Giro d'Italia 2016 St 20 Guillestre–S.Anna di Vinadio 134 km

MPFGLB

Its big ....its epic and its the final show down




Can the super cute smiling hero Chaves hang on or will the dagger yielding villain Nibali and his bunch of battle hardened troops win the day (just adding to the drama :D)
Or can even the old hero SK ride through the loansome trail, get the gold and the girl and ride off into the sunset (in yellow)

Tune in folks for the last installment of EL GIRO

Eurosport at 12pm for the whole of the stage

P.S. If the break makes it then it could be Preidleur ,Attapuma, Roche, Dombroski, Uran, Nieve or and Ag2R bandit

pelevin

Come on the villain!

I presume with his injuries Kwk can't be expected to do anything but at best limit his losses but it'd be great if he had the form he had till yesterday, & go on the attack. Can't see it being feasible though.

MPFGLB

pelevin wrote: »

Come on the villain!

I presume with his injuries Kwk can't be expected to do anything but at best limit his losses but it'd be great if he had the form he had till yesterday, & go on the attack. Can't see it being feasible though.

Its done in the parody of a western ...

pelevin

MPFGLB wrote: »

Its done in the parody of a western ...

Oh I know. Scarponi I think is my favourite character actor involved in the drama. He should I think ride today's stage with his parrot on his shoulder & an eye-patch. It must be done though with a steely deadpan expression, not with a sense of fun which would be a lot less intimidating to the opposition.

Lusk_Doyle

The Dutch fella to go all or nothing today!

Itziger

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

The Dutch fella to go all or nothing today!

He's goosed. Will lose more time today and maybe drop out.

neris

probably a hypothetical question but what happens overall if chaves looses exactly 44 seconds to Nibali over the next 2 days? Do they go as joint winners? or some sort of count back system such as who has the most stage wins? Points?

Inquitus

neris wrote: »

probably a hypothetical question but what happens overall if chaves looses exactly 44 seconds to Nibali over the next 2 days? Do they go as joint winners? or some sort of count back system such as who has the most stage wins? Points?

It's usually a countback on where you finished in all the stages.

Andre 3000

Foliforov, Atapuma, Cunego, Nieve, Visconti, Dombro and either Kangert/Fuglsang and a few more trying to breakaway

MPFGLB

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Foliforov, Atapuma, Cunego, Nieve, Visconti, Dombro and either Kangert/Fuglsang and a few more trying to breakaway

Lotto NLJ and OGE won't let it go unless they have someone in it surely

Andre 3000

Valverde bridging across. Chaves has one lad up the road and that's it. A good few Lotto and Astana still in the main group

neris

Nibali looks like a giant compared to chaves when u see the 2 of them side by side

neris

ulisi off the front ............. again

MPFGLB

neris wrote: »

ulisi off the front ............. again

Emmmm

isitraining

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

The Dutch fella to go all or nothing today!

Listening to his interview this morning it sounds like he's just going to get as far as he can. He didn't sound too optimistic!

Pudsy33

#ForzaEsteban

DDC1990

First climb negotiated safely by Orica.

2 Big climbs and 1 small one to go.

Eamonnator

neris wrote: »

probably a hypothetical question but what happens overall if chaves looses exactly 44 seconds to Nibali over the next 2 days? Do they go as joint winners? or some sort of count back system such as who has the most stage wins? Points?

As far as I know, they go to the TTs, which are timed to hundredths of a second.

DDC1990

Haha Bataglin's interview this morning about the Kreuijswijgigj crash yesterday:

"Sometimes shít is happening"

griffin100

Commentators referring to this incident in Belgium - http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/belgium-tour-stage-3-abandoned-after-motorbikes-cause-big-crash/

Looks nasty.

Inquitus

So Astana, will they go now on the Col de la Bonette or wait until the Colle della Lombarda?

DDC1990

Inquitus wrote: »

So Astana, will they go now on the Col de la Bonette or wait until the Colle della Lombarda?

With a man up the road, they should go on the CDLB, burn off Orica and then burn off Chaves on the CDLL.

If they don't Chaves might hang on on the Lombarda, and the last ramp suits Chaves more than Nibali I think.

pajor

griffin100 wrote: »

Commentators referring to this incident in Belgium - http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/belgium-tour-stage-3-abandoned-after-motorbikes-cause-big-crash/

Looks nasty.

FFS this sort of thing is happening wayyy too often now. :mad:

Belgian TV were supposed to have the Tour of Belgium on TV for 2 hours. The unhappy looking race leaders are now being presented with their jerseys.

Inquitus

Here we go

DDC1990

Orica doing well so far.

Howson, Txurruka and Plaza haven't been in the wind yet.

