It’s the first (and often best) GT of the season!
Stage 6 : Potenza – Naples, 227 km (Thursday 15, dep. 11:30-11:50, arr. 17:00-17:30)
Long stage for sprinters.
Stage with light difficulties, 50 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule applies for falls/incidents in the finish.
Only splits larger or equal to 3 seconds are counted.
Delays: 9% if ≤ 37 km/h; 10% if ≤ 41 km/h; 11% otherwise).
The stage with a few white paths.
Good fight in the beginning of the stage, thanks to the start within a climb and then to Ineos who wanted to add extra team riders to the one in the breakaway which had separated after 5 km. Breakaway, chase and peloton regrouped at the same time, after 30 km perhaps. Right away, 2 guys left again, for what would turn out to be the main breakaway of the day, as, strangely, no one attacked again despite the strong fights that took place previously.
However, there was another phase, where Fortunato🇮🇹 left alone the sleepy peloton, close alone a gap of several minutes (I think) to catch up the breakaway, grabbed the maximum points on top of the 2nd category climb, and then didn’t continue with breakaway but return in the peloton 4 or 5 minutes behind! Peloton in which he was later caught in the mass holiday-on-ice style crash which caused race neutralisation and the cancellation of the arrival points and time gaps.
Pedersen didn’t take part in a sprint that he wasn’t likely to win, since there were no points to grab.
Kooij🇳🇱 got stuck behind a Q36.5 rider and couldn’t sprint. The Q36.5 rider was relegated, despite the impression I got when I watched the replay, where it looked to me more like Kooij making the wrong choice of trying to pass between the Q36.5 rider and the fence where there was actually no room to pass, while everyone else, including other riders that were in the same original position, chose the open side to go around the slower Q36.5.
Fretin🇧🇪 came second to Groves🇦🇺. If I understood correctly, UCI points were still attributed, so that’s good for Cofidis.
Stage 9 : Gubbio – Sienne, 181 km (Sunday 18, dep. 13:00-13:06, ETA 17:00-17:30)
The stage with a few white paths.
Stage with medium difficulties, 25 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule doesn’t apply.
Delays : 11% if ≤ 35 km/h; 12% if ≤ 39 km/h; 13% otherwise.
Standings after stage 8:
General classification:
- Ulissi (🇮🇹 Astana)
- Fortunato (🇮🇹 Astana) at 12 seconds
- Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora) at 17 s
- Ayuso (🇪🇸 UAE) at 20 s
- Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) at 26 s
- Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrain) at 44 s
- & followings: Poole (🇬🇧 Picnic), Storer (🇦🇺 Tudor), McNulty (🇺🇸 UAE), S. Yates (🇬🇧 Visma), Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF)
First Frenchman is Gaudu (🇫🇷 FDJ) 23rd at 2 minutes…
Mountain classification:
- Fortunato (🇮🇹 Astana) 98 pts
- Ayuso (🇪🇸 UAE) 50
- Double (🇬🇧 Jayco) 36
- Tarozzi (🇮🇹 Bardiani) 32
Bardet (🇫🇷 Picnic), who scored 18 points by making second at the top of the stage 1st category climb, declared that today he was pretending to battle for mountain points. Sigh…
Points classification:
- Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) 153 pts
- Tonelli (🇮🇹 Polti) 59
- Kooij (🇳🇱 Visma) 55
Intermediary sprints:
- Tonellii (🇮🇹 Polti) 59 pts
- Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) 31
- Tarozzi (🇮🇹 Bardiani) 26
Breakaways:
- Tonellii (🇮🇹 Polti) 368 km
- Tarozzi (🇮🇹 Bardiani) 278
- Van der Hoorn (🇳🇱 Intermarché) 188
Redbull KM:
- Tarozzi (🇮🇹 Bardiani) 30 pts
- Tonellii (🇮🇹 Polti) 19
Teams:
- UAE
- Astana at 2’56’’
- Lidl, Movistar & Visma at around 8 mn
After 5 km, Q36.5, Astana and Barhain are already blocking the peloton’s front, after 4+2 riders broke away.
