Pro-cycling thread

Does anyone do a daily review of the Giro? I quite liked the hour long one that ITV did every evening for the Vuelta (?) a few years ago.

Quest at 8pm like right now ———

Hasn't had an AAF looming over his head before and I think the fall was much worse than let on as well. Etna will be interesting.

There was a ‘gram video of him limping around in the immediate aftermath - looked proper painful.

Good point forgot about the fall. Perhaps it is causing issue.

Still 1 minute down to Tom D is a lot, given just how good Tom is and that they're very similar riders will make it hard. Surprised Wout P has lost so much time too, you think sky would have kept him up there as plan b.

Sky and the giro just dont ever gel .

Froome is a far superior climber to Dumoulin, especially in the third week of a GT. A lot of pundits seem to have forgotten that Dumoulin shed the best part of 4 minutes to the likes of Pinot, Quintana and Nibali in the final week last year, although he had a time trial as a buffer as the final stage so could afford to lose some time. He doesn't have that luxury this year.

Anyway, we'll see tomorrow where Froome's form is at.

Quest

Geo restricted to Blighty? Not working where I am now.

EDIT: Ha, changing my VPN to UK gets me around the block. Thanks forum.

We will. Should be good.

Good point about loosing time, you're right. It isn't over. I'm just surprised to see it from froome, as he is formidable.

I think Lopez might have a punt tomorrow, seeing as he’s now not got much to loose after riding his bike into a field with 5km to go today and losing another 43 seconds.

We saw him really put the hurt into Froome on the steep stuff on the stage he took at the Tour des Aples a few weeks back. I don’t think he’ll
be able to put up that kind of performance after a week or two of racing though, which is what Froome is good at. I think etna may be his best chance to take a win this year.

In the opening 13km time trial of the 2015 Tour de France, Froome shipped a substantial 50 seconds to stage winner Rohan Dennis, as well as 42 seconds to Dumoulin, seven seconds to Vincenzo Nibali, four seconds to Simon Yates and nine seconds to Pinot.

Just a day later, however, Froome pegged back much of that deficit in the crosswinds in Zeeland, and he was already in the yellow jersey after stage 3 to the Mur de Huy. Froome's subdued performance was explained at least in part by the emphasis he had placed on climbing ahead of a Tour short on time trial miles. Come the Pyrenees, when he destroyed the Tour field on the summit finish in La Pierre-Saint-Martin, that choice seemed to be amply justified.

From cyclingnews http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giro-ditalia-gc-analysis-dumoulin-lays-down-marker-froome-concedes-ground/

My thoughts behind had been that he'd been pushing climbing miles rather than tt with the reduced amount of tt miles in the giro this year, esp with tommy d being so strong at tt. I don't really know anything though.

But he gave 2 minutes of that to Quintana on stage 16, so the deficit was closer to 2 minutes in the mountains.

Eh? The deficit was four minutes because he lost four minutes in the final week.

But the 2 minutes he lost on stage 16 were because he stopped for a shit after eating too many gels, not because he was dropped.

If my auntie had balls she’d be my uncle...

Right, but do you really think there was four minutes difference in climbing ability between Quintana and Dumoulin at the Giro last year? For my money he would have lost no time on Stage 16 absent the toilet break, and he probably suffered from the chase the following days.

Does any of this mean he will beat Froome? No, but it is finely balanced now in my opinion, which is great for the race.

Don’t think that Quintana was in the height of his powers in that Giro, had he been fresher, he would have been able to put on a bit more hurt on Dumoulin.

Froome and Lopez to work together to launch sneak attack ala Quintana and Contador in Vuelta 2016

Yeah it didn't look good plus in the TT you could see a lot of padding to his hip. But like people say he could be riding himself into form later in the tour it's hard to tell thou.

I think the third week will be interesting. I'm sure froome will have some form then. It sure you can read too much into the minute at the moment. Obviously not good though.

Potential for a really interesting three weeks if he is able to contest it in some way. It'll be great to see him trying to regain time rather than defend

Pozzovivo is going to win and get me £25. It's basically certain.

Who was giving it large about how Bouhanni was a misunderstood character and not a bad guy the other day? Ha.

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Hmm, the use of the phrase 'reportedly involved', and 'violent altercation' printed like that shows that this is gossip that the publication reporting this can't back up with facts.

I still think Bouhanni is a talented sprinter who could be a real asset to a team. But it's clear that team isn't Cofidis. (In fact I can't think of any rider who has thrived at Cofidis).

Quintana's powers are being light and previously uncrackable. He has no pacy injection when climbing, or doesn't when he's been neutralised for hours on end by a stronger team. I'm not a big fan of contador, but he had (drug assisted probably) change of pace.

Maybe so, but on the super steep stuff, being 58kg and able to float up day in day out and set punishing pace has served him well (when on top form)

Egan Bernal looks to being an improved Quintana, 60kg, great TT and more agressive style. Looking forward to seeing him in GTs!