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Stage 12 : Modena โ Viadana, 172 km (Thursday 22, dep. 13:15-13:25, ETA 17:05-17:25)
Stage without difficulties, 50 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule applies for falls/incidents in the finish.
Only splits larger or equal to 3 seconds are counted.
Delays : 7% if โค 40 km/h; 8% if โค 45 km/h; 10% otherwise. Expected average speeds: 43 km/h โ 19'17'', 45 km/h โ 18'24'', 47 km/h โ 21'54''.
And our usual 3 Italians (1 Polti, 1 Bardiani, 1 Arkรฉa) broke away soon after the start. No other scenario could be expected from such a stage: first two thirds for a small breakaway getting the small points/prizes from auxiliary classifications sprints, last third to prepare for a bunch sprint.
At this hour, Turner (๐ฌ๐ง Ineos) who finished 3^rd^ in the sprint but caused the crash at 1.5 km from the line by voluntarily bumping into an Alpecin, doesn't seem to have been relegated. Strange, but we shall see if he is still 3^rd^ tomorrow.
Nope. Turner seem to get off scot-free for the crash he caused which delayed half of the peloton, while others who performed the same action without causing any harm previously got relegated...
But one of the Italians from the break away got a fine, a time penalty, a mountain points penalty and sprint points penalty. This dangerous thug committed a very serious offense: he grabbed a can of soda a spectator held him, over 40 miles away from the finish. Sigh...
Stage 13: Rodigo โ Vicenza, 180 km (Friday 23, dep. 12:55-13:05, ETA 17:00-17:25)
A stage for punchers; perhaps sprinters-punchers.
Stage with light difficulties, 50 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule doesnโt apply.
Delays: 9% if โค 37 km/h; 10% if โค 41 km/h; 11% otherwise). Expected average speeds: 42 km/h โ 28'23'', 44 km/h โ 27'04'', 46 km/h โ 25'44''.
Pedersen looks like a good candidate for this stage and the following.
No attack right at the start, but after a few miles a group of 9 broke away, then Visma hunted those, like Soudal riders, who wanted to join the breakaway.
Germani (๐ฎ๐น FDJ) stayed a long time ahead of the breakaway, and when he was about to get caught, Scaroni (๐ฎ๐น Astana) joined him from the peloton. They only were caught in the climb of the time bonus sprint, 10 km from the finish line, at the bottom for Germani, after the top for Scaroni.
(In the peloton, there had been a strong acceleration by Ineos in the main climb of the day 40-50 km from the line, which caused several splits, in which Pedersen and Van Aert were caught. But the race calmed down as it as reaching the top, and most splits regrouped.)
Then Bardet (๐ซ๐ท Picnic) left in the descent after the time bonus sprint; he was soon caught up by Vacek (๐จ๐ฟ Lidl-Trek) tanks to a split caused by another Lidl-Trek rider at the front of the peloton. They (well, mostly Vacek) managed to hold the peloton at bay on the flat until the final climb, but it consumed all their strength and they both soon blew up as this climb started.
A strong pace was lead, prominently by Alpecin who hadn't noticed that Groves had dropped! When the final ramp began 200-250 m before the line, Pedersen (๐ฉ๐ฐ Lidl-Trek) attacked first, Van Aert (๐ง๐ช Visma) took his wheel, and Del Toro (๐ฒ๐ฝ UAE) who was a bit better placed followed him. The position remained so, with a small gap between Van Aert and Del Toro and a bit larger gap between the Mexican and the rest. The rest was surprising lead by Rochas (๐ซ๐ท FDJ), 4^th^ before Roglitch and all.
NB: Del Toro (๐ฒ๐ฝ UAE) let Ayuso (๐ช๐ธ UAE) pass ahead of him at the time bonus sprint 10 km from the line, but as he got the time bonus at the end, overall he gained 2 seconds over his leader ๐
4 victories for Pedersen (๐ฉ๐ฐ Lidl-Trek), and a good chance for a 5^th^ one tomorrow again.
Good stage, interesting last 50 km with events at various levels of the race.
Thank you for writing such great descriptions, I don't have much time to watch cycling these days so it's appreciated!
Thanks! Well, my descriptions are not gospel either. I mean, it is a selection of a few facts I recall, and there are my own biases in selecting and reporting; also I generally don't stay in front of TV all along (and some days I am in front of the TV but I start snoring) so there are bits I may have missed, and sometimes those bits could shine a different light on later events. Ah, and I noticed I sometimes recall things in the wrong chronological order ๐
Stage 10 : Lucca โ Pisa, 29 km (Tuesday 20, dep. 13:15, ETA 17:14)
Time trial. 15 points to the winner.
Delays : 30%.
Surely this is 90% a win for Tarling, right? Unless he's ill in some way...
Apart from Tarling it looks like a day where the GC guys need to do well.
