Giro d'Italia Stage 11 – May 21st, Collecchio - Savona 249km **Unmasked Spoilers**

dastardly00

Stage 11 – Wednesday May 21st, Collecchio - Savona 249km (***)

Stage 11 has a similar enough finish to stage 10 - a climb near the end, followed by a descent, and some tricky corners in the final few kilometres. Except the climb today is a lot tougher. The Naso di Gatto is a Cat. 2 climb, 5.8km in length with an average gradient of 8%, and a max of 13%. The descent will also have more of an effect on the riders than the one in Stage 10. It's about 15km long, leaving less that 4km of a flat run in to the finish.

We might see an exciting finish to this stage. From what we've seen so far, Cadel likes his BMC team to be at the very front just in case of any crashes etc. So that means that the tempo will be like lightning. Could some of the GC guys get in trouble? Maybe. If someone does get dropped, will the rest bomb it down the descent to try and gain a few seconds? Definitely.

Some people prefer it when stages finish with a climb, rather than a descent like today. But this type of stage can often be very thrilling. There are some great descenders in the peloton, and then there are a few that struggle going downhill. And here's hoping for Nico to go on an attack that lasts longer than 10 seconds :pac:

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Weather - Collecchio: Mostly sunny skies. High around 27C. Winds E at 10 to 15 kph. Savona: Partly cloudy. Highs of 22C. 14 kph winds from ESE.

Stage Betting: Edvald Boasson Hagen 6/1; Michael Matthews 14/1; Adam Hansen 14/1; Mauro Finetto 18/1.

Live TV coverage on Eurosport1 from 1.30pm. Highlights on Sky Sports 3 at 8pm and Eurosport1 at 10.55pm.

Live text ticker here.

Eamonnator

Wednesday, May 21st.

dastardly00

Eamonnator wrote: »

Wednesday, May 21st.

ah balls. I should hire you as my editor.

couerdelion

Mathews has retired overnight. Shame and thought he was over the crash as he rolled in third on stage 10

MPFG

having seen the highlights of stage 10 it is obvious Roche did not run out of steam in his attack...he called it off cos the peloton was splitting with Cadel in the lead group

antogz1979

A breakaway to stay away for sure now to pick a few out of about 100 riders that could be potentially in it. I'm going for Felline, Ratto, Gasparotto and Ytting Bak.

dastardly00

Big shame alright about Bling. But for his overall fitness and health, it's probably the correct decision. The big mountains are looming. He's worked his arse off in the first week, managing to win two stages and getting the maglia rosa, and then he got his arse ripped off in a crash the other day. He'll need to time to heal and recover. Perhaps a spot on the Orica TdF team beckons?

Darkglasses

Finally invested in Eurosport player today. Quality isn't exactly Netflix-good but at least you can be fairly sure it won't suddenly drop off.

buffalo

MPFG wrote: »

having seen the highlights of stage 10 it is obvious Roche did not run out of steam in his attack...he called it off cos the peloton was splitting with Cadel in the lead group

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/i-thought-there-might-be-a-chance-on-the-steep-part-to-give-it-a-shot-30291225.html

As Sky drilled it up the hill, I thought there might be a chance on this steep part near the top where it calmed down and I could give it a shot, which I did with 6km to go.

What I didn't expect was to have to slam on the brakes within a few hundred metres as we hit the first hairpin bend of the descent. I thought the climb was 500m or so longer and that if I attacked going over the top I'd either get a couple of seconds or maybe bring three or four guys with me before the descent to the finish.

happytramp

100% break to win. To tough for sprint teams to chase, no need for GC teams to chase the day before the TT. Everyone else will be represented in the break.

Darkglasses

Garmin have just lost another rider, Fabian Wegmann crashed out at 23km. No breakaway has formed yet.

Stroon

Darkglasses wrote: »

Finally invested in Eurosport player today. Quality isn't exactly Netflix-good but at least you can be fairly sure it won't suddenly drop off.

I caved last week but it wouldn't work for me over 3G - only WiFi. Checked it just there and it seems to be working on 3G. Going to stay very still until 1:30 now.

Darkglasses

A group of 22 have broken off the front of the peloton, currently have a gap of 28 seconds. Includes Roche, Morabito, Moser, Cataldo, Siutsov, Geniez

Pudsy33

He got this

retalivity

that's a bloody strong group

Paddigol

They won't let Morabito go will they??

Pudsy33

Paddigol wrote: »

They won't let Morabito go will they??

Actually yeah good point. Might be in trouble.

mirrormatrix

Might allow BMC to ease off the gas for a bit? Let some of the other teams do the work..

