You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
And this may be why reducing the teams by one is a good thing
I suspect it's more that the Giro is just a really hard race to control, it was when teams had nine riders. Arguably what cutting team sizes actually does is reduce opportunities for young, developing riders to get GT experience because you can't carry a 'passenger'. Or in the case of Sky, a sprinter - if Cav were still at Sky, would he even get a Tour place with or without a sprint train? The tendency is to select proven riders only at the expense of younger talent, which potentially means they never get the experience they need to develop.
Heard a young US pro rider make exactly this point in a Cycling Podcast episode earlier this year with the more general inference that it reduces opportunities for riders overall and potentially means teams will cut their rosters, reducing the number of riders overall at World Tour level.
Inner Ring for example, says that for this year teams overall have cut riders, sometimes as many as four:
http://inrng.com/2017/11/shrinking-peloton-world-tour/
Anyway... ultimately it wouldn't matter how strong Team Sky's team is at the Giro, if Froome isn't at the same level as the other main contenders, he can't win it.
It’s a shame that whenever anyone wins anything, the first question seems to be ‘is he or she a doper?
Yes it is indeed a shame
Both the Yates brothers have proven their ability in grand tours with top 5 finishes. There's no doubt they're an exceptional talent. If things continue the way they are, it will be very close between Yates and Dumoulin.
Froome is not looking great, but given (if he gets back on form - and according to him he was on better form before his crash) he can potentially make time up in the TT and get right back into it at least for a podium finish.
Simon is a very good TTer for his size, and he'll concede a considerable amount of time to Dumoulin in the TT, but possibly not as much as people think. Contador springs to mind. Either way, 2 stage wins already (bearing in mind he gifted another to Chaves): the guy is on fire. Very happy for him.
Also, it's seconds here and there, not a massive time gap caused by a ridiculous solo breakaway. Not seen the highlights of today but till now it's seemed like canny riding rather than drug fuelled feats
this was in response to a post on the last page, but clearly I'm slow at typing!
only caught about the last hour today - looked GRIM
Well played by Bennett though
Who is that commentating on Eurosport today Bernie Eisel?
yeah, he was on for a bit - didn't catch it but heard them saying so
bad weather forecast for the Zoncolan tomorrow just to spice it up some more.
Going to be a very big day tomorrow, might have to time it to be back in for the finish
yeah, he was on for a bit – didn’t catch it but heard them saying so
Cheers, didn't hear his name but they kept mentioning Austria so I assumed it was him.
Chaves only has 51.30 tom make up this weekend. No probs. I believe in you Esteban!
Call it a round hour to give a buffer for the TT.
Set up to be a great climb, waiting for the fireworks. Crowd at the top looks huge, it could almost be Yorkshire!
that climb was brutal, no respite
yates has got his lead out to 1.24 and for all his valiant endeavors Froome gained 10s on Yates
But lots more on Doimoulin. Froome and he will be fighting to swap places on the TT both thinking they'll be taking Yates times away . Chipping away at Yates now makes the overall job easier, but narrowing the gap to TD is the real game in town .
But lots more on Doimoulin
Tom should take that back in the TT
Tom should take that back in the TT
Not sure he'll take a lot out of Froome, if he's now fit
What’s impressive here is Froomidge went away at 4K to go and Yates waited until 3K to go before catching him and then loosing by just 6seconds to Froomidge.. 6seconds... Froomidge whilst a win is a win, this isn’t StemBoy of old... and Yates is clearly up for carrying this Pink jersey all the way home...
Thats an awesome concept.
is there time bonus in the TT ?
Tom should take that back in the TT
A hard call. Based on the opening TT Dumoulin would gain 80-90 seconds on Yates but we don't know what effect the cumulative fatigue of two weeks' racing has had on either of them. Makes for a very interesting TT on Tuesday.
Tomorrow's stage is also lumpy. I'd expect them both to attack Dumoulin - he cracked here last year.
