Giro D'Italia- Stage 16 ***Spoilers***

Crampeur

Reichenbach abadons. Shame.

ridgerider

Nice one Steve!
Good core of climbers developing at jumbo.

Crampeur

Ridgerider wrote:

Nice one Steve!
Good core of climbers developing at jumbo.

Takes the mountains jersey off Intxausti by 1 point.



Missed this the other day. Intxausti dedicating his stage win to Xavi Tondo (he was there when he died). Nice gesture.

mididoctors

at one stage it was like watching a sportive. riders everywhere.

I have to say that was quite a ride by bertie and a fair few others. Heroic stuff, even aru who just never gave up...could have melted down completely and off the podium.

frenchfighter

Crampeur wrote:

Takes the mountains jersey off Intxausti by 1 point.

Excellent!

Crampeur wrote:

Missed this the other day. Intxausti dedicating his stage win to Xavi Tondo (he was there when he died). Nice gesture.

He must have been a great guy as lots of riders have dedicated their win to Tondo.

Crampeur wrote:

Reichenbach abadons. Shame.

After the first climb.

Crampeur wrote:

Gutted to miss the stage today.

You can watch the entire broadcast here:
http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/rai ... 75&yr=2015

Crampeur wrote:

Certainly Landa doesn't consider himself in contention, judging by how early he celebrated.

Bobby can you really see Landa challenging Contador?
Julich: Well, he is the biggest threat and seems to be on the form of his life. If he really had major GC aspirations, I would have thought that he would have driven it all the way to the line today. He slowed up there at the end during his victory salute, which he deserved, but could have waited until after he crossed the finish. When you see Alberto snatch up those 2 bonus seconds the other day and Landa loose 5 seconds during his celebration today, you can start to see the difference in their focus. Remember, GTs have been lost by seconds in the past!

frenchfighter

Tinkov:
@olegtinkov · 2h 2 hours ago
We could have lost #Giro2015 because of this small piece ...


“I don’t want to say too much but I think there was much more respect for the maglia rosa five or 10 years ago. Now when the leader punctures, they attack; when the leader crashes, they attack,” Tinkov told Cyclingnews after praising his riders at the Tinkoff-Saxo team bus.

“It’s up to the fans to say if there was fair play from the Astana and Katusha team. Maybe I’m wrong but I’ll be happy to hear what the Astana and Katusha fans have to say about it on Twitter.”

“For me this is the real podium after what happened today: Alberto is first on the top step and there is no one in second place and only one in third place,” he said bluntly.

“I don’t understand what they were hoping to do by being 40 seconds ahead at the start of the Mortirolo. Alberto was by far the strongest guy here… I don’t think Astana and Katusha showed any class,” he said.

“We were a little bit pissed off and angry with what happened, but then we just followed Alberto from the car as he picked up as many minutes as possible on the others. It was good to watch. Alberto showed he’s a great champion and showed that he’s the boss here.”

Yeah!

Katusha DS:
“I told Oleg on the phone that race radio didn’t announce that Contador had punctured. I just heard that one of the Astana riders had stopped – whether it was because of a fall or not, I don’t know. But I didn’t expect that Contador would lose Aru’s wheel [on the descent],” the Russian said almost mischievously.

“We knew that there was a bad, bad descent after Aprica and we went to the front to set our own tempo and we managed to get up to the front group that changed the race a bit because Contador wasn’t up there. In the end, we rode our race and Astana rode theirs. It went well for us. Trofimov rode well and moved up to fifth overall.”

Landa:
“We went hard on the flat before the Mortirolo to make it hard for Contador, so that he might be a little more tired when he caught us,” Landa said in his press conference. “We saw that Contador had a problem, and we tried to take advantage of it. I believe that we caused him some pain to catch us. Katusha broke up the group and went full gas, and we collaborated with them.”