The 2 sprinters in the breakaway, Groves (🇦🇺 Alpecin) and Fretin (🇧🇪 Cofidis), do not even attempt to take the intermediate sprints points. Sigh…
It became a good race when the gravel section started and Pedersen started to pull. And kept on pulling for miles, while the bunch was breaking into pieces behind.
It was funny moment when he started weakening, and Ineos and UAE riders were trying to get to the front to take their turn pulling to re-increase the speed. He didn’t want to leave them his place, and insisted until he blew up…
Then falls and punctured formed the pattern of the various groups. Is it too random? Well, it is also the riders’ and the teams’ choice to pick fast but weak tyres, because they are afraid to lose 20 seconds should someone else attack on the paved section, and commonly lose 1 to 2 minutes on each puncture, as on this type of race, team (or even neutral) cars cannot be behind each of the 5, 10, 15 groups.
There were somewhat weird tactics from several teams, including Lidl-Trek (special award to Vacek in that respect 🤨).
Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma) and Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) are the main beneficiaries of the stage, respectively stage winner and new pink jersey wearer. Van Aert and Bernal (🇨🇴 Ineos) are two riders who resurrected today, even though the latter was a bit short in the end.
Many splits + the final climb in Siena city, means that most riders crossed the line solo or in really tiny groups.
Gaudu (🇫🇷 FDJ) is out of GC for good this time: among other things, he was afraid of the descents on gravel sections. Poole (🇬🇧 Picnic) lost a lot of time too. Hard times for Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora) and Storer (🇦🇺 Tudor) who fell.
On the other side, Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) and Ciccone (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek) are back in the GC game. 4 UAE are in the top-10 of GC…
- First Italian in GC is now Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrein), 3rd;
- first Spaniard is Ayuso (🇪🇸 UAE), 2nd behind his teammate;
- first Frenchman is now Prodhomme (🇫🇷 Decathlon), 24th at nearly 6 minutes…
- first Belgian is… oh dear, the first Belgian is 44 minutes behind…
Most beautiful race. My favourite GT!
This is Derek Gee’s year!!
The past couple of years have been disappointing, but I am happy Pogacar is not there this year so we might get some excitement :)
Also looking forward to seeing Mads Pedersen and the EF Danes and what they can do!
I’m hoping this might be Yates’ time to shine. We’ll see…
I think yates supposed to be working for ayuso
I am happy Pogacar is not there this year so we might get some excitement :)
Well, if it is going to be one of these tours where Roglitch sets the pace, there won’t be much excitement for the GC, just a looong wait overall, and each mountain stage resulting in a small sprint in the last few 100 metres. (I don’t dislike the guy, but as long as he is in control of the situation, he will calculate everything to minimise his effort.)
As far as I am concerned, I do not mind much, as long as the stages are disputed: I liked the 2023 edition much, with Healy and Gee on fire, mixed with the usual Italians and some (odd at times) fighting for secondary classifications. But that’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
I think Ayuso can put up a fight, much as I dislike UAE dominance. But will he have the stamina to hang on in the third week?
Ayuso indeed seems to often have bad days after a while, and to be unable to conceal them.
On the other hand, the Bora team has been pretty crappy lately. On the other hand of the other hand, it wasn’t the part of the team which rides with Roglitch: most of these didn’t ride anything since Catalonia in March!
There’s also the fact that Ayusos team doesn’t really like him, and probably won’t work too hard for him…
Yeah, I concur that we often get this feeling, and we heard rumours. I don’t know how grounded they are.
Do you know if Vine, who has been involved in the major crash of the last descent, is injured? That might simplify a bit the hierarchy within UAE 😃
edit: well, it appears that Vine came behind by 4 minutes… so, injured or not, he is pretty much out of the GC game already.
Stage 8 : Giulianova – Castelraimondo, 197 km (Saturday 17, dep. 12:15-12:25, arr. 17:00-17:30)
A stage for the breakaway, normally. Or a Pedersen-stage? Or a Pedersen-in-a-breakway-stage?
Stage with medium difficulties, 25 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule applies for falls/incidents in the finish.
Delays : 11% if ≤ 35 km/h; 12% if ≤ 39 km/h; 13% otherwise.
Supposing the following base scenario: Pedersen, not suffering much from his fall 2 days earlier, is in a breakaway. Well, who would be crazy enough to ride with him until the end? Nobody I guess, unless they know that they will drop him in the main climb, mid-stage.
