Giro 2014 - Stage 6 - Sassano-Montecassino * Spoiler *

Le Commentateur

Milton50 wrote:

In one way it's ruined the contest we all wanted to see in the 2nd and 3rd weeks. In another way though it does force Quintana to attack Evans at every opportunity in the mountains.

I don't think so. Two weeks is plenty enough time to run out of gas, especially against climbers in the final few days. I'm old enough to remember Casagrande looking like he had a secure grip on the trophy after the first week of the 2000 Giro and yet his ride ended in disaster in the final days.

wombly_knees

Joelsim wrote:

Have a look at his results over the last 3 years in smaller tours, in the one dayers, the fact that he was only a handful of seconds behind Quintana in T-A this year, and he's shown on more than a couple of occasions that he can climb and he can punch. This boy is a good rider.

He's a very good rider, but it's a stretch to call him a GT podium candidate or even a top 10 rider yet imo. If he's uninjured, losing a chunk may not be the worst thing at all for him.

A 10km mass start hill or mountain climb is never the best indicator, but he was not great in the Fuji hill climb stage either time. Again in San Luis this year... recovery is also an unknown. FWIW, about the smaller tours, Nippo are in a completely different league to the rest of the teams in Japan.

Despite all the outrage and controversy, this was the first stage with any real activity outside the last 1000 metres.

mooro

I was really looking forward to this stage as casino is where my grandads family were from, they moved across here in the 1930s. Not sure if it was due to the roads. Doubt it, I doubt they had a car come to think of it.

Regarding the crash, Evans was in about 4th position on the last footage going into the roundabout which obviously took some effort given he was well back 3 k before this. It's a bit reactionary to claim that he should have sat up afterwards, as it would have been chaos behind and unlikely that the teams themselves knew the scale. Also Mathews and OG also took a fair share of the pace setting. Equally the second group behind could have ridden harder to catch up.

I very much doubt other riders would feel aggrieved by this, they know its racing. We have just had a good classics season and there wasn't much sitting up for punctures and crashes then.

Macaloon

I've changed my mind. Cadel's gap seems like a reasonable reward for wining the fight to be at the front. I also now think the idea that Cadel should sit up out of a sense of fair play is nonsense given the era he rode through.

jerry3571

There is some kind of code with crashes and waiting but it's always controversial. This incident with a LA was a big talking point in 2003 and whether Ullrich waited or not so the crash yesterday did effect the GC yesterday which is a little bit unfair. Also a bit like AC attacking Shrek junior in the Tour when he shipped his chain. I think it's a shame when a result is squewed by a crash as the test should be whether the strongest riders wins in the end. That's sport though I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRxGNttpaZA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KbR5fyhRsU

jerry3571

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b042zb4t

This is a series of programmes where Tim Moore rides the worst Giro course, the 1914 Giro where he rides on a bike and wears clothes from that period. Quite a nice programme.

feltkuota

My biggest concern was why did it take so long for the medics to get to the rider who was laid out on the ground.

frenchfighter

Apparently Roche had to wait 15mins for a bike which is why he is so far down :shock: :shock: :shock:

frenchfighter

Pross wrote:

I'm finding it slightly ironic that some who were praising Nibs for pushing hard downhill in the rain last year (and criticising Wiggins for lack of bike handling skills for subsequently crashing) are now criticising Evans for ploughing on when riders go down with less reckless tactics being employed.

The main issue is that it is not one person who ditched it but every GC rider apart from Evans went down due to something equivalent to oil being spilt on the road. If Nibali attacks on a descent, crashes and loses 5mins, then it is a completely different story.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Who's being stupid, again?

You are.

I am not saying his is a Giro winner and have not seem him touted as one all over the place either. He could easily place highly and a win a stage or three though.

My comments stand - take a look at his results. He is also good value for the fans.

Macaloon wrote:

I've changed my mind. Cadel's gap seems like a reasonable reward for wining the fight to be at the front. I also now think the idea that Cadel should sit up out of a sense of fair play is nonsense given the era he rode through.

Most of the GC contenders were at the front. OPQS were almost neck and neck with BMC going in. There is no skill there from BMC, just luck. There is nothing to reward them for.

phreak

Not sure what the major fuss is really. The Giro is always loaded with climbs in the last week, so I'd be amazed if the climbers couldn't take 2 minutes back on those final stages. It's not as though the race is over, is it? I mean Quintana lost 40 seconds or so. It's not ideal for sure, but it's hardly the end of the world, except for Purito.

I'd say guys like Quintana and Pozzovizo are still in strong positions with the mountains still to come.

smokey_bacon

Not heard about Swift, all quiet on that front.