“Alberto and I didn’t talk, least of all today,” Landa said. “I saw he and Kruijswijk were talking and I could see that they had worked together and Alberto wanted him to win. But I attacked to see how their strength was and I saw I was the strongest.”

Kruijswijk:
“I chose to go full to the finish with Alberto. Obviously Landa wasn’t going to work with us because of Aru in the back. But even if he had worked with us, I knew it would be hard to beat him. I think in the end, maybe I could have chosen another tactic. But I’m satisfied with what I got today.”
@s_kruijswijk · 2h 2 hours ago
What a day! Racing from start till finish and with what kind of company!Thanks @LottoJumbo_road mates for the help!


Hesjedal. Pure racer.
“I’m happy with the result. I got out there, I raced. I think I showed, you know…” Hesjedal said. “It’s just about going out and racing, going for it, and not being scared. I’m not scared to lose 13th overall. Whatever the result is after the outcome of choosing to race the way…That’s it. I’d rather just do it.”

But he has harsh words to say of Contador. To be honest his opinion is pretty much irrelevant here.
“Alberto chased me down by himself over the first climb. I guess that’s another sign of respect. But I’m at 11 minutes, what do they think? Let the break go…” he said with frustration and sarcasm.

“Otherwise, look what happens. Saxo just annihilates themselves. Maybe it’s all good in the end, Alberto wins, but I just don’t understand it. Let a break get five, six, seven, eight minutes. What’s it to them? But they decide to keep it close and then it’s easy for Astana to take over after sitting on the wheel… and then they inflict pain on everybody.”

“I was a little mad arriving at the bottom of the Mortirolo with nothing but I showed how I rode the climb that I’ve got good legs and that I’m not scared to go for it,” he said with pride, hinting he may try further attacks on the remaining mountain stages after recovering from his huge effort on the road to Aprica.

“I just wanted to get out front and get an advantage but I don’t really know what happened. But I’m not worrying about anyone else, I’m just going out there, racing my bike and enjoying it. I think I’m getting better, I’m in my fourth week of my own Grand Tour after riding Trentino and Romandie.”

“I know my legs are good. I’m not scared of the Giro. So we’ll see how the rest of the race goes.”

Aru. Proper fighter.
“I suffered for 40km and I could have lost 20 minutes,” Aru admitted after the stage, speaking briefly to Italian television before heading to his nearby hotel to recover from his huge effort.

“It honestly wasn’t one of the best days of my career. I suffered a lot and I rode more with my head than my legs. I fought all the way to the line so that I didn’t lose everything.”

“Mikel was feeling good and so it was right he got to play his cards. He won the stage and if someone is feeling better than you, team leader orders go by the way. That’s only fair,” Aru said.

“Now I just want to think about recovering for the next few days, I’m really tired, I did a huge effort. It was a kind of effort that you can only make on a bike.”

Contador. All round complete and utter champion and good guy.
@albertocontador · 3h 3 hours ago
There are times when a race's plan changes and became more difficult, I like to see it as an opportunity to do something different....
@albertocontador · 3h 3 hours ago
...I'll remember this day forever.Thanks, team,for giving a 100%,very proud of you, are great!


“It was a very complicated stage,” Contador said with some understatement. “I punctured on the descent but until then it had been a perfect day. [Ivan] Basso gave me his wheel but it took a while to change. The whole team put in a huge effort to help me, my pulse was hitting 180 on the flat. They were riding full-on up front, and I knew then it would be a hard day.”

“When I saw Astana were on the front, I knew that I’d start the Mortirolo with a deficit,” Contador said. “The deficit itself wasn’t the problem so much as having to ride flat out for 10 kilometres before the climb. On the Mortirolo, I rode at my own rhythm. I treated it like a time trial. I never lost my composure.”

