Giro d'Italia stage 6 Caltanissetta - Etna 164 km

neris

Stage 6 today and possibly the 1st time the race can really be thrown open with the climbing today up Mt Etna to the finish. Be the 1st real test of Dennis as a GC contender aswell as to see how his climbing goes.Maybe a chance for Froome or Fabian Arrow to gain time back

When the Giro returns to Etna for stage 6 on Thursday, the lie of the land is rather different, given that the gruppo will tackle it from a new approach, by way of Ragalna. The shelter afforded by the forestry on Etna's western slopes means that the wind should not play as prominent a role, while the gradient itself is more irregular than on the race's previous treks up the volcano.

Technical Overview:
The Giro comes back to the Etna for the second year in a row, using yet another new road. From the town of Caltanissetta the peloton will face the now usual rolling terrain for pretty much the whole stage, which does not present any really tough gradient until the volcano approaches. The ascent has a first sector that is little more than a long false flat, with 14.5 km at 3.4% average. After around 5 km of descending false flat, the second and final sector starts. The Etna (GPM1, 15 km at 6.5%) is tackled from a totally new road, and is to be climbed up until the Osservatorio Astrofisico, instead of Rifugio Sapienza (which is a bit higher and could have been still reached, since the road does connect with the usual one). The official start of the climb is in Ragalna, but the sector starts almost 4 km earlier at roughly the same gradient, so that the overall numbers of the climb should be almost 19 km at 6.5%. A very respectable climb, either way. It is quite irregular, the hardest ramps reaching 15% and featuring many easier sections. The key ramp is at 5.2 km to go, with 0.5 km at 12% while the last 1.5 km are almost a false flat.

The Climbs:
Etna (GPM1, 15 km at 6.5%)
There you have it, a profile! After a bunch of GPM4 we hit the jackpot with a GPM1. The Etna is a very famous climb of course, but this side has never been ridden. Supposedly, the final 5.5 are on quite narrow roads. Should give a much different impression than the ascent of 2017. Hopefully.

Borderfox

Froomey for the win

He seems to be suffering like a dog so far

Macy0161

Tommy D in Pink, Woods for the Stage, Froome to crash out.

odyssey06

I think when I did that stretch of Etna it was in one of these!

Lumen

Uninterrupted coverage....of a screen saver.

dastardly00

It'll be interesting to see if 'normal service' is resumed and Sky take control of the peloton.

Hopefully it'll be more exciting than the stage on Etna last year.

Borderfox

Lumen wrote: »

Uninterrupted coverage....of a screen saver.

Inhaler break in the peleton

MPFGLB

Tough day for BMC today and a big test for Dennis

Its like the Grand National though ...so hard to pick a winner and also so hard to pick who will be in pink

Not sure how Dumoulin is feeling but with Froome now on the back foot he has to try and test him as Froome will come good in the final week

I think SKY must be keeping de la Cruz for then as he is way down every day

dastardly00

MPFGLB wrote: »

Tough day for BMC today and a big test fro Dennis

Hopefully Nico will be there with Dennis for as long as possible.

MPFGLB

dastardly00 wrote: »

Hopefully Nico will be there with Dennis for as long as possible.

Would hope so but the form is poor as can be seen by the TT
Hoping to race into form ....

dastardly00

MPFGLB wrote: »

Would hope so but the form is poor as can be seen by the TT
Hoping to race into form ....

Yeah that's true about Nico.

I would feel bad for Dennis though if he is isolated early on during the Etna climb.
There should be a few BMC team mates (i.e. not just Nico) with him for a lot of the climb.

Macy0161

Dennis/ BMC taking the jersey as he did surely means even they don't see him as a genuine GC contender? Tommy D happy to let him have the jersey to save energy v BMC wasting energy to get and retain it.

dastardly00

GCN (Emma Pooley) reviews the finish of stage 6 of this year's Giro d'Italia, the famed Mount Etna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1tPq4Z8jKs

I like Emma's videos for GCN, good one last week of her in for a bike fit.

Chavez in the break, likely so small they never noticed him slip away :pac:

Swamp3

Bmc plan: two team leaders. Nico's plan: chase a stage after doing some training in Week 1 of the Giro.

MPFGLB

Break mental ....everyone calling each others bluff


Dennis will lose the jersey at some stage soon ...its how much effort BMC want to put in to keep it
They do want stages as well

neris

Deleted User wrote: »

I like Emma's videos for GCN, good one last week of her in for a bike fit.

used to be an avid viewer of GCN but gone off them now, I think it went to commercial and became a load of adverts. Plus that GCN intro really gets on my nerves.

MPFGLB

Nico's diary

https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/nicolas-roches-giro-ditalia-diary-its-been-a-bit-of-work-but-four-days-in-pink-is-great-for-the-team-36891888.html


Looks like he has been working for Dennis so far

Macy0161

neris wrote: »

used to be an avid viewer of GCN but gone off them now, I think it went to commercial and became a load of adverts.