Fantasy scenario: Pedersen gets in the breakaway but he’s mainly interested by intermediate sprints, to secure his Cyclamen jersey. That could be good for everyone in the breakaway: he will pull the breakaway until the bottom of the main climb (where the 2nd intermediate sprint stands) providing it with a comfortable gap, then he will drop and recover as he rides slowly uphill, while others don’t need to put in any extra effort to drop him in the climb. Everyone benefits, everyone is happy in the breakaway.
That was it. Almost.
Pedersen and 2 other guys rode 45 km like maniacs, until the first intermediate sprint, with a gap oscillating between 10 and 25 seconds, depending on the never-ending counter-attacks.
Still no definitive breakaway. Nobody managed to leave in the first climb either.
I was outside so I didn’t see it, but the breakaway of the day left in the next flat/hilly transition, including Bardet and Fortunato.
As soon as the main climb started, all French teams (Cofidis, FDJ) riders were all dropped, except Prodhomme for Decathlon 😅
While Rochas from FDJ totally imploded, most Cofidis riders never dropped farther than 25 seconds, and with help of Vendrame could catch up with the first part of the breakaway near the summit.
At the summit (1st cat., 40 pts to the winner!), Bardet launched the sprint relatively early, but was beaten by Fortunato who was the only rider who tried to follow Bardet. Tarozzi (Bardiani) avoided those efforts by simply passing ahead of the group to grab the points for the 3rd place.
Real nice stage with fights from A to almost Z. That’s the kind of stages I was talking about before the tour started, where, despite (almost) zero GC fight, there is some action along almost the whole stage.
It wasn’t one of those breakaways which remain grouped most of the stage. No, there were plenty of attacks and splits.
Impressive Plapp (🇦🇺 Jayco). Hardworking Ulissi (🇮🇹 Astana) and Kelderman (🇳🇱 Visma).
Bardet🇫🇷’s level is embarrassing. In order to win something, he would need to be in a breakaway on a mountain stage, a breakaway with zero climber… (and that no GC rider wishes to win the stage).
Gaudu🇫🇷 didn’t look too bad. Of course the main climb was climbed slowly, but in the last little bump before the finish, which separated the peloton, he remained in the first group of 30 riders.
Stage 5 : Ceglie Messapica – Matera, 151 km (Wednesday 14, dep. 13:35-13:50, ETA 17:00-17:20)
Stage with light difficulties, 50 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule doesn’t apply.
Delays: 9% if ≤ 37 km/h; 10% if ≤ 37 km/h; 11% otherwise.
Warning: the slopes are more difficult than they look on this profile, and the climbs are under-categorised. The 4th category climb is 2.5 km @ more than 9% grade; the following one is half the grade but twice as long; and juste after, in the last 10 km, there are 2 or 3 short climbs which can be punchy. Even the bonus sprint at km 100 is 1.5 km @ 6%.
Healy starting in Montescaglioso, 30 km from the finish line?
Good distance and profile for him and similar guys, and nothing to do on the day after, where a bunch sprint is highly expected.
Healy starting in Montescaglioso,
The Giro has been going on for 6 days now, and only this evening I realise that Healy is not on the race! 🤣 🤣 🤣
I think this is another Pedersen-stage, depending on how it’s ridden of course. We’ll see!
Nobody attempted anything at any point in the race, despite the several well positioned difficulties. Not a single attack. Just a medium team acceleration somewhere like 250 m from the summit of the 4th cat. climb by UAE; Pedersen immediately lost 60 places in the bunch. Each time there is a climb for climbers and someone pushes a tiny bit, he starts dropping (and that’s normal, that’s not his thing). But UAE only did it 250 m from the top (and the others didn’t do it at all), of course he could stay in the bunch and be taken back to the front after recovering.
That’s now 3 stages where the organiser did propose a terrain suitable for attacks and no one does anything. They all just wait to lose to Pedersen in the end. All sort of teams, big and small and medium; all sorts of riders, first-rate punchers, second-rate climbers ; they don’t try to do anything.
