Giro d'Italia Stage 10 – May 14th, Cordenons - Montasio 167km, **Unmasked Spoilers**

dastardly00

It's the first day of the big mountains!
If this stage is anything like what we've seen in the Giro so far, then it's going to be a cracker! Hopefully it won't be just shadow-boxing, with all the big boys just looking at each other.

The first climb, the Passo Cason di Lanza, is actually two ascents, with a short downhill section after 6km. The final 6km hit gradients of up to 16%. Altopiano del Montasio is 10.9km and has an average gradient of 7.8%. The climb kicks up with parts of 20% near the top, but the final kilometre is almost flat.

I doubt we'll know at the end of the stage who'll win the Giro, but we will know of a few GC guys who won't win. If a team leader has a bad day, he could lose minutes, and will be totally demoralised. If Wiggo has a bad day, it could be one of the final nails in the coffin for his chances. I don't expect the likes of Nibali or Evans to go all out attack. Two of the more 'outside' GC contenders, Mauro Santambrogio and Domenico Pozzovivo, will really fancy the climbs and might launch a few attacks. Also, the Italian national champion Franco Pellizotti is from this area, so he might be one to keep an eye out.








GC after Stage 9:
1. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana 34:19:31
2. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC @29"
3. Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco @1'15"
4. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky @1'16"
5. Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre-Merida @1'24"

Live TV coverage on Eurosport1 from 1.30pm. Highlights on Sky Sports 2 at 7.30pm.
Live ticker will be here.

buffalo

Will Nibali seek to defend his lead or extend it? Will Evans try to nip away? Wouldn't mind watching this one unfold live... unless all the GC lads spend the climb on each other's wheels. boooo!

petethedrummer

My predictions....

buffalo wrote: »

Will Nibali seek to defend his lead or extend it?

A few digs to try and extend, won't drop Evans, they'll finish together. Evans out sprinting him to the line.

buffalo wrote: »

Will Evans try to nip away?

Will hell freeze over?

Hesjadal dropped.
Wiggins to get dropped.
Gesink probably dropped but after Wiggins.
Uran to finish with leaders.

That would be high on the excitement-o-meter.

retalivity

i like sticking a few e/w euro bets on the bumpy stages. For tomorrows race i have pelizotti, cobo, machado.

realistically if all the gc guys are leading on the last, i agree with petethedrummer above. evans to haul them all up similar to what he did in the tour, someone to nip out and take 10-30 secs and the win....santombrogio, betancur, scarponi

bazermc

Why arent Eurosport showing highlights every night at a reasonable time i.e. 8/9pm. I would much prefer Giro highlights than tour of california or norway!!!!!

I usually sky+ the live coverage each afternoon, but dont have 3-4 hours every evenign to watch it - nor would I be allowed control the TV for that long.

pelevin

Just wondering why is there any need for mention of spoilers or use of them in a thread about a particular stage. Can anyone seriously be so stupid & prickly that they can look in a thread about a particular stage after it has occurred and be annoyed about finding out what happened in that stage? I must be missing something which I'm afraid will make me look stupid but I'm not sure what it is.

Chips Lovell

^ It's all in the charter

lennymc

pelevin wrote: »

Can anyone seriously be so stupid & prickly that they can look in a thread about a particular stage after it has occurred and be annoyed about finding out what happened in that stage?

yes.

Inquitus

petethedrummer wrote: »

My predictions....
Hesjadal dropped.
Wiggins to get dropped.
Gesink probably dropped but after Wiggins.
Uran to finish with leaders.

Hesjadal dropped. - Good chance given he was soo poor the other day, hopefully that was an anomoly.
Wiggins to get dropped. - Hard to know if he's got form or not on what he's displayed to date, either he gets dropped today or he's still a potential winner
Gesink probably dropped but after Wiggins. Dropped
Uran to finish with leaders. A dead cert unless he gets put into Wiggo Mountain rescue mode

petethedrummer

Inquitus wrote: »

Hesjadal dropped. - Good chance given he was soo poor the other day, hopefully that was an anomoly.
Wiggins to get dropped. - Hard to know if he's got form or not on what he's displayed to date, either he gets dropped today or he's still a potential winner

Yeah I'd like to see Hesjedal put in a good stage but it looks like he's coming down off a peak of form. Wiggins seems ill. You could only descend that badly if something was wrong with you. I don't think it's a purely mental thing, but mental driven by a weakened physical state.

