UKC

Somebody got pushed into the barriers by a teammate - WHY?!?!?!

It's testament to the "safe" barrier that he managed to slide along the sloping smooth barrier and keep up.

Wrong choice in a split second when you are at your limit? 

Pleasing to see some of the changes this year regarding safety and litter actually being of some importance, rather than worrying about sock height. 

Last 20 minutes of Tour of Algarve was much more exciting than Giro today. 

Yeah... head down... went the wrong side of his lead out man. Like you said, thank God for those safer barriers. At least it didn't involve Groenewegen, I bet he'll keep things on the straight and narrow now.

The barrier (and the rider's skill) worked incredibly well - normally that would have been multiple bodies flying.

Well, that was a miscalculation by the peloton... but a top effort from Van Der Hoorn!

And this possibly required an change of shorts:
youtube.com/watch?v=7rbKxUAfjqc&

The last 10-20km was real edge of the seat stuff - a brilliant result. Two consecutive wins by riders in their first grand tour?

His surprise on the final bend realising that he’d got it was a delight to watch

Not quite 3 in a row for a first Grand Tour rider... but still a debutant Grand Tour stage winner. None of the top guns showing anything yet and tomorrow is almost certainly gonna be a bunch sprint.

Egan Bernal looking better, early days but hopefully back on form to contest GC soon.

Yeah, there's a couple of "hilly" days to sort them out a bit, but Sunday looks brutal and then we'll know who's hot and who's not. Loads of climbing and finishing on double digit gravel! 😵

Yeah I’d agree with this assessment. Lands and Bernal both looked far stronger than the rest despite the lack of gaps. This could of course be down to dealing with a day of filthy weather better than the others... but the brits should be well acclimatised to that sort of crud being from the North West.

Landa out. Don't know if it was him who hit the island or whether Dombrowski took him out after hitting it. Had a guy on it as well who was warning the riders... still I rode into a parked car recently... all on my own.

The latter I think. Broken clavicle and ribs apparently - might be tight for the tour for Landa. 

End of Giro for Sivakov,  too.

Nothing ever changes. The UCI will blame the riders and then implement another stupid safety rule while also allowing stages with unnecessarily dodgy finishes.

As an aside, Bouhanni got a 2 month suspension today for acts not too dissimilar to Groenewegen. As far as I can tell, the latter got an extra 7 months because the race organisers installed unsatisfactory barriers. Just UCI things.

he got such a long ban as it was the end of the season and a 2 month ban would have meant very little

 

Not sure why a call can’t go out on the radio as the peloton approaches hazards like that. 

Well, well, well.... was that an early statement of intent? It's starting to shape up. Sunday could be epic, especially if the weather is a bit grotty. Monte Zoncolan and the queen stage still to come though.

Yep - ban the super tuck, but set routes that have man killing obstacles in the middle of the road.

The Amstel Gold race was even worse, every lap they had two steel bollards to avoid in the middle of the road when they were going c.70km/h n a descent.

Bernal looks excellent though, as does Remco. I can’t see Bernal losing unless he crashes or has a mechanical, but Remco looks like the future.

Egan and Remco are young... so is Tadej. The Yates brothers are hardly long in the tooth either! The next few years could see some epic battles.

I know - I did regret writing off Bernal off as an old man as I posted. At 24 he’s still to hit his prime.

It’s a shame we never got to see Pog&Rog vs Froome in his prime, but the sport moves on.

Van Aert vs MVDP in the one day events and 5 or 6 world class cyclists in the grand tours. Great stuff. It all looks very exciting for the years ahead. 

Nice to see Ineos train in action on the climb - I've missed it. Although JVM were worthy successors.

I like Bernal being in the mix, last year it felt his career was in decline.

And white jersey holder has taken the GC? The youth in charge as is now traditional!

Caleb Ewan is on fire!

Of course he’s out now. Another dull-ish stage today, but tomorrow looks excellent.

If people have Strava I highly recommend following Filippo Ganna. All of his power data is public and it’s truly humbling.

He reminds me a bit of Cav with that very compact sprinting position. 

He was apparently never going to the end anyway - so I guess as soon as it got too hard for him he was always going to be out. Think his plan (if I’ve been following correctly) is to try and get stage wins at each grand tour. Job done here of course.

Gravel tomorrow!

Dull for the GC but good racing for the stage.

I wonder if we’ll ever see Ewan vs. the rejuvenated Cav?

Sad to say I could only see one winner there.

Holy shit what a finish!

Quite a statement from Bernal!

Simon Yates seems to be keeping a low profile this year (either that or he’s only just hanging on).

