Giro 2018, Stage 16: Trento - Rovereto - 34.2 kilometres, *Spoilers*

RichN95.

Above The Cows wrote:

And who the blazes is this dude?

What is it with mystery invisible Spaniards do they have invisibility cloaks or is it something in the water?

I read somewhere that Bilbo has a ring that makes him invisible when he wears it.

above_the_cows

RichN95 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

And who the blazes is this dude?

What is it with mystery invisible Spaniards do they have invisibility cloaks or is it something in the water?

I read somewhere that Bilbo has a ring that makes him invisible when he wears it.

HOW DID I MISS THIS JOKE?

Lanterne_Rogue

One thing that baffles me about Aru today. If this was filling the mirrors of your motorbike, surely you'd want to put as much distance between the two of you as possible?

Above The Cows wrote:

above_the_cows

LOL

bobmcstuff

Blazing Saddles wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

Pross wrote:

Any chatter over on the other site about Aru's sudden improvement in TT ability?

careful...

if he catapulted onto the podium there would be

No there wouldn't.
The forum decreed back in '15 that because Aru was Italian and rode for Astana, he was a natural talent.
Therefore his progression in any discipline could be stratospheric and nobody should bat an eyelid.
Talking of natural progression, I hear that Cyclingnews have been questioning Yates's.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giro-di ... s-podcast/

Nothing to do with him being British mind.

With Yates' last stage win I can see where the questioning is coming from, to be fair.

I know both him and Adam have been on an upward trajectory for the last several years and they both already have decent palmares, but any ride that dominant is bound to invite questions.

Undecided at the moment. He's good value in races anyway

Mad_Malx

RichN95 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

And who the blazes is this dude?

What is it with mystery invisible Spaniards do they have invisibility cloaks or is it something in the water?

I read somewhere that Bilbo has a ring that makes him invisible when he wears it.

applause

Mad_Malx

underlayunderlay wrote:

One thing that baffles me about Aru today. If this was filling the mirrors of your motorbike, surely you'd want to put as much distance between the two of you as possible?

Above The Cows wrote:

above_the_cows

Mad_Malx wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

And who the blazes is this dude?

What is it with mystery invisible Spaniards do they have invisibility cloaks or is it something in the water?

I read somewhere that Bilbo has a ring that makes him invisible when he wears it.

applause

I think it might win the post of the Giro.

the article don

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Aru's performance was dodge af

Soz, but.

Day after a rest day, almost looked tearful on Sunday as he trundled in 15mins down then puts in a TT like that on a flat course. Yup, nothing unusual there.

ddraver

Much as I (and I hope we all, save Rick) hope that Yates quietly gets to the finish in pink, were I Mr. Froome right now I would be looking at those 30 seconds between me and the podium and thinking that it is worth putting up a fight to get into 3rd.

Although ultimately it's not going to be a star on his palmares in 10 years time, i think he would quietly win himself a lot of fans with a bit of a humble, respectful performance. He hasnt done what a lot of riders do, had a bad day and bu**ered off saying how much bigger that french race is anyway, he's stuck it out, won on the Zoncolan and scraped a podium after a bad start. Pretty much any other rider/team would be pretty happy with that.

Further if a british rider wins one of the 'national teams' (sky...) whilst riding for another team (and an Aussie one at that!) and a sprinter they kept in the dark whilst riding for them wins the maglia ciclamina and they come away with nothing that's just salt in the wound

No_Ta_Doctor

Applause both for Bilbo's ring and Aru in the rear-view. Some top work here, keep it up.

norvernrob

bobmcstuff wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

Pross wrote:

Any chatter over on the other site about Aru's sudden improvement in TT ability?

careful...

if he catapulted onto the podium there would be

No there wouldn't.
The forum decreed back in '15 that because Aru was Italian and rode for Astana, he was a natural talent.
Therefore his progression in any discipline could be stratospheric and nobody should bat an eyelid.
Talking of natural progression, I hear that Cyclingnews have been questioning Yates's.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giro-di ... s-podcast/

Nothing to do with him being British mind.

With Yates' last stage win I can see where the questioning is coming from, to be fair.

