Early Stage 16 "Spoiler"

Quite Frankly

Latest odds:

Denis Menchov 4/11
Danilo Di Luca 4/1
Carlos Sastre 6/1
Ivan Basso 14/1
Levi Leipheimer 25/1
Franco Pellizotti 25/1

Looks about right. Difficult to see how Menchov will be beaten.

dulldave

What a stage! I really enjoyed that. I have to say that I don't think it was a concious decision for Lance to go back and help Levi. He'd made a big effort and then Sastre just hit them all with a turn of pace. LA looked like he was rolling back down the hill.

I couldn't see why LA would try to bridge that gap for Levi's benefit in the first place when Levi was already struggling. I was pretty impressed by Lance all things considered.

stagehopper

iainf72 wrote:

Just read some comments the Liquigas DS made before todays stage and he said Levi was on the verge of cracking.

Sometimes those chaps know what they're talking about, eh?

Kelly and Harmon were suggesting as much on Sunday.

moray_gub

Quite Frankly wrote:

Armstrong was asked this question on Twitter:

''Do you think you could've sat with Menchov and the others to the top today if you didn't have to pull levi to the top?''

His response:

''It's not important. I'm here to help Levistrong.''


Oh but it is important, it's very important.

As far as this race goes its no more important than Bossisio or Pawels doing it.

ridgerider

Nice touch by Menchov to pull away from Da Luca at the end, DDL will have that rear view of Menchov in his head all rest day.

1 second on the road, 36 hours in his head...good value effort!

SpaceJunk

Ridgerider wrote:

Nice touch by Menchov to pull away from Da Luca at the end, DDL will have that rear view of Menchov in his head all rest day.

1 second on the road, 36 hours in his head...good value effort!

I was thinking the same thing; sure 1 second (plus the 4 bonus ones as well). Good to see Denny (copyright by P Sherwen), make a statement, albeit a minor one.

Can't wait until Wednesday.

frenchfighter

“(Without Lance) I would have lost much much more time. He saved me minutes and minutes,” Leipheimer said.

Really? I know it helps to have someone tow you, but it is not like there is much saving from wind going at 18-22km/h or so.

Kléber

SpaceJunk wrote:

Good to see Denny (copyright by P Sherwen), make a statement, albeit a minor one.

Dennis, in Russian "Денис" is actually pronounced like... Dennise, with the stress on the second "n"

ridgerider

Denny Dennise, oh with your eyes so blue,
Denny Dennise, I'm so in love with you.

DaveyL

Blazing Saddles wrote:

DaveyL wrote:

Armstrong, Leipheimer, Hunter and Rogers all tweeting to say it's the hardest GT stage they've ridden.

Just as well there aren't any proper mountan stages in this Giro...

One stage, does not at GT make.

Besides, the weather +35C, was exceptional.
Not even the Tour in July would suffer such extremes, as the climbing was roughly at a level 1000 metres below the norm.
It probably was the hottest GT mountain stage any of them has ever ridden.

I suspect the riders would have found a 230 km stage with 5000 m of climbing tough regardless of the weather.

Fastlad

I'm surprised Leipheimer had the energy to twitter, i suspect he sat in the back of the team bus like a burst couch!!

colint

frenchfighter wrote:

“(Without Lance) I would have lost much much more time. He saved me minutes and minutes,” Leipheimer said.

Really? I know it helps to have someone tow you, but it is not like there is much saving from wind going at 18-22km/h or so.

I think it's psychological as well though, easier to put that fraction less effort in when you're alone, if you've got a wheel to follow you're more likely to try and stick to it

NervexProf

Stage 16 Highlights here for anyone who missed the stage:

http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/RaiTV/pro ... sport.html

jimmythecuckoo

Awesome stage.

blazing_saddles

DaveyL wrote:

I suspect the riders would have found a 230 km stage with 5000 m of climbing tough regardless of the weather.

Actually, it was more like 4,200m. Same amount last year in the Giro stage 20 Rovetta- Tirano and the year before stage 15 Trento-Tre Cime di Lavaredo (remember who won that one?) :roll:

DaveyL

http://twitter.com/allandavis27/status/1916400504

"I just down loaded my polar, 8h 30m today total, with the roll out and riding to the team bus after the finish! 5270m of climbing, St 16!"

Better tell Allan Davis he's got himself a dodgy Polar!

Kléber

4/5000m of vertical gain, either way, I really don't think the third week of a grand tour requires such big stages. I'd actually be in favour of a rule limiting the final week to stages no longer than maybe 160, 180km or perhaps 200km. Still enough for plenty of excitement each day but nothing to reduce a rider to physical collapse, giving riders a 230km mountain stage in the last week is really pushing them to the brink of exhaustion. Yes a Tour should reward the hardest riders and those who can recover well but stages like this can be too much. Today's Blockhause finish or the potential nailbiter on Ventoux provide plenty for riders and viewers alike.

blazing_saddles

Ah! another twitterfact.
If we are going to start counting every metre of uncatagorised climbing to get a total, I suggest we check the record books.
You did the same with stage 10.
There were 3250 metres of catagorised climbs. I added 1000 metres for uncatagorised, just to be generous.
I'll bet there are some stages with +6000metres, when you add every rise.

Some folks just can't accept got it wrong.....ever.
Me? I'm always wrong.

teagar

Kléber wrote:

4/5000m of vertical gain, either way, I really don't think the third week of a grand tour requires such big stages. I'd actually be in favour of a rule limiting the final week to stages no longer than maybe 160, 180km or perhaps 200km. Still enough for plenty of excitement each day but nothing to reduce a rider to physical collapse, giving riders a 230km mountain stage in the last week is really pushing them to the brink of exhaustion. Yes a Tour should reward the hardest riders and those who can recover well but stages like this can be too much. Today's Blockhause finish or the potential nailbiter on Ventoux provide plenty for riders and viewers alike.

Of course they should reduce them to physical collapse in the third week. I thought that was the entire point of a three week tour? Only the strongest of the strong can finish. That's why it is such an achievement to finish them.

It's all about selection. We want the classics to be as brutal as possible to get the biggest selection. (How many of you moaned that too many people arrived in the front group in San Remo?). In GTs you get the selection by making the 3rd week seriously tough, since the riding is never as balls out as it is in classics.

Take a look at any good TDF route. Every mountain stage has more climbing and steeper average gradients over the whole stage than the previous mountain stage. Only the super strong should be able to even sniff the leaders' jersy in the 3rd week of a GT.

DaveyL

Just cos it was posted on twitter doesn't mean it's automatically right. Or wrong.

I guess the riders only feel the categorized metres, huh?

What did I get wrong? I'm not claiming it was tough in relative terms so no need to bring in other stages for comparison. I'm saying, in absolute terms, the numbers reflect the fact it would have been a killer stage, heat or no heat.