Giro d'Italia 2016

[Ichabod Noodle]

You can't half tell Chaves learnt to speak English in an Australian team. Loved his post race interview - "Yeah, I saw him crash - sorry mate"

Just the way he said "maaaate" - very Aussie for a Columbian

 

[grouse mate]

In the post race interviews Uran has said he will try and get in the break tommorow and if he can he will help Chaves bring the jersey back to Columbia. Also said some nonsense about bananas which im sure durianrider has retweeted a million times all over the net.

 

[chargers 09]

I think all this about Nibali having a virus or whatever the test was for is a red herring. Like Contador a few years ago.


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[chargers 09]

Great Tour nonetheless- helps when you don't have Team Sky at the front riding tempo for 3 weeks.


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[chargers 09]

Sorry for the 3rd post but this is great for OGE and in effect Australian cycling, did I hear correctly that there might be a second pro tour team coming from Australia?


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[Hellgood]

That was an awesome stage. Chaves is great fun to watch, very easy to enjoy seeing him do so well.

 

[grouse mate]

Sorry for the 3rd post but this is great for OGE and in effect Australian cycling, did I hear correctly that there might be a second pro tour team coming from Australia?

Drapac have always held a long term ambition to be a pro team but considering OGE cant even find a second jersey sponsor from Aussie companies it seems a long way off.

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

Drapac have always held a long term ambition to be a pro team but considering OGE cant even find a second jersey sponsor from Aussie companies it seems a long way off.

Isn't Drapac aiming for pro-continental status?

Though with IAM pulling out, there would be a spot on the pro-tour open.

 

[Vader]

Well that was an epic stage - just the remedy, after the borefest which preceded it on Thursday night.

The race exploded on the first climb, when OGE put 2 riders on the front and destroyed the peleton. Nibali, Chaves and Kruijswijk attacked and had a gap on the other GC contenders by the time they got to the top. Valverde and Majka went over the top about a minute behind them.

Then the race really got interesting, with Kruijswijk and Zakarin both going down early on the descent. For Zakarin, it was game over, as his fall resulted in a broken collarbone. His situation didn't look good initially, with him lying motionless several metres off the road, on the inside of a bend. Thankfully, the feedback we got was that he was OK. The consequences for Kruijswijk weren't quite a severe, but they were enough to turn the race on its head. Speaking of heads, that's exactly where Kruijswijk landed - he overcooked a corner, went over the front of his handlebars, slammed into an ice wall, slid along it for a couple of metres, before landing on his head. He appeared to suffer some scrapes and bruises, but was fortunate not to be injured more severely.

Nibali and Chaves continued their attack without him. The code says that you don't take advantage of a rider who has suffered a mechanical failure.. but Kruijswijk's failure was one of skill, not equipment. To win the Giro, you have to be able to TT, ride up mountains quickly, and descend those mountains quickly. Kruijswijk has excelled at the first 2 skills.. but he failed at the 3rd.

Both Nibali and Chaves had teammates up the road, in the breakaway. Ruben Plaza did a great job of driving the group down the valley, then Michele Scarponi did the same on the lower slopes of the final climb to Rissoul.

Behind them, the Valverde group closed to within 13 seconds at the 35km to go banner - I counted the seconds, to see how accurate the GPS time gaps were. Something must have happened back there though, unseen by the TV cameras, because the gap rapidly blew out to 1 minute by the time they hit the start of the climb just 11km later. That shouldn't happen on a fast downhill section of the course.

Kruijswijk spent half the descent riding solo, before finding an ally in Bob Jungels - who was prepared to work, to defend his own white jersey. Even Jungels left him at the bottom of the final climb, leaving him to ride a solo TT all the way to the summit.

Nibali and Chaves had company on the lower slopes of the climb, in the form of Mikel Nieve and Diego Ulissi, both well out of it on GC, but hoping for the stage win. Nibali attacked with 5km to go, and Chaves had nothing left to give. The renewed Nibali, who had failed so badly in all of the previous mountain stages, soloed to the line, finishing 53 seconds ahead of Chaves. Chaves was really struggling, and was caught and passed by Nieve, who would finish 2nd, 2 seconds ahead of him.

Valverde and Majka rode the climb together, with Uran bringing up the rear of the group. They finished 2:14 down on Nibali, and 1:21 behind Chaves. In the process, Valverde lost his position on the podium. He may yet get it back...

Kruijswijk struggled all the way up the hill. He managed to maintain the gap at 3 minutes for a while, before losing another 2 minutes on the upper slopes of the climb. He crossed the line at 4:54, losing pink in the process.

The GC competition is thus:
1. Chaves
2. Nibali - 44 seconds
3. Kruijswijk - 1:05
4. Valverde - 1:48

Kruijswijk was taken to the hospital in Briancon after finishing the stage, where x-rays revealed a broken rib. It is uncertain as to whether he will start tonight's stage, and even if he does, it's by no means certain that he'll be able to hold off Valverde in the fight for 3rd.