I think they got pulled up on all the product placement, so now have to be more upfront about it! So it's probably the same, but now more obvious

dastardly00

Really surprised that Chaves was allowed to go in that breakaway

neris

the way things are going for froome I can see him bailing out of this rather then finishing off the podium

Dcully

neris wrote: »

the way things are going for froome I can see him bailing out of this rather then finishing off the podium

He started tdf poorly last year and won it ,he's that type rider and cones into his own last 10 days or so when the inhalers kick in

Macy0161

Dcully wrote: »

He started tdf poorly last year and won it ,he's that type rider and cones into his own last 10 days or so when the inhalers kick in

I think today is d day tbh - he wasn't as far off the pace at the start of the tour as he has been so far in the giro. He was 12 seconds down at the tour TT, but still first of the GC contenders.

Come on Chavez

neris

froome being dropped

Froome and Aru looking a bit second hand here.

neris

ah lads ffs come on yiz should have sprinted

Brian

Amazing by Chavo. Looking forward to Mitchelton-Scott's backstage pass video today!

Yates could live to regret not taking the 10 seconds.

dastardly00

Going to be very interesting to see how Yates & Chaves perform as a team when the next mountain climbs come about

neris

does he ever stop smiling

dastardly00

Deleted User wrote: »

Yates could live to regret not taking the 10 seconds.

Not picking up an additional four bonus seconds is probably worth a gamble to keep your team mate (who is also a rival) happy

Yeah good point, and as Yates said in the interview Chavez deserved it.

Brian

Haha, playing the intro to the live version of Heavy Fuel by Dire Straits on the podium.

dastardly00

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah good point, and as Yates said in the interview Chavez deserved it.

It could all backfire of course if Chaves doesn't help Yates later on!

MPFGLB

Yates looks amasing but we ahve seen him tire before
Chaves looks great but we have seen him tire before


Froome for me remains the main threat as he came in undercooked and look where he finished today

Dont see Dumoulin repeating his win though

dastardly00

MPFGLB wrote: »

Yates looks amasing but we ahve seen him tire before

Have we ever seen Yates perform this good in a GT before? :eek:

MPFGLB

dastardly00 wrote: »

Have we ever seen Yates perform this good in a GT before? :eek:

Well it may have been Adam who was great in the Tour but did tire

He does look invincible but there remains a long way to go ...that is all

Macy0161

Deleted User wrote:

Yates could live to regret not taking the 10 seconds.

You'd think he'd bare in mind velogames too...

neris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJXcmsRc8AE

retalivity

I never realises chaves is an 11yo!

Finnrocco

Did you see the size of Flecha compared to Chaves & Yates?

They both must be tiny or else he is a monster.

Hard to figure out Froome, is he really just clinging on by his finger nails or is he just riding normally?

Although i thought he was really breathing hard yesterday, never saw that before. Sky team seems to be struggling as well.

Thud

Finnrocco wrote: »

Although i thought he was really breathing hard yesterday, never saw that before.

:D:D

Finnrocco

I didn't mean that as a joke about inhalers, I just thought that Froome is usually quite serene, yesterday he really looked to be struggling.

Elissonde was behind him making faces, and the rest of the team was nowhere.

Maybe they gave a few of the lads the day off, told them to ride the climb at their own pace, try save energy for when it's really needed.

Macy0161

The Cycling Podcast for yesterdays stage had an interview with I think it was George Bennet, and they asked does he look at his rivals before deciding to attack. He made some comment about Froome always looking bad/ uncomfortable on the bike, even at the start of a flat stage!

Sky have some incredible bike riders on this team but they don't seem to be as strong as a unit like we've seen sky teams in the TdF in recent years.

dastardly00

Macy0161 wrote: »

The Cycling Podcast for yesterdays stage had an interview with I think it was George Bennet, and they asked does he look at his rivals before deciding to attack. He made some comment about Froome always looking bad/ uncomfortable on the bike, even at the start of a flat stage!

Yeah it was the Kiwi George Bennett.

He was asked by Daniel Friebe about looking at the body language of his rivals. He said that he doesn't try to analyse body language as it's too hard. He gave the example that Froome often looks like he is going to be dropped during a flat stage :pac:

He also used the word sh*t a few times during the interview as well which I found funny :pac:

neris

Macy0161 wrote: »

The Cycling Podcast for yesterdays stage had an interview with I think it was George Bennet, and they asked does he look at his rivals before deciding to attack. He made some comment about Froome always looking bad/ uncomfortable on the bike, even at the start of a flat stage!

the 2 lads were sitting in a que of team cars and buses recording the podcast waiting to board the ferry at 920 last night to the mainland. riders must have be well f****d by the time they got to their hotels. though brailsford was ok he got a chopper off etna at the end of the stage