Giro d'Italia "Day 2": Pinerolo - Lago Serrù 196 km

neris

Great 1st days racing yesterday and we're off to a corker at the 2019 Giro. UAE in pink with some lovely climbs to come today and hopefully some action and attacks in GC. Nibalis been giving out about Roglic doing nothing in a group and just sitting back, would love to see Nibali putting some hurt on today and trying an attack or 2

Technical Overview:
The first MTF of this edition comes quite late, only on stage 13, but it's a big (and high) one. From where they finished yesterday, Pinerolo, the riders will face three really hard categorized climb. At the start, however, they will find a small uncategorized one, Colletta di Cimiana (3.5 km at 7%), which will host the first attacks for the break of the day, which will likely continue on the short descent and the rough terrain that follows, as the mountains approach. At km 35 the first GPM of the day begins: Colle del Lys (GPM1, 14.9 km at 6.4%) is a very tough and constant climb, besides 2 km of false flat in the middle. You might remember the name from last year's stage to Jafferau, as it was climbed from the side we are descending today. That side (today's descent, I mean) is very irregular and quite technical at times. It is followed by some very rough and twisty roads for around 25 km, ending at around km 102. The next 10 km are flat and much more regular, and lead to a short but steep ramp of roughly 2.5 km at 6% that brings to the official start of the second climb of the day. Pian del Lupo (GPM2 (lol), 9.4 km at 8.7%), never featured before in the Giro, is a really hard climb, all on a narrow road with a very steep middle section. Its descent is also narrow and very technical, and brings back to the bottom of a long valley that the riders will have to reach the top of. We head towards another new climb, but unlike Pian del Lupo, this one is very famous between cycling fans: Colle del Nivolet, with all its 2615m of glorious and immaculate scenery, in the middle of the national park of the Gran Paradiso (literally, the Great Heaven). Today we will not climb all the way to the top however, but only up to Lago Serrù (GPM1, 20.3 km at 5.9%), at 2247m of altitude. It's unfortunate... but it's something nevertheless, and hopefully this will pave the way to a finish at the top in the near future. The climb itself begins much before the offical start in the town of Noasca, as the riders will be climbing increasing gradients pretty much from the very beginning of the valley, at 45 km to go. At 30 km to go, the road will start looking more like a climb than a false flat, although on very wide and gentle roads. At 18 km to go the rider will depart from the main road to avoid a long tunnel, and they will climb the old road instead, which has been resurface for the occasion. This is the first steep section of the climb, with 3 km at 8.7%, and ends reconnecting with the main road just before entering the town of Ceresole Reale. Here there is a long false flat section, mostly ascending, that lasts 8.5 km, after which the road gets narrower and the final steep section begins. The final 6 km of this climb are at almost 9%, and combined with the fatigue and the altitude they will likely wreak havoc in the GC.

manwithaplan

That looks very tasty thank you. Could be wrong but it might be a GC rider for the win today. That last 45 km of up will be very hard for the break. They will need to be given a lot of time before then and I'm not sure the peleton is going to ride so easy today. Assuming Eddie doesn't get in the break (unlikely I would think) it will be very interesting to see how he goes up the last climb and what role he is given. Always a chance he will be asked take it a bit easier after yesterday's efforts but Team Ineos will probably want someone near the top ten after today and with little between Eddie, Sivakov and Geoghegan Hart, they might be happy to see what happens.

scott1974

My legs hurt just looking at the map profile!!

dastardly00

James Knox has been forced to abandon due to injury
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/giro-ditalia/james-knox-forced-abandon-giro-ditalia-2019-424805#OCA4lOQeAIYBBtG5.99

neris

manwithaplan wrote: »

That looks very tasty thank you. Could be wrong but it might be a GC rider for the win today. That last 45 km of up will be very hard for the break. They will need to be given a lot of time before then and I'm not sure the peleton is going to ride so easy today. Assuming Eddie doesn't get in the break (unlikely I would think) it will be very interesting to see how he goes up the last climb and what role he is given. Always a chance he will be asked take it a bit easier after yesterday's efforts but Team Ineos will probably want someone near the top ten after today and with little between Eddie, Sivakov and Geoghegan Hart, they might be happy to see what happens.