Yates is still only 55s so not done but it looks like it all hinges on Bernals back.

Egan goes beast mode! There's still Monte Zoncolan and the queen stage to come... it's not said to be the hardest GT for no reason! Remco and plenty of others still in the mix, but Bernal does have that train!

That high-side for Mahorič! 😲 Thank God he seemed OK, but still had to abandon.

I still quite fancy Remco. He said in an interview that he couldn’t match the explosive attacks in one of the earlier stages, but he’s clearly got a superhuman engine on him. There’s still the ITT final stage and Bernal might need to healthy lead by that point to hold him off.

Hats off to Bernal though. What a beast.

Aside from Yates or Carthy, I would like to see that as well. Quite unbelievably, it's been over 40 years since a Belgian won the GC of a Grand Tour. It's also over 30 years since a Frenchman won one!

Incredible when Bernal overtook the leaders leaving everybody standing.

Certainly shows who is the boss.

Good news on Matej Mohoric - "No broken bones, minor concussion and no headache". Super lucky is an understatement.

https://mobile.twitter.com/matmohoric

"I'm okay. My @MeridaBikes and @RudyProject1985 took the most of the impact and I was super lucky. No broken bones, minor concussion and no headache at the moment. I am monitored by our medical staff."

I’m not entirely convinced Bernal is gapping Remco sufficiently to build up enough of a margin for expected losses in the TT at the end.

Still early days though, Bernal could properly crack Remco yet.

Good point, top ten within 62seconds of Bernal.

1, 2, 3 in the GC are 1, 2, 3 in the white jersey standings - amazing really.

Has that ever happened before? I imagine the point of the white jersey competition is that young ‘uns aren’t supposed  to have the stamina to compete with the grownups.

It’s early days right now. We haven’t had a properly tough finish yet.

There’s still 4? hard mountain top finishes to come. 

I reckon Bernal needs 90 seconds going into the TT to be able to hold on. That’s just one bad day in the mountains.

I doubt it. 

Bernal's tour win showed every DS what can be done by a new signing and now everybody is doing it. It only took a hundred years for anybody to realise!

Yeah, it's really interesting. Recovery happens faster when you're younger, but the thinking was that building up that base of endurance took a while so older riders coped better. As a result a team was built around the older riders and younger riders on GTs rarely got a chance to shine. Plus, for quite a while in the sport's history unless you were on the 'full program' you couldn't compete, and in many teams that was reserved for the proven riders, who of course were older.

Training seems to have moved on significantly in the last couple of decades especially at a junior level. G claims that top 15 years old have coaches putting almost as much time and thought into their programs as his. Very different to when he was 15

I almost find myself rooting for Nibali, on behalf of the more mature riders!

What a stage!

Yes. Bernal starting to make it look easy... hard to see anyone getting away from him in this form. 

I’m pleased to see Yates still in it though- his knack of lurking at the back of the right group hasn’t let him down.

I thought ineos rode a blinder today.

Ganna putting down the power in the first gravel section, the other domestiques hanging on in there to force the pace on the climbing sections. Textbook stuff.

Bernal does have serious gravel pedigree with his 3rd in the Strade Bianche so this was always going to be good stage for him.

Shame about Remco. It looks like his legs and Almeida’s “assistance” weren’t there today.

Evenepoel needs a huge day tomorrow or else he's gonna have to do something on the Monte Zoncolan or do a Froome on the queen stage. In truth, it looks like Bernal's to lose, though Yates and Carthy are still in it.

Wow! That was explosive.

Ineos rode great but Bernal is completely unafraid when on his own.

That’s what’s making me warm to him. I’ve been sceptical, especially after the way he won the Tour in 2019 (not his fault, I know). But this is proper racing!

According to those in the know he should gain ~1min on Bernal in the final 30km time trial (based on being 2"/km faster on the first stage).

Though of course a time trial after 3 weeks o racing for someone who's never raced more than a week is different to going on day 1.

Shark attack?

Edit: Nah... squished by the train!

Great tactics from Vendrame... splitting up the breakaway on the last climb, then sitting on when those who caught him had to push before the top, knowing all the while he was the better sprinter.

Quiet day for the peloton and the GC, but the shark thought he smelled a bit of blood.

Vendrame rode fantastically. Enjoyed seeing Brambillo and Bennett argue with each other too (Brambillo has been relegated to 4th for his finish line antics it seems).

In hindsight it wasn’t really a stage for the GC guys unless someone wanted to do a Froome, but that probably wasn’t a bad thing given how damp the descents were.

