Giro 2017: Stage 1:-Alghero › Olbia. *Spoilers*

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Comments

  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    I have to admit that I am struggling to see how riding off the front of the peloton is an open goal?
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    thegibdog wrote:
    I have to admit that I am struggling to see how riding off the front of the peloton is an open goal?

    Because no-one was chasing. Everybody behind was looking at each other waiting for the others to make a move. Even he was looking over his shoulder wondering what was happening. I'm pleased for the guy I really am but I was a combination of circumstances that saw him win.

    Unless someone wants to tell me he was that much faster than the rest of the field and he just blew the legs off them all?
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    meanredspider wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    If you didn't enjoy that win, then I wonder if this sport is for you.

    It was "nice" at a human level but, as a sporting spectacle, it was the same as an open goal or rugby interception. After 5.5 hours of "racing" I can't get too excited by that. I accept that I'm clearly in a minority on here.

    It's a grand tour sprint stage, not Paris Roubaix.

    I can assure you Cancellara's 2007 Compiegne victory, which I have watched countless times, and still get excited to watch, was, over the course of the stage, an absolute snooze. 6 and a half hours(count 'em!) and that was the only interesting bit. But that moment was just incredible. https://youtu.be/BJNLMYpr2TM

    This one was also pretty damn good!
    _
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    edited May 2017
    meanredspider wrote:
    thegibdog wrote:
    I have to admit that I am struggling to see how riding off the front of the peloton is an open goal?

    Because no-one was chasing. Everybody behind was looking at each other waiting for the others to make a move. Even he was looking over his shoulder wondering what was happening. I'm pleased for the guy I really am but I was a combination of circumstances that saw him win.

    Unless someone wants to tell me he was that much faster than the rest of the field and he just blew the legs off them all?

    Well there were two Orica chasers who he blew away for starters, and that was way out at 1.5km to go.

    It was also into a big headwind, which, although contributed to some hesitation, people don't just ride that fast into a headwind for 1.5km.
    _
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,107
    thegibdog wrote:
    I have to admit that I am struggling to see how riding off the front of the peloton is an open goal?

    It's dead easy, that's why it happens so often with a full speed peloton in the last couple of km.
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    thegibdog wrote:
    I have to admit that I am struggling to see how riding off the front of the peloton is an open goal?

    It's dead easy, that's why it happens so often with a full speed peloton in the last couple of km.

    It took the peloton ages to sort itself out after the 90 right debacle and he had a mahoosive lead by the time the peleton was up to speed. The guy clearly has some legs (else he wouldn't be a lead-out man) but it was as much the inaction of the other teams that let him win it as it was his own ability.
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    meanredspider wrote:
    thegibdog wrote:
    I have to admit that I am struggling to see how riding off the front of the peloton is an open goal?
    Because no-one was chasing. Everybody behind was looking at each other waiting for the others to make a move. Even he was looking over his shoulder wondering what was happening. I'm pleased for the guy I really am but I was a combination of circumstances that saw him win.

    Unless someone wants to tell me he was that much faster than the rest of the field and he just blew the legs off them all?
    Well there were two Orica chasers who he blew away for starters, and that was way out at 1.5km to go.

    It was also into a big headwind, which, although contributed to some hesitation, people don't just ride that fast into a headwind for 1.5km.
    Indeed. And it's not as if getting to the front of the peloton in the closing stages is a walk in the park. It takes a hell of a lot of power to get there, a bit more to ride off the front and then the ability to maintain that to the line.

    Positioning in the finale of a race is also probably something that is under-appreciated by a lot of people. As well as the lack of a concerted chase, the 'combination of circumstances' includes his power and positioning. If you think that any rider could have done it then you'd be wrong.

