Luis Leon Sanchez wrote:
One thing I have noticed.
My three domestiques- Rosa, Rubiano and Shalunov have finished consistently well in 31st, 32nd and 34th in the GC. As none of them have had much freedom I am quite happy with their efforts and two of them are U25, in fact they are 7th and 8th in the Youth Classification. Not too bad.
But seriously, Pellizotti needs at least 2 minutes on Kelderman going into the ending TT (i'm guessing there is one). And I would have expected Rosa to say with him and pace him forward. Pellizotti used too much energy in that attack considering he is rather old.
It's the photobucket bandwith issue. Reporting an entire Grand Tour with decent enough pictures takes a lot of it and it's limited to 10 GB unfortunately. I have already set up a new account for the Giro and future EPIC reports. The old pictures will return on 8. May.
Edited by Shonak on 27-04-2014 10:30
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Shonak wrote:
It's the photobucket bandwith issue. Reporting an entire Grand Tour with decent enough pictures takes a lot of it and it's limited to 10 GB unfortunately. I have already set up a new account for the Giro and future EPIC reports. The old pictures will return on 8. May.
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Hoping I can get at least another stage win. Been doing a lot on my HQ today Pretty happy with how many Top 10's I'm getting. Doesn't seem like much until you actually put it down
Basque Breakaways, the two sides of Quintana and Italian frustration
After a troublesome first week, the Giro hoped to be the cause of further, positive excitement for its viewers and riders. How much things can change in merely some days, is shown by the fact of the reactivation of Team Euskaltel – Euskadi and the highlighting performances by Nairo Quintana and Richie Porte. Nibali took over Maglia Rosa in the Time Trial and hasn’t lost it since.
With the Time Trial from Gabice to Saltara, many GT contenders had to ride a 54 kilometer long parcour that saw their ambitions diminished. Nairo Quintana lost further time, just like race leader Carlos Betancur. Vincenzo Nibali rode into the leader’s jersey, but it came maybe a bit surprising that he finished behind riders such as Kreuziger and Porte. The stage was won by none other than Fabian Cancellara, whose team Radioshack is aiming for a second stage win to fulfill their mid-season goals here at the Giro d’Italia.
On the next day, after the long, demanding Time Trial, the signs stood well for a potential breakaway win. In the rainy scene of Firenze, Simon Geschke claimed the win against his fellow breakaway companions by attacking late and having the strongest legs. Surprisingly, a similar stage win was accomplished by him merely weeks ago at the Tirreno – Adriatico, where he too won a stage out of the breakaway – in the rain. He certainly likes racing here and under such weather. People supposed that the GC contenders would take it lighty today, but Quintana and Hesjedal did some excellent, attacking racing alongside Betancur. Only Nibali himself managed to get across to them; he paid a heavy price for it though.
The mountain stage upAltopiano del Montasio then, was the first true terrain for climbers and GC contenders. No more hilly breakaway stuff, but the pure class of climbing. This was meant to be the scene to confirm Nibali’s domination, but it came differently, when Nairo Quintana performed a great solo-run up the mountain, and beat Nibali by over a minute. Betancur, able to hang on for surprisingly long onto the Shark’s wheel, came in third and confirmed his podium aspirations. Meanwhile, Cadel Evans finally had found some great legs at last and beat guys like Kreuziger and Porte on the way up the mountain. He rode a persistent race at his own rhythm instead of following energy-wasting attacks. The virtues of experience.
Always one man in the breakaway: Euskaltel - Euskadi
Some may have hoped for similar performances on the next day from their riders, however the ride up Vajont didn’t prove enough challenging to make a true selection, albeit there were time gaps recorded. The win went to Gorka Verdugo, his first professional win in his career. A true reason to celebrate for Euskaltel – Euskadi after an abysmal first week.
The next two stages were then meant to be a bit for both potential breakaway wins as much as for hilly sprinter-puncheurs. Eventually, the breakaway escapes prevailed. By a narrowly margin, Jakob Rathe took home the win out of the break ahead of Matthew Goss. It was a bit clearer the next day, where Eros Capecchi won the stage for Movistar. However, they didn’t had much to celebrate, since Nairo Quintana had a bad day and couldn’t keep with the ensuing attacks of GC contenders and lost precious time in the fight for overall – once again. It seems the young Colombian can only win time or lose time, but never finish with the pack.
Truly Giro-esque
The great highlight of Giro d’Italia came on day 14, where the rather short, 155 kilometer long stage from Cervere to Jafferau saw not only the Giro coming close to France, but also extreme weather conditions and myriads of suffering faces all-throughout the peloton. The climb up to Sestriere set the stage with its snowflakes, fog and rain, and the Giro truly became the Giro there. However, the real decider was of course the ultimate climb up Monte Jafferau. Richie Porte profited from some smart tactics, in where Rigoberto Uran finally recovered from his crash and was featured in the breakaway. Together they rode clear and Porte took a great victory for the team. Quintana couldn’t drop the other contenders but moved back into the Top 10, of which Franco Pellizotti fell out after a brave downhill-attack alongside Nibali in Sestriere.
