Giro D'Italia Stage 7: Matera to Brindisi (143km)

mr spuckler

The second shortest stage of the entire Giro and likely to be the easiest too, it has bunch sprint written all over it. Given Demare's dominance in the sprints to date, can he make it a trio of victories or can someone else discover some long lost form? Sagan? Viviani? Gaviria? Matthews who seemed pretty happy with his 2nd place yesterday?

The final 1,200m is straight as an arrow so no issues with positioning in the final bend like yesterday, this will be a straight shootout for the fast men!





Bet365 call it as follows...
Arnaud Demare 11/8
Fernando Gaviria 5/2
Peter Sagan 5/1
Elia Viviani 8/1
Jose Alvaro Hodeg 11/1
Michael Matthews 14/1

Classification standings for those in need
https://www.giroditalia.it/en/classifiche/

Tim76

You'd have to say Demare is nailed on for this one. He's on fire at the minute.

mr spuckler

Tim76 wrote: »

You'd have to say Demare is nailed on for this one. He's on fire at the minute.

Looks likely alright but you also know that other teams will be specifically working against him so anything can happen.

I couldn't find odds for Ganna for today btw

Tim76

mr spuckler wrote: »

I couldn't find odds for Ganna for today btw

I thought my €1 bet was going to buy me a new set of 4 Seasons for the winter at one stage there yesterday

Richard Hillman

I'm going for a sneaky last couple of km breakaway

There was talk of the wind being a factor today, here's hoping :pac:

De Bhál

Beautiful looking town, Matera

MPFGLB

There better be echelons

De Bhál

MPFGLB wrote: »

There better be echelons

Wind already seems to be having an effect.
I thought it was going to be a dead rubber stage

Richard Hillman

Echelons forming already. It looks very messy.

mr spuckler

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Echelons forming already. It looks very messy.

BOOM! Full gas lads, full gas!

Dodge

wasn't going to tune in so thanks for this lads. Should pass an hour at lunch time seeing Fuglsang and others work to get back on

mr spuckler

Some presence in that front group for DQS, very impressive.

Looks like Yates was caught napping at the back again?

Raoul Duke

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Looks like Yates was caught napping at the back again?

Yeah, that's him definitely out of the GC if he can't get back today.

MPFGLB

FFS Pozovivo now in 3rd Group ...his team are rubbish

40km covered already !!!!

dastardly00

The gap between the main group and the Pozzovivo/Yates group keeps yo-yo-ing between 40 to 50 seconds.

dastardly00

And the main group have completely knocked the pace off. It's all come back together

mr spuckler

Another stunning looking town from above.

MPFGLB

Toranto ...this part of Italy is so lovely

Raoul Duke

Always a sad moment when the echelons come back together.

MPFGLB

More echelons on their way

Unfortunately becasue everyone is so nervous there will be crashes

Crash will kick this off

Nice to hear Connor Dunne on. Any idea where Sean Kelly is? Phil gilbert is in for the classics so maybe Kelly and Kirby for the Vuelta?

MPFGLB

Can hardly hear Connor Dunne as Rob Hatch never lets anyone get a word in ..grrr

Why employ an expert and not let them talk

Inquitus

Too easy for Démare, far too easy!

neris

That was a cruise

Mefistofelino

I'm thinking of asking Sagan out on our over 50's Sunday spins and letting him win one of the coffee stop sprints.

Inquitus

Mefistofelino wrote: »

I'm thinking of asking Sagan out on our over 50's Sunday spins and letting him win one of the coffee stop sprints.

Give him a wee confidence boost, not a bad idea! Make sure you tell the rest not to sprint!

CantGetNoSleep

Sagan looked annoyed with Demaere after that - seemed to swipe his hand away 20 seconds or so after the finish? Is he a bit sour like when he got annihilated by Sam in Paris?

Raoul Duke

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Sagan looked annoyed with Demaere after that - seemed to swipe his hand away 20 seconds or so after the finish? Is he a bit sour like when he got annihilated by Sam in Paris?

I think that it was because Demare was moving so much across the road. Sagan looked like he was waiting for him to stop swerving but by then it was too late. He wouldn't have had a chance anyway.

Mefistofelino

Camera man probably looking at Demare writing on the lens again, thinking "Could you not do that? I don't write on your bike"

lawrencesummers

Mefistofelino wrote: »

I'm thinking of asking Sagan out on our over 50's Sunday spins and letting him win one of the coffee stop sprints.

The way his sprinting is going you might have to give him a two hour head start!

Joking aside he must be pulling his hair out with all these runner up placings!l there was a time he couldn’t be touched

Inquitus

lawrencesummers wrote: »

The way his sprinting is going you might have to give him a two hour head start!

Joking aside he must be pulling his hair out with all these runner up placings!l there was a time he couldn’t be touched

Démare has nearly 50% more points now in the fight for the Jersey, looks like he will be going home empty handed again, unless he can conjure up a stage win or two from somewhere!

Raoul Duke

lawrencesummers wrote: »

The way his sprinting is going you might have to give him a two hour head start!

Joking aside he must be pulling his hair out with all these runner up placings!l there was a time he couldn’t be touched

I think that he always finished 2nd / 3rd in these types of finishes. That's why he has so many 2nd places. He used to make more of an effort though. That's 2 days in a row where it didn't look like he put max power into the pedals. Maybe he is feeling the Tour in his legs.

Mefistofelino

lawrencesummers wrote: »

The way his sprinting is going you might have to give him a two hour head start!

Joking aside he must be pulling his hair out with all these runner up placings!l there was a time he couldn’t be touched

Don't worry - we'll let him have the win. Otherwise I can see a table of coffee and scones getting thrown over in a huff.

What's probably more frustrating for him is that he's not that much off the boil. He can still outgallop most of the sprinters.

dahat

He definitely has the dq is his mind when Demare started wandering slightly for me. Someone like Achermann would have been a bit more ballsy with the slight gap.

Large bottle small glass

Mefistofelino wrote: »

Don't worry - we'll let him have the win. Otherwise I can see a table of coffee and scones getting thrown over in a huff.

What's probably more frustrating for him is that he's not that much off the boil. He can still outgallop most of the sprinters.

He'd be happy with 2nd at the scone scoffing.

It'd be a great result in fairness...

Dodge

Whatever about Sagan. The like of Gaviria and Viviani seemed to have given up on the season completely

Démare is on his own.

Macy0161

In fairness, Viviani was under "not even on his balcony" lockdown in Italy and who knows what effect COVID19 had on Gaviria. There was another rider (who I can't remember the name of) who had it I heard speculation that they seemed to be struggling with endurance/ recovery, and they were asymptomatic where as Gaviria was actually sick with it.

neris

Macy0161 wrote: »

In fairness, Viviani was under "not even on his balcony" lockdown in Italy and who knows what effect COVID19 had on Gaviria. There was another rider (who I can't remember the name of) who had it I heard speculation that they seemed to be struggling with endurance/ recovery, and they were asymptomatic where as Gaviria was actually sick with it.

Bouhanni?

dahat

Weepsie wrote: »

Or he has TdF on his mind when he went through a similar gap and then was demoted

Demoted not DQ'd, good man. Its definitely on his mind there for me..

Defeat at the tour regardless of the demotion hurt him more I think. Watched that Quickstep documentary they have up from the tour earlier and it was an eye opener how focused they were on him. So you imagine FGJ are having the same talks in the bus every day at the Giro.

Richard Hillman

Simon Yates has tested positive for Covid.

I was thinking this the other day. The first big climb of the tour and he was out the back early doors.