Giro 2012: Passo Stelvio finish

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Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,612
    Bad news for Basso & Scarpo if it's cancelled.
    _
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Bad news for Basso & Scarpo if it's cancelled.

    Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    dsoutar wrote:
    Any thoughts on whether this might be curtailed ? Current conditions : http://webcam.popso.it/tmp/thumbnail/T_ ... 3765ba.jpg
    Don’t know what you’re worried about – the road is clear!

    If they can ride through this (Andy Hampsten on the Gavia in the 1988 Giro), the Stelvio as on the webcam will be no problem.
    gavia+1988.png

    Anyway, the forecast I’ve seen says that by next weekend there shouldn’t be any snow lower down the pass, only at the very top (less than an inch thick), and that, although on Saturday morning there might be some light snow showers high up, by afternoon the sun will be out (however no warmer than 0-2 deg C and a bit windy)
  • inkyfingers
    inkyfingers Posts: 4,400
    It's always a risk using such a high altitude finish at this time of year. So long as the road is clear and it doesn't snow heavily on the day then it should be OK, you would expect to see snow on the ground beside the road at that altitude at this time of year.

    I wonder if those guys who might have been waiting till the Stelvio to show their hand will be rethinking their tactics, risk is that they probably won't know till late in the previous day whether they'll be going up there or not so they could be riding up the Alpe di Pampeago the previous day not knowing how deep they can afford to go.

    Funnily enough I was watching the 2003 Giro faturing Simoni's win on the climb the of the Alpe di Pampeago during a recovery ride on my turbo at the weekend.
    "I have a lovely photo of a Camargue horse but will not post it now" (Frenchfighter - July 2013)
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Cant see the whole stage being cancelled though, even if it does snow on the top. I would assume that there would be somewhere they could finish, maybe at 2343 metres on the Stelvio. Its an organisers nightmare and dream at the same time. I guess they would like footage of people finishing with snow falling and accumulating slightly at the top but then they wouldnt want it that bad that it caused them to have to change the stage finish at late notice. They are climbing so its safer than if they were descending. Just hoped they are more prepared then the tour of catalonia was...

    They are only ifs about snow at the moment though and they will still have to do the Mortirolo.

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/giro-ditalia/stage-20
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    knedlicky wrote:
    If they can ride through this (Andy Hampsten on the Gavia in the 1988 Giro), the Stelvio as on the webcam will be no problem.
    gavia+1988.png

    That's not Andy Hampsten, it's Johan van der Velde.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,612
    knedlicky wrote:
    dsoutar wrote:
    Any thoughts on whether this might be curtailed ? Current conditions : http://webcam.popso.it/tmp/thumbnail/T_ ... 3765ba.jpg
    Don’t know what you’re worried about – the road is clear!

    If they can ride through this (Andy Hampsten on the Gavia in the 1988 Giro), the Stelvio as on the webcam will be no problem.
    gavia+1988.png

    Anyway, the forecast I’ve seen says that by next weekend there shouldn’t be any snow lower down the pass, only at the very top (less than an inch thick), and that, although on Saturday morning there might be some light snow showers high up, by afternoon the sun will be out (however no warmer than 0-2 deg C and a bit windy)

    Yeah they don't ride in those conditions anymore - as much for all the support stuff as the riders.

    I don't think the Giro ever willingly ops out of a chance to make the riders suffer. It's more the rest - satellite feeds etc.
    _
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    I don't think the Giro ever willingly ops out of a chance to make the riders suffer. It's more the rest - satellite feeds etc.

    Yeah, the stage might be epic, but you wouldn't see much of it.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    knedlicky wrote:
    If they can ride through this (Andy Hampsten on the Gavia in the 1988 Giro), the Stelvio as on the webcam will be no problem.
    gavia+1988.png

    That's not Andy Hampsten, it's Johan van der Velde.

    He must get so pissed off everytime that stage gets mentioned, he won it and never gets a look in!
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    He must get so pissed off everytime that stage gets mentioned, he won it and never gets a look in!

    Erik Breukink won the stage. Johan van der Velde was first over the Gavia.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    He must get so pissed off everytime that stage gets mentioned, he won it and never gets a look in!

    Erik Breukink won the stage. Johan van der Velde was first over the Gavia.

    I love inadvertantly proving my own point.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,612
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    He must get so pissed off everytime that stage gets mentioned, he won it and never gets a look in!

    Erik Breukink won the stage. Johan van der Velde was first over the Gavia.

    Certainly does.

    In Holland Breukink is the only one who gets the mention.

    Apparently if riders give him sh!t for sitting in the car whilst critcising their lack of effort in poor weather he pulls out that big boy.
    _
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    He must get so pissed off everytime that stage gets mentioned, he won it and never gets a look in!

    Erik Breukink won the stage. Johan van der Velde was first over the Gavia.

    I love inadvertantly proving my own point.

    :D
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    He must get so pissed off everytime that stage gets mentioned, he won it and never gets a look in!

    Erik Breukink won the stage. Johan van der Velde was first over the Gavia.

    Certainly does.

    In Holland Breukink is the only one who gets the mention.

    Apparently if riders give him sh!t for sitting in the car whilst critcising their lack of effort in poor weather he pulls out that big boy.

    Reminds me of a tale a Dutch hotelier once told me about Jan Janssen.