My view on it is the same as Joaquim's here http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/broken- ... ro-ditalia

inseine

OnYourRight wrote:

feltkuota wrote:

My biggest concern was why did it take so long for the medics to get to the rider who was laid out on the ground.

It looked bad, and in hindsight they should have got there quicker. (Then again, in hindsight, it turns out he’s ‘okay’. Maybe that was more apparent on the scene. Vicioso suffered more damage.) There were two scenes of chaos a couple of hundred metres apart. The scene looked unmanageable in video footage, and must have been even messier on the ground.

Has anyone heard anything definitive about Ben Swift’s injuries, if any? I heard something about an elbow, but there’s nothing here.

Apart from 'Fortunately, it looks like none of our riders went down too badly'. Swifty saying that all his clothing went in the bin exept his undershirt....obviously a but banged up but nothing broken.

Macaloon

Smokey Bacon wrote:

Not heard about Swift, all quiet on that front.

My view on it is the same as Joaquim's here http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/broken- ... ro-ditalia

Great stuff. Cheers:

“The crashes were bad for all of us. The road was very slippery and we were going at 60km/h. Just touching your breaks was enough to crash. But that is a risk we always take. It is part of our job to try to be in the front to fight for the victory. I really cannot blame the organization or the local roads. After the crash I got back on my bike immediately, more full of aggression and determination, but after a while I clearly felt what the problem was, as I could not breath anymore.”

Not to mention riding with a couple of broken ribs since Amstel will take a few % off anybody's top end.

frenchfighter

So he came to the Giro with broken ribs. Heavyweight. If he was with Sky prolly would be in bed for a few months.

inseine

frenchfighter wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

If you look at the crash you will understand that skill has nothing to do with it. Just luck.

And the further towards the front you ride, the luckier you get.

So you suggest all DS should advise their teams to ride 95% to put their GC rider on the front? So they all ride at 50km/h and increase the likelihood of crashing?

As J-Rod said (after the crash) 'It is part of our job to try to be in the front to fight for the victory'.
Terrible crash, sorry for the guys who are out, but you can't blame the guys on the front or expect them to wait for those who were down.

frenchfighter

frenchfighter

tailwindhome

frenchfighter wrote:

So he came to the Giro with broken ribs. Heavyweight. If he was with Sky prolly would be in bed for a few months.

On the other hand if he was with BMC he'd be the de facto GC leader.

Crampeur

Samuel Sanchez: "I have had more crashes here in the last three stages than in the whole of any other Grand Tour I’ve done...I’m just amazed I’ve not broken anything. I went down at 60 kilometres an hour and went skidding along the ground for quite a period of time. I’ve got bruising, but nothing is broken.

It was an awful crash. I guess the number of riders who are injured must be a very long one. What happened to me was that the riders ahead of me went down and I got pushed over by riders coming up behind, so I fell. It’s one of those situations where you’re trapped in the middle of it, you can’t do anything and all you can do is wonder - as you’re falling - what the heck is going to happen to you. It was a really big crash. We were going very, very fast at the time and then I heard somebody hit a patch of petrol. Total chaos: or as the Italians say un casino [a real mess].

Some people say it happened because of the road narrowing down for the roundabout. But I don’t think so. When the road simply gets narrower, everybody brakes, they know what they have to do to avoid a crash and everybody gets round it. But when a road is very slippery, and somebody brakes, if there’s petrol on the road then everybody goes down.

The thing is when somebody at the front of the bunch crashes, then everybody crashes. And almost everybody did crash, apart from 10 or 12 riders."

frenchfighter

For some reason I am always surprised reading Sanchez's quotes.

--

Deignan's diary is good:
http://www.stickybottle.com/uncategoriz ... -the-pain/

I don’t really see the point in these long stages to be honest. You could have made today’s stage 160km and the result would probably have been the same and we wouldn’t have had to ride around for an extra three hours for nothing.

I saw a TV clip of the crash afterwards but it didn’t due it justice at all. The pictures left out at least 50 guys on the ground.

Swifty hit the kerb with his hip and was in so much pain afterwards that he ended up fainting in the shower on the team bus.

Some of the guys had to change bikes to finish the stage while Kosta crashed again when a car braked in front of him as he was riding back up through the cavalcade.

thomthom

delete

frenchfighter

From stage 6 of 2012 Tour when Orica drilled it after a crash:

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/12308 ... hreds.aspx

“These kinds of crashes happen, but you have to ask, how did it happen?” Kelly told VeloNews. “Nobody wants to brake anymore. Everyone is pushing to be in the top 30 riders. Everybody is taking so many risks, and they will have crashes because of that.”