Where do they expect to win? Out of 21 stages, we have gone through 5 already. In the 16 remaining one, there is:
- 1 time-trial stage (#10)
- 1 parade/sprint stage (the last one)
- 3 other pure sprint stages (#6, #12, probably #18)
- 2 Pedersen-stages (#13 perhaps, and especially #14)
- 4 stages with finishes on summits (#7, #16, #19 (sort of), #20)
That leaves 5 stages, and all are not suitable for all types of riders, so for a given type of rider, the choice is more reduced (admittedly, a few of the mountain stages may get back in the list for some of those riders). So let’s say that depending on the type of rider, they have between 3 and 7 stages left. They wasted 3 already, so up to 50% of their chances.
We knew that it was likely that there would not be any fight for GC until late in the Tour, given the way this Giro is designed, and the type of GC riders engaged (personified in Roglitch). But we could imagine it would be replaced by a fight for stages, furthermore made easy because GC riders would not mess with it.
In the breakaway, the Arkéa rider took all the points and money from the 3 sprints, and then abandoned the other 2 who expected his collaboration in exchange… 😐
Yes, unless you’re a Pedersen fan it’s been a pretty boring giro so far. I am a Pedersen fan, of course, but I still recognized that. I guess Vacek is too strong for anyone to attack and get away?
Yes, unless you’re a Pedersen fan it’s been a pretty boring giro so far. I am a Pedersen fan, of course, but I still recognized that.
I haven’t always had favourite riders, but in the last few years I have two, and they are Pedersen for lads and Kopecky for gals. I don’t mind him winning, I do mind that others do not put up any fight, do not try to derail even just a little bit the course of Trek strategy, do not use what the organiser provided.
Ah, there is one thing at which I take offense, which makes me wish he loses time. He really looks like a little pig with this pink tracksuit and his chubby cheeks. 🤣 If he doesn’t want to lose time, please tell him to keep the jersey, but put on a different bib! 🐷 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐷 🐖
I guess Vacek is too strong for anyone to attack and get away?
No one even tried, so we cannot tell. But it is always better to go away in a small group (because there would have been splits if they tried), even carrying Vacek (or Ciccone) as a dead weight, than do nothing and arrive with Pedersen on perfect last miles for him (icing on the cake, after having dropped basically all other sprinters).
I agree that the others should put up a fight, but I guess they’re cooked? If not then they would surely try?
I like Pedersen, not only because he is Danish like me, but because he is such a fun character with his determination and hard man attitude, without being a macho man.
And he is very down to earth, a few years ago I was at a small critérium in Hammel and he was there. Bossed everyone (criteria in Denmark are actual competitions), then afterwards we saw him on the parking lot loading his bike into the back of his dad’s Skoda Octavia. I love that cycling is not more complicated than that, you know?
I agree that the others should put up a fight, but I guess they’re cooked?
In my mind, it is impossible that they are cooked. If we take today:
- yesterday was a completely flat stage, with no fight; the day before was rest (oh, BTW, in this edition the max series of racing days is 6, not 10 days, as, because of the start abroad, there is an extra resting day);
- peloton stopped riding at km 1, not a single counter-attack in the beginning of the race;
- there were only 3 ‘small’ riders in the breakaway, which no one (including themselves) trusted to reach the finish, so no active pursuit;
- wind was in riders back, if I heard correctly;
- the stage is short, only 150 km;
- the stage average speed is 43.6 km/h; to give a comparison point, Amstel Gold Race was ran at a slightly higher average speed, despite being 100 km longer and having twice the elevation gain!
- the peloton is complete (or almost) when it reaches the first real climb, no one has made any effort since the start, and you probably still have 80 or more riders after it; so only sprinters and small or weakened riders have been dropped in the steep climb;
- when there is a small acceleration, then it stops and everyone can regroup because they weren’t really dropped; in the end, there are still 60 riders in the same time; as they cannot have the same level of power/form it means that many of them could have done more;
- it wasn’t at all like on the first day, when Lidl-Trek applied a strong and increasing pace all along the last climb (and kept on pushing on the downhill and then the flat) that put everyone behind in a single line, and thus ended up causing splits; it was rather compact most of the time today, except a little while when UAE pulled.
It absolutely can be as you say, especially if no strong puncher goes full steam ahead in the ‘main’ climb.
So far, a breakaway of 3 men who started at km 0. No reaction from any other rider in the peloton.
