Giro d'Italia 2014

rubbish, Nibali was soundly beaten at the Tour, went off and smashed the Giro, became a much better rider, one with experience of being a GT winner and now is among the 2 or 3 people to have chance of rivalling Froome in the GC.

The Tour isnt the be all and end all, look at Andy Schleck who spent loads of time coming 2nd and other than LBL, didnt win anything else at his EPO induced peak because he was only interested in the Tour. If your a young rider who is a strong climber and an average TTer then it makes sense to have a crack at the Giro

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Kermithimself/media/Nytbillede1_zps7e9781e9.png.html
Red flag jumping. Quintana and Rolland?

Nope, a pair of AG2R riders, so probably Dupont and Vuillermoz as they were part of the break with Quintana, Rolland et al.

I believe race radio declared that there would be a moto and flag for each group on the road and maintaining time gaps.* So there will have been riders in front of red flags with or without passing red flags.

• which sounds ambitious to say the least.
  

rubbish, Nibali was soundly beaten at the Tour, went off and smashed the Giro, became a much better rider, one with experience of being a GT winner and now is among the 2 or 3 people to have chance of rivalling Froome in the GC.

The Tour isnt the be all and end all, look at Andy Schleck who spent loads of time coming 2nd and other than LBL, didnt win anything else at his EPO induced peak because he was only interested in the Tour. If your a young rider who is a strong climber and an average TTer then it makes sense to have a crack at the Giro

Very few riders ever have any chance of winning the Tour and if you are one of them you should be at the Tour - like it or not it pretty much is the be all and end all, except perhaps for an Italian at the Giro and even there I am sure Nibali would swap his win in Italy for one in France. I can't see that either Quintana or Nibali lost because of lack of experience. Nibali just wasn't as good as Wiggins or Froome and Quintana wasted time and energy working for Valverde. Perhaps Movistar, the sponsor, just think that commercially they have more to gain by sending Valverde even if he doesn't win.
And Quintana is not an average TTer, he is exceptionally good. He has everything a rider needs to win the Tour and maybe next year he is sick, the next year he breaks his leg and his once chance is gone. He has made is pretty clear he would rather have gone to the Tour.
You are also overlooking the fact that Andy Schleck won the 2010 Tour: oh yes, he did, it says so on Wikipedia.

Yesterday was probably the best stage I have seen in ages. Ryder was just so fucking tough hanging in there with Quintana.

Regarding the neutralization, the Quintana group DID sit behind the red flag. I would say it is up to the other riders to keep up as well (to maintain the group as intended) rather than stop at the top (if you are going to do that then make sure you get back on after). If the motorbike was going too quikly, and the riders following got the gap because of it then fair play to the riders. In the end, no one was hurt (although there were a couple of close calls).

Anyways, amazing stage. Gavia, Stelvio, snow banks, fast wet descents, dancing out of saddles, sex faces, it had it all!

Barmy Army got their third stage win today.

Is the Ashes on again already?

Bike racing isn't meant to be easy.

I love the Giro more than the tour because of how hard it is. It breeds tough.

Anyways, amazing stage. Gavia, Stelvio, snow banks, fast wet descents, dancing out of saddles, sex faces, it had it all!

yes, yes, pooh.

Of course it is - what would you do with a rider who had come second in the Tour? Oh, that's right, send him to the Giro to 'gain experience'.

The dude is 24, and putting him head to head with Froome, Contador and Nibbles with the team that he's got backing him up seems like a big ask when to be fair to them, they've made a fucking good calculation he'll tear everyone up at the Giro and let Valverde have his 'team leader' experience at the Tour where he'll get (more) confirmation he's not up to much for the overall when he's off the sauce.

Giro winner, with best young rider jersey, and probably climbing jersey by the end of the week, at 24, whilst riding for Movistar? I'd fucking take that every time over maybe getting another podium at the Tour to be honest because both Froome and Contador are going to be on the ball this year and on paper their teams are stronger.

Is Quintana going to the tour?

Valverde crashed first week.

