Giro del Trentino - SPOILERS
- Thread starter rich p
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smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
In last year's TdF, on stage 17 to Peyragudes, for example, Maxime Bouet lost over 16 minutes to the leaders. Not sure who else was in the escape group or what their climbing ability is like, but it's probably safe to assume the main contenders didn't think there was any one worth worrying about among them.
Tomorrow's stage has a Cat 1 lump in the middle, then finishes on another Cat 1 climb, so that should shake up the standings a bit. Wednesday's stage doesn't look lumpy enough to do any major damage to the peloton, but Thursday's final stage finishes on an HC climb which averages under 10% gradient but has sections of 20%...
If you want to get an idea of just how steep it is, here's a video clip of Team Colombia training on that climb:
View: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10200662826120091
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Not well enough to be a threat in the big mountains, surely? I agree that six minutes is a generous advantage to give away to someone of Bouet's ability, but I reckon the likes of Nibali will easily claw that back over tomorrow and Thursday's stages.
No he's not a great climber and I'd expect him to lose handfuls of minutes on a big climb normally but he's capable enough to be a concern and capable of a surprise. You're probably right but I bet normally they wouldn't have given him six minutes except they had half an eye on the TTT later on.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Let's hope so! That could make the race very interesting.
That's the first time in a while the sky choo choo TTTrain has fired properly.
Bouet will have areal reason to dig in now on the climbs, if he can limit his losses he should be leader at least until the last day, and who knows. It might make for some.hard racing by Cannondale, Sky etc. Though I don't know how much the big boys will care about overall GC as long as they beat each other.
Bouet will have areal reason to dig in now on the climbs, if he can limit his losses he should be leader at least until the last day, and who knows. It might make for some.hard racing by Cannondale, Sky etc. Though I don't know how much the big boys will care about overall GC as long as they beat each other.
Strathlubnaig
Guru
- Location
- Alberta
Were race radios, or the lack of them, a factor in the break time gap ?
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
I'd worry more about MTN-Qhubeka's Van Rensburg and Colombia's Rodriguez in the mountains than Bouet if I was DS of any of the major teams. Those two are both strong climbers and I think they all missed a trick letting them go out so far.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Just been perusing the results from yesterday and looking up the palmares of some of the other riders in the breakaway group...
Michael Rodriguez finished nearly 8mins behind Gesink on the stage to Mt Baldy in last year's Tour of California, and was 29th overall in the mountains classification, so the evidence on paper suggests you may be overrating his climbing ability.
Van Rensburg won the Tour of Eritrea last year, and I dare say that's a fairly bumpy race, though the standard of competition won't have been all that high. Will be interesting to see how he gets on today.
Enzo Moyano looks like he can climb a bit - he did OK in the Tour de San Luis last year - but probably not a real threat. Josef Cerny and Pavel Kocketkov also look like competent but not great climbers. Nicola Dal Santo and Xu Gang look like they aren't worth losing any sleep over.
Of course, this is all based on past results rather than current form, and who knows what the circumstances of those results were - I mean, if you only look at his results on paper, Siutsou has had a poor season so far... I don't claim to know what any of these riders are capable of when fired up. But suffice to say I would be surprised if any of the riders in yesterday's breakaway figure prominently in the final reckoning.
Edit: in light of the Siutsou thing, I had a closer look at Rodriguez's results and he was probably riding as a domestique for Duarte at the Tour of California last year, which puts his result on Mt Baldy into some perspective.
Michael Rodriguez finished nearly 8mins behind Gesink on the stage to Mt Baldy in last year's Tour of California, and was 29th overall in the mountains classification, so the evidence on paper suggests you may be overrating his climbing ability.
Van Rensburg won the Tour of Eritrea last year, and I dare say that's a fairly bumpy race, though the standard of competition won't have been all that high. Will be interesting to see how he gets on today.
Enzo Moyano looks like he can climb a bit - he did OK in the Tour de San Luis last year - but probably not a real threat. Josef Cerny and Pavel Kocketkov also look like competent but not great climbers. Nicola Dal Santo and Xu Gang look like they aren't worth losing any sleep over.
Of course, this is all based on past results rather than current form, and who knows what the circumstances of those results were - I mean, if you only look at his results on paper, Siutsou has had a poor season so far... I don't claim to know what any of these riders are capable of when fired up. But suffice to say I would be surprised if any of the riders in yesterday's breakaway figure prominently in the final reckoning.
Edit: in light of the Siutsou thing, I had a closer look at Rodriguez's results and he was probably riding as a domestique for Duarte at the Tour of California last year, which puts his result on Mt Baldy into some perspective.
Yep, I agree. I still think Bouet is the most capable but whether he's capable enough, we'll see today.
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
Yes, indeed, that's exactly what I would have said in reply to your original unedited post. Plus, there's a touch of Pozzovivo about Rodriguez and as he showed, Trentino is a stage race that a pure climber can win. I would certainly agree that neither Van Rensburg or Rodriguez are obvious overall contenders, but I just really hope that the big teams might have a tougher task than they clearly assume...
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Cheers! The internet makes life so much easier - this is where I got all the info on which I based my comments above: http://www.procyclingstats.com
Given that FM is the resident expert on Colombians, I will take his opinion on individual riders such as Rodriguez as being worth more than bare results on paper though.
thom
____
- Location
- The Borough
Sir Bradley of Wigginshire nearly climbed off during the first stage yesterday. Or so he claims:
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
In case you missed it, here's a bit of context to Wiggo's comments in that interview:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/04/news/wiggins-rough-ahead-of-giro-del-trentino_282170
http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/04/news/wiggins-rough-ahead-of-giro-del-trentino_282170
