2020 Giro d'Italia Discussion

We can gloss over that.

Hindley at the front makes sense too. If Teo takes enough time, and he beats him in the sprint, he takes the pink. So, it’s a win win with him there.

I’ve been waiting for this moment since the Ineos Alpe du Zwift race.
It was pretty evident that Dennis had amazing W/Kg, but he still ad to prove it on the road

Amazing stage. Top 3 within 15s of each other in the GC. Should make for an interesting final stages.

Team Sunweb with questionable tactics in this one. Leaving kelderman to ride alone for most to the race. The mood at the dinner table today should be interesting.

I’m a little sad Almeida lost the pink jersey, but I it was to be expected. His run was amazing never the less. Super proud of him and hope he keeps growing into the future. He proved he can be a GT contender.

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I’m not sure - I think Sunweb played it perfectly - Kelderman just didn’t have the legs to follow with the very best, but he’s still the best TTer of the lot.
The way I see it, they now have 2 options, Hedley on Sestrieres to mark Teo, and Kelderman for the TT.
PLus a stage win. :slight_smile:

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Great stage that. The whole Giro lit up now. Top 3 within 15 seconds and a TT to come.
Sunweb just got away with that

I applauded Almeida as he crossed the line. Did the pink jersery proud.

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I am inclined to agree with that

If it wasnt for the TT my money would now be on Tao

If Hindley dropped back to help Kelderman, maybe he could have kept more of a buffer in the GC. Now they risk losing the giro. 15 seconds is nothing, tao can absolutely win.

Not sure who time trials better of TGH or Hinley. But Hinley looked strong today and is in it to win it now.

I already expected that Tao and Hinley were a big threat to João Almeida and also to Kelderman. Its all possible on the podium places between those three now. Hope João keeps in the fight for the top 5 or at least can stick inside the top 10 in Milão.

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If I had to stick a finger in the air I’d go with TGH over Hindley on the basis that he’s the taller rider, Ineos generally have decent TT positions and setup, and he’s at least done some national and European level ITT races which suggests he’s taken it reasonably seriously. TTs in the third week of GCs tend to be as much down to who’s got anything left in the tank as anything else though!

Questionable race tactics by Sunweb?? They got a stage win and 1+2 place in the GC. What more could you possibly want as a team lol?

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As always, if it works, they are genious. But if it doesn’t…

The giro did not end today, and if they lose the pink jersey in the end, it may be down to this decision.

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From my couch it looks like a bigger gamble might’ve been seeing Kelderman struggle on the second to last climb and then hold Hindley up to maybe lose everything to pace someone that wasn’t doing well vs letting Hindley not work with Hart but still go for the stage and possibly GC :man_shrugging:

Sunweb played the tactics perfectly today…Kelderman had minutes in hand, so they could afford to have Hindley stay with TGH. Since he was not contributing to the pace, he got a free ride and managed to take the stage win.

If he had dropped back to pace Kelderman he too would have lost time, which almost certainly would have guaranteed an Ineos win.

Did anyone else notice Kelderman’s chain and how short it was? Go look at him around 14.5km to go…he is cross-chaining big-big and his RD is damn near horizontal. Horrendous setup and definitely not efficient.

A sad development. Let’s hope it is a one off rotten egg

https://www.uci.org/inside-uci/press-releases/uci-statement-on-matteo-spreafico

Leaving 10" bonification, a stage win AND a lot of energy in the balance.
I stand by what I said earlier (and agreeing with you :slight_smile: ) : I think they played it very well.

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Definitely not perfect.

Manage to bring Tao into play more though so Im happy.

I just don’t see how that could be avoided on a stage like this. If Wilco doesn’t have the legs (relatively) this was the best they could do.
They rolled before the stelvio to make it difficult for the others. It succeeded, apart from the 2 ineos. Look at how much time they put on everyone else!

Also, it’s Dennis who did most of the damage on Kelderman, once Tao was on his own, his impact was limited.
I really think it was a good strategy on their side.