Giro 2018, Stage 18: Abbiategrasso - Prato Nervoso - 196 km, *Spoilers*

RichN95.

A screen grab from yesterday. Having been in the break Davide Ballerini watching the rest of the stage coming in with his mates.

Mad_Malx

I wondered about that.thought it was fan.

Tashman

Out of interest if there's only seconds in it, does the Rome stage still remain "processional" or is it there to be fought over?

mrfpb

Pross wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

amrushton wrote:

Better than a week ago. most likely 3rd but I think 2nd v.likely given the terrain they now face

Why at what point is he going to put 50 seconds into Pozzovivo and minutes into Dumolin?

Pozzo could lose time if he gets out under pressure on a descent, I can't see Dumoulin losing minutes though. Yates though?

Froome's plan is to not take the Pink until stage 20. He's just avoiding the press .

lettingthedaysgoby

Tashman wrote:

Out of interest if there's only seconds in it, does the Rome stage still remain "processional" or is it there to be fought over?

They could theoretically still fight but as it's a pan flat circuit I can't see how any GC riders could slip away.

shirley_basso

lettingthedaysgoby

Hahahaha

Tashman

lettingthedaysgoby wrote:

Tashman wrote:

Out of interest if there's only seconds in it, does the Rome stage still remain "processional" or is it there to be fought over?

They could theoretically still fight but as it's a pan flat circuit I can't see how any GC riders could slip away.

Fair enough, didn't know if there were any bonuses available. Still new to the details of the racing

Richmond Racer 2

Blazing Saddles wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

yourpaceormine wrote:

larkim wrote:

If this was a bad day as a one off for Yates, better to have had that today than tomorrow or Saturday. Can we really see Dumoulin riding better than Yates on the Queen stage? I could see Froome putting them to the sword however...

How good Froome is depends greatly upon how good the rest of Sky are. I can see Sky upping the tempo considerably on the final climb, rest of the GC contenders keeping up. At 3 or 5 km to go will be where Froome attacks, the questions are will TD be able to diesel back up to Froome before the finish line, and will Yates have recovered from today to match Froome's attack (or even attack Froome)?
Interesting final few days.

But also how good are the other teams? Mitchelton will have Nieve, but how much has Haig got left, can Chaves rise from the dead? Sunweb have only really had Oomen and Bahrain seem to have one there at most. Any teammate for the last climb will be a luxury.

Matt White said that they deliberately gave Jack Haig the day off yesterday, with these stages in mind.
Chaves did the initial damage to the bunch on Prato. He's looking better.
Kreuziger ain't exactly useless, either.
Sunweb have Ten Dam.

*cough* Sam Ooman

inseine

Tashman wrote:

lettingthedaysgoby wrote:

Tashman wrote:

Out of interest if there's only seconds in it, does the Rome stage still remain "processional" or is it there to be fought over?

They could theoretically still fight but as it's a pan flat circuit I can't see how any GC riders could slip away.

Fair enough, didn't know if there were any bonuses available. Still new to the details of the racing

there are time bonuses, but if TD was chasing them, for example, you'd have at the very least Scott and 6 or 7 sprinters teams who didn't want him to have them. You see how most of the early escapees get caught and spat out the back, he couldn't risk that.

Tashman

inseine wrote:

Tashman wrote:

lettingthedaysgoby wrote:

Tashman wrote:

Out of interest if there's only seconds in it, does the Rome stage still remain "processional" or is it there to be fought over?

They could theoretically still fight but as it's a pan flat circuit I can't see how any GC riders could slip away.

Fair enough, didn't know if there were any bonuses available. Still new to the details of the racing

there are time bonuses, but if TD was chasing them, for example, you'd have at the very least Scott and 6 or 7 sprinters teams who didn't want him to have them. You see how most of the early escapees get caught and spat out the back, he couldn't risk that.

Cheers

blazing_saddles

Richmond Racer 2 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

But also how good are the other teams? Mitchelton will have Nieve, but how much has Haig got left, can Chaves rise from the dead? Sunweb have only really had Oomen and Bahrain seem to have one there at most. Any teammate for the last climb will be a luxury.

Matt White said that they deliberately gave Jack Haig the day off yesterday, with these stages in mind.
Chaves did the initial damage to the bunch on Prato. He's looking better.
Kreuziger ain't exactly useless, either.
Sunweb have Ten Dam.

*cough* Sam Ooman

*cough* back at you.

rick_chasey

Pross wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

amrushton wrote:

Better than a week ago. most likely 3rd but I think 2nd v.likely given the terrain they now face

Why at what point is he going to put 50 seconds into Pozzovivo and minutes into Dumolin?

Pozzo could lose time if he gets out under pressure on a descent, I can't see Dumoulin losing minutes though. Yates though?

50 seconds?

Pross

Rick Chasey wrote:

Pross wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

amrushton wrote:

Better than a week ago. most likely 3rd but I think 2nd v.likely given the terrain they now face

Why at what point is he going to put 50 seconds into Pozzovivo and minutes into Dumolin?

Pozzo could lose time if he gets out under pressure on a descent, I can't see Dumoulin losing minutes though. Yates though?

50 seconds?

rick_chasey

Yeah fair.

I’m sure you all were predicting a full blown sky attack half way up the finestre

darkhairedlord

while everyone else at the sharp end has been all-in for the win, Pinot shows exactly why he will never win a GT:
" ....my dream has always been to make the podium in Rome"