Giro d'Italia 2015 *spoilers*

[tug benson]

Now Aru goes..

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Aru now has Landa with him - which gives him a key advantage over the other two.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Will Contador's groups catch Polanc? The gap is falling very quickly...

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Maybe not, the gaps are stabilizing.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Visconti attacks from the pack! Contador's group need to watch out that peloton doesn't catch up by stealth...

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Polanc wins, Chavanel just holds on for second, the favourites sprinting for third! Aru gets the time bonus... but Contador is now in pink. Another fascinating stage; this really is a great race so far this year.

 

[rich p]

A fag paper between Contador, Porte and Aru in the long run. I wouldn't like to say who'll be strongest in the big mountains

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Juan Antonio Flecha

Petrocelli

 

[smutchin]

Has Chavanel ever won anything in recent years? He's always good value in a race but usually flatters to deceive

It's always been the way with him, hasn't it? He's long been one of my favourite riders, but it's never been his ability to actually win races that I liked about him. What I do like about him is that he's the very opposite of Thomas Bloody Voeckler - you never get the feeling that Chava is interested in personal glory, he seems to have spent much of his career sitting on the front of the peloton dragging it along on someone else's behalf, and it has always seemed to me that he's in the sport because he loves it.

He's definitely a much stronger rider than his results suggest, but he is clearly past his best now.

 

[beastie]

The danger with this strategy is that they also exhaust their own teams leaving their main contenders effectively on their own for the last week.

It looks like Astana are the strongest by far. Sky with only Kiri anywhere near Porte. Contador thinking attack is the best form of defence. It is sound tactics for Contador and Porte to attack if their teams are outgunned by Astana, Mano v Mano is preferable to 5 Astanas v Porte or Contador.
Also Contador and (more urgently) Aru need time in hand over Porte for the ITT. Hopefully it will be attack, attack, attack for the whole 3 weeks

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Uran didn't end up losing as much time as I had thought he would today - less than 30 seconds. We know he isn't one for the sharp, steep climbs, rather the longer, slower, steadier ones. But the problem for him is that Porte, Contador and Aru can all do both...

 

[HF2300]

Be interesting to see whether Porte has one (or more) of his traditional bad days later in the race, or whether his 'lifestyle changes' have put an end to that. If he does, it might negate any advantage he builds from the TT.

 

[raindog]

Be interesting to see whether Porte has one (or more) of his traditional bad days later in the race, or whether his 'lifestyle changes' have put an end to that. If he does, it might negate any advantage he builds from the TT.

I've read that twice, and still can't understand it.
Then again, I've had a couple of glasses.

 

[raindog]

He's definitely a much stronger rider than his results suggest, but he is clearly past his best now.

Yes, he's in decline now.
A big strong bloke - he can sprint (but not really) he can climb (but not really) he can TT - yes, he can TT.
Nice guy and a good all rounder, but that's it really.

 

[HF2300]

I've read that twice, and still can't understand it.
Then again, I've had a couple of glasses.

I don't understand what you don't understand, so that makes two of us!