Quintana Giro tour double? Epic.

Giro winner, with best young rider jersey, and probably climbing jersey by the end of the week, at 24, whilst riding for Movistar? I'd fucking take that every time over maybe getting another podium at the Tour to be honest because both Froome and Contador are going to be on the ball this year and on paper their teams are stronger.

this

I disagree: Quintana's climbing just looks exceptional. I reckon Sky and Tinkoff are going to be very happy Quintana isn't riding the tour. He'd be well clear now if he hadn't been ill, just nails that he rode through that and now is smashing it. I'm sure Movistar would want him at the Tour, but I reckon Valverde pulled rank and wanted sole leadership.

And Movistar ended up top of the rankings last season, and their Tour team looked head and shoulders above Sky's.

Anyway, game on at the Giro.

What Jimmy_Fingers said. If Valverde wasn't around, Quintana would be riding the Tour in a strong Movistar team

Aye, surely a Spanish sponsor would want the team they're sponsoring to favour a Spanish rider in the biggest race of the year?

Movistar: Valverde, Intxausti, Herrada, Plaza, Dowsett, Capecchi, Erviti, Gutiérrez, Rojas

Sky: Froome, Nieve, Henao, Thomas, Porte, Kiryienka, Siutsou, Kennaugh, Wiggins

Saxo: Contador, Roche, Kreuziger, Bennati, Sørensen (announced so far)

The strongest Movistar team still isn't up to the same level as the Creeping Death I reckon. Worth noting Sky's budget is double that of both Movistar and Saxo, but still-far more depth with 2 previous winners and another possible contender in Porte, and totally geared towards Tour domination with a proven system in place. Contador's looking mean and Saxo have a good mix of promising young riders and more experienced ones, I'd be surprised if Majka won't be in the team now, and Rogers is clearly on form.

Movistar had to sell Costa last year to keep Quintana... if they were really wanting the Tour they should have sacked off Valverde instead and bought more support for him rather than try to compete in both Giro and Tour. At the Giro so far he's hardly been flanked by domestiques (not that this has stopped him much so far to be fair but one bad day is enough to be the end of competing) but if you need matches to burn to limit losses following accidents/mechanicals etc it's better to have them than not and BMC/Sky/Saxo will be able to use up riders to keep an outrageously fast tempo up the climbs and stop any attacks coming.

Saying that it's a climb-heavy tour and only one TT so maybe he'd have managed to stay in the mix. I still think he's young enough to have the Giro overall represent an enormous success that is going to spur him on to greater things in the future.

Basso is playing a crafty game. Letting his rivals wear themselves out on the easier stages and build up what they will think is an impregnable lead over him. And then, pow! He'll take it all back in one glorious attack on the Zoncolan. As he said before the race, the important thing is that he feels young.

He's in the break. He's in the fucking break! Gonna be in the pink by the end of the day. You just watch!

^^ Don't forget there are cobbles as well that really won't suit him. I say send him to the Vuelta next - strong shot at two grand tour wins in his first year of team leadership at the age of 24 is hardly shabby. Then prepare him for a full on tour assault next season.

The Tour route this year is so climb heavy that Quintana may never get such a good shot at victory. It's a shame that Movistar prefer to back Valverde, a man who has never really shone at the Tour, doped or not.

Aye, surely a Spanish sponsor would want the team they're sponsoring to favour a Spanish rider in the biggest race of the year?

This. Valverde is an established household name in clinics Spain.

Valverde mk1 is also bloody fast this season. mk2 is chilling in some Mediterranean xenon cave mainlining synthesised snail juice right now.

Having Quintana go for GC and Valverde stage-wins/attacks would be amazing but egos etc.

Anyone got a link that's not flash? On my phone. Ticker not cutting it.

Think the Rai feed is Silverlight...

Uran owes Poels a bottle of something nice.

Try an get the final 6km unedited.

Best final of the race so far. Solid attacks from all directions. Brilliant.

Did rolland or aru get third?

Bye bye cuddles

^^ Deignan.