Herzog
Swinglish Mountain Goat
- Location
- Bern, Switzerland
Top-draw...I love to see bold moves succeeding.
Giro d'Italia (with *SPOILERS*)
- Thread starter Flying_Monkey
- Start date
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Top-draw...I love to see bold moves succeeding.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
He gets awarded both but he obviously can't wear both so I guess Cav will still be wearing red tomorrow as 2nd place man.
d.
OP
OP
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
Cav is also in the lead in the Azzuri d'italia and the Most Combative competitions, not that either will make up for not winning the Rosso.
Strathlubnaig
Guru
- Location
- Alberta
All going to be interesting, great when the winner is not decided already ! Just planning how I can extend my coffee break long enough to catch the last few riders tomorrow.
Paul_L
Über Member
- Location
- Shipley, West Yorks
Missed all yesterday's action but just watched the recorded highlights.
Incredible and brutal stage and an amazing climb from De Gendt. Very pleased for Vacansoleil as well.
Can't believe Sky told Henao to sit and wait for Uran. I imagine Cav deserves some explanation for that tactic from Steven De Jongh. Who knows whether if it would have worked but surely he should have been told to sit on J Rod's wheel and take his place on the line.
Incredible and brutal stage and an amazing climb from De Gendt. Very pleased for Vacansoleil as well.
Can't believe Sky told Henao to sit and wait for Uran. I imagine Cav deserves some explanation for that tactic from Steven De Jongh. Who knows whether if it would have worked but surely he should have been told to sit on J Rod's wheel and take his place on the line.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Quite. You'd have backed Rodriguez to hold off Henao but it seems odd that they didn't even try it, apparently for the sake of saving a few seconds for Uran.
You have to assume they either thought there were more riders up the road, so Rodriguez couldn't finish in the top 4, or team orders didn't get through to Henao for some reason. Or maybe Henao was on the limit and couldn't hold Rodriguez's wheel anyway. I can't believe they would have told him to sit up and wait.
d.
You have to assume they either thought there were more riders up the road, so Rodriguez couldn't finish in the top 4, or team orders didn't get through to Henao for some reason. Or maybe Henao was on the limit and couldn't hold Rodriguez's wheel anyway. I can't believe they would have told him to sit up and wait.
d.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Or maybe Henao saw Scarponi bolting off and naively assumed Rodriguez wouldn't catch him...
d.
d.
OP
OP
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
A final TT worth watching today. I think Hesjedal will overhaul Rodriguez, who will still produce a better TT than people expect. De Gendt will end up on the podium.
Cav may try to produce the TT of his life, but I can't see him finishing higher than Purito anyway. You can blame the accidents (and his one second place), but to be a consistent points jersey winner in modern GTs, you've got to have more than one weapon in your arsenal and a 'Plan B', i.e. you need to be able to get in breakaways when there are intermediates at stake, and sometimes even finish in the Top 15 on stages that don't suit you - n Cav's case, I'm not talking high mountains, but he needs to be there more often at the end of rolling and hilly stages - he can do it on occasion, as he showed in the MSR a couple of year's back, but not regularly enough.
Cav may try to produce the TT of his life, but I can't see him finishing higher than Purito anyway. You can blame the accidents (and his one second place), but to be a consistent points jersey winner in modern GTs, you've got to have more than one weapon in your arsenal and a 'Plan B', i.e. you need to be able to get in breakaways when there are intermediates at stake, and sometimes even finish in the Top 15 on stages that don't suit you - n Cav's case, I'm not talking high mountains, but he needs to be there more often at the end of rolling and hilly stages - he can do it on occasion, as he showed in the MSR a couple of year's back, but not regularly enough.
Strathlubnaig
Guru
- Location
- Alberta
Good synopsis there flying monkey. I am sure I read somewhere that the lead has only changed hands once, in 1984 I think, on the final stage, so here's hoping Ryder can make history, and also be the first to fly the maple leaf on a grand tour !
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
I'm going to repeat what I said over on yacf, so apologies if anyone has already read this...
I'm assuming Cav won't pick up any points today, and as FM says, probably won't overhaul Rodriguez, who is riding with the pink jersey at stake so will probably be extra motivated to do well.
However, to have come so close to winning the red jersey this year is mightily impressive, especially after incidents like the Ferrari takedown - even if he hadn't gone on to win that stage, he was well placed to pick up the few points that would have made all the difference in the final reckoning. But again to reiterate FM's comments, them's the breaks. You can't blame bad luck for losing races - and it's to his credit that Cav doesn't blame bad luck; he blames himself for things like losing to Guardini on stage 18.
And it is hugely to his credit that he has made it to the end at all - hardly any of the other top sprinters are left. Like Thor Hushovd last year, he's proving himself to be a real credit to the rainbow stripes. Riding like a real World Champion.
And let's not forget what a monumental achievement it would have been to win the red jersey - only four riders have won the points competition in all three grand tours (Petacchi, Merckx, Jalabert, Abdoujaparov), and Cav is still younger than any of them when they achieved it. Plus, it's harder for a pure sprinter to win the Giro points competition because of the way points are distributed.
But he has time on his side to come back and have another go. He will do it one day, it just wasn't his time this year.
He's won MSR and is already showing signs of developing from a specialist stage winner into an all-round points chaser, so while I don't think he'll ever become a Sean Kelly style of rider, I do predict he will go on to win the points jersey in many grand tours to come.
d.
I'm assuming Cav won't pick up any points today, and as FM says, probably won't overhaul Rodriguez, who is riding with the pink jersey at stake so will probably be extra motivated to do well.
However, to have come so close to winning the red jersey this year is mightily impressive, especially after incidents like the Ferrari takedown - even if he hadn't gone on to win that stage, he was well placed to pick up the few points that would have made all the difference in the final reckoning. But again to reiterate FM's comments, them's the breaks. You can't blame bad luck for losing races - and it's to his credit that Cav doesn't blame bad luck; he blames himself for things like losing to Guardini on stage 18.
And it is hugely to his credit that he has made it to the end at all - hardly any of the other top sprinters are left. Like Thor Hushovd last year, he's proving himself to be a real credit to the rainbow stripes. Riding like a real World Champion.
And let's not forget what a monumental achievement it would have been to win the red jersey - only four riders have won the points competition in all three grand tours (Petacchi, Merckx, Jalabert, Abdoujaparov), and Cav is still younger than any of them when they achieved it. Plus, it's harder for a pure sprinter to win the Giro points competition because of the way points are distributed.
But he has time on his side to come back and have another go. He will do it one day, it just wasn't his time this year.
He's won MSR and is already showing signs of developing from a specialist stage winner into an all-round points chaser, so while I don't think he'll ever become a Sean Kelly style of rider, I do predict he will go on to win the points jersey in many grand tours to come.
d.
Strathlubnaig
Guru
- Location
- Alberta
Chapeau to the man from Victoria, a great consistent 3 weeks, well deserved, especially after yesterdays more or less unassisted efforts (other than by van de velde). O Canada.
I didn't have high hopes for the Giro when it started but it's turned into a thoroughly entertaining final week. I thought it was an excellent ride from Rodriguez today in the end - I expected Hesdejal to win by more, but congrats to the Canadian for a thoroughly deserved win. Was disappointed that Cav didn't get red - I thought Sky would have deployed Uran and Henao to that end yesterday, but perhaps they just didn't have the legs. Cav will want to win that jersey, so I expect him to be back - he loves Italy and the Italians love him, so he'll want to keep putting on a show. Entertaining all round!