It was quite funny because they were 3 when they left, but the last one (a Movistar) slew down after only a couple hundreds yards, intending to get back into the bunch; yet he changed his mind (or the DS did), and then was struggling alone like a moron to catch up with the 2 Italians ahead (1 Polit, 1 Arkéa), until these 2 riders waited for him as the peloton was very slow.
Another Movistar tactical masterclass :D
One commenter’s theory was that he had the mission to jump in breakaways, but only take part in the ‘real ones’, those with enough riders to stand a chance of victory. So he half-dropped when he saw that there were only 2 small riders with him and no one seemed to join. I would add that he remained a bit ahead of the peloton, as if he wanted to incite other riders to get out of it and join him and then join the 2 other riders. Then we might guess that as it became clear that there would be no other volunteer and no chase, it was probably decided that he should join back the small breakaway, since this small breakaway would be the ‘right one’ and there wouldn’t have been anything better to do today.
Regulations
UCI points are attributed to the first 15 riders in each stage.
Time bonuses are granted to the first 3 riders in each mass stage (10, 6 and 4 seconds).
There is also 1 ‘Red Bull km’ sprint per mass stage granting 6, 4, and 2 seconds to the first 3 riding across it, and points to the first 5 riders (15, 8, 5, 3 and 1 points), points which only account for this specific classification. The winner of the Red Bull km sprint will wear a blue number on the next day.
Besides, there are 2 regular intermediate sprints per mass stage, granting points to the first 5 riders (12, 8, 5, 3, 1). Those account for points classification and for intermediate sprints classification.
Points classification
‘Cyclamen’ jersey.
Classification is made on the total of points won at the stage finishes and at intermediate sprints (regular only, not Red Bull km sprint)
Stages without difficulties or with light difficulties grant points to the first 15 riders: 50, 35, 25, 18, 14, 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
Stages with medium difficulties grant points to the first 10 riders: 25, 18, 12, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
Stages with high difficulties also grant points to the first 10 riders: 15, 12, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.
Ties are discriminated according to the number of stage victories, then the number of intermediate sprints victories, and finally the GC ranking.
Intermediate sprints classification
Same principle but only takes into account the regular intermediate sprints points (2 sprints per stage, points for the first 5 riders: 12, 8, 5, 3, 1).
No jersey, no special number either as far as I could tell.
Mountain classification
Blue jersey.
The ‘cima Coppi’, which is this year the Finestre Pass (20th stage) grants to the first 9 riders: 50, 30, 20, 14, 10, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points.
1st category climbs as stage finish grant to the first 8 riders: 50, 24, 16, 9, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points.
1st category climbs in the middle of a stage grant to the first 8 riders: 40, 18, 12, 9, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points.
2nd category climbs grant to the first 6 riders: 18, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points.
3rd category climbs grant to the first 4 riders: 9, 4, 2 and 1 points.
4th category climbs grant to the first 4 riders: 3, 2 and 1 points.
Ties are discriminated by the potential lead across the ‘cima Coppi’, then by the number of leads across the 1st category climbs, then across 2nd cat. climbs, then across 3rd cat. climbs, then 4th cat. climbs, and finally by the GC.
Breakaway classification
For reach rider, there is a count of how many kilometres he has been in a breakaway, that is alone or in a group of no more than 10 riders (the kilometres are only credited when this situation lasts at least 5 km).
No jersey, no special number either as far as I could tell.
Fighting spirit classification
Each day, one rider is arbitrarily selected. He shall wear a red number on the next day.
At the end of the tout, a prize is awarded to the riders most often selected. NB: nothing seems to be planned about ties.
Team classification
It is the sum of the times of the 3 best riders of a team in each stage.
The first criterium to discriminate ties if the sum of the daily rankings of those 3 daily best riders. Then there are other complicated criteria, but as ties are very unlikely in this classification, I won’t bother :-)
Stage 1: Durrës – Tirana, 160 km (friday 9, dep. 13:10-13:30, ETA 17:00-17:25)
Stage with medium difficulties, 25 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule applies for falls/incidents in the finish.
Delays : 11% if ≤ 35 km/h; 12% if ≤ 39 km/h; 13% otherwise.
