The 2nd mountain stage, and this one has 3 climbs in it. This should be another indication for the general results. We join you in the descent of the Passo di Gavia. We have a break of 5 riders ahead: Cunego (Lampre), Hoogerland (Vacansoleil), Szmyd (Movistar), Betancur (AG2R) and Sella (Androni).
The pack is lead by Vini Fantini and Garmin.
On the top of this climb, Cunego was 1st, Betancur 2nd, Szmyd 3rd.
The pack surprises us by reeling the group in.
At sprint 1, 2 riders are ahead: Gallopin 1, Geschke 2.
Battaglin is chasing them.
At the top of the Stelvio, Gallopin is 1st, Geschke 2nd. Battaglin comes 2minutes later 3rd.
4 riders attack just before the top: Moreno, Mollema, Brajkovic and Pellizotti.
At the 2nd sprint, Battaglin joins. He gets 2nd behind Gallopin. The gap to the chasers is 5min01, to the pack 6min27.
At the beginning of the final climb, Nibali decides to give it a try.
New attack: Moreno, Contador, Nibali, Basso and Evans.
With 14kms, all riders, including the early break are reeled in by the pack.
Next up is an attack by Contador and Froome.
With 5kms left, they still have 40 seconds.
With 1,5kms left, Gesink, Hesjedal, De Gendt and Valverde join the 2
leaders.
Froome leads going into the final kilometer.
At the line
Chris Froome outsprints Hesjedal, and takes the stage. Contador 3rd, Valverde 4th, De Gendt 5th, Gesink 6th. Froome takes over yellow, but without even a second in the lead. Further no more important changes in the GC. Sky takes over the team classification though.
The final stage that might change the GC. Stage 20 is the queen stage of the Giro. The stage has 4 difficult climbs, before we take on the toll road to the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, which averages over 10 percent. We should see a final change in the GC, as stage 21 is fully flat.
The favorites:
****Ryder Hesjedal ***Chris Froome, Alberto Contador **Alejandro Valverde, Michele Scarponi, Robert Gesink *Vincenzo Nibali, Thomas de Gendt, Ivan Basso, Domenico Pozzovio
Betting:
Standings Betters:
Bikex: 90
Alex344: 71,05
cio93: 67,45
alex valceanu: 62
fcancellara: 58,05
MitchNL: 50,7
Ollfardh: 46
fernando97: 41
lakebeach: 38
mvhoogdalem: 33
krisa: 28
SSJ2Luigi: 11
Jesleyh: 4
Ian Butler: 3 non-betters:
TheManxMissile: 86
Pinktay3: 70
admirschleck: 65
canojuancho: 65
Atlantius: 55
FreitasPCM: 54
Alakagom: 46
Jakstar22: 46
kadtagenero: 44
Marcovdw: 41 The odds Ryder Hesjedal 2.20 Chris Froome 2.25 Alberto Contador 3.50 Alejandro Valverde 4.25 Michele Scarponi 4.60 Robert Gesink 4.95 Vincenzo Nibali 5.50 Thomas de Gendt 5.75 Ivan Basso 6.00 Domenico Pozzovivo 6.75 Another rider 4.00 The deadline: June 12th 0:00PM GMT+1
Silandro (Schlanders) - Tre Cime di Lavaredo (Auronzo di Cadore)
Well, the final stage that could make a surprise in the general classification. First of all, we have 4 difficult climbs, before we have a steep mountain to the Rifugio Auronzo, near the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. We join you at the foot of the Passo Costalunga. A break of 9 riders is ahead: Gatto, Casar, Nocentini, Pozzato, Hoogerland, Ochoa, Szmyd, Kelderman and Chavanel.
The pack is currently lead by Team Sky.
Sprint 1 had already been won by Gatto, ahead of Casar.
At the top of the Passo Costalunga, Casar still shows some fighting spirit and takes the points. 2nd is Nocentini, 3rd Szmyd.