Lumen

petethedrummer wrote: »

Yeah I'd like to see Hesjedal put in a good stage but it looks like he's coming down off a peak of form. Wiggins seems ill. You could only descend that badly if something was wrong with you. I don't think it's a purely mental thing, but mental driven by a weakened physical state.

It's the lack of sideburns. Wiggo is the modern day Samson. He's broken the Nazirite mod oath, and is therefore doomed to be abandoned by God Brailsford and sent to grind grain ride as a domestique in Gaza Astana.

pelevin

lennymc wrote: »

yes.

Tis a wonderful world we live in.

Lumen

pelevin wrote: »

Tis a wonderful world we live in.

Read the thread title. Read the charter. Now sit down and think about what you've done.

pelevin

Lumen wrote: »

Read the thread title. Read the charter. Now sit down and think about what you've done.

Jaysus, as long as I don't have any rusty razors near me when I do the thnking about what I've done. The shame might be the end of me.

MPFG

Hoping Kiserlovski , Sammy Sanchez turn it up today

And maybe Ryder will attack...one can only hope

IM0

expecting wiggans to set out his stall today, either that or save it for the uphill TT, hard to know

Lumen

IM0 wrote: »

expecting wiggans to set out his stall today, either that or save it for the uphill TT, hard to know

Wigan: a town in Greater Manchester.
Wiggins: professional cyclist from Ghent/Kilburn.
Wigwams: domed dwellings used by certain Native American tribes.

You're welcome.

IM0

Lumen wrote: »

Wigan: a town in Greater Manchester.
Wiggins: professional cyclist from Ghent/Kilburn.
Wigwams: domed dwellings used by certain Native American tribes.

You're welcome.

was lookin at it thinking. "that doesnt look quite right..." after I wrote it. saved me work from twiggin it :cool:

retalivity

so thats ryder gone...

bazermc

Why is Wiggins so bad at going downhill in the wet, he lives in the north of England, where it is hilly and forever raining.

Nibali, on the other hand, lives in Italy the land of sunshine!

Brian?

bazermc wrote: »

Why is Wiggins so bad at going downhill in the wet, he lives in the north of England, where it is hilly and forever raining.

Nibali, on the other hand, lives in Italy the land of sunshine!

Practice I suppose. Wiggins spent a lot of time cycling around in circles indoors, while Nibali was outside being a lunatic.

retalivity

do the eurosport guys know they are back on live????

mistermatthew

retalivity wrote: »

do the eurosport guys know they are back on live????

lol, at least they didnt say anything bad

mirv

Declan just burst into action there. Check out the tweets.

IM0

lol what is it about the name of that team they can never pronounce it!

Morrisseeee

IM0 wrote: »

lol what is it about the name of that team they can never pronounce it!

taxo sinkoff :pac:

retalivity

wiggins hanging back....he struggling?

Morrisseeee

retalivity wrote: »

wiggins hanging back....he struggling?

he's doing a ............... Lance

retalivity

sky attacking shock!

retalivity

bye bye bradley, gesink....

DDC1990

Wiggins looks spent with 3k to go.

retalivity

Wiggins did well to minimise losses to ~40 seconds....you'd have to think though that its only going to get worse for him as they continue through the mountains

DDC1990

Wiggins lost just about 30s to Niballi and Evans.

Uran wins by 35 seconds plus 20 seconds bonus.

Morrisseeee

Nibali's issues were due to a compact chainset, I presume he was trying to get into the big ring near the end.

Dcully

Nibali looking so comfortable throughout today and looks very strong for overall winner.
Uran looking like he has a case for being the main man for sky from here on in.

Brian?

Sky+'d the stage, was planning on watching the last climb when I got home. Eurosport very nicely sent me a notification on my phone with the result. How kind of them.

Bastards, app uninstalled.

Inquitus

Cadel looking in great form, I had written him off after last season. Uran would be in a much stronger position had he not waited for Wiggins the other day. Nibali looks supreme though at the moment.