“As for Landa maybe he abandoned his leader a little bit but everyone does his own race,” Contador said pointedly in his press conference afterwards. “For me, Kruijswijk did great work and under normal circumstances, I would have given him the stage win but everybody has his own interests and I respect that.”
If you watch the replay, he goes after Landa, then looks back and see Steve is not on his wheel so sits up. I don't think he would have caught Landa but I think he could have arrived at the finish before Steve. He didn't because he has class.

Asked to revisit Astana’s forcing following his wheel change, Contador reached for a diplomatic response “I knew that in that situation, the most likely scenario was exactly what happened. I’m not here to debate whether it was right or wrong,” he said.

But would Contador acted as Aru did had their roles been reversed? “Today I don’t think Aru is happy,” he said simply.

@Contador_Notebk · 4h 4 hours ago
Big cheers for Contador as he walks to the car to go to the hotel.
The Tifosi LOVE Contador

For those that dislike Contador you should really try and set that aside and marvel in his performances. He is the best stage race rider ever and you will likely not see another rider like him in your lifetime. Just revel in the positive emotions you get from backing this rider who is fueled by pure passion. Es complicado. Bueno.

rick_chasey

For the record, this is why 9 times out of 10 'gentleman's agreement' is rubbish.


Attacking the puncture made the race what it was.

frenchfighter

Last riders in were 40mins down.

Cheng has some work to do in GC:
167 Cheng Ji (Chn) Team Giant-Alpecin 4:19:36
168 Roger Kluge (Ger) IAM Cycling 4:22:23
169 Marco Coledan (Ita) TrekRacing 4:31:33
170 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) IAM Cycling 4:31:44

Young rider classification
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 65:09:51
2 Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team 0:43:17

Fair Play Classification
21 TEAM SKY 285
22 ORICA GREENEDGE 365

thomthom

Love how honest Landa was after the race when he simply said they were taking advantage of Contador's technical. He knew he probably wouldn't be best friends with Alberto now but didn't try to make excuses. Fair enough. And Contador has been quite cool about it as well. Simply let the legs do the talk instead.

Imagine the moaning and whinging we'd get, going just a few years back with the Sisters Schleck and Fabina Cancel-lara..

Crampeur

frenchfighter wrote:

Crampeur wrote:

Gutted to miss the stage today.

You can watch the entire broadcast here:
http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/rai ... 75&yr=2015

Perfect, thanks very much!

Pross

Well my Sky+ box picked a good day to decide to cancel the planner :roll:

Thanks all the the reports, it helped make up for not being able to watch.

joelsim

I hope they've checked Landa's eyebrows for hidden motors.

Cracking stage today, thoroughly enjoyed it.

inseine

For those that dislike Contador you should really try and set that aside and marvel in his performances. He is the best stage race rider ever and you will likely not see another rider like him in your lifetime. Just revel in the positive emotions you get from backing this rider who is fueled by pure passion. Es complicado. Bueno.

Some of us remember Hinault, then there's that Merckx fella...
Contador's still pretty good on his day though.

dolan_driver

Ryder kind of has a point. Rob Hatch said as much during the live broadcast.

DD.

Crampeur

I enjoyed Sean Kelly calling the Mortirolo "the Motorola."

frenchfighter

Dolan Driver wrote:

Ryder kind of has a point. Rob Hatch said as much during the live broadcast.

DD.

It's a race. First man to the finish wins. Is Hesjedal saying that he can only win if he gets a 5min head start? Is that sort of win worthy? You should deserve your win.

talius

Cracking stage, though the speed Landa rode away at the end was a leeeetle bit unbelievable...

calvjones

So... what does this tell us about the Tour given Bertie has demolished a crowd of (relative) second raters? Should be quite exciting and I can see it being decided by time differences on the cobbles with Bertie, Frome and Nairu coming to the MTFs together. Are there time bonuses?

frenchfighter

Joelsim wrote:

I hope they've checked Landa's eyebrows for hidden motors.