We'll then see how relative things are on Tuesday. If Froome comes into form before a rest day and a TT he could prove very dangerous .
tomorrow
I can see Sky/Froome tapping out Dumoulin on Tre Croci and then Froome doing his latest descending trick onward tbh.
I’m actually excited to watch tomorrow’s stage, could be fireworks and really light up the Giro with multiple contenders. I’m also wondering if Aru could come back.
Tomorrow looks like the kind of stage that late-career contador would have set fire to
I’m really hoping both Tom and Froomidge don’t catch Yates 🤞🤞🤞🤞
Just watched the highlights, great rides from all three of them tbh. Tomorrow looks like anything could happen!
I’m really hoping both Tom and Froomidge don’t catch Yates
'Froomidge'?
great rides from all three of them tbh.
think they'll all be pretty satisfied with the days work..... Froome might of hoped to gain more time on Yates & Tom but will be pleased he had better legs, Tom will be glad to keep it around the 30 seconds when he could have easily lost a couple of minutes on that brute. Yates probably thinks now if he can stay on or close to Froomes wheel he won't lose the Jersey to Him but would have liked more time on Tom.
Great and brutal battle. 2 Brits at the top, awesome!
I feel really sorry for George Bennett. He had a serious mechanical at the base of the Zoncolan and had to wait for a replacement bike. Lost over a minute standing round due to the chaos of no support cars on the climb. I think he ended up taking Gesinks bike eventually and stormed up the climb passing most of the field and did one of the fastest times of all up. The TV coverage missed it all. Still only lost less than 2 minutes to Yates and is still 8th on GC. Go George! Just need a bit more luck on the remaining climbs.
Still some tough climbing to come next week too. I'm certainly rooting for Simon but the TT?
but the TT?
after a rest day too, easy to blow up on, they'll be plenty of nervous riders.
very tentative on the downs , bunch of girls! he who dares dies 😉
Yates attacks
froome in trouble here
and again, here hoping
Froome a minute back on pink.... this kind of panache in the pink will win the lad a lot of fans
he's a man on a mission! flying ! keep it on the road boy!
Yates is giving it some, Dumoulin getting a bit of an armchair ride from the others in the chasing group
Tomorrow looks like the kind of stage that late-career contador would have set fire to
or a young Yates !!!
Toms having to work now though !
froome is gone here blimey!
He's absolutely smashed the pro peloton here! (he kicks out a lot of power for a lightweigh! )
Tom gone
Toms gone from the chasers come on Yates you can win it here
no one can live with him, mind blown
wow!!!!!
Good ride by Tom to get back in
yep he's a gutsy rider
he's got the 2 minutes he said he needed!
Whats italian for chapeau?
Capello ?
Well that was a nice days racing. Good fight from Tom but Simon Yates is a man possessed.
And he's British to boot!
Great ride form him there, is he lined up to do the Tour Double?
Looks like Froome over committed yesterday, tough day for the Sky domestiques as they normally give it all for victory
Blimey, what a ride, long range solo attack in the leaders jersey with no team mates in sight, proper old school racing.
Pleeeeeease be clean, please please please!
looks like an ultegra & 32 out back on the Yates bike (though he never leaves the big ring crafty!)
Yates does seem to be smashing it every day.
he does seem to be gauging his efforts well though, more opportunistic taking of the time bonus on offer than “smashing it” 3 well timed efforts have paid big dividends !
besides there are 2 pan flat sprinters stages up next before the Zoncolan saturday will give him (and his team) a chance to sit in let qsf do all the work.
I think we can safely say he smashed it today !!! One of the finest Stage race performances from a Brit
Cracking stage today - really hoping Yates can hold it to Rome. We're flying out there on Friday for the weekend - can't wait!
Wow well done. Froomes done.
Holy Mahloli ☝️👀
Just how Awesome is this guy? Only the second guy to take 3 stages in Pink.
