The Fight For Pink - Team Sunweb Recap of Stage 19-21
Bardonecchia, 25 May 2018
The Queen Stage fo the 2018 Giro d'Italia, as the peleton hits the highest peaks of the Italian Alps with only 3 stages to go. After the Colle del Lys, the stage hits the Colle delle Finestre, this year’s Cima Coppi, and its nine-kilometer stretch of dirt road before heading towards Sestrière and the climb to the finish at Bardonecchia.
Expect the GC men to hit the climbs hard in attempt to take last minute gaps on the road.
There was an air of resolution on the line for Chris Froome, as he yet again struggled to shift Tom Dumoulin from his wheel on the Queen Stage of the Giro d'Italia. It would however be a day for the breakaway, as Tanel Kangert (AST) finally took a victory in this Grand Tour.
A group of 17 riders attacked up for the road shortly after the flag drop, with Kangert, Konrad (BOH), Brambilla (TFS), Schachmann (QST), Atapuma (UAE) and O'Connor (DDD), just to name a few. A lead on the road of over 13 minutes quickly built up, and it was clear that they would contest the victory today.
As the escape group reached the foot of the final climb, Brambilla and Kangert attacked the remains of the group in search of victory. Ben O'Connor, who had spent the most of his day trying to defend his lead in the KoM sprints, tried to follow but he was really struggling to bridge the gap.
In a sprint to the line, the Astana rider would have enough in the tank to outsprint Brambilla in the final 50 metres, with Ben O'Connor riding hard to take 3rd place.
In the battle for the GC, the final climb looked like our usual fight between Froome and Dumoulin. Numerous times, the Sky man would look to break the elastic of Dumoulin, but no matter what he did, there was no hope for him.
Crossing the line together, 2'50" after the Estonian stage winner, there is almost a look of resolution from Froome, as taking more than 2'30" on the final mountain stage was looking more and more impossible. Yates and Pinot would again lose a 1'00" on the climb, but for them, the Giro was over a long time ago.
Stage 19 Results
1
Tanel Kangert
Astana Pro Team
5h45'37
2
Gianluca Brambilla
Trek - Segafredo
s.t.
3
Ben O'Connor
Team Dimension Data
+ 11
Cervinia, 26 May 2018
The last stage before the celebration in Roma, and one last chance for any rider to make a claim for any time gaps and make up for any losses over the last 19 stages. Will Froome be able to make any headway into Dumoulin's advantage? Will the Dutchman finally have a bad day in the saddle? We will find out in a few hours time!
It was a double day of celebration for Team Sunweb, as Sam Oomen took a fantastic stage victory in Cervinia and Tom Dumoulin celebrated a 2nd Giro d'Italia victory as he crossed the line.
Oomen was part of the group of 7 riders who went up the road early in day, with different intentions on the minds of many of them. At the start of the day, Oomen was just 3'52" down on U25 leader Miguel Angel Lopez, whilst Gianluca Brambilla (TFS) needed just 41 points in order to take home the Maglia Azzura and break the hearts of Australia and Ben O'Connor, after he has held onto the jersey for so long.
With Pello Bilbao (AST), Ruben Plaza (ICA), Steve Morabito (GFC), Jan Polanc (UAE) and Max Schachmann (QST) for company, they opened up a gap of 3'01" over the flatter opening to the stage, as both Astana and LottoNL-Jumbo drove the peleton in order to restrict Oomen advantage. Astana's riding was clear, as they looked to protect the U25 jersey, but due to George Bennett's Top 10 GC position at a threat as well, the Kazakh squad had an ally in LottoNL.
Up the climb to the finish in Cervinia, Oomen made his move the stage win, and once he created a gap he would not be seen again by his escape companions. Crossing the line, it was then a nervous look to the clock for the time of Lopez. With the bonus seconds on the stage and for the victory, 3'36" would be the magic number.
Attacks in the peleton would not be Oomen's ally, as Pinot first made a move in his bid to finish the Giro with a podium place. Refusing to work everyone else, Dumoulin followed the wheels, making Yates and then Lopez do all the work. Froome sat close by, but as the stage finish got closer, his hope of taking enough time himself would continue to slip away.
3km to the top, and Lope would crack from the Favourites group, and with a shake of hands between Froome and Dumoulin with 500m to go, the Maglia Rosa was confirmed for 2018. Pending a disaster in Roma, it would be Dumoulin's victory for a 2nd year running.
As for Lopez, he would push as hard as he could to the line... his time was 3'34"! Oomen had missed out on the Maglia Bianca by 2 seconds...
The final stage of the Giro d'Italia a 11.8km circuit around Roma, as the peleton look forward to a day of celebration, reflection and one final sprint for the victory.
Pending a crash or catastrophic event, the Maglia Rosa, Azzura and Bianca classifications have all been confirmed on the shoulders of Tom Dumoulin, Gianluca Brambilla and Miguel Angel Lopez, however with Sprint Points still available on the line for Sam Bennett, the Maglia Ciclamino was still up for grabs. 20 points would be enough for the Irishman.
A shock result in Roma, as Giovanni Visconti (TBM) took the victory on the final stage, holding off the handful of sprinters left in the race for a famous victory.
