Giro d'Italia Stage 18 – May 29th, Belluno - Rifugio Panarotta **Unmasked Spoilers**

dastardly00

Stage 18 – Thursday May 29th, Belluno - Rifugio Panarotta 171km (****)

Although this stage is ranked as easier than the Zoncolan stage on Saturday and the mountain ITT on Friday, it's still going to be one hell of a tough day. The first climb of the day is the Cat. 1 Passo San Pellegrino which is 18.5km long, with an average gradient of 6.2%. Officially, the climb starts after 36km; however, the peloton will be climbing after just 6km. That works out at 49km of climbing at an average gradient of 3.2%!

After a long descent, there is an uncategorised climb which serves as a warm-up to the Cat. 2 Passo del Redebus. It may be short at 4.6km, but it has an average gradient of 8.7%. Taking the uncategorised climb and the Redebus together gives an average gradient of 3.4% for 21.7km.

Following another long descent, the final climb of Rifugio Panarotta begins. As a comparison, this Cat. 1 climb has the same average gradient as l'Alpe d'Huez, but it's 2km longer. The maximum gradient is also greater than the famous French climb (14% vs 12%).

Uran, Majka, Evans et al. all want revenge for what Quintana et al. did on Stage 16. This could be the perfect stage to do so. If the likes of OPQS and Tinkoff-Saxo go on the attack from the start, they could put Movistar and Quintana in serious trouble. The long distances between the climbs and the looming ITT tomorrow, may dictate that the GC riders and their respective domestiques play it safe until the final climb.

Map:



Profile:



Passo San Pellegrino:



Passo del Redebus:



Rifugio Panarotta (Valsugana):



Last kms:



Weather - Belluno: Partly cloudy skies during the morning hours. Thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. High 23C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 kph. Chance of rain 90%.

Stage Betting: Nairo Quintana 2/1; Pierre Rolland 9/1; Fabio Duarte 12/1; Fabio Aru 14/1; Dominco Pozzovivo 16/1; Dario Cataldo 18/1.

Live TV coverage on Eurosport1 from 1.30pm. Highlights on Sky Sports 3 at 8pm and Eurosport2 at 10.30pm. Note: Eurosport TV schedule is always liable to change without notice.

Live text ticker here.

pelevin

The thing is however much you might want revenge, if the other guy is stronger on those climbs than you - and perhaps considerably stronger - I'd doubt you'll manage to inflict much on him. Quintana now that he's over his crash & illness looks a different league though otoh Uran seemed to suffer from the efforts of his TT afterwards so who knows.

wirelessdude01

Don't like what Movistar did yesterday. Hopefully we will see some teams co-operating to teach them a lesson.

MPFG

Its cycling ...there is always an option to isolate and attack...maybe before the last climb......Strongest team are Ag2R & TCS ....but OPQS & BMC would need to co operate

But I think the 'other' 8 are chasing the podium as they all know Quintana is the strongest so I see them not going all out cos a few seconds loss is the difference between the podium or bust

Sammo13

Breakaway for me, with the GC boys fighting it out on the last long climb..

Riders for the breakaway are a plenty, KOM points on offer so expect Arredondo, Columbia boys and Lampre or 2.. But how about Ivan Basso 200/1 to get in a break and the diesel to crank it up one last time.. Cannondale have been quite enough so never know..

Basso 200/1
Winner 150/1
Pantano 40/1

my 3 picks for what its worth :rolleyes:

ednwireland

dastardly00 wrote: »

Uran, Majka, Evans et al. all want revenge for what Quintana et al. did on Stage 16. This could be the perfect stage to do so.

if by revenge you mean watching quintanas rear wheel as he rides away then yes

MPFG

Sammo13 wrote: »

Breakaway for me, with the GC boys fighting it out on the last long climb..

Riders for the breakaway are a plenty, KOM points on offer so expect Arredondo, Columbia boys and Lampre or 2.. But how about Ivan Basso 200/1 to get in a break and the diesel to crank it up one last time.. Cannondale have been quite enough so never know..

Basso 200/1
Winner 150/1
Pantano 40/1

my 3 picks for what its worth :rolleyes:

Can I ask...do you bet often and when you do, do you win ??

Cannondale not very happy with their Giro ...especially in comparison to Bardiani & Lampre with 3 & 2 stages each but I can't see Basso wining from the break.....

This stage would be better bet for Philip Deignan ....I suppose Nico Roche is not allowed in any more breakaways but he hasn't been that great a help on climbs for Majka....Still can't understand how he was supposed to be in great form going in to this Giro according to his team !!

Dr. Bre

vuillermoz for me at 100/1 hes been climbing well. altho he may stay with Pozzo to protect him

dastardly00

Sammo13 wrote: »

Basso 200/1
Winner 150/1
Pantano 40/1

my 3 picks for what its worth :rolleyes:

MPFG wrote: »

Can I ask...do you bet often and when you do, do you win ??

Well Sammo13 seems to be pretty good at betting as he already knows that the 'winner' is at odds of 150/1! :pac:


I'll get my coat..

mirrormatrix

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Don't like what Movistar did yesterday. Hopefully we will see some teams co-operating to teach them a lesson.

I don't get this attitude of "honour in cycling". Whether he knew or not (and he probably did) that there was some confusion among the other teams about stage neutralisation isn't relevant in my view. The stage wasn't neutralised and he was free to attack. Honour doesn't come into the equation, either what he's doing is breaking the rules, or it's not and he's entitled to the time.

