Giro D'Italia 2016

Anyway, good article on the industry of the Veneto region, where today's stage finishes;

http://inrng.com/2016/05/maser-italy-cycle-brands-exports/

I've ridden around this area, and it's a great place to ride, with probably the best road surfaces in Italy. Today's finish is tough, that climb at 20 kms to go is 3 kms long and averages 9%, then it's up and down to the finish, including a 1 km climb up to Asolo with 5 kms to go, so expect a small group to contest the win with someone like Ulissi, Colbrelli or Battaglin taking it.

Tune in now for some great racing.

Are they working together or are they?

Just reading the text commentary is exciting

Seems I've switched on at exactly the right moment, for a change. I'm liking Bob in pink. He's riding without fear.

As for Dumoulin's saddle sore - I reckon riding in a lot of pain for a long time gets really, really tiring. When it's a percent or two in power output that is the difference in leading or losing 30s-1m up a climb, you can see why a little something being out of whack makes a huge difference.

Damn Betancur got dropped hard there!

And you know better.
Drop me a message before each stage on if I should be watching!

I love the Giro.

That was a great stage to watch. The final 30k anyway. I thought a break might have stayed away today, but it seems like the big guns are all still probing. I wasn't listening to commentary, but I was a bit surprised they all let Jungels get away. Obviously it wasn't a lot of time, but are Nibbles, Valverde et al all expecting him to crack on the big mountain stages?

Half-day wanker.

Jungels is letting a brother shine at the top of the mini-league.

Really thought Betancur was going to latch on and do something but alas, maybe tomorrow.

Yes. Jungels is potentially a future GT winner, but it won't be this year. His goal before the race was the white jersey for best young rider, he's looking good for that.

We'll know more after the weekend, but after the pan flat snooze fest tomorrow, although the finishing circuit looks, ahem, interesting, we've two proper mountain stages back to back, followed by a tough uphill time trial, but I'd expect one of the pre-race favourites to be in pink on Monday.

I wouldn't like to call it though, Valverde is very attentive, Amador is riding well, Chaves and Majka look good, Kruiswijk is clearly up for it and Nibali is gradually coming into shape.

This.

Sean Kelly quit a GT (Vuelta?) when he was winning because of a saddle sore and I'm pretty sure that was much later in the race.

Ewan looked to actually have been in with a shot there.

Greipel is off home tonight, so if Ewen can make it through the weekend he has a couple of opportunities next week.

It's a shame that he's leaving whilst still holding the maglia rosso, but understandable looking at the stage profiles for the next few days. Perhaps the race was engineered this way to keep the big names coming and to maintain the profile the Giro among the other GTs.

This is what happens when you reply to a post on a previous page and are then taken to your new post, missing quite a few posts in between, including andyp's informative one here:

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/12992465/

:)

(Not having a go at you, this has caused me to miss quite a lot of stuff, too.)

This Cycling Weekly headline made me laugh:

Does anyone actually want to win the Giro d’Italia sprinter’s jersey?

Only the Italian sprinters

With the Worlds in Qatar, on a pan flat circuit, the top tier sprinters have an extra target this season so it's no surprise that they are leaving the Giro early. They'll be expected to peak at the Tour too, so there's a lot on their plates.

It'll be interesting to see whether the likes of Kittel, Greipel and Cavendish start the Vuelta, which is usually the best race to ride to get in shape for the Worlds.

^ not sure Cav merits mention anymore

Well that's me off eggs for a bit.

New forum is confusing.

Size of an egg. Jesus.

Time will tell, but his goals this year are very different to any of his peers. And only Kittel has consistently beaten him.

Interesting stage today, some tough climbs on narrow roads, perfect for an ambush, but with a weekend in the Dolomites looming, the top GC contenders may err on the side of caution and save their legs for tomorrow.

Tomorrow's stage is hard, but the final climb isn't, so it might not be as decisive as some pundits seem to think it will be. If I was Nibali, I'd go on the attack today, using the final descent to press home an advantage then hope to recover for tomorrow.

Sky need to salvage their Giro, so expect someone like Roche to go for the stage today.