Quite a chaotic final few kms, Paolini looked like he had it with a km or so but Lampre organised themselves well and delivered him at the right time with a great leadout.
Lampre nailed that alright. Nizzolo second again think he will get the points jersey as a minor consolation with Viviani seemingly lost in the chaos of the last few kms.
Croatia14 wrote: Aru will never have a chance to take 2 minutes of Contador alone...Astana should now send Landa/Cataldo on the attack on every penultimate climb to send Aru on Contadors backwheel
But Contador to Aru... (written in the first page)
I saw stage 16 repeat again. I think I was too critical of Tinkoff team. But I realized that they did try their best after having ridden whole day to get Contador back to main group. But also Astana should be ashamed of what they did, like BMC last year when Quintana and others crashed.
But anyway that aside I think Tinkoff had numbers to get over Mortirolo and possible try and let Contador win. But we can only speculate.
Landa was strong but he was sitting on wheel since 35 kms. Plus all chasing that Contador had to do before.
Anyway if Contador recovers well he might try and win Cervinia or Sestriere. But even if he does not he can still win Giro.
I was surprised by Tinkoff tactics. Especially when Amador had got rid of Aru. They could have asked Contador to stop working. Or make Landa also work. As Amador was chasing and could have pressured Astana. Maybe they jus wanted time on Aru.
trekbmc wrote:
Don't have time to read the whole thread to see if it's been convered, but what is (or can somebody link me to), the general opinion of Anton helping Contador? in my eyes he should be penalised at least a minute, because it's practically the same as Clarke helping Porte, just not as obvious.
it's different matter. How you control it?
Why Anton is helping? Peloton is like big family..true years riding together. And there is no secret that same nationality guys will help each other..when possible. Like italians trying to beat ..and like all spaniard against Ullrich at 1999 Vuelta
That is why I did not understand Astana, Katusha act at stage 15. This is not smart to make enemies for yourself.
Only motive I find was just "russian motive". It would have been nonsense to think that Katusha can beat Contador with Trofimov.
This must be some russian thing. Katusha, Astana, Tinkoff all come from there.
About the Anton and Contador thingy. When you give someone your wheel, it's black, when you pace for someone, it's grey. The motive of the first case is clear, but that of the second case isn't, at least not always. Though it might be clear this time that Anton was pacing for Contador, there will be plenty of cases when it is not and there's a possibility that an innocent rider gets penalized. You should be able to stay consistent with your penalties, but if you give Contador a time penalty, he'll come up with plenty of examples where riders seemed to pace for other teams that weren't penalized.
Rules should avoid creating grey zones, that's why they had to draw a line between pacing and handing out wheels.
MartijnVDD wrote:
About the Anton and Contador thingy. When you give someone your wheel, it's black, when you pace for someone, it's grey. The motive of the first case is clear, but that of the second case isn't, at least not always. Though it might be clear this time that Anton was pacing for Contador, there will be plenty of cases when it is not and there's a possibility that an innocent rider gets penalized. You should be able to stay consistent with your penalties, but if you give Contador a time penalty, he'll come up with plenty of examples where riders seemed to pace for other teams that weren't penalized.
Rules should avoid creating grey zones, that's why they had to draw a line between pacing and handing out wheels.
I can already see Clark's defence in court:
"But, but, I wasn't giving anyone my wheel. I just stopped and took it off and Porte just grabbed it, I don't know."
Agree that Antón/Contador should by no meand be punished. I found it very odd that Antón had the legs for that kind of pace. Why wasn't he with Amador further up the mountain then? Hesjedal did a good bit of pacing as well actually. Speaking of which: Have anyone seen Ryder speak out about the stage? Seemed he was very angry at Aru the way he pushed every time Aru was near...
The wheel rule should be removed though making the two situations equal.
Anton is a lousy domestique that's why. Someone dubbed it the Roche-Syndrom. I wouldn't be surprised if we see him in the break on friday or saturday and he ends up winning it ahead of Contador. (Yes, please)
by the way: Selfie stick held up on the peloton, Contador punched it down. Good thing or douche move?
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
Hitting it like that holds a risk that it will drop to the ground and go into the wheels of riders behind causing crashes as most riders except Contador was riding directly behind it.
Also a douche move to stick the stick into the peloton in the first place considering how many crashes have been caused by peoples cameras the last few years.
As for Antón there's much less of an issue to me if he goes in the break later, but dropping when you have the legs to help your teammate on GC 3rd is just poor stye IMO. The difference between 3rd and 4th is massive concerning this.
Shonak wrote:by the way: Selfie stick held up on the peloton, Contador punched it down. Good thing or douche move?
Awesome thing. I hate those things and people using them seem to lose sense of reality around them. We'll see crashes in the future because of these things, so great job, Contador!
Shonak wrote:
Anton is a lousy domestique that's why. Someone dubbed it the Roche-Syndrom. I wouldn't be surprised if we see him in the break on friday or saturday and he ends up winning it ahead of Contador. (Yes, please)
by the way: Selfie stick held up on the peloton, Contador punched it down. Good thing or douche move?
I did and its more clear than ever atm. I just dont get him sometimes. He is clearly decent right now, but apart from helping Contador (when Amador is 30 sec up the mountain and chasing a fuckin podium...), he has been nonexsistent this race which is sad.
Atlantius wrote:
As for Antón there's much less of an issue to me if he goes in the break later, but dropping when you have the legs to help your teammate on GC 3rd is just poor stye IMO. The difference between 3rd and 4th is massive concerning this.
I don't welcome it either. I think it's because he was used to be a captain and never really had to do any domestique duties back in the orange duties. If he'd help Amador in mountains at least we would see of him. Stage win by him in Sestriere would be ubersweet though.
He was also good on Madonna stage, where I think he only lost contact because of a crash.
Velon on-bike footage from stage 17, filmed from Luka Mezgec. Very good sprint.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
I could almost say exactly the same thing quoting you.
@Paul (and the last line from one of Atlantius' posts)
Not exactly what I meant, but it's kind of what I mean now, the wheel rule is stupid, Porte was already behind, do you punish him and not Contador who got the same benefit? So yeah, take away both or have both, but don't make one acceptable and the other not.
@Guido
What are you trying to say? I'm comparing Porte's incident (helped by countryman Clarke) to Contador's incident (helped by countryman Anton), not saying that either was right or wrong, so the nationalisms and similies about the peloton don't prove anything on that. and isn't Astana Kazakh not Russian?
@MartijnVDD
Thank you. While I do not necessarily agree with your post, I can see your point in the difference between the two. Probably the logic that they had to reach with the rule, but it doesn't quite seem right to me how Contador got off without it.
What can we expect of today climb? On paper it looks brutal and if Astana are up to it, they can split it all over again as it is as hard as Daone on the 15th stage, only a kilometre longer.
I say a break will succeed today tho, I would suspect they chill out a bit and waits for the two following days.
(written in the first page)