If this is one of the rare days of the year when Plapp๐ฆ๐บ is willing to ride, perhaps he can achieve something? He did a good training on the same distance on Saturday. ๐
Reminder of the 1^st^ TT result:
The first 6 riders were within 7 seconds. Ayuso was 17 seconds behind.
The principle of the 2 TT is the same: very flat with a small climb in the middle. The small climb tomorrow is even a bit lower than on the first week-end, and the total distance is doubled.
Oh my, Roglitch already fell during recce...
Of course, no gloves, in order to feel the pavement better.
+5 GC spots today, so maybe falling during recon is his superpower
Yeah, in the sense that it gave him a true feeling of what to do and what not to do if it was going to rain. And it rained over all GC riders (at different spots of the route for different leaders). ๐
Stage 14: Trรฉvise โ Gorizia, 195 km (Saturday 24, dep. 12:45-12:55, arr. 17:00-17:30)
Stage for sprinters-punchers (meaning this time "sprinters who can pass small walls"). A few inroads into Slovenia๐ธ๐ฎ (the country of cycling since 2018) in the final part of the stage.
Stage with light difficulties, 50 points to the winner.
The '3 km' rule applies for falls/incidents within 5 km from the finish.
Delays: 9% if โค 37 km/h; 10% if โค 41 km/h; 11% otherwise). Expected average speeds: 43 km/h โ 29'55'', 45 km/h โ 28'43'', 47 km/h โ 27'17''.
There was a stop at km 0, for advertisement of the Pinarello factory.
Then a breakaway of a dozen of riders developed. First there was a FDJ, then De Bondt (Decathlon) joined him, then a group of 8 including Van Aert, Asgreen, Cerny and I guess 1 or 2 riders managed to join them a bit later.
Yet this breakaway disbanded / was caught up; and a new breakaway of 2 + 3 riders was formed after 20-25 km, including Asgreen again and another FDJ. That's the 'good' one, apparently.
Why is polti pulling the ayuso/roglic group??
They have their GC guy in the group, Piganzoli (only 17^th^ but that's relatively important for a small team like this). I thought they had their sprinter too, but I am not sure.
Yeah but you still have to leave it to bora/uae to do the chase. Wasting energy that could be used later
Used when?
Dunno. Breakaway in later stages... get your TV time later in the race, not pulling 2 teams with more to lose and motivation to pull... Either way, seems like a waste of energy for no gain
Maybe i play too much pro cycling manager trying to conserve the green energy bar
Dunno. Breakaway in later stagesโฆ
Yeah... well, it is going to become harder to get in breakaways, from now on, so I am not sure they can join anyway. However, the first quarter/third of these mountain stages will still often be relatively flat and host 1 or 2 intermediate sprints that can interest Polti, so they should indeed try to break away. Yesterday, a couple of their riders just worked a few miles (altogether, the crash was about 22 km from the finish) and Monday is a rest day, it shouldn't have serious consequences on the future of the team.
not pulling 2 teams with more to lose and motivation to pullโฆ
During the Tour of Abruzzi, I had noticed that the Polti team liked to pull in the last 10 miles of the race when they had a numerous presence ahead, instead of letting UAE work. Yet in the final walls, none of their riders were in top-10... So it was a bit weird already, especially as it happened the same way (pulling when UAE could have done it + failing in the last km).
a new breakaway of 2 + 3 riders was formed after 20-25 km, including Asgreen again and another FDJ. Thatโs the โgoodโ one, apparently.
Definitely the good one! Big surprise today, as Asgreen (๐ฉ๐ฐ EF) was never caught up by the peloton and wins the stage!
Another of the 4 members of the breakaway (the 5^th^ one Meintjes (๐ฟ๐ฆ Intermarchรฉ) chose to drop early from the breakaway โ or his director chose for him โ: if they had known...), Mirco Maestri (๐ฎ๐น Polti) was caught near the finish, managed to stay in the first group and sprint to finish 6^th^!
The breakaway never benefited of a decent gap. 2 minutes top, generally around 1'30''.
Nobody in the peloton did anything in the main climb, but Ineos accelerated 50 m from the top and did the descent full speed, reducing the gap by 30 seconds. Until it started getting wet. Also, until the first Ineos finally noticed he hadn't been pulling anyone for a while, as his teammate couldn't follow and burned himself trying to catch up instead of being sheltered...
In the breakaway, the FDJ rider dropped in an uphill sector.
Then the main event happened: a fall upon the cobbles in a small street. I think, but I am not sure at all, that Pedersen (๐ฉ๐ฐ Lidl-Trek) and another rider fell first, then behind them Ciccone๐ฎ๐น (Lidl-Trek) and another teammate. As it was narrow, most of the peloton was blocked, while Visma started (or kept on?) pulling at the front. Pedersen didn't seem badly hit, but didn't really attempt to chase; Ciccone was more seriously hurt.
