Professional Cycling For the Fans - Giro 2010 - Stage 3 - May 10 - Amsterdam - Middelburg - 224 Km

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Map:

http://www.gazzetta.it/Speciali/Giroditalia/2010/img/planimetrie/pla_03.jpg

that latter half of the race could be a wind fest. looks pretty exposed-breakaways/splits anyone?

Not to mention the cobbles.

waaay...

Not to mention the cobbles.

not an issue in the netherlands.

The media were making a big thing over the cobbles on stage three (at least the Vs announcers were during Paris - Roubaix). Are they wrong, botto? Frankly, I trust your word over theirs on this.

apart from stretches of modern cobbles in cities, you don't have them in NL.

Now I recognize my error. The cobbles are on stage 3 or the Tour. :o Major brain fog.

This could definitely turn into an interesting stage - even without the cobbles.

we'll see. at the moment it looks like they'll have tail winds pretty much the whole way.

Van de Velde retired?!?!?! What happened? :eek:

After all the crashes, I would have thought more rider would abandon.

Wiggins down - looks like he needs to make up about a minute.

I just caught the end of the live feed. Looks like another day of big crashes. Vino in pink.

Wiggo is out of the GC picture - if not the race entirely now.

What happened with HTC/Highroad in the end sprint? It looked like they had a good position and then just lost it somehow. I'm not a huge fan of the team (though Cav is a beast) but it was just odd.

What happened with HTC/Highroad in the end sprint? It looked like they had a good position and then just lost it somehow. I guess thats cycling.

beat me to the question :) looks like the rider just sat up

What happened with HTC/Highroad in the end sprint? It looked like they had a good position and then just lost it somehow. I guess thats cycling.

WWCD? :lol: Griepel has to do better than that if he wants to talk smack to Cav. ;)

WWCD? :lol: Griepel has to do better than that if he wants to talk smack to Cav. ;)

No doubt. To me, yesterday was worse. He flat out got beat by Tyler. For all the talk about the Cav, Griepel is the one that needs to put up or shut up.

Jeebus. Vande Velde crashes out, Greipel sits up in the sprint....my fantasy Giro is down the toilet. Anyone else doing any good?

You basically said it for me, Second Mouse. I picked up VDV not expecting much, but figuring he was a good value. 0 points out of him and he's gone already. I was hoping for good things out of Greipel, but either he's sick or Cav's right. I didn't have time to drop him when I heard about the stomach bug.

I do have Wiggins and correctly predicted the Stage 1 win, but I was kind of hoping he'd stick in around top 15 GC, at least for the first two weeks. I'm not counting him out yet, but that's not looking good. I also have Farrar and was happy to see him win, and for a minute today it was looking like he was going to take the pink jersey. Bummer.

Other than that I spent big points on Evans and Sastre, so I hope one of them wins.

I was hoping for good things out of Greipel, but either he's sick or Cav's right

I would say that Cav is right. A stomach sickness doesn't make you sit up in a spring when you have a great position. He rode hard all day and now his sickness affects him? If he IS sick, then it's obviously a waste of the teams time to pull for him in sprint finishes since we just saw what happened. There was no reason for 4 guys to blow by him and for him to sit up.

You basically said it for me, Second Mouse. I picked up VDV not expecting much, but figuring he was a good value. 0 points out of him and he's gone already. II was hoping for good things out of Greipel, but either he's sick or Cav's right. I didn't have time to drop him when I heard about the stomach bug.

I do have Wiggins and correctly predicted the Stage 1 win, but I was kind of hoping he'd stick in around top 15 GC, at least for the first two weeks. I'm not counting him out yet, but that's not looking good. I also have Farrar and was happy to see him win, and for a minute today it was looking like he was going to take the pink jersey. Bummer.

Other than that I spent big points on Evans and Sastre, so I hope one of them wins.

ding. ding. ding.

he's got a cold.

I would say that Cav is right. A stomach sickness doesn't make you sit up in a spring when you have a great position. He rode hard all day and now his sickness affects him? If he IS sick, then it's obviously a waste of the teams time to pull for him in sprint finishes since we just saw what happened. There was no reason for 4 guys to blow by him and for him to sit up.

