Giro d'Italia 2013, 4th-26th May - [Spoilers]

[400bhp]

Pirazzi and chalapud - brilliant!

 

[thom]

Every time he goes downhill he gets that Gesinking feeling....

Will someone remind me what race it was earlier this year when BW raced downhill like a demon?

First stage of Volto a Catalunya ? It was dry and he knew the roads, which were wide with sweeping bends, so no hairpins.
He lost time on the climbs in the days that followed.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

First stage of Volto a Catalunya ? It was dry and he knew the roads. And he lost time on the climbs in the days that followed.

That's the one! But compare then and now!

 

[rich p]

That's the one! But compare then and now!

But as Thom pointed out - it was dry!
At the moment he'd come a poor 4th in a downhill race against Andy Schleck, Levi Leipheimer and my granny.

 

[theclaud]

At the moment he'd come a poor 4th in a downhill race against Andy Schleck, Levi Leipheimer and my granny.

He'd probably just about beat @pubrunner, though...

 

[woohoo]

I seem to remember Froome is just as bad at descending. Forget ther marginal gains Brailsford and concentrate on the bl**dy great big ones !

Agreed. The current Wiggins and last year's Froome descending isn't terrific but it's worth remembering that Nibali is a great bike handler and often pulls out some impressive time gaps on the descents

(Wiggins' first fall looked very painful. The Armstrong comment about it (if I'm permitted to use the name ) seemed appropriate.)

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Eddy Merckx has said (in translation from the Flemish in Het Nieuwsblad):

"It is incomprehensible how Wiggins descends... I never saw it before and have never experienced that myself. I do not know why he suddenly descends so bad. He's ridden the past few days like a novice on the downhills. I think there is something wrong with his material, he has no confidence."

 

[Radchenister]

May as well log Armstrong's comments to save people searching for them:

“Heard the press room at the Giro ‘cheered’ when Wiggins crashed. If true that is completely f’d,”

“I’d like to see every 1 of those journos mount up and scream down a slick/steep downhill at upwards of 50mph.”

 

[thom]

Fighting talk from Brailsford :

“Today was interesting to see that when Bradley was coming back on they were riding hard but then they isolated Vincenzo in the end and I think they’ll have to have a look at that because it could leave the opportunities open to attack, which is what we’re going to do.”​

Fingers crossed for some more fireworks tomorrow : ​

​

​

The first stage classified as mountainous, with an interesting uphill finish : 1200 m gained over 22km gives an OK average overall but it looks to average a meaty 8 or 9% consistently for the second half which may suit a SKY train to ride hard in the latter parts.​

Might they alternatively consider forcing Astana to chase one of Henao or Uran Uran ? ​

We shall see something different in the racing for sure, in particular if the descent from Cason di Lanza is dry.​

​

Edit : we might also see an improvement from Wiggins if as Wegelius is reported to have surmised, he's had something of the bug that Cataldo had in his system.

 

[Slaav]

Well here is another 'what if?'

Assuming Wiggins hadn't crashed so heavily and had been able to maintain his 'bottle'; how much stronger would the Sky Team have been and also how much would they have attacked?

Really do not know the answer to that one....

 

[Peter Armstrong]

Now the rivals know his weakness they will all attack on the decent, I think Wiggins Achilles heel is well and truly found.

 

[Radchenister]

Really, what descents are those then?

The next few days it's not looking too bad, if you look over the terrain and weather combinations:

Tuesday - Eastern edge of Dolomites
Stage10: High Mountains - dry weather.
Wednesday - Eastern edge of Dolomites
Stage11: Medium Mountains - dry weather.
Thursday - Bottom Eastern edge of Dolomites
Stage12: Flat (but a few lumps/descents in it) - potentially wet / storms.
Friday - Inland of mountains heading towards French Alps
Stage 13: Flat (with just 1 lump and 2 pimples) - potentially wet / storms.

If the form is there, then it's possibly rein it in time, going to be interesting!?
How reliable the weather forecasting is is anyone's guess - I am of course looking at this in terms of limiting potential damage with the wet descending issue.
Edit: I was using Met Office forecasts, they didn't get past Friday.

 

[Peter Armstrong]

Wiggins has looked vulnerable going downhill since crashing in heavy rain on Friday and his cautious approach on Saturday may have cost him victory in the time trial
But certainly the big factor is the weather: as soon as it rains, he struggles.This wet weather isn't over and it could get worse as we head into the mountains.

I havnt just copied and pasted that honest!

 

[Dave Davenport]

As Wiggins is highly unlikely to be able to attack/drop Nibali on a big climb, I assume Sky will have to try and use the Columbian duo to attack and try to crack him, as he obviously can't afford to let either of them go three or four minutes up the road. I don't really understand how this will benefit Wiggins much though? Plus, is there a danger that they end up dragging Nibali into a tour winning position?

 

[Strathlubnaig]

Well here is another 'what if?'

Assuming Wiggins hadn't crashed so heavily and had been able to maintain his 'bottle'; how much stronger would the Sky Team have been and also how much would they have attacked?

Really do not know the answer to that one....

how about this 'what if' .... Nibbles had not crashed twice how far ahead would he be now ?