I know both him and Adam have been on an upward trajectory for the last several years and they both already have decent palmares, but any ride that dominant is bound to invite questions.

Undecided at the moment. He's good value in races anyway

It’s not like he just kept on blasting them away though. At one point he was a minute ahead of Dumoulin but by the end was only 41s up. On the final climb he actually lost time to Dumoulin and the chase group, who themselves weren’t exactly being co-operative with each other.

ShutupJens

This is an elite level spoiler thread

Very amusing read after an evening spent at the tour series in Durham

Now going to catch up on highlights to see Kirby losing it

bobmcstuff

ddraver wrote:

Although ultimately it's not going to be a star on his palmares in 10 years time, i think he would quietly win himself a lot of fans with a bit of a humble, respectful performance. He hasnt done what a lot of riders do, had a bad day and bu**ered off saying how much bigger that french race is anyway, he's stuck it out, won on the Zoncolan and scraped a podium after a bad start. Pretty much any other rider/team would be pretty happy with that.

Yeah, in some ways it's odd he hasn't gone home, but it shows he doesn't give up easily.

I was also wondering if fighting into 3rd or 2nd would win him any fans, but then I remembered this is Chris Froome we're talking about and he'd struggle to win appreciation if he rode round Italy handing out €50 notes.

richard_t._biscuit

the article don wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Aru's performance was dodge af

Soz, but.

Day after a rest day, almost looked tearful on Sunday as he trundled in 15mins down then puts in a TT like that on a flat course. Yup, nothing unusual there.

Or: Wrote off Sunday fairly early on, was devastated about it but ultimately saved a load of energy vs. his erstwhile rivals trundling in in the grupetto. Then had a rest day straight after.
So came into to today fully refreshed, fired up and found some form against a tired peloton.

m.r.m.

RichN95 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

And who the blazes is this dude?

What is it with mystery invisible Spaniards do they have invisibility cloaks or is it something in the water?

I read somewhere that Bilbo has a ring that makes him invisible when he wears it.

HAT!

gsk82

bobmcstuff wrote:

ddraver wrote:

Although ultimately it's not going to be a star on his palmares in 10 years time, i think he would quietly win himself a lot of fans with a bit of a humble, respectful performance. He hasnt done what a lot of riders do, had a bad day and bu**ered off saying how much bigger that french race is anyway, he's stuck it out, won on the Zoncolan and scraped a podium after a bad start. Pretty much any other rider/team would be pretty happy with that.

Yeah, in some ways it's odd he hasn't gone home, but it shows he doesn't give up easily.

I was also wondering if fighting into 3rd or 2nd would win him any fans, but then I remembered this is Chris Froome we're talking about and he'd struggle to win appreciation if he rode round Italy handing out €50 notes.

It could be a condition of his appearance fee that he doesn't jack it in. Maybe there's a condition that he finishes no lower than a certain position tied in to that. I suspect it's what you said though.

DeVlaeminck

To be fair I'm struggling to think of any rider who has just gone home from a grand tour while still in touch with top 3, I'm glad he is still there but it's not really unusual or particularly praiseworthy.

Pross

Richard T. Biscuit wrote:

the article don wrote:

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Aru's performance was dodge af

Soz, but.

Day after a rest day, almost looked tearful on Sunday as he trundled in 15mins down then puts in a TT like that on a flat course. Yup, nothing unusual there.

Or: Wrote off Sunday fairly early on, was devastated about it but ultimately saved a load of energy vs. his erstwhile rivals trundling in in the grupetto. Then had a rest day straight after.
So came into to today fully refreshed, fired up and found some form against a tired peloton.

Or, as seems to have been the case, he rode the time trial as a derny race.

larkim

I get that the judges make the decisions about drafting etc, but if a police moto is riding the fastest line and not getting out of the way there's a risk that riders will get a double whammy of losing the best road to ride on and penalised for drafting. Eg there were chunks of yesterday's road with a smooth line down the middle and cobbles left and right.

