Yesterday's Giro Stage

zzzzzzzz

Missed it yesterday and just wondering is it worth my while downloading it?

Anything much happen?

niceonetom

NO!

Twas a farce which I was considering having a rant about here.

If you like a bunch gallop the last 10 mins are worth a look. Nothing else.

Chips Lovell

Just watch the end on YouTube.

Junior

niceonetom wrote: »

NO!

Twas a farce which I was considering having a rant about here.

If you like a bunch gallop the last 10 mins are worth a look. Nothing else.

Go on have the rant, from what I've seen and heard of the circuit, it was plain stupid..

zzzzzzzz

That's a pity - looked like it could have been an interesting stage.

Don't think i've ever seen a crit as a stage in a grand tour.

bcmf

The riders staged a go slow protest about the circuit thru Milan being to dangerous and about safety in general after 1 guy fell down a gorge in a previous stage.The organisers decided before the stage that the time would not count to GC BUT DIDNT TELL THE RIDERS TILL AFTER.Only raced the last 30km.Cav won but it wont count.

zzzzzzzz

Eh... just reading about it on cycling news. What a load of hoop

Caroline_ie

Now imagine LA in Ireland next august ...

- ah now these road are not 'bikeable', i refuse to take.
- I will not cycle with that weather, it's raining
- Who are these people at the start and the finish, why do they talk funny, i though irish people were like leprechaun, I won't cycle that
- who is this man Sean Kelly, what has he done and why are people asking him for autographs and not me, I refuse to take part ...

Junior

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Now imagine LA in Ireland next august ...

- ah now these road are not 'bikeable', i refuse to take.
- I will not cycle with that weather, it's raining
- Who are these people at the start and the finish, why do they talk funny, i though irish people were like leprechaun, I won't cycle that
- who is this man Sean Kelly, what has he done and why are people asking him for autographs and not me, I refuse to take part ...

People seem to be intent on blaming LA for this, check out Mick Rodgers Twitter, or what any of the other riders had said..

Chips Lovell

Some thoughts here, but the long and the short of is that I wouldn't race a crit that featured parallel tram tracks.

bcmf wrote: »

The organisers decided before the stage that the time would not count to GC BUT DIDNT TELL THE RIDERS TILL AFTER.

That doens't sound right to me. News of this decision was already out by the time TV coverage started and if rider's didn't know that times wouldn't count, why would a bunch of the favourites finish well back from those contesting the finished, a bunch that included the like of Lovkvist?

bcmf

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/may/17/giro-italia-mark-cavendish-armstrong

DirkVoodoo

No, the riders knew, I thought that was why there was a split in the peloton? The riders were told times would not count and so were all cleared to take it slow without risking their GC times but the sprinters were totally miffed by this.

Twas mad, like Tonto says there were tram tracks running parallel to the riders, people crossing the road (like that madman in Qatar) and cars parked along the route.

bcmf

Apologies.
from Bike Radar
"Cavendish's win followed hours of controversy which left race director Angelo Zomegnan fuming after the entire peloton stopped in their tracks six laps from the end to make a protest about unsatisfactory safety measures.

Zomegnan agreed, reluctantly, that the times from the stage would not count towards the race's general classification."

scottreynolds

Its all BS. Sean Kelly was talking saying this would never have happened 15 years ago, even 10 years ago, although he conceeded that 5 laps racing would have been better.

There was plenty of chance for feedback prior to the race when the circuit was announced. The route has been raced on before. I was so dissapointed to see the riders doing this.

Yes there were cars in the way but they could have been removed.... the action makes a mockery of the Giro's 100 years. The Cervelo team was suprised by the action according to their daily news email.

Funkyzeit

Firstly - Glad to hear Horrilo looks out of danger and no signs of brain damage...Hope he has a speedy recovery.

The stage yesterday was a total anti-climax following a brilliant stage 8 (crash aside). Rider/spectator saftey is paramount but what confuses me is whether it was a result of the crash, the circuit itself or a combination
Di Luca:

"Maybe what happened yesterday to [Pedro] Horrillo had an influence on our decision.

Also interesting to see him have a pop at some of the teams (I'm guesing Columbia?)

"We wanted Rabobank to cross the line first, but someone didn't respect what we said and started increasing the pace."

IM0

as usual its the uninformed who shout the loudest :rolleyes:

DirkVoodoo

Interesting bit with snipetts from the various italian papers, pundits and members of the peloton on bikeradar:

Here

zzzzzzzz

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Interesting bit with snipetts from the various italian papers, pundits and members of the peloton on bikeradar:

Here

Interesting that Cippo says that the tram tracks were running across the circuit, while LA says they were parallel...

bcmf

Dont think that Il Giornale will be nominating LA for its Sportsperson of the year award.

Il Giornale Editorial
"Dear diary, with utter disgust, I'll sum up what happened yesterday: the mademoiselles of the peloton, incited by an old-age pensioner who goes by the name of Lance Armstrong, decide to race a non-race. The Texan slipper-seller, who's clearly come to Italy for a holiday, has been sowing seeds for days. He fires up younger colleagues, writes provocative messages on his website, sends threatening messages to race organizer Zomegnan. He doesn't like the finishes, he doesn't like the descents, now he doesn't even like the flat parts.

"It's now clear to everyone how the decision to invite him to the Giro has become a terrible boomerang. Initially, he kept the media hype thumping, helping to fill the pink-tinted roads with people, but now he's turning into a pain in the foot.

"Nice work: they already designed a course of a lifetime for him, tailored to his rehabilitation, abolishing all the real mountains so he doesn't have to make any violent efforts, and now they even have to put up with his senile moods."

Funkyzeit

Ha ha - cracking stuff from the race organiser re Lance

"But there's a certain age at which your legs start to get shorter and your tongue longer"

bcmf

Funkyzeit wrote: »

Ha ha - cracking stuff from the race organiser re Lance

"But there's a certain age at which your legs start to get shorter and your tongue longer"

gotta admit if ever there was a qoute of the year that would be it:D

niceonetom

Funkyzeit wrote: »

"But there's a certain age at which your legs start to get shorter and your tongue longer"

Absolutely true. There is no truth to the rumour that it is forked though.

Chips Lovell

niceonetom wrote: »

Absolutely true. There is no truth to the rumour that it is forked though.

Now we know how he has been getting dates will all those Hollywood women.

Junior

el tonto wrote: »

Now we know how he has been getting dates will all those Holywood women.

didn't know he was visiting wicklow

Chips Lovell

Junior wrote: »

didn't know he was visiting wicklow

Fixed

bcmf

Cracking last 10km.
And they were complaing that yesterday was dangerous.If you can watch between 3km and 2km from the finsis.Hairy stuff

Chips Lovell

Message on the Rás page at Irishcycling.com

Good to hear of guys actually prepared to race regardless of the conditions !!

Pat McQuaid
President
Union Cycliste Internationale

Lol