Would think Ineos might let Eddie have an easy day today towards the end of the stage after yesterday but Ineos been Ineos and Eddie been Eddie I feel he,ll be gung ho to go and not sit back and have a quiet one today

retalivity

Nibbles to lay down a marker today, expect 2-3 bahrain lads but especially pozzovivo to go up the road

Splits already after 30km but gaps are not huge at the minute. About 30 seconds between each of them.

retalivity

Eddie up the road again in a group of 20.
Loads of other big names there too....mollema, zakarin, brqmbilla, izagirre, pozzovivo

dastardly00

Wow it really has kicked off already!
Mollema in the breakaway along with 3 team mates.

The live show has started on Eurosport1 but no coverage yet

dastardly00

3 min gap back to the peloton

Andre Amador, Hector Carrettero and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar)
Tony Gallopin and Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R La Mondiale)
Mattia Cattaneo and Fausto Masnada (Androni-Giocattoli)
Dario Cataldo, Ion Izagirre and Andrey Zeits (Astana)
Antonio Nibali and Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida)
Davide Formolo (Bora)
Victor De La Parte (CCC Team)
Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First)
Krists Neilands and Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy)
Chris Juul-Jensen and Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott)
Eddie Dunbar and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos)
Antwan Tolhoek (Jumbo-Visma)
lnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin)
Bauke Mollema, Gianluca Brambilla, Giulio Ciccone and Nicola Conci (Trek-Segafredo)

manwithaplan

manwithaplan wrote: »

Assuming Eddie doesn't get in the break (unlikely I would think)

Shows what I know!

MPFGLB

Very risky for Jumbo if they dont chase and very risky if they do

But Roglic has his best climbing Dom up the road so he can drop back if need be

I hope the others let JV chase and not do it for them

Eddie not pacing himself I see

buffalo

retalivity wrote: »

Eddie up the road again in a group of 20.
Loads of other big names there too....mollema, zakarin, brqmbilla, izagirre, pozzovivo

Realistic chance of Eddie taking the white jersey today if the move stays away to the finish.

Panrich

buffalo wrote: »

Realistic chance of Eddie taking the white jersey today if the move stays away to the finish.

Didn't see Eddie take on anything at the feed zone there. Hope he's ready for whats ahead.

dastardly00

Was there any coverage of Tao Geoghegan Hart's crash?
He has abandoned.

neris

Just saw this from yesterday. Fans really taking the piss, should have smacked him one

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_UK/status/1131893243048812545

neris

Roglic in trouble

retalivity

neris wrote: »

Roglic in trouble

Really? Not watching, following updates on cyclingnews, no mention there

neris

retalivity wrote: »

Really? Not watching, following updates on cyclingnews, no mention there

on his own in the group with only 1 rider up the road

REBELSAFC

buffalo wrote: »

Realistic chance of Eddie taking the white jersey today if the move stays away to the finish.

Carthy, MAL and Sivakov are all in the chasing pack with the favorites.

manwithaplan

Dunbar looked like he was hanging on at the back of the group on the way up but he stayed there as others were being shelled. Looks like it will come together on the last climb and you'd think he will be dropped at some point. He has endless guts though so you never know.

neris

buses are a fair aul down hill spin away from the finish

neris

equivariant

Dunbar looks very solid on the climb. Is it possible that he could end up the Giro as the leading team Ineos rider? This could be a big moment in his career

Daroxtar

equivariant wrote: »

Dunbar looks very solid on the climb. Is it possible that he could end up the Giro as the leading team Ineos rider? This could be a big moment in his career

I'd say Sivakov is more than likely going to be the leader for Ineos but Eddie is definitely doing himself no harm here. He could very well be riding himself into the squad for the Vuelta. It's great to see.

equivariant

Daroxtar wrote: »

I'd say Sivakov is more than likely going to be the leader for Ineos but Eddie is definitely doing himself no harm here. He could very well be riding himself into the squad for the Vuelta. It's great to see.

Certainly Sivakov is leader as of now and to be fair he looks good at the moment. But you never know ...

Is this the Landa of old on the road today?

neris

Zakarin showing his face today, wonder will this be another one where he gets talked up only to fall out of contention spectacularly again

coco0981

Anyone else think Roglic is doing a poker face here? Don't think he's as comfortable as he looks

neris

Seeing as he's on commentary

https://twitter.com/grahamwatson10/status/1131871732963266560

Think it came up last year on this day, but I'm pretty sure I recall Kelly saying the 24th wasn't his birthday and that it was the 26th though I could have that backwards