I've not seen anyone suggest that was a specific issue yesterday, but there is room for potential complaint.

amrushton

Quick technical question. Yates rode v far forward on the nose of his saddle. Why not use a straight or forward set post to allow him to use more of the saddle instead of pushing himself back - a thing Contador did every 4 pedal strokes

bobmcstuff

amrushton wrote:

Quick technical question. Yates rode v far forward on the nose of his saddle. Why not use a straight or forward set post to allow him to use more of the saddle instead of pushing himself back - a thing Contador did every 4 pedal strokes

UCI regs for position of saddle w.r.t. bars. Can't name the specifics unfortunately.

Could do what others used to do and put sandpaper on the nose of the saddle...

larkim

Or he just ride like he did and end up just around 90s off the very best TTers in the world after 2 weeks of riding the best he ever has done in a GT...

tailwindhome

RichN95 wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

Sky were 2nd, with 3 in the top ten.

Sky are leading that at the moment - eight minutes ahead of Astana and ten ahead of Mitchelton (who are clearly not interested now)

IIRC it was mentioned on the Cycling Podcast that Mitchelton deliberately shipped some time to avoid the distraction/temptation of the team competition.

inseine

larkim wrote:

Or he just ride like he did and end up just around 90s off the very best TTers in the world after 2 weeks of riding the best he ever has done in a GT...

97 seconds and he was 20th, so not exactly Contador beating Cancellara, but yes, it was a good ride.

rick_chasey

Whoever made the shout that Pinot does badly day after rest days.

hanshotfirst

ddraver wrote:

Much as I (and I hope we all, save Rick) hope that Yates quietly gets to the finish in pink, were I Mr. Froome right now I would be looking at those 30 seconds between me and the podium and thinking that it is worth putting up a fight to get into 3rd.

Although ultimately it's not going to be a star on his palmares in 10 years time, i think he would quietly win himself a lot of fans with a bit of a humble, respectful performance. He hasnt done what a lot of riders do, had a bad day and bu**ered off saying how much bigger that french race is anyway, he's stuck it out, won on the Zoncolan and scraped a podium after a bad start. Pretty much any other rider/team would be pretty happy with that.

Further if a british rider wins one of the 'national teams' (sky...) whilst riding for another team (and an Aussie one at that!) and a sprinter they kept in the dark whilst riding for them wins the maglia ciclamina and they come away with nothing that's just salt in the wound

Can understand the notion that Froome might have left the Giro earlier to prepare for the Tour (seeing as he's going for a 5th win) but I don't understand where this idea that if he's not on for the win he'll just leave the race comes from. He has podiums at other Grand Tours and stage races, he tends not to leave the race unless he's broken a limb or something.

I understand why people don't like him and that's fair enough but all this chat of him trying really hard to salvage a podium place and this brings him up in the estimation of fans who don't favour him or sky... we've had this before.

Not saying you were writing him off ddraver, but some were. Some journos suggested he was on his way home after shipping loads of time in the first week.

larkim

I think the idea of Froome retiring from the race if things aren't going to plan are just a concept that commentators / forum posters might consider if they were in his position. Froome himself reported that after the crash things weren't comfortable, and it would have been entirely reasonable to avoid exacerbating that injury by continuing to ride the rest of the Giro, and even if that hadn't been the medical advice I'm sure it would have made a common sense press release to say that that was the position he found himself in.

But putting the injury to one side, it was clear from the first week that Froome was enjoying being part of the race (not in a happy smiley way, but from a commitment to his work ethic and goals kind of way) and that he thought that come what may the experience and miles from the race would be beneficial in his preparation for the Tour.

It would be interesting to hear from the top 10 about how important their relative positions feel to them in terms of palmares. We get so focussed on the various jerseys that I suspect we project the idea that it is 1 winner and 100 losers in a GT, when in reality the podium spots and below are valued. If nothing else there is £££ to think about, though the fact that the prize pots for positions 10-20 are the same is a little odd.

kingstongraham

Be interesting to know what the deal with the appearance money is as well.

blazing_saddles

KingstonGraham wrote:

Be interesting to know what the deal with the appearance money is as well.

What's your thinking, here?
a) That they just handed over the 2 mill
b) It is conditional* on him completing the course
c) It is conditional* on him finishing in the top 10
d) It is conditional* on him making the podium.
e) None of the above.

(* incremental % payments for reaching certain targets)