Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
LIVE: Port Adelaide v Carlton - 7:30PM Thu
Squiggle tips Port at 63% chance -- What's your tip? -- Team line-ups »
I'd add Merlier to the Points candidates, but otherwise I think you're on the money.So tonight is the official halfway stage. As good a time for a jersey review as any.
GC: Tadej has it, but a minute separates second from fourth. The fight for top 10 will be interesting too, and with only 5 minutes separating 5th and 17th I can see a lot of movement in there.
Points: It's most likely Milan but I can see Groves chasing him down if he gets a couple of stage wins and gets in a break or two.
KOM: It's Tadej. Geschke can win it if he's in stages 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 but I still doubt it.
Youf: The only interesting battle for me. Uijtedbroeks is cracking so I'd expect Tiberi and Zana to try to break him on stage 15 to climb ahead.
It's a pitty that Kooij had to pull the plug.Merlier isn't really chasing points. He isn't competing in intermediate sprints at all and probably too far back to win it but he'll probably still podium.
I mean they have ****ed up before in this Giro.It looks like the GC riders have decided to have the middle week of the Giro off. Last night was a boring truce, other than Bahrain pushing a bit towards the end, to prevent Zana from threatening Tiberi.
I think I'll follow the GC riders' advice, and take the week off too. I'll settle for watching the morning highlights shows, rather than staying up until 1am, to watch the sprint trains do their business.
- Tonight it's a flat stage, with a Cat 3 climb early, but no elevations above 39m in the last 100km.
- Tomorrow there are 4x Cat 4 climbs. Ironically, the first sprint stage comes at the stage's highest point (260m altitude), and it's not even a categorised climb.
- Friday is another flat stage, with no categorised climbs, and a peak altitude of 39m - the last 100km is all below 20m altitude.
- Saturday is a flat ITT.
- The GC riders don't have any work to do, at least in terms of climbing, until next Sunday, which is a real mountain stage (with 2x Cat 1 climbs in the last 25km).
He's winning by 10+ minutes.
White the only contest from here. Arensmen, Tiberi and Zana
I agree but I reckon he'll attack anyway hahaI think they relax from now and prepare for the Tour, which is against everything that he has ever done in races. But he has said previously he wants to achieve everything in this sport and this year has opened up for him for triple crown or even more.
That's the beauty of the Pog. He's always looking to attack & win, hates sitting the wheels and finishing with the group.I agree but I reckon he'll attack anyway haha
I'm not sure riding defensively is in Pog's psychological makeup.I reckon he shifts to defensive riding now. He was defensive most of week 2 but think he really wanted the queen stage.
He did in 2021 Tour final week, and did on Prati De Tivo here. Just he's got such a good sprint that he'll still clean stages (if UAE chase them down) even when riding defensively.I'm not sure riding defensively is in Pog's psychological makeup.
It's going to be a very interesting Tour.Yeah think he went into the TT and last night with a plan to secure the race. The next week I see him just following before a very late attack or sprint if the stage is on the line.
If he holds the form he showed last night Jonas is gonna need to be in good shape to beat him in France.
Johnny won the KOM one year too iirc?There's one amazing story coming out of Stage 15 - and it has nothing to do with the GC contenders.
Jenthe Biermans (Arkea) messed up one of the bends, while descending the Mortirolo. He ended up 25-30m down a ravine. With help from Alpecin & Intermarche staff, he was able to climb back up to the road, re-mount, and returned to the race. He ended up finishing the stage 130th, of 150 finishers, 13 minutes ahead of the last placed finisher.
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road...enthe-biermans-crashes-25-meters-down-ravine/
I remember Peter Sagan doing something similar, though he didn't go as far down the ravine. Hopefully Jenthe is not too badly beaten up, and will be able to resume racing tonight.
It's amazing how cycling throws up these remarkable stories, every now and then. I can't help but remember Jonny Hoogerland, who was hit by a TV car in the 2011 Tour, and who flew through the air into a barbed wire fence. He too was able to re-mount, and eventually finished that year's Tour. Hoogerland's experience resulted in these T-shirts being produced:
Nah... he finished 9th. He claimed the polka-dot jersey at the end of the stage where he went into the barbed wire, but wasn't able to hold it all the way to Paris. He led the KotM competition after stages 9-11, but Sammy Sanchez was the eventual winner.Johnny won the KOM one year too iirc?