There seems to be this attitude that the GC riders have to be fair in their attacks for some reason. Same goes for things like slowing up to let them get back on after a puncture etc. Luck is all part of the race, and if you don't have it then maybe you'll get better luck next time.

Of course the other teams will try to gang up on him, and that's fine too. In fact i'd be shocked if they didn't try to burn him out. He's the leader and all the other GC riders need to take time out of him.

Is this something that's unique to GC? I don't think you'd see people having such a fit about it if someone went on the attack for KOM points under the same conditions, although maybe i'm wrong?

happytramp

mirrormatrix wrote: »

I don't get this attitude of "honour in cycling".

Stick to football so

daramike

a breakaway for me as well with lads from 10-30 in GC in it. Zoidl 100/1, Geniez 80/1 and Niemiec 33/1.

serendip

mirrormatrix wrote: »

The stage wasn't neutralised and he was free to attack.

I'd say it's clearer than that.

The riders were told to stay in their groups and follow the motorcycle for the first six bends. Which is pretty much what Quintana et al did.

The other GC riders chose to stop at the top to put on clothes. That's fair enough. But don't then whinge when the motorcycle and Quintana head off down the mountain.

dastardly00

Tweet from Orica-GreenEdge

The three amigos become los dos compadres as @ivansantino falls victim to illness. He will not start #Giro stage 18.

buffalo

Is any team still at full strength?

MPFG

buffalo wrote: »

Is any team still at full strength?

Yes...3 ...Movistar, Bardiani & Trek

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Giro_d_Italia_2014_Stage_17_Vittorio_Veneto-Startlist

serendip

Phil Deignan in the break (w/ Cataldo and 6 others).

MPFG

serendip wrote: »

Phil Deignan in the break (w/ Cataldo and 6 others).

Some very good climbers in breakaway including Cataldo ....love that Philip never gives up

MPFG

Deignan & Arredondo now in front of others .....

I am watching french live coverge

MPFG

Sorry Sammo13 ...Basso is indeed in breakaway ....

Carpenter

MPFG wrote: »

Deignan & Arredondo now in front of others .....

I am watching french live coverge

Is it against the rules to ask where

mcgratheoin

Carpenter wrote: »

Is it against the rules to ask where

No, but it's against the rules to answer

(unless he's in France)

MPFG

Break has 6 min 44secs now

blobbie

Tis on Eurosport now

7' 10" to pink

Mr. Grieves

blobbie wrote: »

Tis on Eurosport now

Eurosport had Live French Open from 10am to 8pm when I looked at the guide this morning...I set it to record, hope that catches the Giro :eek: (new UPC box I don't know how to use).

MPFG

Mr. Grieves wrote: »

Eurosport had Live French Open from 10am to 8pm when I looked at the guide this morning...I set it to record, hope that catches the Giro :eek: (new UPC box I don't know how to use).

Eurosport show the whole race under their Videos section....should be up tonight ...so if you don't record you know where to look

blobbie

The naughty gesture - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras_d'honneur

ThisRegard

Missed yesterday, what did Movistar do, cycle along slowly in a huff or something ?

MPFG

ThisRegard wrote: »

Missed yesterday, what did Movistar do, cycle along slowly in a huff or something ?

They rode along slowly.......didn't look like anyone was in a huff

dastardly00

Basso couldn't ask for a climb more suited to his diesel engine type style. It's long, with a very steady gradient. It's going to be good to see how he gets on.

Hopefully Deignan will drop him though!

death1234567

Kelly making a good point there that the GC guys wont attack today to rest for tomorrows TT. IMO Rolland and pozzovivo should be attacking today to take time.

Darkglasses

Deignan and Cataldo riding well, in the first chasing group behind the leader Thomas De Gendt I think. Arredondo, Pellizotti and Duarte also in the group

Darkglasses

Cataldo has been dropped, but the group is just catching De Gendt

happytramp

exciting stuff. Go Philip!!!

Darkglasses

Arredondo, Duarte and Deignan all up front now. Hang in there!

blobbie

Good effort by Deignan - I thought he was doing all the work for Cataldo but got that one wrong.

MPFG

Deignan is doing a fantastic climb

Darkglasses

De Gendt attacking again, no harm. No way he has enough gas to get to the top

YeahOK

Did Sean make the calculation yet?

dastardly00

Come on Philip hang in there!

blobbie

Deignan 3rd @ 20" with 3k to go

happytramp

Deignan in 2nd right now?

Sorry Duarte betwenn him and Arredondo

donegaldude

come on philip! proud to say I trained and raced with him as a junior, top man!

REBELSAFC

go on Philip

Darkglasses

happytramp wrote: »

Deignan in 2nd right now?

Think he's behind Duarte as well as Arredondo

Riding well, looks more comfortable than Duarte.

happytramp

Arredondo is flying!!

happytramp

Love to see gap between Deignan and Duarte

blobbie

happytramp wrote: »

Arredondo is flying!!

As is Rolland

Not any more.

happytramp

3rd place for Deignan. Deadly.

blobbie

Great 3rd by Deignan - 38" down to Arredondo & Duarte (+17)

Darkglasses

Deignan third, super ride. Nobody can really match Arredondo on the big mountains