Darkglasses

Very interesting this. Hard group to catch. Siutsou's at 5'42 in the GC, best placed man besides Morabito who's 1'31. Should Morabito just drop off?

Pudsy33

Maybe he should but I doubt he will. The other lads might need to put in an extra shift to stay out.

Darkglasses

Well, I'm confused. Going to wait until the live coverage when the race has settled down a bit.

Pudsy33

Arredondo there too!

Pudsy33

Looks like they've been caught....possibly

retalivity

didn't realise this is a 249km stage...bloody hell.

Pudsy33

Even if that break gets reeled in, I reckon Roche will have a dig. If ST let him off the leash that is.

retalivity

from cycling news:

Looks like we may have a group of 23 again: Herrada (Movistar Team), Arredondo (Trek), Quintero (Colombia), Cardoso (Garmin - Sharp), Morabito (BMC), Roche and Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo), Cataldo, Deignan and Siutsou (Sky), Moser (Cannondale), Geniez (FDJ), Bongiono, Colbrelli and Zardini (Bardiani-CSF), Bono (Lampre-Merida), Pauwels (Omega), Finetto (Neri Sottoli), Malacarne, Thurau and Quemeneur (Europcar), Gusev (Katusha), Geschke (Giant-Shimano). Now just to get some confirmation on that.... and a gap.....

cataldo, svitsou and deignan??

Pudsy33

Bmc and Movistar don't appear to be in a charitable mood.

dastardly00

Luke Durbridge (Orica GreenEdge) has abandoned now as well.

Pudsy33

Group of 14 with a gap of 1.40. Roche, Deignan and Moreno there. Moreno is a danger.

MPFG

Deignan in breakaway with Roche .....Decisions decisions !!!!!

Maybe a repeat of stage in Beijing as few years ago

MPFG

Pudsy33 wrote: »

Group of 14 with a gap of 1.40. Roche, Deignan and Moreno there. Moreno is a danger.

Rovney from Saxo has a very good sprint on him...remember its a downhill finish so Moreno advantage not that great

Moreno sitting at 9 mins back so if break goes too far out teams may chase

Better if Moreno not there

Pudsy33

Actually the downhill finish suits Roche doesn't it? He's a decent decender.

MPFG

Pudsy33 wrote: »

Actually the downhill finish suits Roche doesn't it? He's a decent decender.

Yes ...he is good on descent..

mirrormatrix

MPFG wrote: »

Rovney from Saxo has a very good sprint on him...remember its a downhill finish so Moreno advantage not that great

Moreno sitting at 9 mins back so if break goes too far out teams may chase

Better if Moreno not there

Moreno 13:10 back according to cycle news app so maybe not such a panic to get after him

dastardly00

4min 42sec advantage with 131km to go.

MPFG

Sorry there is someone in there who is 7 mins approx back on GC...forgot who

buffalo

MPFG wrote: »

Sorry there is someone in there who is 7 mins approx back on GC...forgot who

Mourey of FDJ, 7:52.

MPFG

buffalo wrote: »

Mourey of FDJ, 7:52.

Thank You

Seemingly that was a hard breakaway to get in to so it does show that Roche & Deignan are coming into v good form

Griff30

im a cadel fan and he looked sharp on the small decent yesterday so expect to see him at front of favorites group again today

Darkglasses

Ok I take back what I said earlier, the picture on eurosport player is great now that I've let it buffer for a few minutes

MPFG

Moser, Roche and Thurau in the break today...now that shoudl bring back memories for some

Pudsy33

Roche gone out in front with a smaller group

buffalo

Judging by the situation (although 100km to go), think this might be a close-run thing. Reckon I'll bow out and watch the highlights on the edge of my seat later!

retalivity

too many teams not in the break makes me think this will not be won by one of the 4/14 out in front

MPFG

Pudsy33 wrote: »

Roche gone out in front with a smaller group

They may have been better sticking together as 14 working together better than 4 out front

Pudsy33

MPFG wrote: »

They may have been better sticking together as 14 working together better than 4 out front

Agreed, although they don't appear to be getting too far ahead so it might all join up.

Pudsy33

The leaders are all back together and their gap has increased

Darkglasses

Ah flip off Androni, don't be doing that.

MPFG

Darkglasses wrote: »

Ah flip off Androni, don't be doing that.

They are not going to win this stage .....Stevio or Stavio or whatever his name is taking the p**s

They will bring it back and then Lampre or BMC will win it

Pains.........can't they wait for another day

Of course alot of GC guys will not be happy either as having to ride

Pudsy33

Darkglasses wrote: »

Ah flip off Androni, don't be doing that.

Seems to have stalled for them

Darkglasses

Crash crash crash. Arrrgh this bloody Giro.