Well the GC landscape has changed significantly, and whilst Contador isn't assured of victory, it would take a brave man to bet against the best stage racer of his generation dropping a lead of more than 2 minutes in the last week of a Grand Tour. This stage is indicative of why this is especially true in this Giro, the mountains days are quite hard, but the final climbs are relatively shallow in gradient, and are unlikely to see huge gaps form.
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With the GC riders within sight of the 3km to go safe zone, a crash near the front of the race blocked off the road, catching Contador, Cataldo and Porte unawares. All lost time on GC, with Contador and Landa scrambling to get new bikes, and managing to lose only 40 secs, whilst Porte looked to be a lot slower and lost another 2 minutes.
Stage 12 was a rain-slicked affair, with a number of riders going down and quitting the Giro. Manuel Belletti, Stefan Kung and Simon Gerrans are all now out of the Giro, Kung in particular looks like he'll be out for a while with a fractured vertebrae. Today should be a good recovery opportunity for the riders, it couldn't be flatter.
An interesting Stage 12 is in prospect, with a mostly flat stage punctuated by some late climbs, and an uphill sprint finish. It's like a slightly easier version of Fleche Wallonne, and there aren't really any standout favourites for this sort of finish, so it will likely be quite a chaotic and exciting finale.
A day of stuff-ups in stage 10 of the Giro, Richie Porte lost 47 seconds with a puncture, then a further 2 minutes when Simon Clarke's assistance in giving Porte a wheel was revealed. The peleton stuffed up by underestimating the breakaway and the tailwind, particularly Trek and Lampre, who I didn't see commit much at all to the front. Niccola Boem certainly didn't stuff up, and once again proved Bardiani's strength compared to their Pro-Continental Italian opposition. Today's stage is really quite tough, and could end up in a number of different outcomes.
The day after a rest day can be a turbulent one, as riders are sometimes out of the rhythm that have built up over the previous nine days of competition. Perhaps with this in mind, the organisers have scheduled a pancake flat day for the sprinters, so no one's GC hopes will be foiled.
A perfect stage for the breakaway, but unfortunately for the opportunists, it falls on the day before the rest day, which may mean that the GC boys will once again want to go toe to toe. There certainly haven't been many days for the GC contenders to rest so far, and this could again turn out to be a day where they really are pushed hard.
A big day for the GC contenders awaits, with two very long clombs in store. So far there has been little to separate Porte, Contador and Aru, but this may all change on the hardest course of the Giro to date.
It's the Milan San-Remo stage, true, it is a bit shorter, but Milan San-Remo riders don't have 6 brutal days of racing beforehand. It will be a very long day in the saddle for the riders and a frantic final section of the race, with a large number of riders likely to consider themselves a chance on the shallow gradients. Alberto Contador will try and nurse himself through with his dislocated shoulder, and how he goes will be the sideshow to the main action of what is set up to be an epic stage.
Stage 5 proved slightly more eventful than expected, with only Mikel Landa managing to follow the favourites, with Rigoberto Uran further distanced, along with all the other GC candidates. The break stayed away as predicted however, unfortunately Axel Domont couldn't finish it off, but Jan Polanc, another young climber, was very impressive to escape his companions and survive to the finish. Stage 6 should be a return to nice predictability, with a sprint finish in the offing.
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AuthorI'm Jamie Finch-Penninger, better known as Fishy, the best DS to ever sit a couch. Anything which I don't cover for a bigger site will be up here. Archives
October 2015
CategoriesCome here for the previews of all the World Tour races this season, plus any Pro Continental/NRS/tricycle races that take my fancy. Along as it's pro cycling I'll have some sort of opinion on it. I'm Australian, so be prepared for a healthy Orica-Greenedge bias. Please feel free to request any changes or previews, and stay up to date on Twitter and Facebook.
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