Shame about the guys who left the race today. The commentators didn’t seem to think De Marchi’s injuries were too bad, but I wouldn’t fancy a broken collarbone, 6 fractured ribs and 2 fractured vertebrae...

The thing about 'doing a Froome' is that the race leader needs to be showing signs of weakness, has a weaker team and your team has to be drilled so that everyone is pulling hard to set up the attack.

I don't think any of that applies here.

*Brambilla...

Accept for... Ineos Grenadiers!

I was thinking the same... when Froome went on the Finestre, the Sky-train had already broken Yates and Pozzovivo and the team mates of any other GC contender. It was also set up with the usual military precision... even Brailsford was out on the road handing out mussettes.

Well today’s stage was dull.

I’d actually taken the week off work to try to get some miles in and use up some annual leave, but I’ve just ended up watching the Giro with the rubbish weather. Today I’d rather have been working...

Moscon looks fine which is good news for Ineos. 

If you’re contemplating watching the highlights this evening maybe give them a miss (there are none).

I looked at the profile first thing this morning and thought I'd give it a miss!! Like yoursel I'd planned to get some decent miles in this week but in all honesty I'm a bit of a fair weather cyclist!!

last 3 seconds were fantastic! Great to see Nizzolo finally get his win

Zoncolan tomorrow should be fun

Anyone here actually done the Zoncolan? If so, just how hard is it?

I have only done it from the Ovaro side. What made that so hard was the inconsistent gradient compared to say some of the Austrian roads up to ski stations with similar overall stats. (10-14k at 11-12%). Looking at the profile of the side they are going up, the majority seems ok (on paper, and not racing) at around the 8% that you will find on most alpine climbs. The last 3k has he same stats. and looks a little like Hard Knott, only 50% longer?    

We have splits at 44k out.

Exciting stuff.

Edit: it’s back together...

Breakaway has rode so hard! Bennett must fancy his chances now....!

Bernal is just a different class.

I was so impressed by the breakaway. Working together. No one skipping pulls before the final climb.

Bernal is an animal. Could he ride the tour?

Don’t think he’ll be allowed. Ineos have a lot of leaders to juggle.

He’s definitely on fire. I’d love to see how he’d fare against the Slovenians right now but I do think it’s unlikely. 

Agree it’s very unlikely. The course doesn’t suit him anyway. Far too much time on the TT bike needed.

I hope he goes to the Vuelta - although I have to keep reminding myself, he does need to win the Giro first. It’s not over yet.

Great news for Yates too. Very impressive from him.

Bernal is the weediest looking hard man ever!

Funny contrast between winner (skinny) and second place (stocky, didn't look he should be in contention on that climb).

Simon Yates in second, that's a good result but Bernal and Ineos looking super strong.

There was a tweet the other day of Bernal and Ganna in a car with each other, Ganna's leg up resting on something. Couldntsork out which had the biggest girth - Ganna's quad or Bernal's entire body.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Eganbernal/status/1395428386156290053

I know. People already talking about it as if it’s a done deal….but as we know, anything can happen still….and I’m hoping it does

It ain't over until the corpulent female warbles... but I'm not betting against the train.

Massive mountain stage today, nothing but mountains from the start. 

Rain, snow and 1 degree before you account for that on the passses to make things that bit tastier.

Sadly/thankfully today’s stage was shortened significantly.

Bernal is still in his default setting (beast mode).

If anyone’s thinking of watching the highlights later there was issues with the TV coverage (they were relying on 4G for the live coverage which didn’t really work). Not sure if they’ll be able to put something together for a highlights show (doubt it).

very disappointing to have it first shortened and then no footage

def something up with Yates but it seems that his giro is basically over sadly

I expect they’ll have enough pictures to make the highlights show. Just a shame most of the critical bits were lost...

Shit day at work and more work to do this evening. Still I thought, I'll have a classic Giro stage to watch to give me a nice break. Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

That was strange - probably what TV coverage was like 50 years ago!

I keep laughing at the commentators not having a clue what has happened. I'll watch the Quest highlights to see if they know more.

Better luck later in the week.

Some lad managed to live stream it from his phone onto Instagram. 
 

Funny how they shorten a stage because of bad weather and the riders are wearing fingerless gloves and no leg warmers. 

I expect they were working quite hard and bad weather can mean a variety of things.

Plenty were wearing legwarmers.  Plus they didn't only shorten it, I think they cut the highest climb as well.

They mentioned cold and rain/snow with clear roads. I’m not sure that’s a good reason to change the stage.  High winds are a different matter. I suppose last year’s rider strike because it was raining played into the organiser’s decision. Be interesting to see the basis for the decision. They’ll be racing it on Zwift soon. 