The Italian veteran was part of break of 5, along with Tanel Kangert (AST), Eduardo Sepulveda (MOV), Nathan Brown (EFD) and Marco Coledan (WIL), which only gained a maximum of gap of 2'31" on the road, but it would be miscommunication and a lack of organisation behind that would count in the break's favour approaching the finish line.
With 10km to go, the gap was at 31" and looked certain to be a bunch sprint but with only Bennett being the out and out sprinter left in the race, his Bora-Hansgrohe team refused to do all the work... strange decision and they approached the flamme rouge with 15" still in arrears, it was obviously too late.
Visconti easily outsprinted Kangert and Brown for the victory, and as Bennett crossed the line in 7th place, and only picking up 9 points in the process, his hopes of winning his maiden Grand Tour Sprints jersey was only a pipe dream.
Tom Dumoulin comfortably came home in the peleton, celebrating with his teammates as he crossed the line the 2018 Giro d'Italia champion!
Congrats on your successful fight for pink then! Dumoulin set an early mark here and Froome seemingly never became too aggressive/dangerous eventually. No real freedom for Hamilton that way though, but that's just a little bit sad for myself
Speaking of personal preferences: a pity O'Connor lost the KoM lead, but he did exceptionally well as 12th in the GC. And nice to see Visconti taking out the final stage!
Enjoyed this rather story/trip. Thanks for that. Now that it went so fast and smooth, can we expect another GT-only chapter in this thread? I do have some riders in mind, that could make for an interesting choice, imo..
tsmoha wrote:
Congrats on your successful fight for pink then! Dumoulin set an early mark here and Froome seemingly never became too aggressive/dangerous eventually. No real freedom for Hamilton that way though, but that's just a little bit sad for myself
Speaking of personal preferences: a pity O'Connor lost the KoM lead, but he did exceptionally well as 12th in the GC. And nice to see Visconti taking out the final stage!
Enjoyed this rather story/trip. Thanks for that. Now that it went so fast and smooth, can we expect another GT-only chapter in this thread? I do have some riders in mind, that could make for an interesting choice, imo..
Thanks a lot man! Really happy with how the Grand Tour went and yeah I expected more from Froome. Hos bad day on the bike came in the TT and that was all Dumoulin needed. No freddom for Hamilton bit he had a lot of work for Tom in the peleton. Looking at the squad, there was only really Hamilton, Haga and Oomen in support in the later parts of the stages so I couldn't risk losing him up the road.
I was actually gutted for Ben myself. His race was rode excellently but as soon as he got close to the Top 10 on GC his KoM hopes became more difficult. Brambilla just went all in for the last 2 stages and racked up a lot of points with it. His GC finish is fantastic plus I think it was 2 or 3 stage wins in the process.
The story was great fun and I enjoyed writing on daily again. More than happy to have a suggestion and I think another GT story could be nice. Maybe go with a variant route and random startlist for a bit more unpredictability. Suggestions on a rider/ team / objective is always welcomed
Well, I could suggest some obvious picks such as Jack Haig.. Haha.. Or some similar obvious (and more serious) picks such as George Bennett or maybe even Rohan Dennis or breaking a "curse" with Richie Porte.. Or pick an oldie like Alejandro Valverde (according to procyclingstats.com he's going to ride the Giro this year). As for GTs, I always preferred Vuelta and Giro over Le Tour. There are probably some more interesting and less Oceania biased suggestions out here though
Well, I could suggest some obvious picks such as Jack Haig.. Haha.. Or some similar obvious (and more serious) picks such as George Bennett or maybe even Rohan Dennis or breaking a "curse" with Richie Porte.. Or pick an oldie like Alejandro Valverde (according to procyclingstats.com he's going to ride the Giro this year). As for GTs, I always preferred Vuelta and Giro over Le Tour. There are probably some more interesting and less Oceania biased suggestions out here though
I think I will cover all the GTs eventually, but Haig or Bennett could be a good shout at the Vuelta. Maybe Roglic as well could be a nice shout if I choose the Tour. Valverde as WC in Spain could be fun with a strong Movistar team in support.
I have just started a Trek career on ocm, so I will stay away from Porte
valverde321 wrote:
Well, great win with Dumoulin! Also nice for Oomen to win Stage 20! In the end no one could really put too much pressure on you!
Also, suggestion for a Grand Tour, I think maybe the 1994 db might be fun!
Thanks a lot! Only my second ever GT victory on pcm I believe!
A historic db could be cool. What pcm version is best for the historical dbs?
There seems to be fine 1994 DB for Pcm17 and 18 (converted). Promoted as the "most complete historical database" around. As from the content and screenshots, it looks indeed pretty cool! Makes me want to do a database for 2003 or something like that
Haig/Bennett or Valverde at Vuelta would be awesome though!
Theres a 1994 version on the PCM 18 workshop, and I think it can work alongside other workshop dbs. Its made by Stylus and has a no-helmet mod that doesnt ruin other modern dbs and has 1994 stages for the GTs and I think a few more races.
I'd consider it the best historical db I've used in years but I skipped a lot of the last versions.
@ tsmoha - I think Stylus is actually working on a 2003 db, so maybe you could get into contact with him to help on it?
@valv: working on a 2003db? Wooha! Great news. As for me helping, this won't happen. Maybe I should have been more clear on this: I would love to do a 2003db, but I can't. If I will ever work on pcm database again, it would probably be another Aussie NRS update
I do have some riders in mind, that could make for an interesting choice, imo..
