Giro 2018 Stage 14: San Vito al Tagliamento - Monte Zoncolan 186 kilometres *Spoilers*

rick_chasey

Tom feels his form isn’t as good as it was last year and it’ll be “difficult to win”.

ddraver

How do you say Bluff in Dutch?

bobmcstuff

Rick Chasey wrote:

Tom feels his form isn’t as good as it was last year and it’ll be “difficult to win”.

Any claim by Dumoulin that he is not the virtual leader should be treated with great suspicion.

RichN95.

bobmcstuff wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Tom feels his form isn’t as good as it was last year and it’ll be “difficult to win”.

Any claim by Dumoulin that he is not the virtual leader should be treated with great suspicion.

I’m not convinced he is. 1.24 is in the region of what I’d expect him to beat Yates in the TT by.

TheBigBean

Virtual leads based on TTs in GTs are always a bit of a ropey claim. Plenty of cases in point.

milton50

The fact it comes after a rest day also increases uncertainty. Although I would expect Dumoulin to beat Yates by a minimum of 1:30.

blazing_saddles

bobmcstuff wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Tom feels his form isn’t as good as it was last year and it’ll be “difficult to win”.

Any claim by Dumoulin that he is not the virtual leader should be treated with great suspicion.

ddraver wrote:

How do you say Bluff in Dutch?

These
So far, he 100% in delivering performances that contradict his daily form proclamations.

inseine

Milton50 wrote:

The fact it comes after a rest day also increases uncertainty. Although I would expect Dumoulin to beat Yates by a minimum of 1:30.

I suspected more but the gap his brother conceded to Teejay at California might be a good guide. Similar distance and around 1.35

rick_chasey

Consensus is two minutes in the TT which after bonuses might not be enough for Tom.

DeVlaeminck

It's tight for sure, I reckon Yates did enough on Zoncolan to be on target - Dumoulin isn't the sort to crack completely and 30 seconds over 3k isn't a bad return - but he needs to keep chipping away on these mountain finishes and bonuses could be crucial.

A couple of things that may come into play. Assuming Dumoulin take over pink after the TT if Sunweb take responsibility for policing the break they might let it go out and take the stage bonuses - MitcheltonS may still find themselves having to ride to stop that happening.

Second one is with it being so close who takes responsibility for going after an aggressive Froome? It's one thing letting Woods or Aru up the road but if Froome is back he is dangerous. A standoff between Yates and TD might actually let Froome come right back into this race. It could be so close that bonus sprints get interesting.

inseine

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Second one is with it being so close who takes responsibility for going after an aggressive Froome? It's one thing letting Woods or Aru up the road but if Froome is back he is dangerous. A standoff between Yates and TD might actually let Froome come right back into this race. It could be so close that bonus sprints get interesting.

I do like the sound of this scenario

pblakeney

inseine wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

Second one is with it being so close who takes responsibility for going after an aggressive Froome? It's one thing letting Woods or Aru up the road but if Froome is back he is dangerous. A standoff between Yates and TD might actually let Froome come right back into this race. It could be so close that bonus sprints get interesting.

I do like the sound of this scenario

Interesting for sure but I see Froome getting podium, not pink. He will take time out of Yates, but not more than 3 minutes. He might take time out of Dumoulin, but not 2 minutes. Two horse race, accidents aside.

larkim

Three minutes to Yates and two to Dumoulin sound safe in theory. But it only takes one unexpected event for any of those three individuals for all that to be changed.

mfin

It's actually easy to tell what's going to happen, just watch it at the time.

the article don

mfin wrote:

It's actually easy to tell what's going to happen, just watch it at the time.

Yes, heaven forbid people coming onto a cycling forum to speculate about the outcome of a big race.Whatever next?

No_Ta_Doctor

This was posted in today's stage thread but probably belongs better here.
https://twitter.com/Eurosport_UK/status ... 9900676096

topper_harley

the article don wrote:

mfin wrote:

It's actually easy to tell what's going to happen, just watch it at the time.

Yes, heaven forbid people coming onto a cycling forum to speculate about the outcome of a big race.Whatever next?

RichN95.

Looking at the How the Race was Won video for this stage could help noticing a very suspicious climbing performance. Look at these two screenshots at 4.5km and 1km and tell be that is credible. It's not.

cruff

... Cue endless palaeontological arguments about the running speed of Tyrannosaurids...

ddraver

Did I hear someone say they'd like another series Tour de Geologie this July?

No_Ta_Doctor

ddraver wrote:

Did I hear someone say they'd like another series Tour de Geologie this July?

Yes please.

above_the_cows

ddraver wrote:

Did I hear someone say they'd like another series Tour de Geologie this July?

Graag!

above_the_cows

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

I've just realised Yates has elastic bands around his shoes.

No_Ta_Doctor

Above The Cows wrote:

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

I've just realised Yates has elastic bands around his shoes.

Laces. It's like an old-skool football boot thing.

above_the_cows

No tA Doctor wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

Slim Boy Fat wrote:

I've just realised Yates has elastic bands around his shoes.

Laces. It's like an old-skool football boot thing.

Don't ruin it for me! I wanted to think he'd solved his shoe malfunction with the super high-tech marginal gain of elastic bands.


I have no idea why you would tie your laces around your football boots or your cycling shoes?

m.r.m.

Above The Cows wrote:

I have no idea why you would tie your laces around your football boots or your cycling shoes?

It's so the bunny ears don't get caught on the crank.

In football you flipped the long tongue over the laces and secured it via elastic under the shoe to have a more uniform surface at the top of the boot to not have the laces interfere with the precision of your game.

above_the_cows

OK OK, but why have cycling shoes with laces in this day and age there are so many other alternatives?

I'm reading to much into this.

pblakeney

Above The Cows wrote:

OK OK, but why have cycling shoes with laces in this day and age there are so many other alternatives?

I'm reading to much into this.

Lower profile, more aero under overshoes.
Once at that point you ride with your favourite shoes all the time.

m.r.m.

Weight mainly. If you don't need to loosen and tighten during rides (some people adjust BOA tightness a lot, others don't) there is no advantage to running BOA's. Laces suffer less from crashes as well.

rick_chasey

And thicker margins for the shoe manufacturer who still charges the premium for a cheaper design.