Caretaker

First week over and the first mountain stage yesterday. Cadel Evans looking in good form. Could have two GTs in succession where old guys win.
Rolland getting caught in last km on stage 8 was tough to watch.

AnthonyG

Go Cadel. He's looking good so far. We will see what happens after 3 weeks.

Anthony

Ken Brown

With misfortune knocking rivals out of contention he just needs to stay safe to win. (OK, I exaggerate, he still can be beat.)

Caretaker

Stage 10 Spoiler

Tyler Farrar falls and brings down about ten riders on the run in.

Nacer Bouhanni wins again in the sprint, Evans safely in 10th over the line, but loses team mate Yannick Eijssen to a touch of wheels fall on a straight section about 30km out.

canam73

He's friggin' embarrassing.

I don't think he should be allowed to race anymore. Or group ride.

I wonder if he has a drivers license.

LeanMachine

So many riders with a shout, for being nearly halfway done it looks very excited. Le Tour was wrapped up by this time last year, I still think Cadel will get it. Evans should channel his inner Hinault and break anyone that tries to take a shot at him.

cthenn

He won't have a team next year, or whenever his contract runs out. He's a menace and needs to just quit. I wouldn't want that guy racing in my local crit let alone up there with some of the biggest names in the sport.

Caretaker

Last two stages haven't followed the script. Into final week with a bunch of mountain stages and maybe a few more surprises before this Giro is over.

Jakedatc

yea.. was like the other day at Tour of Cali when the sprinters teams let just one team try to pull it back. Bouhanni said the other teams wouldn't ride until it was too late. he has 3 stages.. they have none.. maybe they will help next time.
Bouhanni Frustrated After Breakaway Sticks On Stage 13 Of Giro D'Italia | Cyclingnews.com

Caretaker

Stage 16, what a stage.

Climb up the Stelvio in rain and snow then the long final climb. Great performances from Quintana, Hesjedal and Rolland.
If you haven't seen the stage, get on Steephill and watch those two climbs.

thechemist

So should they take time from Quintana and if so how much?

RJM

How could you ride a "neutralized" decent of a mountain? It makes no sense.

skyrider

I watched the replay...organizers announced on race radio of caution on the descent through the snow, with motos holding a caution flag for riders to see through the snow and fog. Many riders stopped at the Stelvio to change clothes and dry off. Quintana and Ryder did not stop and change clothing. They gained a minute at the bottom, so Uran messed up ... In my opinion. Plus Moviestar set a fast pace up the Stelvio. When your a GC contender or in Pink you ride up front. You stop for dry clothes that's your problem.. It's the Giro it's hard always epic you don't like it ride the Tour... Quintana and Ryder smoked em on the final climb.

skyrider

Also Gianni Savio said never did they say it was neutralized.

jyl

They won't take time from anyone. Race organizers have already said the official instruction was the motos were only pointing out dangerous turns, not prohibiting racing/passing. That may not square with what was communicated over race radio to the DS'es, but tells you what the race organization will/won't do. And who knows what individual riders heard, radio from DS to rider doesn't always work. Who knows what individual riders saw, terrible visibility and driving sleet, on the broadcast sometimes the moto TV camera images were obscured by snow, think of what a half-frozen rider slithering at 30 mph toward a hairpin turn and struggling with braking and staying upright can/can't notice in a split second through similarly snow-covered glasses. Quintana, Rolland, etc had 50 sec on Uran about 1/3 of the way down the descent, at that point there was no more sleet/blowing snow, no more motos w/ flags, and no excuse for not racing, and from Uran's statement, it appears around that time he learned of Quintana's gap and started organizing the chase - though on the broadcast he seems to continue descending pretty cautiously. Maybe you could take that 50 sec off the time for Cataldo, Quintana, Rolland, Hejesdal, etc. But that raises a whole 'nuther slew of what-ifs and isn't a great solution either. I think in the end, "that's bike racing". Uran and the others had another 55+ km (the remaining appx 20 km of the descent, the appx 15 km of valley, and 20 km or whatever it was of the final climb), to bring back the 4-5 riders in front, and they didn't - instead they steadily lost more and more time. I think they had only themselves, or their cooked legs, to blame.

skyrider

I agree you got it right.... Also you have to honor the Stelvio in the Giro, that's racing...