“I spoke to Bernie Eisel about it last year, and he said, the guys have no fear,” he said. “There are more crashes now, more, more, more, much more. The guys are taking more risks. Every little bit of space, they try to push through. That’s what’s causing the crashes. I can only say what I am hearing from the other riders, that they are taking other risks.”

“Today is a disaster for a team like Garmin. Rabobank, also lost their GC men. That crash wiped out so many GC riders,” Kelly said. “Evans and Wiggins have both had a very good run. Then there is the fight for third place for the podium. I think Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) could be the man. It’s all about surviving the first week and staying out of danger to get to the mountains.”

Final General Classification
GBR 1 WIGGINS, Bradley (SKY PROCYCLING) 87:34:42
GBR 2 FROOME, Christopher (SKY PROCYCLING) + 3:21
ITA 3 NIBALI, Vincenzo (LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE) + 6:19
BEL 4 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (LOTTO BELISOL) + 10:15
USA 5 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 11:04
ESP 6 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (RADIOSHACK-NISSAN) + 15:43
AUS 7 EVANS, Cadel (BMC RACING) + 15:51

specialgueststar

(not) the luck of the Irish - few days out of Dublin

ROCHE NicolasTinkoff-Saxo15:55
DEIGNAN PhilipTeam Sky17:59

Yellow Peril

When is the race on? the race is on as soon as the riders leave the neutral zone. If a rider(s) have a mishap be it a crash or a mechanical and the peleton choose to wait so be it, but they, or any rider within, should never be compelled or expected to wait. Grand Tours are as much about luck/fortune/misfortune as anything else. Riders, if they do wait, should do so out of a courtesy and not as a level of expectation. This particular "tradition" creates an underlying and ungovernable set of rules.

Wait if you choose to race if you want to... on the basis that what goes around comes around.

RichN95.

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

(not) the luck of the Irish - few days out of Dublin

ROCHE NicolasTinkoff-Saxo15:55
DEIGNAN PhilipTeam Sky17:59

And a part-time Irishman:

118 Christopher Juul Jensen Tinkoff-Saxo 11.06

moray_gub

i sometimes wonder what you some of really want to watch....do you want bike racing where crashes and weather conditions are all part and parcel of the sport and something that you have to accept or do you want to watch a watered down after you Claude type of sport where after almost every crash racing gets neutralised........stop being a bunch of girls blouses ffs!

Crampeur

Moray Gub wrote:

i sometimes wonder what you some of really want to watch....do you want bike racing where crashes and weather conditions are all part and parcel of the sport and something that you have to accept or do you want to watch a watered down after you Claude type of sport where after almost every crash racing gets neutralised........stop being a bunch of girls blouses ffs!

Nice measured response there.

thomthom

Just caught up with last km + the crash. Can't be bothered to read all the pages in here but anyone calling for Evans and BMC to actually stop and wait are a bit silly, really. Not even in the junior races would that happen. Sit in front and increase the chances of a bit of luck to be heading your way. That's what happend to Evans.

One of the biggest scandals in modern cycling - almost on level with the drug cheats - was when Cancellara stopped a whole stage because of his captain's technical skills - or lack of..

This thing with cancelling races has to got to stop. We saw it last in year's Giro as well when the peloton didn't want to descend a perfectly normal and safe descent. Making a joke of a whole mountain pass..

I even heard that someome had a go at Evans and compared his attitude from the situation in the Tour when the race was sabotaged with tacks. Yes, sabotaged.. If one can't tell the difference between the elements riders have to deal with during a race such as rain, slippery roads, crashes etc. and tacks, well then...

jerry3571

I think there's a bit of naughtiness going on. Wouldn't surprise if some chaps dropped a bottle or two of the extra virgin Olio on the roads. Italians were known for dropping tacks on the road. Tacks are too obvious these days.

It's been wet there for a few days at least so any diesel or whatever would be long washed away. Think it's a bit of fun and games going on. ;-)

dolan_driver

Evans has been conspicuous by his presence on the front of the bunch for much of this race so far. At 6km to go on the stage into Dublin he was there with two teammates on the front of the bunch. This is possibly his last shot at a grand Tour win and he is doing everything he can to avoid misfortune. By riding near the front for most of every stage, he is using more energy than his GC rivals sitting in the aerodynamic vacuum of the peloton but the extra effort paid off yesterday.

The sight of the Katusha rider lying motionless on the road yesterday is sickening but sadly these crashes are a part of racing. The race was on and Evans and co were in the right place when misfortune struck. It may seem harsh but that's racing. It will be interesting to see if there is any reaction against the Evans group for yesterday's events.

DD.