Everyone thought that there would be one of those big, long fights to make a breakaway with big punchers/breakawaymen names, but the fight just lasted a couple of miles, and 10 km after real start, a standard group of ‘small’ riders (3 Italians + 1 Cofidis) already has a gap of nearly 2 mn. Let’s see if it starts again later in the stage, in the main climb for example…
Well… I think the peloton assumes that Trek, Visma, and Alpecin have enough in the tank to easily pull everything back together for the final hill, so probably not.
Disappointing stage, given what was proposed by the organiser, and given that tomorrow is the Time Trial, about which only leaders, outsiders and TT specialists should care.
Nobody fought for anything, except the 4 breakaway riders for the mountain points of the first climb which would determine the jersey wearer for tomorrow. Nobody in the bunch wanted it apparently, as the peloton who never let them loose could have easily caught this breakaway before the summit of this 13 km long climb.
Fortunato (🇮🇹 Astana) grabbed the mountain points of the first passage over the circuit climb because he was the only one who cared a little bit (he made no real attack, he just passed in front of the rider was pulling the peloton), nobody else contested it (perhaps a Barhain a bit?). Nobody in the bunch attempted to get the intermediate sprints points despite the fact that they grant big points, or the Red Bull km sprint (same thing: the peloton could almost have come back any time it wanted so).
The result of such non-fight is, as often: 2 GC leaders already gone in the ambulance: Landa (🇪🇸 Soudal-QS) and Bouchard (🇫🇷 Decathlon). 😢
I reckon we should see Fortunato trying to get more mountain points in the following days, it could be a goal for him.
So you’re an optimist, nothing wrong with that :D The stage went pretty much as I expected it to…
This is the first time I am being called so 😉
Anyway, it looked like a common expectation on the (French) web forums I read. I mean, there was nothing to lose for most potential contenders of today’s stage if it was raced as breakaway/puncher race, tomorrow is not their race. And for smaller riders, there were plenty of jerseys/distinctions that could be gotten, more easily than in future stages.
What they got today is a glacial pace all day long, until Trek starting pulling in the last 30-40 km. And Trek couldn’t have pulled so long, and so accurately strongly in the final, if they had to chase for real during the race. By ‘accurately’, I mean that, in the end, Ciccone was pulling as strong as possible while keeping Pedersen and his launcher Vacek in his wheel. Before that, they could employ successively at least 3 other teammates, which could still be there and fresh because of the glacial pace and the lack of chase.
So all other teams/riders were leaving the victory to Trek/Visma, and the side classifications to (5 then) 4 breakaway riders, before a ‘neutral’ day. 2 of those teams ended up with the extra bonus of losing their leader.
Well, that was a very convincing sprint!
Pedersen made his usual ‘mistake’ of starting early, but the 3 (?) guys in his wheel never managed to pass him, as he kept going strong.
I don’t think it’s a mistake, it’s a tactic. He can keep sprinting for longer, but with lower top speed. 350 m is pretty optimal for him.
He lost several sprints to (normally) inferior sprinters on the first small French races of the season, by launching his sprint too early.
He can keep sprinting for longer, but with lower top speed.
That’s perfect… to launch other sprinters 😃 I mean, when he doesn’t vastly overpower other sprinters, that’s what actually happens.
edit: today, he was really very very strong, since he also took more wind before the sprint than any other rider, as while his team was leading – and that lasted a fair number of kilometres –, he was often in 2nd position of the peloton.
Stage 2 : Tirana, 14 km (Saturday 10, dep. 13h55, ETA 17h15)
Time trial. 15 points to the winner.
Delays: 30%.
Standings after stage 1:
Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-trek), Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma), Aular (🇻🇪 Movistar) scored the time bonuses at finish.
A bunch of more than 30 riders in the same time follows, including the vast majority of designed/potential GC leaders.
I didn’t believe that Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-trek) would be that close to keeping his leader jersey!
I think that the slope in the TT course is what was ridden today as the downhill after the ‘Redbull km’ sprint.
Stage 3 : Vlorë, 160 km (Sunday 11, dep. 13:15-13:25, ETA 17:00-17:25)
Stage with medium difficulties, 25 points to the winner.
The ‘3 km’ rule applies for falls/incidents within 5 km from the finish.