Folklore being written, featuring an English Bloke.
And for the first time ever we know that they don’t just switch brothers mid-race
featuring an English Bloke
Surely he is virtually an honorary Italian by now? To win your third stage in pink on a stage like that, in that manner kind of makes you a bit of a legend in your own lifetime no matter what the result in Rome. If he wins in Rome they will have the passport, a garage of prancing horses, a beautiful woman and the pope ready to pursued him to change allegiance.
I still think he is will have his work cut out to still have pink after the ITT on Tuesday but whatever it's going to make it a brilliant last week. Dumoulin vs Yates really is a dream toe to toe to watch for the spectator.
So for the TT Dumolin put 20s into him over 9km, this one is 34km with 2:11 in the bag. So 3.8s/KM vs 2.2 in Stage 1?
18, 19 & 20 still look like they will suit the climbers too with uphill finishes on some decent hills
So for the TT Dumolin put 20s into him over 9km, this one is 34km with 2:11 in the bag. So 3.8s/KM vs 2.2 in Stage 1?
Yes, on paper Yates looks very safe but fortunately sport is not always that easy. I guess it depends how much Yates has had to burn himself to get the results and how much he can recover tomorrow. Dumoulin too for that matter. But TTing is a funny old thing - people who are proper good at it can hold their form much longer that the rest and gaps open up more at the end of the course. Stage 1 was a testing little lumpy prologue that looked more like an individual crit. Tuesday is a proper testers course.
I 'think' barring accident it's Yates' to loose from here but it would be great for sport if it's a proper fight all the way.
I think we can safely say he smashed it today !!! One of the finest Stage race performances from a Brit
Agreed, as was yesterday.
I hope he makes it but I just wonder about energy conservation, esp if he’s now having lots of media duty instead of sleeping it off whenever he can
fingers crossed for the TT
Rooting for Yates not because he's British, but because his ride so far has been aggressive, entertaining and full of heart.
That said, I kind of want him to get pumped in the TT so he has to go on the rampage again next weekend.
What an exciting race, Yates is so impressive, I really thought he'd gone too early at around 17km to go, just shows how good he is both tactically and also his power output in last 5 kms. Doesn't matter if he wins race or not now, he's established himself as one of the best GC riders. Is he riding tdf or the vuelta?
It's been a titanic contest between such contrasting riders, some wonderful elan from Yates but some real gutsy grinding from Dumoulin he's not letting the Jersey go without a fight to be only 2.10 back in this kind of terrain is quite an achievement!
The giro and veulta are so much more exciting than the tour.
I also like that eurosport show the wattages the guy ls are putting out. Is this now a standard thing that will be on every grand tour?
The giro and veulta are so much more exciting than the tour.
The Giro has been for most of the twenty odd years I’ve watched it. The Vuelta became interesting when they moved from those huge flat stages across deserts - when was that, ten years ago?
Bloomin' 'eck. That was fabulous. I thought Simon looked like Robert Millar in his heyday.
Great ride form him there, is he lined up to do the Tour Double?
I would have thought a Giro Vuelta double would be a good idea.
His brother is pencilled in as the TdF leader isn't he?
That’s a great video - the team come over very well.
This is a great example of why having the right TT on the right day of a grand tour is so important. It's a "general" classification, the best all round rider, and too often the courses have been made to make it the best climber or the best TTer win. This race seems to have it just about perfect, and it is making for some of the best racing I've seen in a long time,
Agreed, a lot better than having a TT right at the end as well
Yes great Racing. Yates will be 30 seconds down maximum Tuesday evening overall. He will easily take the jersey back in the mountains.
Superb riding from Yates. Absolutely delighted for him. Couldn't believe it when he went from so far out but made for a great spectacle. And, to be fair, great to see the effort Dumoulin made to get himself back into it when he was briefly dropped.
Oh and always love the team videos they make. The one where they re-created that day's Giro stage with plastic toys was hilarious.