Giro 2014 - Stage 16: Val Martello *Spoilers*

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Comments

  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Nice. As per usual Pozzo has zero emotion and hardly even breathing.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 21,890
    ddraver wrote:
    dsoutar wrote:
    Belgian TV reporting that teams have requested any gains on Stelvio descent be subtracted which would put Uran back in pink albeit by a very small margin

    AIGIP say UCI will not allow this...

    I wonder whether they are allowed to delay the start of the some riders in the TT.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    Castelli Cycling ‏@CastelliCycling

    @ddraver http://instagram.com/p/og1a3aye7k/

    Zing
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    Geraint Thomas ‏@GeraintThomas86
    Rain for every k of our 205km today. Although morale was high because 'at least we not at the Giro'

    :P
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    @ddraver
    @CastelliCycling Good answer ;) Do you find it frustrating when (other) riders complain of cold then?

    Castelli Cycling ‏@CastelliCycling
    @ddraver I only hear it until they buy a Gabba from us :)

    Double Zing - Castelli definitely in the lead here!
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Macaloon
    Macaloon Posts: 5,545
    If the gear stops you from freezing, what's the downside? Is it just too hot for a pro's work-rate? Is the water-retention a problem at a pro's speed? Is it just too hard to put on when you're freezing?
    ...a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Good research.
    Maybe just Rapha and Pearl Izumi that make unwearable tat, then.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    You would have thought that Bernie could have kept his hands warm with some combination of Rapha's 4 glove superduper glove supremo system
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    That's the main point. I do wonder what goes through their heads.

    It isn’t a new thing that it snows on top of mountains!
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    I dunno - I suppose the problem is that they can't pick them up from the team car for the descent, or put them on before they start rocketing down.

    The argument then is apart from the riders racing for the win, why can't riders use some form of compromise or just suffer with sweaty hands...

    Dunno. I suspect that perhaps there is a bit of cycling tradition at play here a bit like aero helmets and skin suits. It's surprising that Sky don't have that a bit more licked though...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • ocdupalais
    ocdupalais Posts: 4,317
    Clothing choice - gloves/no gloves: Gore-Tex/no Gore-Tex, etc, is the responsibility of the riders, surely? The level of information they have to make that call is a different matter - up to the organisers/team management. Wasn't Ullrich's failure to put enough clothing on during the Galibier stage of the '98 Tour cited as the reason he was unable to respond to Pantani's attack*? It's part of the racing - not another sideline variable that needs to be eradicated from the equation.

    Admittedly, when riders are battered and freezing they don't really think that well - and if you've got a competitor gaping you over a climb you might not worry too much about layering up - and then how do you tog up at 45mph for 10 minutes? - but by the time most pro's are 25, they've experienced high mountains in sh!te weather and know that the ascent can be totally different to the descent and that concentrating on making the right choices will ultimately put them in a better place than those who don't.

    Is Eisel being misrepresented, or is he generally a bit of a whinger?

    *the coldest I've ever been was coming down the Galibier in July - wet and 1*c at the top - back when I thought I was being clever in packing a Gamex jacket rather than a Gore-Tex one because it was lighter. I remember contemplating crashing so that I'd get a moment of warmth as the blood oozed over me...
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,695
    Accept your points OCU, I suppose you could look at it a bit more simply and say that they might just be using it as an excuse...

    I think Eisel is a wily old fox who knows how things work better than most
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • adr82
    adr82 Posts: 4,002
    http://inrng.com/2014/05/the-fog-of-war-stelvio-giro/
  • r0bh
    r0bh Posts: 2,436
    ddraver wrote:
    You would have thought that Bernie could have kept his hands warm with some combination of Rapha's 4 glove superduper glove supremo system

    The trouble with gloves is that, no matter how waterproof the fabric is, they have a whooping great hole in them. The one you put your hands into. Water runs straight down your arms into the gloves. It's very hard for any garment to stay warm when wet, especially gloves which don't have much of a heat source in them to drive moisture away from your skin.
  • skylla
    skylla Posts: 758
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Lots more great photos on his flickr.

