Cycling

Big Dog wrote:Just got back from a long weekend away & catching up with the Giro. Dennis must have put in a blinder to take pink but after stage three his lead has been cut to nothing. BTW how weird is it to have a rest day after only three stages?

But they have just been through the desert on a bike with no name.

It was good to be out of the rain?

Dennis retains the pink after stage five however Dumoulin is just 1s back. Froome seems to be struggling after his fall in the TT & is back in 19th place.
The Mt Etna stage will probably see a new leader tonight.

I heard on the wireless this morning that an Oz cyclist has been banned for a over a year for ducking ASADA appointments

Great day for Mitchelton-Scott.
1st Esteban Chavez
2nd Simon Yates

Yates now in pink.

Italian rider Sam Bennett () outsprinted Viviani to take stage 7. Yates retained the pink jersey.

Simon Yates wins on Gran Sasso.

Froome cracked badly in the final 2km losing 1'06"

Yates wins another stage defeating Dumoulin.

WideWally wrote:Yates wins another stage defeating Dumoulin.

Cracking finish.

Sam Bennett flew past everyone to win at Imola. Great to see the motor sport circuit used for the finish.

Great sprint by Bennett at the finish. Yates still in pink.

Italian sprinter Elia Viviani wins his 3rd stage of the Giro & increases his lead in the Points Classification.

Looking forward to tomorrow's Mountain stage when they finish on Monte Zoncolan where they will encounter some very steep gradients.

https://www.bikerebel.com/cycling-the-alps/profiles/monte-zoncolan/

Froome finally came out to play & took the stage with Yates a close second over the line & extending his lead.

Another stage win by Yates sees him extend his lead over Dumoulin to 2m 11s. He'll need it with the individual TT coming up on Tuesday.

Viviani wins his fourth stage in this Giro. Yates maintains his lead & is looking good with more climbing stages to come.

For the first time, Simon Yates has cracked on a mountain stage losing 28 seconds to Dumoulin, Pozzovivo & Froome. His lead is now 28 seconds over Dumoulin.

Yates struggling bigtime today. He has already lost more than 2 minutes & there is 81km to go!

Froome's performance today has been the most impressive I have seen since Floyd Landis on Col de la Colombiere in 2006. He currently leads Dumoulin by 2'21". Yates will lose more than 20 minutes today. He is having a horror day.

Has to one of the great stage wins of all time.

What a fantastic performance.

WideWally wrote:Froome's performance today has been the most impressive I have seen since Floyd Landis on Col de la Colombiere in 2006.

I’m sure a lot will throw around allegations of similar methods, as well. Even with what’s hanging over him though, surely he couldn’t believe he had so little to lose that he would dope himself up to the eyeballs and charge out on his own like Landis did? Still, you don’t really know what to believe in this sport, perhaps we never have known...

In terms of great solo attacks, I guess Andy Schleck’s valiant attempt to break Cadel Evans in 2011 is up there as well, though I don’t think he actually won the stage in the end but did distance all his main rivals.

He did win that stage. He also took the jersey. It's just that he sucked in time trialling.

And about Froome... it's only salbutemol really.

Surely the sport has now totally lost any credibility it may have had.

tricycle wrote:He did win that stage. He also took the jersey. It's just that he sucked in time trialling.

I think I was mixing up/merging that stage and the one after... he did win the breakaway stage and was just short of yellow after that, with long-standing surprise leader Voeckler just hanging on.

The following day he allowed Rolland and a few others to get away on Alpe d’Huez, but still took yellow from the fading Voeckler, though not distancing Evans by enough to hold on in the time trial.

Schleck seemed like another “eternal second” at that stage, but did later inherit a title from Dirty Bertie, before injuries ruined his career just as the Sky era dawned. Shame we never got to see him and Froome going toe to toe in the Alps.

And Froome now (effectively) has the Grand Slam. Could all count for nothing in the record books, of course... but will be expecting to add another in July.

I wonder if Yates even bothered showing up after yesterday...