It was an interesting end of the stage, that's for sure. It looked like he was delivered around the corner perfectly and most of the "big" names were left behind, so I saw him at 2nd wheel going around the bend and I thought he would win, sick or not. Maybe it was all he could do to hang on to the wheel? It's hard to predict how much an illness will hamper you, especially if you have a hard time keeping down food. Sometimes adrenaline takes over and sometimes the sickness gets the best of you. I haven't seen an interview yet, but I would be interested to hear what he has to say about it. If he was having trouble eating/drinking he might have cramped at the end.

Van de Velde retired?!?!?! What happened? :eek:

He found a way to fail to live up to the expectations and hype. Just the usual for him.

I'm predicting that the expecting and hyping for CVV will stop sometime this year.

He found a way to fail to live up to the expectations and hype. Just the usual for him.

I'm predicting that the expecting and hyping for CVV will stop sometime this year.

+1

I really thought there'd be no way Greipel would lose that sprint. I'm really looking forward to a man on man sprint with everyone there - Greipel, McEwen, Petacchi, Farrar et al. I still like Petacchi when it comes to pure speed.

Okay, just watched the Uni. Spts feed now. Woo... from Pink to down about 4min? How bad WAS that crash?

Greipel was visibly angry following the stage, and took out his rage on the stage winner. “You didn't do anything at all, you rotten dumbass,” he said and threatened the Belgian with his fist, complaining that the Quick Step rider had not participated in the work in the front group.

(http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/93rd-giro-ditalia-gt/stage-3/results)

I don't see what he's mad about. He had the space to go if he wanted to/was able to go.

Okay, just watched the Uni. Spts feed now. Woo... from Pink to down about 4min? How bad WAS that crash?

He's only down 43 seconds.

24 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:43

He's only down 43 seconds.

24 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:43

Sorry, I meant Wiggins! Yeah, Evans is still in it. Only caught the last 30 minutes, where was the rest of BMC? Also, is Hincapie there?

Sorry, I meant Wiggins! Yeah, Evans is still in it. Only caught the last 30 minutes, where was the rest of BMC? Also, is Hincapie there?

Oops--yeah, good point. It's a tough day when crashes pretty much define the race.

Oops--yeah, good point. It's a tough day when crashes pretty much define the race.

Does anyone know why Sky was so late to get moving again? They didn't spend alot of camera time on the post crash / get moving again thing.

And yeah, still curious where BMC was in support of maintaining Pink ownership.

Sorry, I meant Wiggins! Yeah, Evans is still in it. Only caught the last 30 minutes, where was the rest of BMC? Also, is Hincapie there?

Very questionable tactics by Sky. If they had another rider with any GC hopes, they should not have held him back to pace Wiggins. Now they're reduced to playing for stage wins - which will be very tough for them to come by - especially if Wiggins is hurt and bails before the final stage.

from what i saw, there were about 5 sky guys that went down including wiggins. i think all but one waited. they had just been on the front hammering, and were likely tired from doing that work. when everyone was finally able to get moving again, they were too tired to put in a huge effort + they had just crashed. it looked like wiggins was the most hurt, and was limping around for a bit before he got going. plus, they had to replace bikes since almost all of them went down. adding to the confusion was the fact that there was a second chase group coming in from behind and they were at a bottleneck. i am not sure if the team cars were even behind the first group, or if they were behind the second group. basically, there was lots of confusion.

Well, I hope everyone's okay but if they are limping now, wonder if they bail for the TdF?

they have almost two months between now and then - they will be fine. they are probably sore for today, and it may add some pain to the ttt scheduled for tomorrow.

they have almost two months between now and then - they will be fine. they are probably sore for today, and it may add some pain to the ttt scheduled for tomorrow.

lol! don't know why I thought it was in June. Brain fart!

Also, is Hincapie there?

Hincapie's doing California.

217 = pannekoeken. :thumb:

Hincapie's doing California.

Thanks! Hadn't checked... Cheers!

I hate Vino...can't believe he's come back so strong though.