Giro D'Italia 2024: Chirps, Buzz and Updates

['Dale]

Big Tom's smile after a rough time up the volcano a few days ago, priceless. Bouwman's 2nd WorldTour win and 1st Grand Tour win, must feel so so so good.

Pic credit: Getty Images

Edited May 13, 2022 by 'Dale

['Dale]

Hehehe, the breakaway artist is in a ‘GC rivalry’ with the other de Gendt in the race. Funny guy.

[kosmonooit]

Around Napoli today! One of my fav cities in the world, can't wait to get back there.

Circuit today is around the Campi Flegrei  area, the largest super volcano in Europe! waking up apparently, the massive magma chamber below filling up and the whole area is rising a few cm per year lol.

[Sid the Sloth]

Quite an exciting stage already

['Dale]

Sapping the legs before tomorrow’s demanding course; exciting today’s stage is becoming.

5000 m vert tomorrow up to a large segment of the Blockhaus! 

['Dale]

Geez, another fine demonstration of teamwork. De Gendt, outstanding! Surely there are aerodynamic gains in having a beard in the break. Precious, precious points for the Belgian team. 

The Bearded One's race craft, geez. Simply cannot replace experience. If one cannot predict the winner or get it wrong entirely, then it was simply beautiful racing!

"But 10 years after the Stelvio stage, I finally won a stage in the Giro again. If you would have asked me two weeks ago, if I was able to win a stage in the Giro I would have said no because I was in such bad Shape. But now the good legs are coming.” - TdG

Edited May 14, 2022 by 'Dale

['Dale]

Kämna attacks with 5 kms to go. Lopez has to react to defend the maglia rosa and must be thinking ‘damnit, man, los my af, Braaaa, I have a moerse stage to defend tomorrow…’ 

Edited May 14, 2022 by 'Dale

[Frosty]

EINA!
That was a hard fall

[Vetplant]

9 minutes ago, Frosty said:

EINA!
That was a hard fall

He misread that corner completely, lucky to find a gap between the wall and barrier for a "softer" landing. Hope he makes it to the finish without injury. 

['Dale]

Yoh, Ineos vattikakkie 

['Dale]

What a race! And Lopez retains keeps the GC lead by a mere 12 seconds.

"I was a bloc the whole climb. I was just trying to survive as best I could, actually. I knew it was flattening out in the last k's and there was a right hander before the finish with around 200m to go. I wanted to take the corner first and gave it everything to the line - and here we are. It's pretty incredible. It wasn't the easiest year I had last year. I worked my arse off to get back to the level to compete at the Giro and I'm at a loss for words. It's pretty amazing." 

- Jai Hindley

[worriesnot]

Anyone know if the Maglia Rosa got a penalty for launching his water bottle at a rider on Blockhaus climb yesterday?

[lechatnoir]

56 minutes ago, worriesnot said:

Anyone know if the Maglia Rosa got a penalty for launching his water bottle at a rider on Blockhaus climb yesterday?

i cannot find anything. Giro standings are usually updated quite late, but even today, there's no mention or evidence in the standings to suggest there was a sanction. 

[Frosty]

From the Eurosport website:
https://www.eurosport.co.uk/cycling/giro-d-italia/2022/i-lost-my-mind-juan-pedro-lopez-says-sorry-after-throwing-bottle-at-rival-at-giro-ditalia_sto8926222/story.shtml

Apart from celebrating, López was at pains to make a public apology to Jumbo-Visma rider Sam Oomen after the two touched wheels on the Blockhaus. The incident saw the Trek-Segafredo rider briefly put a foot on the ground and fling a bidon in frustration.

But in the broader scheme of things López also expressed delight and disbelief at his maintaining the pink jersey for another day, particularly after a stage that had witnessed such a ferocious GC battle.

"This is my first Giro and I never expected to get the maglia, so it's hard to believe I still have it," López told reporters. "I'm very tired, but fortunately there's a rest day tomorrow [Monday]."

Referring to his brief collision with Oomen, he said, "I felt good, but I was close to crashing and that was hard on my head. I had to stay concentrated and keep my head focussed on the race."

The Blockhaus stage also saw López confirmed as sole GC leader for the Trek-Segafredo squad as pre-race contender Giulio Ciccone cracked at the foot of the Blockhaus, losing nearly ten minutes. López had repeatedly promised he would work for Ciccone whenever that proved necessary, but that will obviously no longer be the case.

"You never know what he can do, he's had a bad day today, but I'm sure he'll be able to turn things around in the days to come," López said. "So we'll see how it goes."

As for López's battles in the rest of the Giro, the similarities between López and the man now behind him on GC, Almeida, are steadily increasing with each day the Spaniard spends in pink.

In 2020, Almeida also took the pink jersey on the Etna and the Portuguese held onto the lead against all odds for over a fortnight. Fast forward two years and after the Blockhaus and barring major upsets, López could well remain in the maglia rosa at least until the race hits the Alps next weekend.

For now, in any case, López seems content with his monumental achievement of holding onto pink on the Blockhaus.

"When I started this stage my dream was to have the pink jersey for just one more day, " he said, "And now it's come true."

['Dale]

One for the sprinters today. Will Mathieu and Bini light it up from 30 kms out?

[lechatnoir]

27 minutes ago, 'Dale said:

One for the sprinters today. Will Mathieu and Bini light it up from 30 kms out?

Nuh uh... Breakaway win with Magnus Cort doing what Magnus Cort does. I'd guess the original break gets caught and better riders take it up and break for the line with 40km to go...

But... would be thrilled to be wrong with MVDP winning. Even more thrilling would be Girmay.

Tomorrow's stage is even more 'sprinter-y-ier' so depending on how bad the Cav-Ewan-Demare troop want it, they may keep their powder dry for tomorrow.

Interesting on Ewan, now that De Gendt has won for Lotto, will the pressure be off him?