Giro d'Italia: Stage 20 (stage specific no spoilers req'd)

ednwireland

Stage Twenty - Saturday 26 May

Caldes-Passo dello Stelvio

218 kilometres, high mountain stage

mortirolo and stelvio enough said

TheBlaaMan

ednwireland wrote: »

Stage Twenty - Saturday 26 May

Caldes-Passo dello Stelvio

218 kilometres, high mountain stage

mortirolo and stelvio enough said

This is going to be brutal. Highest ever finish, I think I heard? Sh1t or bust for Hesjedal, who has performed epically so far. I hope he does well and as long as he doesnt crack, he should win the GC after the TT............if they didn't know already, his domestiques are going to learn the definition of 'work' tomorrow.......

Rovi

5 degrees C and snow on the Stelvio, looks chilly!

Hermy

From eurosport:

83km - Those riders disqualified are Robbie Hunter (Garmin), Ivan Velasco (Euskaltel) and Dominique Rollin (FDJ). Still no confirmation on what they did wrong. Hunter did crash yesterday.

Hermy

73km - On those disqualifications reported on earlier, Guardini was one of the four to be ejected - alongside Rollin, Velasco and Hunter. Apparently it was for "motor-pacing" after the Tonale climb.

.

dastardly00

Very nasty crash for Tiralongo. He lost the front wheel and his face got very intimate with the road.

dastardly00

The Mortirolo looks like hell!

retalivity

jesus the stelvio looks horrible

ednwireland

the amount of snow at the top of the stelvio ! (i assume thats what that sho was)

Inquitus

Wow this is going to be awesome I hope!

funnights74

Epic stuff this, the giro is great for spicing things up with imaginative finishes, survival of the strongest. (Kelly's commentary great as usual).

AG2R

Thomas De Gent is such a machine!

dastardly00

De Gendt is on form today!

AG2R

still adding time to it!

Inquitus

Only De Gendt and Hesjedal deserve to win this Giro, of all the GC contenders.

ednwireland

hope kelly is wrong about de gendt getting reeled in the last 5km

AG2R

ednwireland wrote: »

hope kelly is wrong about de gendt getting reeled in the last 5km

same here, the effort he has put in alone deserves the time gap he's taken today

retalivity

monster effort

AG2R

He's added a minute to this time since going out alone

ednwireland

wow some shot of the road there

dastardly00

The main GC group are really pissing about. I hope De Gendt keeps gaining time overall.

retalivity

de gendt is fcuked!

AG2R

No he's not sssh!!!!!

AG2R

1km to go and he's still got 4+ COME ON THOMAS!


Scarponi on the attack now too!

AG2R

Fantastic result for De Gent,delighted!!

retalivity

the eurosport guy said it correctly, that was a historic ride

dastardly00

Start the clock!!!!

AG2R

3'22" is the gap between De Gent and Rodriguez!
Scarponi must hate Rodriguez

ednwireland

is that cav out of red ?

titan18

Think Kelly can be pretty stupid at times, whilst time was always going to be pulled back, when De Gendt started getting close to 5 minutes and Kelly saying it wouldn't be a problem for the likes of Basso or Scarponi, he was really talking ****. De Gendt would have had to failed spectacularly for it to happen at that time. De Gendt probably takes a podium spot off Scarponi tomorrow now


<snip>

Inquitus

ednwireland wrote: »

is that cav out of red ?

Aye, reckon he'll probably push Guardini off the edge of the Stelvio when he finds out!

ednwireland

Inquitus wrote: »

Aye, reckon he'll probably push Guardini off the edge of the Stelvio when he finds out!

at least the organizers will be able to complete the presentations earlier

manwithaplan

Watched the climb of the Stelvio with my seven year old son. In between the typical seven year old questions (would you beat them, Dad? explain what the pink jersey means again etc), he said "that must feel absolutely brilliant" when he saw De Gendt's agonised face approaching the line. I may have a budding cycling masochist on my hands.

It was superb today. I have a lot of time for Rodriguez - I think he's squeezed every second he could out of the last two stages to stay in pink.

L'Enfer du Nord

From last years Grenoble time trial:
http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/2000/classement/index.html

Hrsjedal had nothing to ride for, but then again neither did De Gendt (other than stage victory, which in itself says something)


1. MARTIN Tony 175 HTC - HIGHROAD 55' 33"
2. EVANS Cadel 141 BMC RACING TEAM 55' 40" + 00' 07"
4. DE GENDT Thomas 203 VACANSOLEIL-DCM 57' 02" + 01' 29"
5. PORTE Richie 5 SAXO BANK SUNGARD 57' 03" + 01' 30"
.....
62. HESJEDAL Ryder 55 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 1h 00' 29" + 04' 56"

titan18

L'Enfer du Nord wrote: »

From last years Grenoble time trial:
http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/2000/classement/index.html

Hrsjedal had nothing to ride for, but then again neither did De Gendt (other than stage victory, which in itself says something)


1. MARTIN Tony 175 HTC - HIGHROAD 55' 33"
2. EVANS Cadel 141 BMC RACING TEAM 55' 40" + 00' 07"
4. DE GENDT Thomas 203 VACANSOLEIL-DCM 57' 02" + 01' 29"
5. PORTE Richie 5 SAXO BANK SUNGARD 57' 03" + 01' 30"
.....
62. HESJEDAL Ryder 55 TEAM GARMIN - CERVELO 1h 00' 29" + 04' 56"

Not really fair, Hesjedal had been competing through that Tour De France and finished in the top 20. De Gendt had an easier race in comparison to him

Inquitus

lol at the BBC reporting

De Gendt displayed impressive strength and stamina on the 219km mountain climb. He finished the stage at an altitude of 2,757m, the highest finish of any of the Tours.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/18222225