Cracking stage today, thoroughly enjoyed it.

frenchfighter

inseine wrote:

For those that dislike Contador you should really try and set that aside and marvel in his performances. He is the best stage race rider ever and you will likely not see another rider like him in your lifetime. Just revel in the positive emotions you get from backing this rider who is fueled by pure passion. Es complicado. Bueno.

Some of us remember Hinault, then there's that Merckx fella...
Contador's still pretty good on his day though.

Ok ok, he still has a couple more GTs to win first
What do you think about the relative competition Merckx and Hinault had vs what Contador has to contend with over the years? Bear in mind I have not watched either of those two race,

lochindaal

fueled by pure passion

....and that's your opinion

Yellow Peril

frenchfighter wrote:

inseine wrote:

For those that dislike Contador you should really try and set that aside and marvel in his performances. He is the best stage race rider ever and you will likely not see another rider like him in your lifetime. Just revel in the positive emotions you get from backing this rider who is fueled by pure passion. Es complicado. Bueno.

Some of us remember Hinault, then there's that Merckx fella...
Contador's still pretty good on his day though.

Ok ok, he still has a couple more GTs to win first
What do you think about the relative competition Merckx and Hinault had vs what Contador has to contend with over the years? Bear in mind I have not watched either of those two race,

I think its like comparing apples with pears. However, if he can do the double this year that would set Contador well above his peers

salsiccia1

frenchfighter wrote:

inseine wrote:

For those that dislike Contador you should really try and set that aside and marvel in his performances. He is the best stage race rider ever and you will likely not see another rider like him in your lifetime. Just revel in the positive emotions you get from backing this rider who is fueled by pure passion. Es complicado. Bueno.

Some of us remember Hinault, then there's that Merckx fella...
Contador's still pretty good on his day though.

Ok ok, he still has a couple more GTs to win first
What do you think about the relative competition Merckx and Hinault had vs what Contador has to contend with over the years? Bear in mind I have not watched either of those two race,

It's difficult to compare eras due to specialisation now, and the racing was different, but I'm pretty comfortable suggesting Contador is the best stage race rider since Hinault. What I think would give Hinault the edge was his incredible will and intimidation. He was the last real patron and as classy as Contador is I don't think he has that attitude. But in fairness, he probably doesn't need it.

thomthom

No idea why Tinkoff are constantly closing down breakaways but Ryder needs to man up.

frenchfighter

Crampeur wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Crampeur wrote:

Gutted to miss the stage today.

You can watch the entire broadcast here:
http://www.steephill.tv/players/720/rai ... 75&yr=2015

Perfect, thanks very much!

If you want English commentary then 45km of ES commentary is here:
https://vid.me/5Qex
It starts shortly before the Mortirolo though so doesn't really cover the chase in the valley.

dolan_driver

frenchfighter wrote:

Dolan Driver wrote:

Ryder kind of has a point. Rob Hatch said as much during the live broadcast.

DD.

It's a race. First man to the finish wins. Is Hesjedal saying that he can only win if he gets a 5min head start? Is that sort of win worthy? You should deserve your win.

Yep it's a race al-right and I guess Bertrand is keen to get his first Giro stage win. Ryder will just have to try again and hopefully he'll be more successful next time.

DD.

FJS

Talius wrote:

Cracking stage, though the speed Landa rode away at the end was a leeeetle bit unbelievable...

He had been sitting in the wheels for ages.

milton50

I'd have Merckx and Hinault ahead of Contador currently. If Contador can do the double then I'd probably have him as the equal of Hinault.

But Merckx won 64 individual stages on his way to winning 11 GTs. He's in a class of his own.

Yellow Peril

Milton50 wrote:

I'd have Merckx and Hinault ahead of Contador currently. If Contador can do the double then I'd probably have him as the equal of Hinault.

But Merckx won 64 individual stages on his way to winning 11 GTs. He's in a class of his own.

Probably a fair assessment, and if he could do the Vuelta as well this year maybe just ahead.

greasedscotsman

Indurain anyone? Has more GT wins (currently) than Contador.