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Giro d'Italia 2014 First Week
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 15-05-2014 18:40
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World Champion
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I_Mayo wrote:
alexkr00 wrote:
jph27 wrote:
Fractured ribs for Purito, broken collarbone for Caruso and broken femur for Vicioso.
I wonder if Moreno will step up as the team leader now
By being down in GC almost 6 minutes?
Sorry, I didn't realize he lost time in the flat stages. I figured since he was in the second group today, he might be their man now, but I guess they only have stage wins left.
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| Wilier |
Posted on 15-05-2014 18:45
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Grand Tour Specialist
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Riis123 wrote:
alexkr00 wrote:
Riis123 wrote:
- Belkin was at the front of the peloton, pacing. Valverde had a mechanical and Belkin upped the pace a bit, takin advantage of Valverde's misfortune in order for Mollema to get a better GC.
- BMC was at the front of the peloton, pacing hard as they knew it would be VERY important to get into the hill first as a result of the weather. Half the peloton crashed and only 20 or so was in the leading group, while BMC upped the pace a bit, taking advantage of the crash.
Yes, similar situations, but:
- Valverde had the entire team with him and plenty of time to make it back. They just weren't as strong as Belkin/QuickStep (plus they had problems with their bladder)
- BMC are always at the front even when they don't need to be, causing most of the crash in the peloton.
On the other hand, it was VERY obvious that Belkin upped their pacemaking signifcantly after they realized Valverde was caught behind.
Dno what to say about the last one, you seem to dislike Evans and BMC. I dont think they were the problem here, they simply just knew what consequences this weather could bring
Personally I think both incidents are part of racing. It doesn't always have to be a match to see who's the strongest. Tactics, luck and the weather are very important factors since the beginnings of professional cycling. And I'm saying this in spite of my personal dislike of Evans.  |
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| Shonak |
Posted on 15-05-2014 18:53
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Tour de France Champion
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Any news on Caruso yet? Really hope everything will be fine for him. 
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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| Farmer Sam |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:00
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Domestique
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According to OPQS Uran and Serry were caught up in the crash, Uran only suffering minor injuries and a contusion on the back for Serry. Uran did a great job getting back seeing as he actually hit the tarmac.
https://www.omegap...crash/1743 |
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| deek12345 |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:02
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Classics Specialist
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Nicolas Roche lost 15mins in the crash |
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| jph27 |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:18
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Team Leader
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Shonak wrote:
Any news on Caruso yet? Really hope everything will be fine for him.
Broken collarbone. |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 25-11-2024 13:26
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| Selwink |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:24
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Grand Tour Champion
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Any predictions for tomorrow?
1. Mezgec
2. Viviani
3. Bouhanni
4. Swift
5. Ruffoni
is my guess
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| Malkael |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:24
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Sprinter
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 Stage 7: Frosinone to Foligno (214KM)
(Click image to Enlarge)
After two medium mountain stages the 2014 Giro d'Italia, on paper at least, returns to the domain of the sprinters. With the 214 kilometre stage from Frosinone to Foligno featuring two categorised climbs and countless other lumps and bumps.
Meanwhile, the peloton and race organisers must be wonder what they have to do to escape the dreary weather. Current weather forecasts for Foligno indicate there is a 50% chance of precipitation on the day of the stage.
The wars for the Maglia Rossa (Red Points Jersey) and Maglia Azzurra (Blue Mountains Jersey) continue anew on Stage 7 with a maximum of 70 sprint points and 10 mountain points on offer. However, unless the teams of the sprinters keep the inevitable breakaway on a tight leash realistically there should be between 50 and 57 sprint points up for grabs.
(Click image to Enlarge)
After cresting the summit of the Third Category Valico Della Somma the final 39 kilometres of the stage are either downhill or almost pizza-pan flat. Should the peloton reel in the breakaway as expected the teams of the sprinters will have to contend with a technical final two kilometres.
To illustrate the difficulty ahead, the peloton will come speeding in to a 90-degree right-hand bend approximately 1500 metres from the line followed roughly 150 metres later by two 90-degree left-hand bends, forming something similar to a hairpin bend. The riders will then flash under the Flamme Rouge signalling one kilometre to go and ride for 500 metres before hitting a soft sweeping 90-degree right-hand bend in to our finishing straight of 160 metres.
Even without the threat of rain hampering tire grip, it is a technical finale that will have the peloton stretched out like an accordion while the sprinters and their lead outs fighting for position ahead of the finishing line. Both racing line and acceleration through and out of the corners will play a crucial role in determining position ahead of the finishing line.