Chaves takes hold of the maglia rosa, with just 2 stages to go. However, Nibali smashed him on the final climb last night and the gap between them is only 44 seconds. Tonight's stage contains 3x Cat 1 climbs, all of which peak above 2000m. The finish, however, is on top of a short 2.3km Cat 3 climb. If he can hold on to Nibali over the Cat 1 climbs, then he should be able to win.

With 4 riders separated by less than 2 minutes, there's still plenty of scope for fireworks tonight.

 

[Vader]

Isn't Drapac aiming for pro-continental status?

Though with IAM pulling out, there would be a spot on the pro-tour open.

Fairly sure Drapac already have pro-continental status.

IAM may not be the only team to pull out. Oleg Tinkoff, the owner of the Tinkoff team's license, has indicated that he's pulling the plug as well. I'm not sure what's happening to the team itself - they will need to find a new owner and sponsor if it's going to continue.

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

Fairly sure Drapac already have pro-continental status.

IAM may not be the only team to pull out. Oleg Tinkoff, the owner of the Tinkoff team's license, has indicated that he's pulling the plug as well. I'm not sure what's happening to the team itself - they will need to find a new owner and sponsor if it's going to continue.

I thought Drapac was, like, Australiasian pro-continental, with a license to ride here, in Asia and the occasional invites from the US - but wanted to move into Europe alongside the likes of Cofidis or Bardiani or Caja Rural (if any of those still exist)

 

[grouse mate]

Isn't Drapac aiming for pro-continental status?

Though with IAM pulling out, there would be a spot on the pro-tour open.

They've been pro-conti for the last 2 and a half years and the owner held a long term view of being fully pro but he has some weird ideas about the riders on the squad all going to uni or doing apprenticeship courses whilst they are racing for him. Johnathon Cantwell is currently suing them for being sacked from the team mid contract.

 

[grouse mate]

Bahrain project may get up for next year, Nibali is rumoured to be well involved. Reckon 1 more team my drop out or merge with somebody else. The Degenkolb rumours must be pretty strong because every news site is running with it and I have also read Dumoilin may be leaving, if these are both true Giant would be decimated.

 

[grouse mate]

Just watched the stage in full, Kruswijk almost looked like he thought he would bounce off the snow or something. Never knew Chaves could descend so well, just sticks on wheels the whole way. Plaza was superb in the valley, hope he has one more match left.

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

They've been pro-conti for the last 2 and a half years and the owner held a long term view of being fully pro but he has some weird ideas about the riders on the squad all going to uni or doing apprenticeship courses whilst they are racing for him. Johnathon Cantwell is currently suing them for being sacked from the team mid contract.

Fair enough. I was just looking at the list of pro-continental teams on the UCI page and they all have their flag of where the team is from they also have a "continent" listed as well - most have EUR next to their name, a few have AME (United Health for eg.) while Drapac has OCE as their "continent" - thought that must have meant some kind of extra demarcation.

 

[Vader]

Bahrain project may get up for next year, Nibali is rumoured to be well involved. Reckon 1 more team my drop out or merge with somebody else. The Degenkolb rumours must be pretty strong because every news site is running with it and I have also read Dumoilin may be leaving, if these are both true Giant would be decimated.

I've heard about the Bahrain Project a bit in the last couple of weeks. Thought they were looking at taking over one of the existing teams though, not creating their own Pro-Tour team from scratch?

 

[Vader]

I thought Drapac was, like, Australiasian pro-continental, with a license to ride here, in Asia and the occasional invites from the US - but wanted to move into Europe alongside the likes of Cofidis or Bardiani or Caja Rural (if any of those still exist)

All 3 teams still exist, and all 3 have been given wild card entry into their home Grand Tour.

Bardiani won a stage on this year's Giro, when Ciccone won stage 10. Cofidis will be riding the Tour de France, and Caja Rural will be riding the Vuelta.

 

[BEaston]

So Kruijswijk is going to have to crack pretty badly to lose this now.

Or crash.

The cynic in me says it's because he doesn't get along well with Vinokourov (the Team Director), and thus isn't given access to the A-grade pharmaceutical assistance.

So old mate Vino hooked him up before last night?

 

[Vader]

So old mate Vino hooked him up before last night?

Got a better explanation for his sudden and dramatic reversal of form?

 

[BEaston]

Got a better explanation for his sudden and dramatic reversal of form?

I wasn't pulling the piss mate. Was just joking around/agreeing with you. Your explanation is the most obvious.

 

[grouse mate]

I've heard about the Bahrain Project a bit in the last couple of weeks. Thought they were looking at taking over one of the existing teams though, not creating their own Pro-Tour team from scratch?

Not sure, there is also Riis and the Saxo bank owner but they arent giving much away about what they are doing yet.

 

[Slax]

So much for OGE going for some stage win and a top 10 finish Chaves.

 

[Vader]

Not sure, there is also Riis and the Saxo bank owner but they arent giving much away about what they are doing yet.

From memory it was Lampre they were talking about. I could be very wrong though.

 

[Mister B]

Racing just gone live on SBS2, will be switching to SBS at the scheduled time. Good to see SBS recognising the possible importance of this.

 

[grouse mate]

Just switched on. So Orica have nobody up the road?