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

frenchfighter

Crankbrother wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

... they have no shame right now. None.

Bertie wins via shipped chain ... Whilst right next to Andy ...

Valverde wins by cycling past the race leader (Evans) who punctures whilst ahead of him ...

For shame, heroes of the peloton, for shame ...

Pfft ...

One person losing a few seconds because he cant shift.
Evans issue - not great. Valverde has been on both sides of that multiple times.

Macaloon

They'd been recovery-riding tranquilo for 245kms. It was excruciating. A roundabout causes a massive smash. A couple of opportunists took advantage, adding to the infamy of Montecassino. Simple as that.

fleshtuxedo

I would love to see it next time Matthews' and Paolini's paths cross.

It did look like the race was on and there was under 10km to go, so I guess that's the way it goes. Matthews, partly through no fault of his own, will surely look like the panto villain in Italy though - apparently leading the neutralisation in Bari, then taking full advantage of the biggest crash of the race today. Horse's head in his bed, I reckon....

Yellow Peril

ddraver[b] wrote:

*cough* disk brakes *cough* [/b]

To be honest though the problem is whatever Italians use for tarmac. I can't think of another country where rain is near guaranteed to cause havoc.

You'd never have spouted such rubbish before you got that Fixie (and man bag I assume)

Macaloon

These guys need higher octane finishing bottles. This is all Phinney's fault.

ddraver

Pross wrote:

ddraver wrote:

*cough* disk brakes *cough*

To be honest though the problem is whatever Italians use for tarmac. I can't think of another country where rain is near guaranteed to cause havoc.

It should be basically the same as us and the rest of Europe, we all use the same EN standard with bits of national variation.

Maybe it's just me then but it seems to cause so many more problems in the wet than the rest of ours...

Yellow Peril

ddraver wrote:

Pross wrote:

ddraver wrote:

*cough* disk brakes *cough*

To be honest though the problem is whatever Italians use for tarmac. I can't think of another country where rain is near guaranteed to cause havoc.

It should be basically the same as us and the rest of Europe, we all use the same EN standard with bits of national variation.

Maybe it's just me then but it seems to cause so many more problems in the wet than the rest of ours...

It was the disc brakes reference (which wouldn't embolden for me)

Crankbrother

frenchfighter wrote:

Crankbrother wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

... they have no shame right now. None.

Bertie wins via shipped chain ... Whilst right next to Andy ...

Valverde wins by cycling past the race leader (Evans) who punctures whilst ahead of him ...

For shame, heroes of the peloton, for shame ...

Pfft ...

One person losing a few seconds because he cant shift.
Evans issue - not great. Valverde has been on both sides of that multiple times.

Quite an important few seconds though ...

Not having a go at either, tbh stuff happens and someone has to ride to win ... You can't blame Evans for taking the time on offer having been burned before. ... Matthews taking the wee-wee a bit after Tuesday's demonstration ...

ddraver

Yellow Peril wrote:

ddraver[b] wrote:

*cough* disk brakes *cough* [/b]

To be honest though the problem is whatever Italians use for tarmac. I can't think of another country where rain is near guaranteed to cause havoc.

You'd never have spouted such rubbish before you got that Fixie (and man bag I assume)

Ha ha fixie is back in the shop having broken already. Evans are being d1cks about it as expected and now I have to pay for all of it after the...unpleasantness...

Still if I get a job as a bike messenger it ll be perfect though...

frenchfighter

Regardless. MM impressed a hell of a lot hanging in there. He goes up in my estimation.

frenchfighter

Post race show:
http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/me ... c82&page=0

frenchfighter

Blood over JRod's handlebars.

Macaloon

The sight of Caruso lying motionless for minutes, as team cars crawled passed, and mechanics waved wheels around, turned my stomach. Not one of them stopped to see if a fellow pro was even breathing. Shameful. Especially in the Giro. #108 my arse.

Crankbrother

frenchfighter wrote:

... MM impressed a hell of a lot hanging in there. He goes up in my estimation.

Agreed, Tuesday aside he has honoured the jersey well ... Orica doing another decent GT ...

milton50

I personally can't decide which side of the debate I come down on. There seems to me a difference between a relatively small crash that holds up one GC guy and a crash that involves half the peloton and basically every GC contender but one. The fact that BMC absolutely drilled it on the front didn't look good to be honest. Maybe I'm naive.

But as others have said, Evans has been on the receiving end before.

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.

calvjones

As each and every GT rolls around I feel sorry for the bugger who gets my PTP GC pick

106: Julian Arredondo (Col) Trek Factory Racing +19:50

Macaloon

Doubt they'll bring the race back to this country for a while. Incessant rain, crappy roads for racing, and diabolical viewing.

Yellow Peril

Macaloon wrote:

Doubt they'll bring the race back to this country for a while. Incessant rain, crappy roads for racing, and diabolical viewing.

With a bit of adapting you might be able to re-use that in the ToC thread Macca

blazing_saddles

From a race standpoint, it's a disaster.
The wasn't an over abundance of GC candidates to start with.
Now, it's already looking like a 3 horse race.
The double threat to Evans of Purito and Rodriguez is also gone.
I expect the Spaniard to pull out and re-group for Le Tour.

