Obviously was going to be painful viewing that - in a way know knowing that it was going to be bad helped and yes it was tense between the guys behind Phinney to see who was going to have a good or bad day.
Fothen was really good there but for me Madrazo was so-so as was Spilak.
Cannot see stage 14 being anything but a nailed on breakaway stage. Meaning 15,16,17 have got to be raced hard. We shall see if any big differences can be made before Zoncalon. Sicard, Velits, Trofimov and Keinath are in Sella's crosshairs
Holy mother of Jesus, what an impressive ride. I had high expectations to Fothen today because of his resistance and recuperation being significantly better than most of his TT rivals. But 2nd is just awesome.
Really nice to actually take som stage results, I never get to do that. So far I have been very low on top 5 results, so a 2nd here with riders similar, or better in TT is cool.
I can't help but thinking back on that 1'30" time loss and be a bit sad. He would actually have been in contention of a podium. Not that he would realistically get it, as all 4 riders ahead of him should beat him in the end, but just for the fun of it (My goal is top 3 I think btw.).
Now I can only hope for some gap-less mountains, where only Trofimov will end up losing time, and then a strong Mountains TT.
Oh well, plenty can still happen, but this was truly a nice result. - Also from Dees btw.
Phinney impressive once again. Can't really see Madrazo making up those 3 minutes and Phinney will probably use his sprint to take some extra seconds on the Gavia stage and who knows one of the flat sprints.
Spilak's podium seems secured aswell. Nibali on fourth aswell. Fothen will have to watch out for Ricco but I think he'll keep his fifth aswell
Phinney is owning the Giro, about time that he really get his breaktrough with his first GT. Next year we will most likely see Sicard get the same breaktrough (if not the year after)
Heine wrote:
Phinney is owning the Giro, about time that he really get his breaktrough with his first GT. Next year we will most likely see Sicard get the same breaktrough (if not the year after)
Sicard is probably not going to win the biggest races next year, although he could podium in Le Tour (And here possibly). In two seasons time, though, I can't see anyone else winning the Tour de France, unless p3druh has other plans with him.
mb2612 wrote:
Wow, 3 minutes is a long way, especially given attacks don't work uphill in this game.
If Madrazo can win all three mountain stages, then he needs to average a thirty second gap, which feels like too much.
A minute gap on the downhill finish is probably my only hope.
You can hope for 40 seconds or so in the MO TT. Phinney could be leading by 30 seconds or so at the first check, but still lose significant time on the climb. Madrazo is a significantly better climber, lets not forget that, and at the TT time gaps are inevideble. It will be really interesting, also as a benchmark, to see how much Madrazo can gap him on a 20km climb without anyone doing the drag.
I really hope Fothen can make another great ride, and on a good day stay very close to Nibali, and not losing time on Ricco and Sella, although it seems unrealistic that he can beat any of the three italians on such a long climb against the clock.
Facci crashes out of break and Sella busts a gut and for what. Stupid commissaries!
I still think time can be gained on the MTF's just need some gaps to stick. Sort of relieved in a way could have been more time lost for Sella. Don't think Facci would have won but wasted opportunity crashing on the decent breakaway wins are precious this year.
Nice from Bol, but please tell me Bennati is fine...
I mean a small injury can heal until stage 18, but it would be horrible for both the rankings and the goals if there was more.