(Click image to Enlarge)
Usually a 90-degree bend beginning just 500 metres from the line would favour those sprinters with rapid acceleration. However, the sweeping nature of the bend, a half-bend as the roadbook calls it, means the peloton should be able to maintain a higher speed through the final corner than what people might expect possible, an advantage for the sprinters with higher top end speed.
With Marcel Kittel now absent from the race favouritism for the stage honours is split at least two-way between Team Cannondale with Elia Viviani and FDJ with Nacer Bouhanni. However, Giant Shimano's ability to preform a superior lead out could see Luka Mezgec surprise his more illustrious rivals.
Trek Factory Racing's Giacomo Nizzolo will probably slip under the radar of many people, but if Trek can drop the Italian off in the right position he becomes an dark horse to claim the stage victory. While Team Sky's Ben Swift will be an ever present threat to the ambitions of the other sprinters after his performance on Stage Three.
Should the weather become an influence then we could even witness a shock result, with Roberto Ferrari and Davide Appollonio lurking ominously in the background just waiting for a sniff of an opening.
Writer's Note
From all the news I have seen so far the crash has largely impacted the General Classification riders and their domestiques and less so the sprinters and their domestiques.
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| Malkael |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:29
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Sprinter
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Feared as much, latest news has Joaquim Rodriguez abandoning the race. He went to hospital with along with Caruso and Vicioso.
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| jph27 |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:30
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Team Leader
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Purito is confirmed as abandoning, sad but inevitable. |
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| Nin1388 |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:35
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Sprinter
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jph27 wrote:
Purito is confirmed as abandoning, sad but inevitable.
Hope he comes back strong for Vuelta. Awful season for him since Amstel crash.
Hope the Colombians thrash a certain Aussie is the mountains!! |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:37
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Classics Specialist
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Ruben was right, what a massacre....
After reading the posts, I want to say a few things.
1. Stop comparing this crash and the riding by BMC (and following them by Matthews and friends) with the Belkin-Valverde thing in the Tour 13, or the 2010 Tour thing in the Ardennes, as they are completely different situations (Valverde: 1 rider with a mechanical far before the finish, and Tour Ardennes still 40km (?) before the finish).
2. Evans and BMC shouldn't have gone 100% after that crash because of sportmanship. And Matthews as in pink, should have told them to slow down. But there is no rule about it, and crashes are part of the sport, so they haven't done anything wrong. I dislike them for doing it, so I hope the other GC-contenders will take their revenge in some later stage.
3. What the %&^%$U( where the others in group 2 doing? With now helpers left, loosing time to EVans was more important than riding more then 3 metres in the lead of the group, doing a tiny little bit of work for an opponent. If Quintana, Kelderman, Kiserlovski, Ulissi, Pozzovivo and the others that were in this group, combined forces and all took short turns, they would have closed the gap to Evans / Matthews, instead of loosing 49 seconds. That is as bad as what Evans/Matthews did....
4. I feel sorry for Brajkovic, the entire Katusha team, Flens, Tuft, Arredondo, Roche and all the others that lost a lot of time and got injured are without a chance for the GC.
5. Can't the Italians make normal roads?? Last year in the rain it was incredibly slippery, now in the South the same thing. Blame Italy for these roads and the crash!!!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:41
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Tour de France Champion
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What is wrong with this Giro? This is just a failure. So many crashes. Stupid to watch at this point. So many GC contenders gone. Sprinters flattened. Domestiques getting injured. Mayhem. Makes it hard to watch.
On a bright note, it was a good stage from Hesjedal. once again alone for Garmin and being able to stick with it.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Metriz- |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:45
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Domestique
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dienblad wrote:
1. Stop comparing this crash and the riding by BMC (and following them by Matthews and friends) with the Belkin-Valverde thing in the Tour 13, or the 2010 Tour thing in the Ardennes, as they are completely different situations (Valverde: 1 rider with a mechanical far before the finish, and Tour Ardennes still 40km (?) before the finish).
You're right, what Belkin did was much worse. BMC rode in the final, where they're supposed to ride, Belkin rode full throttle far from the finish line to get rid of a rival they had a vendetta on. This situation is a lot more like Bouhannis win the other day. A crash in the middle of a final, Bouhanni should have waited for the other sprinters to get back on to get a fair sprint. |
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| Kalach |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:45
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I am sorry for Purito, and others involved in crash...But that is racing, Evans had just luck, and he rode smart..He can ride strong in conditions like this and he has proved it a lot of times.. |
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| Metriz- |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:46
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Domestique
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baseballlover312 wrote:
What is wrong with this Giro? This is just a failure. So many crashes. Stupid to watch at this point. So many GC contenders gone. Sprinters flattened. Domestiques getting injured. Mayhem. Makes it hard to watch.
On a bright note, it was a good stage from Hesjedal. once again alone for Garmin and being able to stick with it.
