Giro 2014 Stage 8: Foligno - Montecopiolo MTF *spoilers*

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Comments

  • Macaloon
    Macaloon Posts: 5,545
    Frenchie with another episode of Sky at Night: Richie is a cross between a Leo and a Capricorn - a Leprachaun.
    ...a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Gruppetto about 50 strong and 34mins down today. Medium mountains. Going to be messy in the final week.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • milton50
    milton50 Posts: 3,856
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Gruppetto about 50 strong and 34mins down today. Medium mountains. Going to be messy in the final week.

    Not sure many sprinters will bother with the final week.

    Disappointed in Cataldo. I thought he would top 10.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Milton50 wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Gruppetto about 50 strong and 34mins down today. Medium mountains. Going to be messy in the final week.

    Not sure many sprinters will bother with the final week.

    Disappointed in Cataldo. I thought he would top 10.

    Yeah I expect a ton to pull out after the few 'sprint' stages next week.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    Best stage so far, bit od a panache-a-thon from Rolland and Arredondo. Surprised that there is so much mention of fatigue. I thought with one thing and another it was a fairly light GT week?
    @JaunePeril

    Winner of the Bike Radar Pro Race Wiggins Hour Prediction Competition
  • adr82
    adr82 Posts: 4,002
    frenchfighter wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Have Deignan or Cataldo finished yet?

    Nope both will be over 16mins back.

    22mins back.
    Deignan, Cataldo, Henao, Puccio.
    Eisel is yet to come in.
    Are you going to tell us where the domestiques for all the other teams finished too? I'm desperate to hear their totally irrelevant time losses!
  • dolan_driver
    dolan_driver Posts: 831
    It was disappointing for Arredondo not to take the stage but he could take the blue jersey all the way to Trieste. Pierre Rolland would probably have taken that if he was on top form. He seemed to be lacking a little today. Quintana is cruising along and looks good. He definitely must still be the favourite for the overall.

    Wilco Kelderman is riding nicely so far. If he can avoid any crashes and remain injury-free, it will be interesting to see where he eventually ends up. A promising talent. Belkin seem to have a stable full of lanky GC contenders. When Gesink gets back, it'll be hard to tell them apart from one another.

    DD.
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,310
    frenchfighter wrote:
    DISASTER FOR CYCLING FANS GLOBALLY



    Never knowingly understated.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,310
    frenchfighter wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Have Deignan or Cataldo finished yet?

    Nope both will be over 16mins back.

    22mins back.
    Deignan, Cataldo, Henao, Puccio.
    Eisel is yet to come in.


    Sure you know Sky have no interest in the GC - you should enjoy their performance over the next couple of weeks - get into the breaks and go for the stage wins.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    TailWindHome wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Have Deignan or Cataldo finished yet?

    Nope both will be over 16mins back.

    22mins back.
    Deignan, Cataldo, Henao, Puccio.
    Eisel is yet to come in.


    Sure you know Sky have no interest in the GC - you should enjoy their performance over the next couple of weeks - get into the breaks and go for the stage wins.

    I am sure you don't know that that Cataldo has placed 12th in the Giro twice. A top ten would have been a realistic goal for him. Deignan, well who knows but I was hoping he would do something. Henao - early days but his brother would be with the top guys today (he is currently on a team enforced leave from racing) and have hoped this year that he would do something as well just like other neo-pros.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    adr82 wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Have Deignan or Cataldo finished yet?

    Nope both will be over 16mins back.

    22mins back.
    Deignan, Cataldo, Henao, Puccio.
    Eisel is yet to come in.
    Are you going to tell us where the domestiques for all the other teams finished too? I'm desperate to hear their totally irrelevant time losses!

    Whats that, a neo pro dom in his first GT a sprinter, and two other doms come in further back


    Contador hasn't even finished the stage yet.
  • dolan_driver
    dolan_driver Posts: 831
    I think Deignan lost time in the big crash a few days ago so that put paid to any top-20 chances he might have had. He was always expecting to have to ride into form over the first half of the race anyway as he came into the race a little under-prepared (I believe). He is now on deliberate GC time-loss duty so that if he gets good legs in Week 3, he might have a shot at a stage win and won't be any kind of a threat to the GC boys. He certainly won't be now but it might all be part of the Sky master plan.

    He has a daily Giro diary on stickybottle.

    DD.
  • Turfle
    Turfle Posts: 3,762
    I imagine he, Cataldo, or Puccio are hoping to be in tomorrow's break.
  • Macaloon
    Macaloon Posts: 5,545
    I can understand the GC favourites riding conservatively due to the terrifying third week. But what was Pozzovivo doing flogging his team to set up an attack that never came? Even stranger was the mass disappearance of Movistar. Ulissi won the stage and Quintana was on his own for most of the final 3 climbs. Oddness.
    ...a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.
  • tuneskyline
    tuneskyline Posts: 370
    Nice race. Watching the Pink Jersey almost come to a stop was a bit odd. You think he would have paced himself a bit better. He was never going to stay with the main GC boys. This was a good stage to attack. If riders are going to get back at Evans then they really do need to take their chances when they can. It's amazing how quick the days will go by.
    FF, Only Andy Schleck could beat them with one leg. The True King.
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    Good stage that. Missed it live as took daughter to ballet and the school summer fair. So just finished watching the whole thing which I'd Sky +. Gutted for Arredondo, thought he was going to do it but obviously just ran out of gas. Bit disappointed by the GC guys, thought someone might have tried to attack. Be interesting to see how BMC go about defending the jersey with a long way to go.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Pozzovivo needs to man up.