This small front group (which included the isolated pink jersey Del Toro (๐ฒ๐ฝ UAE) and Carapaz (๐ช๐จ EF) was pulled by Visma and Alpecin. They spent all their strength pulling for 20 km, and for a long time were only 15-25 seconds from the breakaway, but they never managed to catch up.
S. Yates (๐ฌ๐ง Visma) becomes 2^nd^ of the GC, as Ayuso (๐ช๐ธ UAE) was delayed by the crash. Second biggest winner is Carapaz who arrived in the same group and passes 4^th^ before Roglitch (๐ธ๐ฎ Bora).
Beside Ciconne, Tiberi (๐ฎ๐น Bahrain ) is the biggest loser, as he finished 1'44' behind the Del Toro/Yates group.
Biggest winner in my heart is derek gee!! Jumps 4 places into 6th!!! ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ
And one more this day. ๐
Stage 11 : Viareggio โ Castelnovo ne' Monti, 186 km (Wednesday 21, dep. 12:05-12:20, ETA 17:00-17:30)
Stage with medium difficulties, 25 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule doesnโt apply.
Delays : 11% if โค 35 km/h; 12% if โค 39 km/h; 13% otherwise. Expected average speeds: 36 km/h โ 37'34'', 38 km/h โ 35'17'', 40 km/h โ 36'01''.
Big tough climb in the middle of the stage, as well as several smoother difficulties after that, make it a stage for breakaways. But where will they manage to break from the peloton: in the first lump? after the intermediate sprint? in the second lump? or only in the tough climb?
breakaways. But where will they manage to break from the peloton: in the first lump? after the intermediate sprint? in the second lump? or only in the tough climb?
No one could really break until just a couple of miles from the bottom of the main climb, where a huge group detached under Pedersen's (and others') thrust from the peloton .
And... the win wasn't for a breakaway rider!
Fortunato๐ฎ๐น did most of the big climb alone ahead and took the juicy 1^st^ category points . Behind, there was not much of a gap between the big group and the peloton which wasn't really letting go. Gaudu๐ซ๐ท which was expected to go in a breakaway today, was dropped by the peloton in the first kilometre of the climb, or so.
After the big climb, a group of 5 gathered around Fortunato๐ฎ๐น, including Plapp๐ฆ๐บ again, Poels๐ณ๐ฑ, Quintana๐จ๐ด and Bilbao๐ช๐ธ. They rode and rode and rode, but UAE kept them under 3 minutes (I think?). It allowed Fortunato๐ฎ๐น to grab the points of the first of the two 2^nd^ category climbs. But then it became more difficult, as Trek came pulling, using a still present Pedersen๐ฉ๐ฐ, and the gap shrunk and shrunk.
The breakaway was caught in the beginning of the second 2^nd^ category climb, Fortunato๐ฎ๐น surrendering first, as it became clear that he had no chance to reach the top ahead of the peloton.
Then stuff got a bit fuzzy for me, as I happened to have a bit of a kip. I don't know in which order stuff happened ๐ Carapaz๐ช๐จ vigorously attacked in that climb making a gap of over 1 mn I believe. Behind, there were several small attacks/acceleration where Ayuso and Roglitch didn't shine, to say the less, contrarily to Del Toro๐ฒ๐ฝ. In the end, the gap was falling but Carapaz๐ช๐จ kept enough to win. Behind, Del Toro๐ฒ๐ฝ won the group sprint, always watching behind him, looking for Ayuso. Last time bonus went to Ciccone๐ฎ๐น, who beat Pidcock who had launched the sprint ahead, and Bernal.
After 20 minutes, Gaudu๐ซ๐ท still hasn't crossed the line. Good thing for him that delays are huge today. Or maybe the good thing for him would be to get out of the race?
After 20 minutes, Gaudu๐ซ๐ท still hasnโt crossed the line. Good thing for him that delays are huge today. Or maybe the good thing for him would be to get out of the race?
He would appear to be on antibiotics...
Stage 15: Fiume Veneto โ Asiago, 219 km (Sunday 25, dep. 11:25-11:35, arr. 16:50-17:30)
A long stage with two long but not very steep climbs.
Stage with high difficulties, 15 points to the winner.
The 3 km rule applies for falls/incidents in the finish.
Delays : 16% if โค 30 km/h; 17% if โค 34 km/h; 18% otherwise. Expected average speeds: 37 km/h โ 1h04'16'', 39 km/h โ 1h00'40'', 41 km/h โ 57'04''.
We can note how the time bonus sprint has been located within the second long climb, probably to trigger the final attacks around that point. Also, delays are huge (โ1h), so even riders in trouble at the start of first long climb should finish in time.
Too many things happened today, for me to describe them ๐ฅณ