The Giro, my favourite tour of the year is only 2 weeks....

[Patchelicious]

Can't wait for stages 19 & 20....

I'll be sure to post pictures ????

['Dale]

"It is a relief. I’m feeling sick in my stomach now but at the same time so happy. I did it. Luck was on my side today, the luck I didn’t have in Romandie. To have it paid back here in the Netherlands is very special."

 

 

Tom D, wearing the maglia rosa

['Dale]

Here's an overview of how some of the GC contenders fared:

Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin 00:11:03
Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 00:00:03
Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 00:00:19
Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 00:00:24
Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge 00:00:30
Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha 00:00:32
Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale 00:00:33
Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff 00:00:38
Jean-Christophe Péraud Ag2r-La Mondiale (Fra) 00:00:38
Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky 00:00:40
Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale 00:00:47

['Dale]

"It’s incredible, I almost can’t describe it in words. It’s better than I could have imagined to get the most beautiful jersey in cycling in front of my home crowd. I thought I did a good second part but Roglic was even faster so apparently I won it in the first part. To win by two-hundredths of a second is to win by a breath of air, really."

 

Tom D, wanting to try to hold on the jersey for as long as possible, yet doubtful as he did not prepare well for the high mountains

['Dale]

http://cdn.media.cyclingnews.com/2016/05/06/2/sptdw8056_670.jpg

[tombeej]

Here's an overview of how some of the GC contenders fared:

Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin 00:11:03

Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 00:00:03

Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 00:00:19

Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 00:00:24

Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge 00:00:30

Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha 00:00:32

Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale 00:00:33

Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff 00:00:38

Jean-Christophe Péraud Ag2r-La Mondiale (Fra) 00:00:38

Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky 00:00:40

Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale 00:00:47

So effectively a 21 second spread between the main favourites (Nibali to Landa).

 

Edit: Amador will want to prove me wrong about leaving him off. He's Movistars 'plan B' and an outside bet for podium.

['Dale]

So effectively a 21 second spread between the main favourites (Nibali to Landa).

 

Edit: Amador will want to prove me wrong about leaving him off. He's Movistars 'plan B' and an outside bet for podium.

 

It does give Movistar a nice back-up plan indeed

['Dale]

The Skyborgs are already on the back foot with Landa at least 15-25 secs back on the hot favourites

[tombeej]

It does give Movistar a nice back-up plan indeed

Ja, a very strong team. We'll definitely be seeing a lot of the blue & green these next few weeks.

['Dale]

Some awesome TT tech here in the team camps

 

The Canyon at 1:05 - 

['Dale]

There are time bonuses available on all the stages except the individual time trials.

 

10 seconds for the winner, six seconds for second place and four seconds for third place on each stage
Also for the intermediate sprints of the day three, two and one seconds are available for the first three riders

['Dale]

The unmissable stages

Anything can happen during the Giro but there are some stages that matter more than others.

 

Stage 6 – Thursday 12 May: the first uphill finish
Stage 8 – Saturday 14 May: the offroad climb, the uphill finish in Arezzo
Stage 9 – Sunday 15 May: the 40km Chianti time trial stage. Maybe it won’t be gripping TV but it is decisive
Stage 10 – Tuesday 17 May: a hard mid-mountain stage
Stage 13 – Friday 20 May: the steep Friuli mountain stage
Stage 14 – Saturday 21 May: the day of the Dolomites
Stage 19 – Friday 27 May: a big mountain stage, albeit with a steady finishing climb
Stage 20 – Saturday 28 May: the final mountain stage, a coronation parade or is the race still up for grabs?

 

From The Inner Ring

[gummibear]

[gummibear]

[gummibear]

[tombeej]

There are time bonuses available on all the stages except the individual time trials.

 

10 seconds for the winner, six seconds for second place and four seconds for third place on each stage

Also for the intermediate sprints of the day three, two and one seconds are available for the first three riders

 

Kittel finished in 5th place, 11 seconds back.

 

So if he wins tomorrow he will still be 1 second short of the maglia rosa.

 

And that means he needs the intermediate sprint seconds as well. He needs to come first or second in the intermediate sprint.

 

If he wants the maglia rosa, he must win tomorrows stage. There are just not enough bonus seconds for second place.

 

It will be a big day tomorrow for Kittel and Quick Step. The boys know it's going to be a hard day in the saddle. They'll be forced to keep all breakaway attempts on a very short leash until the intermediate sprint is out the way at the 92 km mark. So that's going to be 2 hrs of full-on racing for them. They absolutely cannot allow any break to get away, so they'll be on the rivet all the time. 

 

After that they'll probably be grateful to let a break go off, and get a bit of a breather.

 

But then once everyone has made it over that last little climb with 35 km to go, it will be time to get to the front once again and escort Kittel all the way in to the finish.

 

It's a flat stage, but I'll certainly be watching my Quick Step boys with great interest tomorrow.