As for sparking an attack fest, with many ex-GC boys now so far back,
it's going to have to be a break fest, unfortunately.

Worse yet is the Italian weather forecast. Very unsettled for at least another week.
Who knows what further farcical accidents await further up the road?
It could become a dead rubber by the week three grand finale.

As for the right or wrong of BMC's action , I can't help but think back to Luz Ardiden
in 2003 and think: "Why not then?"

knedlicky

4 DNF – Vicioso and Caruso (both Kat), Brajkovic (Ast) and Villella (Can)

GC:

1 Michael MATTHEWS AUS OGE 24:18:14
2 Cadel EVANS AUS BMC +21
3 Rigoberto URAN URAN COL OPQ +1:18
4 Rafal MAJKA POL TCS +1:25
5 Steve MORABITO SUI BMC +1:25
6 Matteo RABOTTINI ITA NRI +1:25
7 Ivan SANTAROMITA ITA OGE +1:47
8 Fabio ARU ITA AST +1:51
9 Tim WELLENS BEL LTB +1:52
10 Ivan BASSO ITA CAN +2:06
11 Nairo Alexander QUINTANA ROJAS COL MOV +2:08
12 Wilco KELDERMAN NED BEL +2:11
13 Maxime BOUET FRA ALM +2:11
14 Domenico POZZOVIVO ITA ALM +2:11
15 Diego ULISSI ITA LAM +2:22
16 Robert KISERLOVSKI CRO TFR +2:24
17 Michele SCARPONI ITA AST +2:28
18 Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ ESP BMC +2:34
19 Dario CATALDO ITA SKY +2:36
20 Gianluca BRAMBILLA ITA OPQ +2:46
21 Tobias LUDVIGSSON SWE GIA +2:47
22 Maxime MONFORT BEL LTB +2:48
23 Michael ROGERS AUS TCS +2:50
24 Pierre ROLLAND FRA EUC +3:01
25 Wouter POELS NED OPQ +3:10

RichN95.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The double threat to Evans of Purito and Rodriguez is also gone.

I don't think they would have been a double threat unless Katusha have started cloning riders

blazing_saddles

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The double threat to Evans of Purito and Rodriguez is also gone.

I don't think they would have been a double threat unless Katusha have started cloning riders

Sod it. I meant JRod and Quintana. :oops:

Paul 8v

This is a GC disaster. Uran 1:18 down, Quintana 2:08, Rodrigez 9:40. On the other hand, it may create some interesting racing as they fight to claw it back. I can't see Matthews keeping the jersey for too long, especially with Evans snapping at his heels.

Such a shame it came down to this though, the roads are so unpredictable, no wonder Wiggins lost his confidence on them, they seem to be so hit and miss.

Paul 8v

RichN95 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

The double threat to Evans of Purito and Rodriguez is also gone.

I don't think they would have been a double threat unless Katusha have started cloning riders

I wouldn't put it past them, they are essentially team Russia!

blazing_saddles

Velorooms is good at updating the casualty list and it is potentially bad.
Rai report Purito has broken rib/s and won't start. In hospital along with Caruso and Vicioso.
Tuttobici is reporting from 1st injury check that Scarponi probably won't start.
Sky DS has said that Ben Swift is doubtful.
(Ben Swift by some way, last man home, so I guess it's true that he won't start, either.)

tailwindhome

Haven't watched yet....sounds like an interesting day.

Bit puzzled how turning from a one horse race to a three horse race makes it worse :P

knedlicky

Paul 8v wrote:

it (the GC as it has now become) may create some interesting racing as they fight to claw it back.

This.

knedlicky

ddraver wrote:

Pross wrote:

ddraver wrote:

To be honest though the problem is whatever Italians use for tarmac. I can't think of another country where rain is near guaranteed to cause havoc.

It should be basically the same as us and the rest of Europe, we all use the same EN standard with bits of national variation.

Maybe it's just me then but it seems to cause so many more problems in the wet than the rest of ours...

Not sure about the above.
The EN standards basically define the technical requirements for the materials, with some standardisation, they don’t define asphalt mixes, course depths, etc., so the actual pavement designs.
These are still a matter of recommendation by each country’s responsible body, and often quite different between countries. And even when following them, a designer often has some leeway within the recommendations without potentially encountering contractor or warranty problems.

Eitherway, I tried to find some info about Italian asphalt pavement design and it seems the typical HRA wearing course has aggregate in the 10-15 mm range with an asphalt content of about 6% and 2-3% voids. The aggregate range strikes me as on the fine side, perhaps too fine for wet conditions.

meagain

Pross wrote:

ddraver wrote:

*cough* disk brakes *cough*

To be honest though the problem is whatever Italians use for tarmac. I can't think of another country where rain is near guaranteed to cause havoc.

It should be basically the same as us and the rest of Europe, we all use the same EN standard with bits of national variation.

EU Structural Funds paid for much of the transport infrastructure. Unfortunately much was, shall we say, diverted. Allegedly.

Macaloon

Are these surfaces the same as they raced on last year? It didn't seem nearly as dangerous, despite several racing descents. An ancient town centre circuit I can understand being unpredictable, but today's carnage was on a modern roundabout.