Pros:
180° turnaround– Teams like Vacansoleil and Euskaltel – Euskadi have truly turned around their performances after a weak first week. Their constant motivation to have riders featured in the breakaway caused some great racing. Vacansoleil holds currently the Maglia Azzura as a reward and achieved Podium places. Euskaltel – Euskadi got their hoped stage win and had riders featured in every breakaway of the week! This should surely motivate other teams too.
General classification – Nibali has a clear lead and going into third week, he is the prime contender for the overall win, however the General classification has been much more interesting than people gave it credit after the first week. There has been throughout week 2 much talk about Nairo Quintana and if he could come back. His performance up to the Altopiano del Montasio made even rival teams cheer for him. But it’s not only Quintana. The surprising strong riding in the mountains by Betancur sees the Colombian at 2nd place, while Richie Porte made a clear stand for his goal of victory by performing incredibly well up to the Monte Jafferau.
Oldies but Goldies? – It is hard to rate the performances of riders such as Evans, Basso, Scarponi and Zubeldia. While most of them received much heat from the public and their managers after the first week, they did improve in the tougher mountain stages. They surely lack the acceleration of their earlier days, but give them a mountain they can grind their teeth on and odds are, they will prevail. Evans currently holds 6th place, while Scarponi moved finally into Top 10 contention. It's certainly not all shiny and great for the old phalanx, but the form curve is showing up and if they keep it up, week 3 might just be the week where they can finally impress.
Cons:
Quo vadis, Italian teams? – Androni, Bardiani, Lampre and Cannondale, those are the Italian teams but neither of them has so far caused much reason to celebrate. Zero stage wins is a terrifying balance for the Italian teams after two weeks. And except for Bardiani, you can’t say that any of the other teams have done much racing. In fact, Lampre – Merida have been mostly featured in the background, where Scarponi at least improves day upon day in the GC. Their strong squad consisting of Scarponi, Cunego and Niemiec should have shown far more though. It’s even worse for Cannondale, who basically only have Basso as a frequent visitor and shadow in the cameras and that’s mostly thanks to his reputation, not so much because of his riding. The quality is certainly here though in Italy, and Nibali and Capecchi have been so far the main reasons for the tivosi to cheer about. Even much talked future superstar Calzone has so far failed to perform on an outstanding-level against the better competition.
No room for EPIC – The riders of the first week were certainly our very own EPIC riders, however it all has changed in week 2. The weaknesses of them became apparent and none of them even came the slightest to performing on a decent level. Maybe Cristano de las Campos was the closest. He nearly would have got a stage win but he fell in the finale kilometers of the race and thus stood no more chance to catch up to this fellow breakaway companions. The surrounding discussion now comes into new light, as EPIC riders are still too young to impress on this kind of level, maybe this is due to their inexperienced riding and missing recovery ability.
Outlook:
The peloton has for the first time glanced at the current Giro's unforgiving beauty this week and there's much more to come. Week 1 was for the sprinters, week 2 for the breakaways. Week 3 will be all for the Maglia Rosa. It's a pink week with the fight for overall glizzing at every corner and we hope that the racing fulfilles the promise it gives to us. It will start at the foot of the Galibier and end in Tre Cime. The sufferfeast has just begun.
Vincenzo Nibali, Carlos Betancur and Richie Porte are the prime contenders for the podium. However Ryder Hesjedal and Roman Kreuziger have performed very consistent so far. Robert Kiserlovski holds 6th, with quiet some gap onto the Kreuziger, but Top 5 is still possible. Cadel Evans is coming back one step at a time, but also taking a few steps backwards now and then. And of course, there's always Quintana, always ready to throw in that attack to cause some madness along the way.
Shonak wrote:
It's the photobucket bandwith issue. Reporting an entire Grand Tour with decent enough pictures takes a lot of it and it's limited to 10 GB unfortunately. I have already set up a new account for the Giro and future EPIC reports. The old pictures will return on 8. May.
what doesn't help that people for HQ report use the same links costing your brandwith
@SSJ2: It doesn't help but it's not an issue either. Sole reason is that the picture reload each time in the report, that takes a lot. However, the problem is easily solved by just making a new account. People can still view the old pictures by the way, by right-click, open in tab.
@Ollfardh: My pleasure. I'll play stage 15 tonight presumably and here's hoping for some good action on the Galibier.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Pretty happy with how many Top 10's I'm getting. Doesn't seem like much until you actually put it down 
