I suspect this could be the slowest stage of the Giro - It’s always interesting to see how sprinter’s perform after two mountain days, an ITT and a rest day.
1 Like
Gaviria wins stage 12 from Mareczko and Bennett - Ewan in prime position with 500 metres to go, but somehow had a problem with his bike - I’d let Edmondson or Mezgec ride the final tomorrow - Bewley broke a finger in a training crash in Columbia which necessitated an operation, and will be off his bike for a week - Gerrans 3rd in Stage 1 of Norway and Docker 10th in stage 2 - Stage 3 is the GC day so expect a good effort from Haig.
Last sprinter stage tonight.
Chance of a thunderstorm. Otherwise Gaviria will win again. Ewan and Griepel have been massively disappointing.
Actually I didn’t expect that much from Ewan so perhaps not so disappointing.
Thomas is a DNS, injuries getting the better of him.
And Gaviria storms home to beat Bennett in a breathtaking performance. Too many excuses. From Ewan. The positive is he won a stage and got himself into better positions for the final compared to 12 months ago.
Now is the time for A.yates to shine. I would be more confident if this was Simon. Adam is more of a follower while Simon is more attacking. Little in talent and performance between the two brothers.
What a ride!!! Dumolition job.
Gee Yates fell off tho
Dumoulin is is in rare form - Yates brothers - Feel that Simon is a more attacking rider and tactically savvy, while Adam is better at following wheels and seems to have more recovery - In saying that there is little between the riders and things will become clearer in year 5.
A.Yates 4th in a sprint finish in stage 15 won by Jungels - Yates went too early in the sprint - Took 110 kms for the break to form - ONCE it got to 2 1/2 minute the Orica Sprint train with Ewan,Edmonson and Mezgec drilled the peleton for 30km to brink back the break to around one minute before the first of the two climbs - Then on the second climb Plaza and Verona drilled the peleton to bring back the break - It was aggressive riding by Orica to try to win the stage.
Gerrans finishes 2nd on GC to Boassen Hagen in the Tour of Norway. EBH fell with 10km to go and then Gerrans told the peleton to sit up to EBH re-entered the fray.
Quintana fell after he made a mistake on the descent; Dumoulin held the peloton up to let him rejoin. A vast difference to his Movistar handled the Sky and OS situation last week.
Dumoulin should have drilled them, no way Movistar wait if the roles are reversed.
1 Like
Yep quintana has priors in not sitting up when an unfortunate incident happens!
2 Likes
Quite ironic that I ordered my new GIANT TCR before the start of the GIro and picked it up on the day Dumoulin took the maglia rosa!
2 Likes
Reckon Subweb would’ve had an ally in Orica!
1 Like
Id hope that in the future a few teams may form an alliance when things aren’t going there way…nothing like putting the pretty boys under a bit of pressure!
Orica’s provisional start list for Dauphine
Chaves
Gerrans
Haig
Howson
Impey
Keukeliere
Kreuziger
S.Yates
Note that Kreuziger,Keukeliere,Durbridge and Hayman are training at altitude in France.
Think Chaves,S.Yates, Impey,Kreuziger, Chaves and Gerrans are certainties - Haig out and Durbridge in - Last two spots fought out between Hayman,Keukeliere and Albasini.
Tomorrow is the Queen stage of the Giro - A brutal stage that will cause carnage.
1 Like
I follow a few of them on strava…impey looks like hes in spain girona riding lots of KMs up hill…just a lazy 150km with 3km of elevation!
Now not stopping for du Moulin when he went to the toilet …seriously that wasn’t good…movistar katusha merida can all get farked and hopefully in the future paybacks a ■■■■■!
STop for quintana a few days ago and today they rode off…pathetic!
2 Likes
Yes it was a controversial stage - Once the commissionaire’s failed to act with the moto incident in the Blockhaus Stage then you open up a can of worms.
Anyway it was an exciting stage - Break took over 60kms to get away and were never given more than 3 minutes - Partly because Kruijswik and Amador were in the break - After the first passage of the Stelvio, Orica and Katusha drilled the peleton so the breakaway only had 1m and 30s for the final climb - Landa broke away from his counterparts and held a lead of around 1 minute from a chasing peleton - Nibali,Quintano, Pozzovivo and Zakharin broke away from the other GC contenders with 5km to go - Nibali and Quintano drilled the last m of the climb and Landa only had 12 seconds with the 19km descent - Nibali rode a brilliant descent to catch Landa and win the stage - Dumoulin lost just over 2 minutes after his pit stop and now leads Quintana by 31s.
Think Yates is finding the competition a bit tough, though he is hanging in there at 10th in GC - I can see the frustration in White because they expect to drop Jungels on the climbs, so they can have a real crack at the Young Rider’s jersey.
Dumolin’s too nice. Sitting up for Quintana the other day, saying he was fine to sprint for the win on the same stage, now today saying he had no problem with the group going…
1 Like
Agreeed Quintana / Movistar stop for noone. Dumolin should have taken advantage the other day.
1 Like
the two incidents are different though… Quintana couldn’t help a crash, but Dumolin should’ve been able to control his Diarrhoea, its the Giro! 
1 Like