2018 Giro d'Italia stage 8: Praia a Mare - Montevergine 209k

Inquitus

Shamelessly borrowed from here

STAGE 8: Praia a Mare - Montevergine di Mercogliano 209 km

May 12th




Technical Overview:
The second Saturday of the race keeps heading north, making its way from the sea to the hills. The stage starts where it ended the previous day, and after ~40 km along the coast the peloton will go into the hills, with a couple of uncategorized climbs, that could have been at least GPM3. The first one measures 6.5 km at 5.4%, while the second is 5.5 km long at 6.1%, and is followed by an ascending false flat section at the top. After the descent and some more rolling terrain, the riders will reach the coast again, for 45 straight km until the town of Salerno, where they will head again towards the hills, this time for good. After the intermediate sprint, the road will gently start to rise, and after a somewhat serious ramp leading to Celzi, will lead the peloton to the Montevergine-style MTF of this edition. Which is... exactly that. The most famous Montevergine di Mercogliano (GPM2, 17.1 km at 5%), the very archetype of the longish, easy MTF that is typical of the end of a Giro's first week. Although it is used by most cycling fans as THE example of such easy finish, it has not actually been used that many times in the Giro. In fact, before being used 4 times between 2001 and 2011, it was a relatively unknown climb, only previously used in the 60's. With its 17.1 km at a steady 5%, it is much easier than the MTF the peloton already had on stage 6, which is why its inclusion at this point of the race is quite unnecessary...

Final km


The Climbs:
Montevergine di Mercogliano (GPM2, 17.1 km at 5%)
The one and only. Steady, regular, full of hairpins and with a nice Sanctuary at the top.


What to Expect:
Well, you should expect the outcome of pretty much every Montevergine finish: 20-30 men sprint. Anything better would be a surprise.


Santuario di Montevergine

MPFGLB

Long day

Inquitus

MPFGLB wrote: »

Long day

Aye nothing much going to happen til the final climb, and then with its relatively gentle gradients nothing much might happen as they ascend, we shall see. I expect a largeish GC group sprinting for the minor places behind the breakway who will take the spoils.

retalivity

Froome with a good bambi on ice impression

WinnyThePoo

Froome looking very jumpy.

coco0981

Rain made the end of that fairly treacherous, froome still looking vulnerable

Inquitus

coco0981 wrote: »

Rain made the end of that fairly treacherous, froome still looking vulnerable

Aye I would think he needs to improve for tomorrow, he has got away with not looking good so far, tomorrow is more testing with bigger gaps a likelyhood if you are struggling.

It's unreal how rattled Froome gets when things go wrong.

neris

Deleted User wrote: »

It's unreal how rattled Froome gets when things go wrong.

I'm convinced Froome won't see this race through

coco0981

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It's unreal how rattled Froome gets when things go wrong.

What's also unreal is the number of accounts on Twitter that think its impossible for your rear wheel to slip out going uphill, so froomes crash is more proof of a motor. A river flowing across the road, wet road paint is kinda slippy!!
But froomes bike handling is obviously not great either

neris

i think it was dan lloyd of gcn who said when he was racing and froome was around everyone tried to stay away from him especially down hill or at speed coz his bike handling was so poor he used to crash and take guys out

CantGetNoSleep

coco0981 wrote: »

What's also unreal is the number of accounts on Twitter that think its impossible for your rear wheel to slip out going uphill, so froomes crash is more proof of a motor. A river flowing across the road, wet road paint is kinda slippy!!
But froomes bike handling is obviously not great either

You are right but there are other videos where he is struggling to keep his legs from spinning going up a mountain overtaking Contador ans Quintana.

He just needs a dose of illness to get back into this one

coco0981

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

You are right but there are other videos where he is struggling to keep his legs from spinning going up a mountain overtaking Contador ans Quintana.

He just needs a dose of illness to get back into this one

There's definitely a few uphill climbs where his cadence and acceleration looks odd, but the twitterati don't seem to understand basic things like wet road paint being treacherous

Froome on a bike in general is not a pretty sight, how he rides normally looks like how I ride when I'm bolloxed.

Kaisr Sose

So who won the stage...?

My two Lira:

Froome looks vulnerable and, as usual awkward on the bike. But, with a few Tours in the bag, I think it’s fair to say he is able to ride a bike well at very high speeds, he just looks awful tetchy going uphill.

He is just one TUE away from taking the race by the neck. As Greg Le Monde said in 89 “this race is not over”

Lumen

neris wrote: »

i think it was dan lloyd of gcn who said when he was racing and froome was around everyone tried to stay away from him especially down hill or at speed coz his bike handling was so poor he used to crash and take guys out

That's old news. His descending in the last couple of years has been much, much better and occasionally outstanding.

Wet climbing is a different skill though. Souplesse is needed and nobody has ever accused Froome of having that.

Lusk_Doyle

Lumen wrote: »

Souplesse is needed and nobody has ever accused Froome of having that.

Nor will anybody ever!

velo.2010

Froome is also running narrower bars this year which will make the steering that more twitchy.