    I'm impressed when I see someone do this at my local crit. This was the opening stage of a grand tour.
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    It is a decent advertisement for the advantage of being able to corner faster than the rest.
    _
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    The Austrian took advantage of the narrow, twisty streets, as the sprint teams could not get organised in time. He'll start Sunday's stage in the pink leader's jersey.
    A crash on a sharp right-hand bend inside the final 5km caused chaos, and the sprinters’ teams consequently failed to organise properly for the final lead-out.
    But when Pöstlberger took up the reins with a couple of kilometres remaining, shortly after a crash had disrupted the bunch, a gap appeared between himself and Caleb Ewan's Orica-Scott lead-out man. And it only got bigger, as Bennett urged his lead-out man to crack on over race radio. More splits emerged in the technical city streets and Pöstlberger did just that, carrying a healthy lead into the final few hundred metres – enough to sit up and celebrate in the final 100 metres
    Austrian foils the sprinters after inadvertently getting gap on peloton in final run-in

    Just a selection of reports. Words like "shock" "chaos" "failed" "inadvertent" appear quite often and, given the reaction on here, not too many words like "brilliant".

    Again, I don't dispute the guy took his opportunity.
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    It is a decent advertisement for the advantage of being able to corner faster than the rest.

    Can't be doing that - it's dangerous :wink:
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    meanredspider wrote:
    Just a selection of reports. Words like "shock" "chaos" "failed" "inadvertent" appear quite often and, given the reaction on here, not too many words like "brilliant".

    Again, I don't dispute the guy took his opportunity.
    No words like 'open goal' either...

    I think pretty much everyone here is saying he took his opportunity. But most people also realise that getting yourself in that situation and finishing it off isn't easy, and therefore it was an impressive win.
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    thegibdog wrote:
    meanredspider wrote:
    Just a selection of reports. Words like "shock" "chaos" "failed" "inadvertent" appear quite often and, given the reaction on here, not too many words like "brilliant".

    Again, I don't dispute the guy took his opportunity.
    No words like 'open goal' either...

    I think pretty much everyone here is saying he took his opportunity. But most people also realise that getting yourself in that situation and finishing it off isn't easy, and therefore it was an impressive win.

    Yup - I accept that "open goal" was possibly a bit provocative - a think an interception in rugby is more apt: being in the right place but (often) with a degree of luck and that you still need to run in.

    What I didn't recognise from what I watched and heard (from the coverage) (and I think from what I've read), and what surprised me, was the reaction on here.
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,107
    The fact that something unexpected can happen was brilliant. I don't think anyone thought it was a brilliant tactical masterstroke.
  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 7,550
    The crash was someway down the pack wasn't it, so the sprinters were ahead of it with their lead out men. They hesitated a little yes, but probably thought he had no chance of the gap sticking.
    You don't see this work very often at this level, so chapeau (or whatever the Italian or Austrian equivalents are)!
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,461
    You often see a gap like that develop following a bit of chaos in the last few km but it very rarely results in someone staying away. If the crash was 300m from the line I could understand the 'open goal' or 'interception try' comment. I think the crash does also demonstrate how pro cyclists will try to defy the laws of maths and physics rather than back off when a win is at stake. I'm still not convinced that is unique to cyclists though.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,107
    I guess once someone has beaten the defenders and rounded the keeper, it's then an open goal.
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    I guess once someone has beaten the defenders and rounded the keeper, it's then an open goal.

    If the defenders think the keeper has claimed the ball and they all stand there looking at each other...
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    thegibdog wrote:
    I have to admit that I am struggling to see how riding off the front of the peloton is an open goal?

    It's dead easy, that's why it happens so often with a full speed peloton in the last couple of km.
    Yeah, happens basically every sprint stage these days doesn't it.
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    meanredspider wrote:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    I guess once someone has beaten the defenders and rounded the keeper, it's then an open goal.
    If the defenders think the keeper has claimed the ball and they all stand there looking at each other...
    If we are persisting with the football similie, then it was like a centre back ghosting into the opposition's penalty area unmarked and meeting a cross with a header at the near post, whilst everyone else was queuing up to volley it behind him.

    But really I find it easier to appreciate bike racing for what it is, rather than trying to equate it to other sports.
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com

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