This is not that bad. The Tour has more crashes almost every year, and not nearly as bad weather. |
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| dienblad |
Posted on 15-05-2014 19:55
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Classics Specialist
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Metriz- wrote:
dienblad wrote:
1. Stop comparing this crash and the riding by BMC (and following them by Matthews and friends) with the Belkin-Valverde thing in the Tour 13, or the 2010 Tour thing in the Ardennes, as they are completely different situations (Valverde: 1 rider with a mechanical far before the finish, and Tour Ardennes still 40km (?) before the finish).
You're right, what Belkin did was much worse. BMC rode in the final, where they're supposed to ride, Belkin rode full throttle far from the finish line to get rid of a rival they had a vendetta on. This situation is a lot more like Bouhannis win the other day. A crash in the middle of a final, Bouhanni should have waited for the other sprinters to get back on to get a fair sprint.
Can't you read or interprete a text? I said stop comparing, as those were different situations. So what do you do? Comparing again.
And to compare it with the Bari stage: everybody got the same time there, instead of today. That's different, loosing a stage, or loosing the GC....
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| Metriz- |
Posted on 15-05-2014 20:08
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Domestique
Posts: 433
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dienblad wrote:
Metriz- wrote:
dienblad wrote:
1. Stop comparing this crash and the riding by BMC (and following them by Matthews and friends) with the Belkin-Valverde thing in the Tour 13, or the 2010 Tour thing in the Ardennes, as they are completely different situations (Valverde: 1 rider with a mechanical far before the finish, and Tour Ardennes still 40km (?) before the finish).
You're right, what Belkin did was much worse. BMC rode in the final, where they're supposed to ride, Belkin rode full throttle far from the finish line to get rid of a rival they had a vendetta on. This situation is a lot more like Bouhannis win the other day. A crash in the middle of a final, Bouhanni should have waited for the other sprinters to get back on to get a fair sprint.
Can't you read or interprete a text? I said stop comparing, as those were different situations. So what do you do? Comparing again.
And to compare it with the Bari stage: everybody got the same time there, instead of today. That's different, loosing a stage, or loosing the GC....
Maybe you shouldn't take what I write so litteral. No rules mean you have to decided in the moment what is the right thing to do, and us viewers get to judge their decision. When there are no clear rules about it we have to compare to similiar situation if we want conclusions. Obviously a sprint stage is very different from a hill top finish, and the GC is a lot different from a stage win. One rider is also different from several GC riders, but this is all open to interpritation. According to many members of this forum Valverde is not worth as much as 22 riders, which is fair. But the 10 riders behind the 22 riders who lost time today wasn't worth as much as the 22 riders, which is why I try to find the limit. Or maybe people on this forum are just biased and don't care as long as their favourite doesn't lose time to anything but their bad form. |
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| TimoCycling |
Posted on 15-05-2014 20:11
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Sprinter
Posts: 1765
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dienblad wrote:
Metriz- wrote:
dienblad wrote:
1. Stop comparing this crash and the riding by BMC (and following them by Matthews and friends) with the Belkin-Valverde thing in the Tour 13, or the 2010 Tour thing in the Ardennes, as they are completely different situations (Valverde: 1 rider with a mechanical far before the finish, and Tour Ardennes still 40km (?) before the finish).
You're right, what Belkin did was much worse. BMC rode in the final, where they're supposed to ride, Belkin rode full throttle far from the finish line to get rid of a rival they had a vendetta on. This situation is a lot more like Bouhannis win the other day. A crash in the middle of a final, Bouhanni should have waited for the other sprinters to get back on to get a fair sprint.
Can't you read or interprete a text? I said stop comparing, as those were different situations. So what do you do? Comparing again.
And to compare it with the Bari stage: everybody got the same time there, instead of today. That's different, loosing a stage, or loosing the GC....
Don't even try to have a discussion with that guy. |
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| Wilier |
Posted on 15-05-2014 20:17
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5405
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Metriz- wrote:
dienblad wrote:
1. Stop comparing this crash and the riding by BMC (and following them by Matthews and friends) with the Belkin-Valverde thing in the Tour 13, or the 2010 Tour thing in the Ardennes, as they are completely different situations (Valverde: 1 rider with a mechanical far before the finish, and Tour Ardennes still 40km (?) before the finish).
You're right, what Belkin did was much worse. BMC rode in the final, where they're supposed to ride, Belkin rode full throttle far from the finish line to get rid of a rival they had a vendetta on. This situation is a lot more like Bouhannis win the other day. A crash in the middle of a final, Bouhanni should have waited for the other sprinters to get back on to get a fair sprint.
Not true, since they arranged with OPQS to form echelons, way before Valverde had a mechanical. |
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