Delays : 11% if ≤ 35 km/h; 12% if ≤ 39 km/h; 13% otherwise.
Standings after stage 2:
- Roglitch (🇸🇮 Bora)
- Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) @ 1 second
- Vacek (🇨🇿 Lidl-Trek) @ 5 s
- McNulty (🇺🇸 UAE) @ 12 s
- Ayuso (🇪🇸 UAE) @ 16 s
- Del Toro (🇲🇽 UAE) @ 17 s
It looks as if we had had a Team Time Trial, but we haven’t…
There was a bit of fight for the breakaway today. Nothing huge, but a bit.
A group of 4 (Tarling for Ineos, 1 FDJ, 1 Picnic, 1 Q36.5) detached after, say, 10 km, followed by a group of 2 (1 Polti, 1 Decathlon). Bardiani and Cofidis were not allowed by the peloton to join them. Only when the peloton stopped, the gap grew, and when it had grown enough, the first group could slow down a bit and the second group finally joined them (they probably never ave managed otherwise) to make a group of 6.
I see that Marcellusi was relegated. I think he was the rider who, during the sprint preparation, was ‘shouldered out’ of his good position in the wheels of Pedersen by Strong… If that’s the action which is penalised (it can very well be something else), that’s a bit unfair, because he indeed retaliated to attempt (in vain) to regain or at least share the position, but the first bad move is Strong forcefully pushing the Bardiani rider out of the position he had been occupying for a fair while.
Stage 4 : Alberobello – Lecce, 189 km (Tuesday 13, dep. 12:55-13:05, ETA 17:00-17:25)
Pure sprinters stage.
Stage without difficulties, 50 points to the winner.
The ‘3 km’ rule applies for falls/incidents within 5 km from the finish.
Only splits larger or equal to 3 seconds are counted.
Delays: 7% if ≤ 40 km/h; 8% if ≤ 45 km/h; 10% otherwise.
Probably not a Pedersen stage, he’s lost a little speed to gain climbing legs. I’m thinking Kooij or maybe Bennet, although I still think Pedersen will sprint for points.
So, the positions were more or less set at the last curve.
Only Groves (🇦🇺 Alpecin) managed to truly accelerate in the end; with a longer straight line he may have won (only finished 5th). My Fretin (🇧🇪 Cofidis) wasn’t in a great position (not a terrible one either), but when he tried to overtake the riders in front of him, he clearly lacked power and failed; World Tour may be a bit tough for him (or he had no teammate to help him in the last kilometres and wasted a lot of energy navigating alone).
We had thought of Kooij🇳🇱 (2nd) but not of the other two Dutchmen Van Uden🇳🇱 (1st, Picnic) and Ziijlaard🇳🇱 (3rd, Tudor).
Same opinion for me.
But hey, as nothing was attempted during the first 2 mass start stages which were designed so (the organiser hadn’t planned for such bunches to arrive: the rule was not 3-seconds minimal split), perhaps some loonies will attempt some big thing tomorrow just to keep on annoying me. 🤣
Anyway, I’d pick Kooij first as you did, then I’d venture Fretin. Then in any order Groves, Pedersen, Strong, Bennett.
I know Bennett did a good place on Tirreno–Adriatico (once), yet I still don’t trust him to really perform elsewhere than on small French races.
Do we suppose Van Aert will sprint?
Hmm, I didn’t list Aular who finished 3rd twice, so may keep sprinting, for points at least. But is the cyclamen jersey an achievable goal for a rider who never finished a Grand Tour (it is only the second GT he starts)?
About points, perhaps the bunch will try to play the points of the first intermediate sprint this time, before letting go a sacrificial breakaway of Italian Proteams? It happens before km 40, after a mostly descending false flat profile reaching sea side and sea level for the intermediate sprint, apparently. Anyway, if they want to, it looks very doable.
There are 12 + 12 + 50 points to take tomorrow (Pedersen has 54 so far).
I forgot Magnier among my (ample) list of sprinters.
Blimey… My ample list wasn’t ample enough! 😆
BTW, tomorrow it may be more interesting to follow the Dunkerque classique: https://www.4joursdedunkerque.com/ledition/ (edit: now that I look at the profile again, the climbs are rather small, and more worryingly the last one is 30 km away from the line, so unless there is some very bad weather or strong wind, it will also end as a bunch sprint 😢).
