |
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| tsmoha |
Posted on 29-07-2015 19:14
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Close one for 10th. Too bad Pozzovivo is 11th though. If only he was 20th, than a chance for Top-10 would be more realistic  And of course our needed stage-win, too.
Still shocked from Kohl/Faiers, but thanks again for the reports! Ricco, well, I called it
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-11-2024 21:00
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 29-07-2015 19:54
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SotD wrote:
Well this was both good and bad really...
Obviously amazing to keep the Maglia Rosa, but it sucks that Madrazo wins the stage in terms of the points competition. I had hoped that the top TT'ers would take the top points. Also, I really hoped that Ricco could stay close to Cunego on the TT, but for some weird reason Cunego is just amazing in the TT's while Ricco isn't. The same applied for the mountains TT. Those riders are so extremely similar that I don't really get it. I can understand one time in bad form, but two times losing loads on Cunego is quite strange.
Andy Schleck had a real shit stage here, but still within striking distance.
Oh well, I guess I can begin to dream of that podium spot now.
Fingers are heavily crossed for two things. 1) Ricco will stay on the podium and 2) None of my riders drops out of the race.
Well, I think Ricco is safe for the podium
Kind of a weird result for the TT though.
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| ember |
Posted on 29-07-2015 21:37
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Really good to see Stake Laengen in the breakaway on stage 18, but on the other hand really bad to see Faiers go past Guldhammer in the GC and also with a gap that is too much to take back, meaning our captain is most likely looking at a 8th or 9th place overall, obviously 7th or 8th would have been better
But Stake Laengen's breakaway visit means we're still second in the teams classification, but it looks difficult to steal that one with a breakaway, as Tinkoff seems to always hit them as well
But a nice TT from Guldhammer, extending the lead down to Denifl, as I suspect a two minutes buffer will be useful on that final mountain stage, especially if Schleck makes fireworks of it.
And what a battle it should be! Three riders within 27 seconds after 19 stages of a GT, that must be some kind of record?
Thanks for two more quality reports, roturn! Sorry I wasn't able to comment on both separately, but work makes it difficult. But a big thank you for the pace, can certainly not wait for the final showdown |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 29-07-2015 22:58
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Not having a rider in top 20 would be a real disappointment.
With Ricco still in pink, I guess the breakaway has a great chance of winning the next stage too so either Majka or Brambilla have to go in the breakaway.
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| OlegTinkov |
Posted on 30-07-2015 06:06
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Pomoshnikov in the botd, collecting all KoM-points, stage win: taking KoM, U25 and team rankings?!
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 30-07-2015 06:24
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Not surprising to see our TTists failing somewhat in the closing stages of a GT, with their recovery. At least Zmorka was decent with a top20, we already have matched our goals, so no problem.
Congrats to Quickstep and thanks Roturn for a nice report. The fight for the pink should be incredible, looking forward to that. Anyone can win really, but i am rooting for Madrazo here, as i was not rooting for Quickstep our whole MG career, so why not lets start now at this point.
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| valverde321 |
Posted on 30-07-2015 07:18
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Oh my god! Condolences to SotD.
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| roturn |
Posted on 30-07-2015 07:23
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It just showed that a no support GC leader has problems when being attacked early. Schleck, Madrazo really should have tried much earlier. That said Ricco countered them pretty well. But on the 20th stage he definitely lacked the energy at first. |
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| Avin Wargunnson |
Posted on 30-07-2015 07:28
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Why? he racked insane amount of points from the Giro with a relatively shit team , he should be congratulated i think. Unlucky to not have that 3rd spot, but apart from that and abandoning of Tzortzakis awesome race, much better then could be expected prior to Giro...
Congrats to Vesuvio and Schleck, he seems to be the best stage racer now, really a complete GT rider. Madrazo fought hard, but in the end 2nd is nice i would think, congrats too Alak!
Metinvest finished with just two guys, oh my gosh, isnt the race just a bit too insanely hard when it is finished only by some 130 riders? Igantiev and Popkov are my heroes, hopefully he first one can try something in a last stage sprint finish, top10 at least?
Thanks for thrilling report Roturn!
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 30-07-2015 07:28
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What a stage! If it wouldn't have been for the big guns moving quite early, it could have been win number two for 1t4i.
Still, a stage win and 2 riders in the top 20 is quite a good Giro for me.
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| Heine |
Posted on 30-07-2015 07:33
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Great stage to read, and would've been a great stage to watch on TV
Denifl manage our team goal of top 10, still dissapointed about 9th though
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| Smowz |
Posted on 30-07-2015 07:36
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Wow just wow what a stage.
First of all from Red Bull perspective it is a disappointing one in that Guerao is forced into the DNF having battled all this way for that last stage. Pretty frustrating that he is out with Chen just squeezing in with Fatty Goss's group. You know if Goss don't win stage 21 when will he win (breakaway of course is a chance).
But this is minor quibbles compared to GC. You know Ricco can at least condole himself with many leaders jerseys (and SotD with leader points) still he will be disappointed to miss the podium with his 'Thomas' like day. A complete collapse to lose that time to Cunego.
Schleck takes it then with Madrazo again failing at the last, another like Spilak who just cannot quite grab that big win. But Schleck congrats to SN and his team, that was big stage - stage win 2nd on KoM and Giro win. Huge performance there from Guldhammer as well - Aker really have done well this year and look on for top 5 team performance for me. Guldhammer has beaten a lot of strong climbers for 5th behind the Italians and 85 monsters.
Brilliant stage there and great reporting as ever roturn - really captured the Ricco collapse drama.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 30-07-2015 07:36
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Avin Wargunnson wrote:
Metinvest finished with just two guys, oh my gosh, isnt the race just a bit too insanely hard when it is finished only by some 130 riders? Igantiev and Popkov are my heroes, hopefully he first one can try something in a last stage sprint finish, top10 at least?
Maybe your team was just too shitty
Only one DNF for me and that's with only 3 climbers sent here (79, 76, 74).
As for a few riders finishing the race you might want to check La Vuelta 2012. Only 103 finishers and the 17th place more than one hour behind the winner.
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| ember |
Posted on 30-07-2015 07:52
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What a sensational stage! Some great stuff from the AI, allowing Schleck and Madrazo to attack far from the finish line. I'm obviously thrilled that Guldhammer was on a great day, he definitely picked the right one!
Fifth place in the GC is above all expectations. We've had some great stages as well with second place on both stage 18 and 20. Stake Laengen inside the top 20 in the GC is also great. Now fingers crossed we get no crashes or any other disaster for any riders in the race on the final stage.
Big congratulations to SN on a great stage win. Also cool to see Cunego climb onto the podium, but it should be fair to say that no one expected such a meltdown from Ricco. Really surprising, but it's also kind of good to see that the lack of support did count for something in the end.
But still an amazing race for Festina so far. They've basically dominated from stage 1 up until now and will score huge points, but it must be bittersweet for SotD, seeing that huge turnaround on stage 20.
Thanks a lot for the report, roturn. Very well reported on a truly epic stage. |
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