Bewley, Tuft and Hepburn did all the cycling in the wind.

Movistar up the pace now and hit the front.

MPFGLB

Would ahve been better to have Plaza or Txurruka up the road as cannot follow when top guys go

Same with Battaglin

DDC1990

MPFGLB wrote: »

Would ahve been better to have Plaza or Txurruka up the road as cannot follow when top guys go

Same with Battaglin

Yeah, but like yesterday the other teams wouldn't let the leading team send anyone up the road, they counter relentlessly until a break gets away without a rider from OGE (or Lotto yesterday).

Itziger

Movistar take it up. Astana for second half and Orica will have no-one.

DDC1990

Itziger wrote: »

Movistar take it up. Astana for second half and Orica will have no-one.

They have two guys sitting directly behind Chaves... not much use there! :P

Chaves is a machine though, so hopefully hangs on.

Inquitus

Itziger wrote: »

Movistar take it up. Astana for second half and Orica will have no-one.

True but all Chaves has to do is hold Nibali's wheel, they have no other GC threats to play, he can ignore Movistar's Valverde.

Inquitus

Peleton aren't riding hard yet as they aren't taking any time out of the break.

Andre 3000

Apparently Chaves has a bout of the flu. Jesus, Nibali does get the luck doesn't he!

Itziger

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Apparently Chaves has a bout of the flu. Jesus, Nibali does get the luck doesn't he!

He does, yeah. Cos Chaves' flu is only positively affecting Nibbles. The others are mysteriously not able to take advantage.:rolleyes:

DDC1990

About 3.5km for the Maglia Rosa group to the top of the Col de la Bonette.

Still no major attacks from the main contenders.

Nieve provisionally gains the KOM jersey after getting to the top first.

Andre 3000

Itziger wrote: »

He does, yeah. Cos Chaves' flu is only positively affecting Nibbles. The others are mysteriously not able to take advantage.:rolleyes:

I was making reference to the luck he has received over the years in GTs rather than Chaves' illness directly.

DDC1990

Tinkoff smash the peloton.

Only Chaves left for OGE.

Nibali has 3 left with him from Astana.

EDIT: Came back together but is strung out due to the high pace. One OGE rider, about 20 back from Chaves.

DDC1990

Another climb survived by Chaves.

Hopefully some riders come back to him on the descent.

Andre 3000

Hats off to Kruijswijk, he's been a rock today so far and has been near the front more than Nibali and Chaves. I hope he holds out.

Itziger

Andre 3000 wrote: »

I was making reference to the luck he has received over the years in GTs rather than Chaves' illness directly.

And I was making reference to the fact that being 2nd in a GT with two days to go could hardly have much to do with luck.

cunavalos

In slightly off-topic news, reports are coming that Nico Roche has been approached by Nibali to join the new Bahrain backed team in 2017
Probably only speculation at the moment but would be an interesting development but would probably offer Nico some team leadership options for smaller races or maybe the vuelta. There is also a potential link up with sportful clothing with whom i think roche has some connection.
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/inside-story-on-bahrain-cycling-team-nibali-to-lead-230814

DDC1990

Haha, Valverde just pulled out newspaper from under his jersey and started to read it as a joke.

Bizzare, but brilliant.

MPFGLB

Valverde is like a big child

REBELSAFC

Any update on why Philip Deignan pulled out?

MPFGLB

cunavalos wrote: »

In slightly off-topic news, reports are coming that Nico Roche has been approached by Nibali to join the new Bahrain backed team in 2017
Probably only speculation at the moment but would be an interesting development but would probably offer Nico some team leadership options for smaller races or maybe the vuelta. There is also a potential link up with sportful clothing with whom i think roche has some connection.
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/inside-story-on-bahrain-cycling-team-nibali-to-lead-230814

Love if he changed team...just to have a chance in one day races

at1withmyself

He might as well for all the action coming from the peleton ☺

DDC1990 wrote: »

Haha, Valverde just pulled out newspaper from under his jersey and started to read it as a joke.

Bizzare, but brilliant.

at1withmyself

I think someone said illness in one of the previous days threads?

REBELSAFC wrote: »

Any update on why Philip Deignan pulled out?

isitraining

MPFGLB wrote: »

Love if he changed team...just to have a chance in one day races

Agreed but maybe not that team!

http://fittish.deadspin.com/the-bahraini-prince-trying-to-save-cycling-is-a-credibl-1778675162

REBELSAFC

I'm gonna miss those jersey "parades" every day :rolleyes:

at1withmyself

Attacks now happening in the breakaway

mhiggy09

Any action yet? Where are they?

at1withmyself

Dombroski and attapuma escape clear

at1withmyself wrote: »

Attacks now happening in the breakaway