2021 Giro D'Italia

[drd23]

This has been an interesting little stage. I don't think I was expecting this much action among the GC guys on a stage so early in the race

 

[eth-dog]

This has been an interesting little stage. I don't think I was expecting this much action among the GC guys on a stage so early in the race

When you have #FreeLanda in the peloton you should always expect something like that.

Unfortunately Jai and Simon Yates struggled in that stage. Yates' form this year has been good still, could rebound.

 

[yaco55]

I actually expected bigger gaps on GC in today's stage - Nothing much gained or lost today.

 

[drd23]

I'm not sure you could show me a route map/stage profile that looks more uninteresting than tonight's stage

They basically ride in a straight line on pancake flat roads the entire time. Definitely one to get some sleep and just watch the highlights of tomorrow

 

[Vader]

I once saw a website comparing the flatness of Kansas with that of a pancake (Kansas was flatter).
http://www.usu.edu/geo/geomorph/kan...oth,would indicate perfect, platonic flatness.

I wonder which is flatter - tonight's Giro stage, or the pancake?

 

[eth-dog]

I'm not sure you could show me a route map/stage profile that looks more uninteresting than tonight's stage

They basically ride in a straight line on pancake flat roads the entire time. Definitely one to get some sleep and just watch the highlights of tomorrow

What about that 250 km one in the tour a few years ago without so much as a pimple?

 

[Vader]

Maybe we should get them to ride across the Hay and/or Nullarbor plains?

 

[drd23]

What about that 250 km one in the tour a few years ago without so much as a pimple?

This one is that bad (they reach the giddy heights of 67m above sea level), but I posted the image of the map because I thought its straightness was more notable

 

[Over The Post]

Even I could have a stab at riding this one.

A pan-flat stage running almost entirely along the ss. 9 Via Emilia, on straight and mostly wide roads. As the stage passes through several urban areas, roundabouts, traffic islands and street furniture will be found along the route.
The final kilometres are raced on city roads. A brace of roundabouts and bends (3 left-handers and one right-hander) leads into the home straight (approx. 900 m), on tarmac road.

So! Big breakaway followed by a secondary breakaway?

Looking at the weather for Modena, they are currently having a slight WSW wind. That is a direct crosswind.
Imola has a slightly stronger SW wind. San Marino has a fairly strong SW wind.
All three have a yellow wind warning (potential disruption to outside activities).

There is a band of showers forecast to go through Imola roughly the same time as the peloton schedule, otherwise cloudy or broken cloud on the entire route.

 

[Vader]

What about that 250 km one in the tour a few years ago without so much as a pimple?

OK... I remember that stage, but I'm struggling to find it on steephill.tv. I remember it as a transition stage, riding across the middle-north interior of France.

There haven't been any 250+km stages in the last 10 years (the longest was a 243km mountain stage in 2013).

This is the only 200+km stage I could find which didn't have a single KOM climb:
2013 Stage 12

There have been numerous 200+km stages with only 1x Cat 4 climb:
2018 Stage 7
2017 Stage 4
2017 Stage 7
2017 Stage 11
2016 Stage 3
2016 Stage 4
2015 Stage 4 ** I think this is the one you were referring to, but even this stage has 120m altitude difference between highest & lowest points
2014 Stage 19
2013 Stage 1
2012 Stage 2
2012 Stage 6

 

[eth-dog]

OK... I remember that stage, but I'm struggling to find it on steephill.tv. I remember it as a transition stage, riding across the middle-north interior of France.

There haven't been any 250+km stages in the last 10 years (the longest was a 243km mountain stage in 2013).

This is the only 200+km stage I could find which didn't have a single KOM climb:
2013 Stage 12

There have been numerous 200+km stages with only 1x Cat 4 climb:
2018 Stage 7
2017 Stage 4
2017 Stage 7
2017 Stage 11
2016 Stage 3
2016 Stage 4
2015 Stage 4 ** I think this is the one you were referring to, but even this stage has 120m altitude difference between highest & lowest points
2014 Stage 19
2013 Stage 1
2012 Stage 2
2012 Stage 6

I think it was the 2012 stage 6.

 

[Vader]

I think it was the 2012 stage 6.

Could be... but even that had a "pimple" which peaked at 393m, which was 323m above the stage's starting altitude.

The highest point on tonight's stage is only 74m, atop a huge 25m climb at an average gradient of 0.4%.

 

[drd23]

TdF Stage 10 last year was flatter than this stage will be (looks like it didn't even make it to 20m above sea level ) , but was only 168km

 

[eth-dog]

Could be... but even that had a "pimple" which peaked at 393m, which was 323m above the stage's starting altitude.

The highest point on tonight's stage is only 74m, atop a huge 25m climb at an average gradient of 0.4%.

I just remember it being long and boring.

 

[Vader]

TdF Stage 10 last year was flatter than this stage will be (looks like it didn't even make it to 20m above sea level ) , but was only 168km

That one got filtered out when I restricted my search to stages 200+km in length. Truly it was a flat, flat stage.

 

[Over The Post]

Latest weather for race start and intermediate schedule:
Modena cloudy slight crosswind
Bologna cloudy with showers slight crosswind
Imola cloudy fresh tailwind from the right side
Cesena cloudy with clear breaks, strong tailwind
San Marino broken cloud, strong crosswind

 

[eth-dog]

Latest weather for race start and intermediate schedule:
Modena cloudy slight crosswind
Bologna cloudy with showers slight crosswind
Imola cloudy fresh tailwind from the right side
Cesena cloudy with clear breaks, strong tailwind
San Marino broken cloud, strong crosswind

Strong crosswind? Please let that be earlier, might make it entertaining.

 

[eth-dog]

At least we have Bridey back. She and Keenan work well together.

 

[Over The Post]

I've just got back from doing other stuff. They are almost 20 minutes behind the projected latest time on the itinerary, and the breakaway has already been pulled in - is it as boring as it looks?

Edit: it should speed up a bit in half an hour or so, they'll have a 25-30km/h tail wind which will turn to a similar crosswind when they get near San Marino. No rain at all on the radar.

 

[Vader]

At least we have Bridey back. She and Keenan work well together.

I'll take Bridie over Dave any day of the week. Dave has verbal diarrhoea, yet he never actually has anything to say.

 

[Over The Post]

Currently 25-30km/h crosswind for the last 25km. They're making the most of the tailwind now, Bridie's estimate of 45 minutes for the last 40km may be optimistic.

 

[Over The Post]

Wind much less of a factor than I thought it would be, they've basically been riding through a long town for the last 30km.

 

[Over The Post]

s**t thats a nasty crash, looks like they went straight into the guy flagging the centre island

 

[Over The Post]

Just saw the replay, exactly that. Horrid luck.

 

[Over The Post]

Ewan wins, great sprint