Gallo

From what I have heard it was a tweet and not from the race radio. There was so much confusion that at one point the announcers thought Quintana was behind the Magilia Rosa. I certainly think that this comes down to it was racing. Ryder had an epic run as well as all in that break and if not for bad luck he might be contending. It was pretty obvious from the Cima Coppi with Cataldo coming over with no delay and going over and down that he was racing. Likewise the Quintana group. The Magilia Rosa had time to organize on the decent in the flats before after the decent and before the last climb and did not. They lost more on the climb. It was an epic day that will go down in history and the only controversy I can see is why are the teams paying attention to twitter

skyrider

The Moviestar team paused at the summit except Quintana he kept going, pretty slick move.

cyclezen

Anyone know which network is broadcasting the Stages 20 & 21 in the US?
I have directv and up to/including Stage 19 - BEIN sports has been broadcasting, but for Stages 20 & 21 they are not.
Tried a 'search' on the guide, but no luck.
Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

jyl

Stream it via the links at steephill.tv

You have to get up early, the streams are live. The links lead to "pirate" sites which are streaming Eurosport or other broadcasts. The video will be plastered with ads trying to get you to download and install software to watch the stream. Don't do it, you don't need any special software and god knows what you'd get if you did. Just click the little "x"s to close the ads. Sometimes even that will launch another page, just close that new page. After you've closed a couple of the overlay ads, you'll be able to go to "full screen" by clicking the symbol at the bottom right of the picture. Once you go to full screen, all the ads go away. There are usually several links, if one misbehaves then try another. It sounds frustrating and it is at first, but you 'll get the hang of it.

Alternatively, wait until later and watch the on-demand replay from RAI, also linked on steephill. This is not pirated, it is the official authorized RAI site, so no scuzzy crap to deal with. Alas the commentary is in Italian.

Caretaker

Certainly a few Movistar riders did pause to get their rain gear on for the descent but Izaguirre obviously wasn't one of them because he was with Quintana on the descent.

I've been reviewing the recording I have of race and the Eurosport commentary and the first mention of the neutralisation was when Cataldo was 4km from the summit and they mention race radio as the source. The commentary team (inc. Sean Kelly) were very doubtful about how it was going to be implemented. As soon as Cataldo started the descent it was obvious he wasn't riding in a neutralised manner and was pushing on with the race car staying a couple of hundred metres ahead. By the lower slopes he was noticeably closer to the race car but still about 100m behind it.
Meanwhile, it was clear that Quintana and Rolland (each with one team mate) plus Hesjedal and one other rider from a minor Italian team had formed a chasing group. We were told that a Movistar PR guy had pointed out to media that the race organisers had deleted an earlier Tweet about the descent being neutralised. After some confusion about Uran's position relative to the chasing groups it became clear that Quintana's group was in fact the second chasing group and had a lead of about 50sec on the pink jersey and this stretched out around 1 minute by the 30km to go.

Prior to the start of stage 16 Quintana had been talking up Rolland as a rider he could form an alliance with and that's exactly how it turned out.

The race organisers seem to have had a case of the 'jitters' when they saw the actual conditions near the top of the Stelvio and probably regretted not cancelling it like last year, then started anticipating a disaster on the descent with lots of injuries and to cover their asses started talking about it being neutralised without really thinking through how this would be implemented.

What should have been done post-stage 16 to rectify the confusion? IMO nothing. Penalising Quintana and Rolland (not to mention Hesjedal)by a minute (the max. they gained on the descent) isn't really going to make up for the advantage they gained by getting away on their own and working together and it's wrong to penalise riders who are just doing their job within the rules and in the true spirit of competition.

jyl

Spoiler alert:

























Quintana shows 'em on the hill ITT. Takes another 1m30s out of Uran, wins his second Giro stage, now leads by >3m. Aru just 17s back on the stage, also a crushing ride. Wonder if Quintana will defend on Zoncolan, or attack?

Caretaker

Nairo Quintana, Fabio Aru, Rigoberto Uran.

GC
Quintana out of sight barring some catastrophe, Uran leads Aru by 41sec and with the Monte Zoncolan tomorrow there could be a battle for 2nd. Podium places look secure with Rolland about 1:40 behind Aru.

Great effort by Aru to finish only -17 behind Quintana. The guy's only 23 and surely a star for years to come. Great performance also from 20 YO Sebastian Henao of Colombia finishing 8th (+3:48).

Edit: I expect less talk about stage 16 after today's result.

Caretaker

Defend, Uran is zonked.

Panza

Whdre are you all watching? It shows on NBC but Im at work while the Giro is live. Where can I go to watch the highlights or final moments?