Dcully

Whats the story with Dan Martin ?
Is the tour de france his priority just like Chris Froome?

funnights74

retalivity wrote: »

Wiggins did well to minimise losses to ~40 seconds....you'd have to think though that its only going to get worse for him as they continue through the mountains

Good training for the tour? Abandon with a week to go and use it as prep for july.

wirelessdude01

funnights74 wrote: »

Good training for the tour? Abandon with a week to go and use it as prep for july.

Can see all out war within the Sky team if that was to be the case. Split right down the middle. Anyway else think if he doesn't agree to super domestique role for Froome that he could be omitted from the TDF squad?

Brian?

Dcully wrote: »

Whats the story with Dan Martin ?
Is the tour de france his priority just like Chris Froome?

The spring classics were his priority I believe. Worked out nicely, more to life than grand tours.

I'd say he'll go for stag victories in le tour

Brian?

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Can see all out war within the Sky team if that was to be the case. Split right down the middle. Anyway else think if he doesn't agree to super domestique role for Froome that he could be omitted from the TDF squad?

Wiggins will do as he's told. The tour doesn't suit him anyway.

retalivity

Brian? wrote: »

Wiggins will do as he's told. The tour doesn't suit him anyway.

i dont know...he's surely not going to have a run at a madcap vuelta, so is his grand tour season over already? Not good for the ego, and regardless of the setup for the tour, i could see him trying to reassert himself as top dog at sky by riding the tour. Now whether brailsford agrees to that, or even lets him go on the pretence that hes a super domestique for froome is another question. Would probably be more of a hindrance than a help to froome...

Also, Hesjedal lost 20+mins today, down the 33rd but still the highest placed garmin rider. Vaughters should stay off twitter for a few days...

TheBlaaMan

Brian? wrote: »

Wiggins will do as he's told. The tour doesn't suit him anyway.

Not a chance.
Wiggins will lead Sky at the TdF if he wants to. There is no way that a British team with a knight of the realm at the head of the team, defending TdF champion, Olympic TT champion is not going to get his way over some upstart from the colonies that thinks he " deserves" a crack at the tour...???

All Brailsford said last week was that "it was still the plan" to go to the Tour with Froome leading the team. That holds off the fighting until Bradders decides what he wants to do. Did you hear Wiggins chip back in after DB said that? No, because he probably wrote the press release himself. Plans are ALWAYS subject to change or amendments......

mikehammer67

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Not a chance. Wiggins will lead Sky at the TdF if he wants to. There is no way that a British team with a knight of the realm at the head of the team, defending TdF champion, Olympic TT champion is not going to get his way over some upstart from the colonies that thinks he " deserves" a crack at the tour...???

All Brailsford said last week was that "it was still the plan" to go to the Tour with Froome leading the team. That holds off the fighting until Bradders decides what he wants to do. Did you hear Wiggins chip back in after DB said that? No, because he probably wrote the press release himself. Plans are ALWAYS subject to change or amendments......

dunno about that
didn't brailsford say he'll pick according to form

Brian?

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

Not a chance. Wiggins will lead Sky at the TdF if he wants to. There is no way that a British team with a knight of the realm at the head of the team, defending TdF champion, Olympic TT champion is not going to get his way over some upstart from the colonies that thinks he " deserves" a crack at the tour...???

All Brailsford said last week was that "it was still the plan" to go to the Tour with Froome leading the team. That holds off the fighting until Bradders decides what he wants to do. Did you hear Wiggins chip back in after DB said that? No, because he probably wrote the press release himself. Plans are ALWAYS subject to change or amendments......

I didn't say he wouldn't be made team leader. I said he'll do what he's told. He may well be leader, but that wouldn't be a sporting decision. It'll be based on business decision.

Wiggins won't win the tour anyway.

niceonetom

Dr. Bre

the sky commentary is even worse. with about 25k to go they were wondering were wiggins was even tho sky were on the front ha! of course he was in the pack if sky was on the front!

sy

I thought Cadel was just as impressive as Nibali today. Considering he is not a fan of the super steep climbs he managed to counter all of Nibali's moves (eventually) Still think he can do it in the third week. Great stage today. Love the Giro.

bazermc

Dr. Bre wrote: »

the sky commentary is even worse. with about 25k to go they were wondering were wiggins was even tho sky were on the front ha! of course he was in the pack if sky was on the front!

What about the lads on Eurosport? DQ and SK!!!!!

They keep calling him Nibili and not Nibali!

ThisRegard

I like how Sean says Nibbley !