    Felt finally like it was the proper Giro again. Not the best stage, but not bad either.

    Bit bizarre the commentator kept saying it was a 'momentous' stage.

    Kelderman is bringing back the Rabo tradition of a good Dutch junior effort.
    _
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Why would any of the GC guys go for it today? Another tough day tomorrow and it's all about the wearing down process.

    I enjoyed the stage - Very good winner, great talent. Also nice to see Basso riding reasonably. Not his kind of finish but he didn't look terrible today.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • MrTapir
    MrTapir Posts: 1,206
    I enjoyed the last 40k or so. I liked that Quintana put a couple of seconds into Evans across the line, smart racing.
  • ridgerider
    ridgerider Posts: 2,852
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    Give me more wrote:
    Kelderman doing very well for himself.

    is he riding the Tour - I 'm going to be on Dutch corner - although it will be quiet

    I think it's Mollema/ten Dam for TdF. Perhaps he will do Spain (with Gesink?).
    Half man, Half bike
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,163
    Excellent stage today but gutted for Arredondo and, to a lesser extent, Rolland. Europcar got their tactics spot on today and it so nearly paid off, stage just 250m too long in the end and a disappointing result ultimately. Would have been nice if at least Kiserlovski could have at least taken the stage for Trek.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,163
    Turfle wrote:
    dougzz wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Joelsim wrote:
    Who was it who said that Arredondo was overrated the other day? He is a top talent and so nearly pulled off one of the most amazing wins ever.
    Yeah exactly.
    At least he has the mountains jersey to show for his efforts.
    Actually it was just pointed out that there's little evidence to point to him winning a 3 week GT. Blowing up today supports that.

    At least someone has reading comprehension!

    Yep, huge difference between going on a fantastic day long break when 17 minutes down on GC and being a contender over 3 weeks. Some people need to stop reading books on doping and try to understand bike racing itself a bit more.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    iainf72 wrote:
    Why would any of the GC guys go for it today? Another tough day tomorrow and it's all about the wearing down process. .

    Why not?
    _
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    iainf72 wrote:
    Why would any of the GC guys go for it today? Another tough day tomorrow and it's all about the wearing down process. .

    Why not?

    Probably because there is 2 weeks to go. Most contenders would want to have a look at who else is looking good before showing their own hand on the first stage that truly went upwards.

    As for Cataldo/Deignan/Roche and anyone else losing time today.... they already had no chance overall. Take it steady today and go for a stage another time. Better than finishing 20th in the overall 15 mins down due to the crash the other day, or finish 10th overall but be anonymous for most of the race (after all know one seems to remember how well Cataldo has done in previous years).
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    MrTapir wrote:
    I enjoyed the last 40k or so. I liked that Quintana put a couple of seconds into Evans across the line, smart racing.

    Definitely. At this rate he'll have Evans on the ropes by the 2017 Giro.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    The GC field feels a bit depleted, but the young rider competition is top quality, isn't it? Majka, Aru, Ulissi, Kelderman, Quintana - not bad that
  • tuneskyline
    tuneskyline Posts: 370
    iainf72 wrote:
    Why would any of the GC guys go for it today? Another tough day tomorrow and it's all about the wearing down process.
    ver
    I enjoyed the stage - Very good winner, great talent. Also nice to see Basso riding reasonably. Not his kind of finish but he didn't look terrible today.

    How are they wearing down Evans? He just needs to sit on wheels. Its up to Quintana and co to put him on the back foot at every opportunity. If they keep leaving it stage after stage and just try attack with 2 or I km to go then I doubt they will get back enough time, infact I think Evans looks better. Someone needs to go for a long one and get Evans under pressure. Evans looked as strong as anyone today and good team support as well. Quintana was isolated quite early so not looking so good for him. Contador would have lit this race up today.....or Andy Schleck the best climber ever. Basso is a donkey.
  • smithy21
    smithy21 Posts: 2,204
    I would agree with Iain. I didn't see yesterday as one where the GC attacks would come. Maybe a bit more today with a rest day coming up but I don't think anyone is going panicking and going for a long range attack. Maybe if Evans has this sort of gap in the last week but not now.

    I enjoyed the stage yesterday.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    First time watching the Giro then? Because what happened yesterday is not unusual. As a matter of fact, on Friday I tweeted.

    iain_forfar: Looking forward to everyone being outraged tomorrow when the GC guys in the Giro just ride to the finish together without much happening

    So thank you internet, for not letting me down.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Bit different to some riders stamping their authority on the first stage of the Tour. They have had a tough week so somewhat understandable but at least some attacks a few km out to gain 20 secs or something is useful. Sure its tough tomorrow but then they have a good many days after to save energy and have little chance to gain time. I hope that today they show some desire.
    Contador is the Greatest

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