That’s the one-day race.
On the day after, start the 4 days of Dunkerque. For 5 days… (Wednesday to Sunday, therefore in parallel with the Tour of Hungary, in addition to the Giro).
Both are class .Pro races.
BTW, tomorrow it may be more interesting to follow the Dunkerque classique: https://www.4joursdedunkerque.com/ledition/ (edit: now that I look at the profile again, the climbs are rather small, and more worryingly the last one is 30 km away from the line, so unless there is some very bad weather or strong wind, it will also end as a bunch sprint 😢).
That’s the one-day race.
So, nobody wanted to race here either, except Unibet. 3 guys went on top of the last climb, but the Picnic rider never relayed, and the Ineos and the Visma riders were radioed back too after a while. In the end, Visma’s first man is 25th, and Ineos’ first man is 37th (and Picnic’s one is 7th, he might gain one place as he was compressed by Girmay in the last metres, but…). Well done, directors…
Nice crash on a bus lane located in the middle of the road and elevated by just one inch or so compared to regular lanes: invisible after a turn, especially for any rider which wasn’t directly in front…
Breakaway composed of a single rider, a Spanish Polti. Even the Italians refused to join him, even when Fortunato tried to ask someone to go with him.
Moniquet (🇧🇪 Cofidis) and Fortunato (🇮🇹 Astana) fought for the 2 and 1 points of the 4th category climb . Moniquet started from the bottom of the small climb, which Fortunato hadn’t planned; the Italian couldn’t close the gap.
For the first intermediate sprint in the bunch after the solo breakaway, there were 4 contenders: Pedersen, Kooij, Groves and Strong. Tonelli didn’t take part; neither did Aular or Van Aert.
Stage 7 : Castel di Sangro – Tagliacozzo, 168 km (Friday 16, dep. 12:50-12:55, ETA 17:00-17:30)
First arrival on a summit. The stage starts directly with a climb, like Stage 6 just did but harder: every non-GC climber on the Giro will want to join the breakaway…
Stage with high difficulties, 15 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule doesn’t apply.
Delays : 16% if ≤ 30 km/h; 17% if ≤ 34 km/h; 18% otherwise.
The stage starts directly with a climb, like Stage 6 just did but harder: every non-GC climber on the Giro will want to join the breakaway…
No one managed to break away in the first climb!
It only happened on the plateau and the small hills it harboured, after UAE riders gave up being part of the breakaway, as Bora was chasing while they were in it.
Gaudu managed to fall and take Bardet down with him. 🇫🇷 🍷 🇫🇷 🍷 🇫🇷
I don’t know what happened to Roglitch in the last mile: he seemed stuck when the final attack/acceleration occurred, but still finished very well (4th) and looked jolly after dismounting from his bike.
Gaudu managed to fall and take Bardet down with him. 🇫🇷 🍷 🇫🇷 🍷 🇫🇷
Reminder.
This year, Gaudu fell successively:
- on the Tour of Oman (nothing serious) 11 or 12 Feb;
- while training 🐈 (which forced him to cancel the small French mountain races he should have ridden (Var, Alpes-Maritimes 21-23 Feb) and then forbid him to replace them with the following similar small French races (Drôme, Ardèche 1-2 Mar));
- twice on Strade Bianche (abandon) 8 Mar;
- 3 days later, on the 1st stage of Tirreno–Adriatico (abandon and hand surgery); 11 Mar : all those falls happened within 1 month!
- he finally restarted 7 or 8 weeks later on the Tour of Romandie mostly as a tourist, only race without a fall;
- now he’s fallen again on his next race, the Tour of Italy (hand injury for the umpteenth time, stitches (?), consequences unknown so far) 16 May.
I don’t know what happened to Roglitch in the last mile: he seemed stuck when the final attack/acceleration occurred, but still finished very well (4th) and looked jolly after dismounting from his bike.
By the way, I am not sure, but just after the finish, while Ayuso was sitting for a few seconds, I think I heard him asking “¿Soy en rosa?” and the staff answer him “Si, si.”, which was obviously wrong already at that moment.