    Aged about 60, he jumps onto the wheel of a teenager on a motor scooter and drafts him at about 50kph for a couple of km. At the next set of traffic lights, the kid turns around and says "You could have been a decent rider!"

    "Ask your dad" replies Jan.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,612
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    He must get so pissed off everytime that stage gets mentioned, he won it and never gets a look in!

    Erik Breukink won the stage. Johan van der Velde was first over the Gavia.

    Certainly does.

    In Holland Breukink is the only one who gets the mention.

    Apparently if riders give him sh!t for sitting in the car whilst critcising their lack of effort in poor weather he pulls out that big boy.

    Reminds me of a tale a Dutch hotelier once told me about Jan Janssen.

    Aged about 60, he jumps onto the wheel of a teenager on a motor scooter and drafts him at about 50kph for a couple of km. At the next set of traffic lights, the kid turns around and says "You could have been a decent rider!"

    "Ask your dad" replies Jan.

    :lol:

    I've never met anyone in Holland who doesn't know who Jan Janssen is.
    _
  • Cumulonimbus
    Cumulonimbus Posts: 1,730
    Cant see anything now due to a snowflake on the lens so its difficult to see what is happening :D

    http://webcam.popso.it/cm/pages/ServeBL ... DPagina/28

    Could be some accumulations there this afternoon but it does look like turning warmer later tomorrow and into tomorrow night.
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    That's not Andy Hampsten, it's Johan van der Velde.
    Sorry! I felt suspicious it wasn't the photo I knew of the 'Little Rabbit' (as Hinault called Hampsten) when I posted it; I should have checked more thoroughly.
    This is the famous one.
    hamp_gavia.jpeg

    One thing I remember when I first saw photos and heard reports of the Gavia stage at that time, and which has come back to me now I've found the true Hampsten photo, is that I'd noticed then that Hampsten was wearing a long-armed vest (the likes of Argentin and Van der Velde were instead bare-armed that day) and I later read it was of synthetic material. I think it was the first time I'd seen and heard of what is nowadays called a functional or thermal vest on a cyclist.

    Long-armed thermal vests then appeared the same year on some riders in the first cool week of the TdF, as they crossed northern France, west to east.

    I can't say for sure that long-armed thermal vests appeared for the first time that year, but as far as I can remember, in previous years, if it was cool but not wet (so a jacket wasn't necessary), then riders wore the long-arm versions of their team jersey, which have the disadvantage that they aren't so tight-fitting and in addition, in those days, not all jerseys were of 'functional' material.
  • josame
    josame Posts: 1,141
    Pross wrote:
    Was going to ride it this year (twice) in a 130 mile loop together with the Gavia and Mortirolo but lack of money prevented me going over :(

    Yeah me too .. I was going to add in the Angliru, Ventoux, and Mt Baldy but i got a puncture coming out of the hotel car park... always next summer :wink:
    'Do not compare your bike to others, for always there will be greater and lesser bikes'
  • josame
    josame Posts: 1,141
    dave milne wrote:
    The mortirolo bit is pretty pointless. Would rather see that as either the last climb or followed by the Aprica as a summit finish

    someone might use it as a launchpad for an attack .. not so pointless then
    'Do not compare your bike to others, for always there will be greater and lesser bikes'
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,310
    josame wrote:
    dave milne wrote:
    The mortirolo bit is pretty pointless. Would rather see that as either the last climb or followed by the Aprica as a summit finish

    someone might use it as a launchpad for an attack .. not so pointless then

    I doubt it, personally. It's just too far out, with too much climbing left for anyone to seriously consider it. Not any GC at any rate. There's an outside chance a team with two well placed climbers could send one of them off there to soften the GC teams up for an attack on the Stelvio by the other.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    If weather is rubbish, I won't be hiring a bike. Pushing a lot up the Stelvio will be bearable only in decent weather.
  • Monty Zoncolan
    Monty Zoncolan Posts: 341
    The shot in the opening post is beautiful. The route looks as much a psychological examination as a physical one. Plus I would imagine riders can see those quite a bit ahead/behind them, which would be interesting.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,310
    Monty Zoncolan wrote:
    Plus I would imagine riders can see those quite a bit ahead/behind them, which would be interesting.

    I guess that depends on what the crowds are like.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,490
    josame wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Was going to ride it this year (twice) in a 130 mile loop together with the Gavia and Mortirolo but lack of money prevented me going over :(

    Yeah me too .. I was going to add in the Angliru, Ventoux, and Mt Baldy but i got a puncture coming out of the hotel car park... always next summer :wink:

    Doubt all you like - it's still on the agenda as a charity ride for a very special cause so put your money where your cynicism is when the time comes ;)
  • josame
    josame Posts: 1,141
    Pross wrote:
    josame wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Was going to ride it this year (twice) in a 130 mile loop together with the Gavia and Mortirolo but lack of money prevented me going over :(

    Yeah me too .. I was going to add in the Angliru, Ventoux, and Mt Baldy but i got a puncture coming out of the hotel car park... always next summer :wink:

    Doubt all you like - it's still on the agenda as a charity ride for a very special cause so put your money where your cynicism is when the time comes ;)

    I was just kidding - .. good luck when you go for it (my charity ride this year is Bilbao to Barcelona :? )
    'Do not compare your bike to others, for always there will be greater and lesser bikes'

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