    [images]

    agreed.
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/smashred/ ... 834289786/
    cheers!
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    R0bh - neoprene is warm when wet....
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    ddraver wrote:
    I think Eisel is a wily old fox who knows how things work better than most

    Fox yes. Old? Oi!
    Correlation is not causation.
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    OnYourRight wrote:
    I thought Cataldo looked a bit more comfortably dressed than many yesterday.
    I agree entirely; hope he's offered a modelling contract now.
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    RichN95 wrote:
    OCDuPalais wrote:
    Is it fair to quote other forum members out of context like that?
    Next thing, you'll be mentioning things like...
    RichN95 wrote:
    An epic stage in which nothing relevant to GC will happen until the 14% bit 5km from the end
    I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up. I thought I'd got away with it. In my defence no-one could have predicted the descent fiasco.
    No need to hang your head in shame! I agreed with your original post, in fact I even added “the battle between the main GC contenders will be in only the steep last 1.5 km of 8 zig-zags”.
    And I don’t think you/we got it that wrong.

    Apart from Quintana and Rolland, the rest of the top 9 in the GC on Tuesday morning were all together as they reached the 5 kms-to-go mark. And then came a little action, Evans and Kiserlovski losing ground at 3.5 kms, Kelderman attacking at 2 km, the other 4 (Pozzovivo, Aru, Majka and Uran) getting a bit spread out in the last 1.5 km.

    We got 7 out of 9 right!
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    FleshTuxedo wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    BorIpESIIAEHMOI.jpg
    It's the photographic SMOKING GUN!!!!
    I had another look at the film of yesterday’s stage, and this film-still isn’t evidence against Quintana, rather it shows:

    (a) Dupont followed by Vuillermoz, both AG2R, not Quintana and Rolland as some have assumed
    (b) Dupont and Vuillermoz have only just passed the red flag motorbike – the previous sequence showing them, two hairpins and 20 secs earlier, has them behind the motorbike
    (c) Just one second after this film-still was taken, the red flag on the motorbike was lowered and taken in for good

    Soon to come around that corner is Pantano, so by the time he does, there is no longer a red flag ahead of him to prevent him closing up to Dupont and Vuillermoz, which he does quickly thereafter.

    The film-still is almost exactly 5 kms from the summit and about 6 mins after the pictured riders crossed the summit, so the red flag restriction, at least for the mentioned 3 riders, but maybe also for all riders if other motorbikes lowered their flags 5 kms from the summit, was only applied for the first fifth of the descent.

    (In the first fifth, if the gain over the whole descent was constant, Quintana may have opened up 24 secs to Uran)
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Thanks for that.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • Macaloon
    Macaloon Posts: 5,545
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Thanks for that.

    +1 Appreciated. As was that sensational snow album.
    ...a rare 100% loyal Pro Race poster. A poster boy for the community.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Must confess, it didn't look all that dangerous to me.

    I've gone down a lot of mountains in the pyrenees in the p!ssing rain.
    _
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Also, re the clothing.

    Can't help but notice pros just don't bring the really deep winter stuff to races.

    If you compare what they wear even on the coldest days compared to what the more well equipped roadie commuter rides in the middle of January, it's a lot lot lighter.
    _
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,462
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Also, re the clothing.

    Can't help but notice pros just don't bring the really deep winter stuff to races.

    If you compare what they wear even on the coldest days compared to what the more well equipped roadie commuter rides in the middle of January, it's a lot lot lighter.

    They wear warmer stuff training in 20+ degrees than they do racing in temperatures just above freezing.

    I didn't see the Gavia descent but agree that the Stelvio didn't look that bad. Last year was worse and so spring races this year probably were.
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    UCI denied request to nullify the results.

    --

    Loving Quintana's comments on cyclingnews. Proper great character. He also points out Movistar have 9 riders left - proper support. He also points out that he has friends in the peloton and can have allies.

    --

    Martinelli, DS for Astana, saying that Quintana would NEVER have got as much of an advantage on the climb had they arrived together at the base. Maybe so but I dont get it as was several good GC riders against one rider and they still lost - they climbed badly even when they needed to go all out.
    Contador is the Greatest
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Lots more great photos on his flickr.

    Who? Do you have a link?
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Lots more great photos on his flickr.

    Who? Do you have a link?

    Gruber, says it on the photos. https://www.flickr.com/photos/smashred
    Contador is the Greatest
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    frenchfighter wrote:
    greasedscotsman wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    Lots more great photos on his flickr.

    Who? Do you have a link?

    Gruber, says it on the photos. https://www.flickr.com/photos/smashred

    Oh right. Cheers! I'll have a look later...
  • graeme_s-2
    graeme_s-2 Posts: 3,382
    Isn't part of the problem with clothing that once the riders broke their agreed truce on the Gavia the race was spread all over the road and it was very difficult for them to access their team cars to swap clothing. No clothing exists that is going to be suitable to race up one side of a mountain and then race back down the other without you getting uncomfortably hot or uncomfortably cold at some point.

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