Casar is also 1st on the 2nd climb, ahead of Hoogerland and Chavanel.
At the intermediate sprint, Nocentini beats Casar.
4 riders attack from the pack: Brajkovic, Weening, Van Garderen and Nieve.
With 40kms left, Brajkovic is the first to join the leaders, where Pozzato and Gatto have alreabdy been dropped.
At the top of the 3rd climb, Van Garderen is 1st, 2nd Szmyd, 3rd Brajkovic. Casar, Chavanel and Ochoa have alreaby been dropped from the leader group.
New attack from the pack: Basso, who is 10th in the GC.
With 19 kms to go, the last riders of the break are reeled in.
At the top of the penultimate climb, Contador is 1st, 2nd Scarponi, 3rd Hesjedal.
With 3kms left, Contador attacks. The riders are scattered around from the pack. Chasing Contador are Froome, Hesjedal, Scarponi and Nibali.
With 2kms left, Scarponi and Nibali have been dropped, while Contador is in trouble as well.
When we go into the final kilometer, it has turned out not only Contador was in trouble. Hesjedal has dropped Froome as well and it looks like he is going to take both the stage and the Maglia Rosa.
At the line
HESJEDAL WINS THE STAGE AND TAKES THE MAGLIA ROSA (and I forgot to take a screen of that ). Contador outsprints Froome for 2nd and 3rd, 4th is Scarponi, 5th Valverde. No changes in the Top10 of the GC, points classification, KoM, -25 and Team, apart from Blanco ending 3rd in the Team classification.
For the first time in a few years the Giro doesnt end with a time trial. We will have an almost fully flat stage, leading to Brescia. For the Maglia Rosa an chance to show off his jersey, for the sprinters one final chance of winning a stage.
The favorites
****Mark Cavendish ***Andre Greipel, John Degenkolb **Roberto Ferrari, Daniele Bennati, Tyler Farrar *Elia Viviani, Andrea Guardini, Matthew Goss, Alexander Kristoff
Betting
Standings Betters:
Bikex: 103
Alex344: 76,05
cio93: 68,45
alex valceanu: 66
fcancellara: 60,05
MitchNL: 51,7
fernando97: 42
krisa: 31
SSJ2Luigi: 12
Ollfardh: 8
Ian Butler: 3
Jesleyh: 1
lakebeach: 1
mvhoogdalem: 1 non-betters:
TheManxMissile: 93
Pinktay3: 78
admirschleck: 69
canojuancho: 70
Atlantius: 57
FreitasPCM: 55
Jakstar22: 48
Alakagom: 47
kadtagenero: 45
Marcovdw: 42 The odds Mark Cavendish 2.45 Andre Greipel 2.80 John Degenkolb 2.95 Roberto Ferrari 3.20 Daniele Bennati 3.35 Tyler Farrar 3.60 Elia Viviani 3.85 Andrea Guardini 4.10 Matthew Goss 4.75 Alexander Kristoff 5.25 Another rider 3.20 The deadline
June 14th 0:00PM GMT+1
mvhoogdalem wrote:
Ugh.. Is it possible to change teams if you do a TdF version of this? Euskaltel is just useless.... Now I can't win the betting anymore
I bet 1 on Cavendish
I will skip the Tour, but there will be a Vuelta for PCM13, with the team system a bit revised. You will see then
mvhoogdalem wrote:
Ugh.. Is it possible to change teams if you do a TdF version of this? Euskaltel is just useless.... Now I can't win the betting anymore
I bet 1 on Cavendish
I will skip the Tour, but there will be a Vuelta for PCM13, with the team system a bit revised. You will see then
Ok, I'll keep an eye on it Never picking Euskaltel again
). Contador outsprints Froome for 2nd and 3rd, 4th is Scarponi, 5th Valverde. No changes in the Top10 of the GC, points classification, KoM, -25 and Team, apart from Blanco ending 3rd in the Team classification.
Never picking Euskaltel again 
