Pro-cycling thread

Yeah the MTS lads all seem pretty sound.

Whats the consensus on how much time windmills will make up in the TT?

~2 minute seems to be the general consensus on Eurosport

Maybe enough for pink but not enough to fend off Yates for the rest of the week.

2.11 then battle it out in the hills. Dumoulin is going to go very deep tomorrow and with a sprint stage the next day he could recover but those final 3 stages are pretty ruthless.

Does hive mind reckon Yates will be able to continue this form though?

If he was able to go on the attack like that yesterday, then why not?

He's got such an experienced team around him too.

I don't see why not. He's a proven 3 week racer.

I still can't understand how froome has such a good day, between shit days. I can understand being slower yesterday after zoncolan, but to be slower than the rest, and so good the day before. Not sure what's up with him.

The whole team were surprised about Zoncolan and his recovery. I think he paid the price for it yesterday though hope they let Wout of the leash for the final week was only a minute down on Zoncolan and looked good yesterday.

If he’s not fully recovered from the falls, he could have won through pure willpower and suffering, but much bigger toll on the body to recover from.

I can't think of too many instances (in modern times) where a rider has been able to hold imperious form throughout a three week tour. Even Froome in his tour wins has been holding on at times in the last week.

They will all be knackered. Just depends who can grind it out when they hit those last few stages. Don't know if its watching all the one day races in the lead up, but the Giro always seems so much tougher than the tour. Those three stages to finish are brutal.

That sprint stage has a very tasty looking climb straight out of the neutral zone. Could be a prime spot for an ambush on what is a relatively short day..

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I'm just loving the racing, anything could happen and that's the best bit about this Giro. I'm going to be doing no work at all from tomorrow that's for sure.

https://www.picturehouses.com/cinema/Picturehouse_Central/film/time-trial

Sorry to interrupt the well deserved Yates-love, but there’s a David Millar film out soon. Screening and Millar Q&A at the Picturehouse - link above.

Can’t imagine why it will be an 18 certificate...

Just when you think he's taken narcissism as far as it will go...

He’s going to show us his cock isn’t he.

Nibali, 2014 TdF?

He's all cock isn't he?

I subscribe to the "one bad day" theory - just cant see Yates getting through the full three weeks without one day where the wheels come off. Hopefully that he'll pull through and take it, and that day will just make it all even more knife edge.

Yeah - that is a good call

Wiggins 2012 is the obvious one. He had minor moments on a couple of mountain stages but won the final time trial at a canter.

Today’s time trial is a hard one to call - TTs in the final week always see closer time gaps than you’d expect, mainly because everyone is knackered, but factor in that it’s the day after the final rest day and you’ll probably see some riders doing better than expected, whilst others do worse.

Hopefully it’ll set it up nicely for the final three mountain stages at the end of the week.

Jesus, has that film still not come out yet? I went to some promo event for it about four years ago. Got to meet Millar and got my Racing Through the Dark signed. Was a nice guy.

In case anyone else was looking for start times. I'm assuming these are CET...

Riders to watch

1. PEDERSEN Mads (Trek-Segafredo) 13:27:00
   
2. MULLEN Ryan (Trek-Segafredo) 13:32:00
   
3. CAMPENAERTS Victor (Lotto-Soudal) 13:40:00
   
4. DOWSETT Alex (Katusha-Alpecin) 13:52:00
   
5. KIRYIENKA Vasil (Team Sky) 14:04:00
   
6. VAN EMDEN Jos (LottoNL-Jumbo) 14:08:00
   
7. MARTIN Tony (Katusha-Alpecin) 14:13:00
   
8. DE LA CRUZ David (Team Sky) 14:56:00
   
9. DENNIS Rohan (BMC Racing) 16:00:00
   
10. FROOME Chris (Team Sky) 16:12:00
    
11. LOPEZ Miguel Angel (Astana) 16:18:00
    
12. PINOT Thibaut (Groupama-FDJ) 16:21:00
    
13. POZZOVIVO Domenico (Bahrain-Merida) 16:24:00
    
14. DUMOULIN Tom (Team Sunweb) 16:27:00
    
15. YATES Simon (Mitchelton-Scott) 16:30
    
    

Full list here