Can I ask what you do for a living?

I reckon Bernal was riding alone for 20km which is pretty weird. I can't remember ever seeing* GC leader alone like that before. 

*well actually I didn't see it today either.

The bits that are on the highlights are when the weather was good.

The rest of footage was obscured by torrential rain. I saw a couple of bits of footage of the conditions at the summits they didn’t cross and it looked horrendous (snow settling on the road ect).

Factor in the safety situation (ambulance numbers were an issue yesterday) if riders were all over the road and crashing/ dropping out due to the conditions it was probably the right decision.

As a fan I’d like to have to watched the full stage, but if the weather was too bad for the helicopters it was probably the right call.

Is this a bit fishy or is the competition just not up to scratch?

Bardet by comparison looked a bit out of it at the top.

Where did he come from? I hadn't even noticed he was in the race until he came in after Bernal today.

For want of any other footage from the day to judge his prowess, Bernal probably deserves the pink jersey just for managing not to stack it while taking off his jacket 'no-hands' on the approach to the finish line, around a corner, slightly uphill and on wet cobbles. Chapeau, or whatever the Italian equivalent is

There is a special Ineos training programme for that.

Yeah Bardet has been fairly anonymous so far but has been lurking with intent and seems this was the moment to move up.

I was hiding behind the sofa watching him on the final approach, especially when he got his hand stuck in the sleeve! How he didn’t stack it is a wonder.

I’ll tell you what I do for a hobby - ride my bike in all weathers, without getting paid for it or having millions of viewers waiting to watch. 

And yet they let Paris-Roubaix go ahead. 

Do you drive safety rescue vehicles over multiple 2200m passes in sleet, though ? Because someone would have to.  

I don’t think it’s fishy at all.

He attacked with 5km to go of the ascent and only made a gap of 40 seconds by the summit (we’ve seen long range attacks before when the finish is a descent). 
 

Caruso also has made his power data public. He was putting out 375w for the final 40 minutes of the climb at 68kg, a very tame 5.5w/kg. Bernal wasn’t that much faster - no freakish data here.

Like they’ve been doing for decades. All with worse equipment. 

Gnarr dude.

If you don't realise already how that's different from pro racing then there's not a lot of point in me trying to explain it to you!

The Paris-Roubaix hasn’t gone ahead since 2019.

It’s also a completely different race. Racing around wet, rural, Northern France at 45km/h is a lot safer than descending remote snowy Italian mountains at 80+km/h.

It comes back to the point around rider safety. Riders can’t expect not to crash, but they can expect to have the best medical care if they do.

If riders are spread out over the road you need a massive safety team to look after them all. Which it looks like the organisers understandably don’t have.

You can chose to ride in all weather of course. I imagine you’re not pushing the same speeds as the pro-peloton so the risk is lower, but more importantly no one is responsible for your safety, so you can do what you want.

Due to covid rather than concerns rider safety? 

Not sure Dan Martin agrees. Comparing his approach to the strada bianci stage to the year to when he and Quintana descended the Stelvio, in similar conditions to yesterday, when the race was allegedly neutralised. Perhaps age and parenthood have had an effect?

So you're not absolutely caning it does wet and slippery descents trying to win a race? I'm sure 99.9% of amateurs add an extra degree of caution when descending in the wet (or even dry) which would drop you right out of a grand your. Riders shouldn't have to take such risks IMO. Nobody wants to see a grand tour where the best GC riders all break their collarbones.

I don’t accept the proposition that descending the mountains in yesterday’s conditions would been significantly more likely so result in crashes than many other race situations. Somewhere a line has to be drawn between was is dangerous but acceptable and dangerous and unacceptable- if that line sways too far one way the sport becomes unviable, because the whole thing is dangerous. Paris-Roubaix is carnage every year and nobody bats an eyelid. The riders should be skilled enough to ride to the conditions. 

You do know the bikes have brakes? 

A line was drawn for safety reasons by those who had skin in the game. 

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/this-is-the-new-route-for-stage-16-of-th...

Clearly the riders and the race organisers disagreed. As we saw the day before yesterday it only needs an accident requiring 3 ambulances to stop the race - how on earth are you going to do that with riders spread out in 1s and 2s all over the course? 
 

As mentioned above, 50kph over cobbles != 80+ kph down a wet, snowy, twisty alpine descent. IMO that’s unnecessary danger - but if you fancy doing that then all power to you. If you want to do three of those in a row in 2*C rain/sleet/snow and somehow don’t get hypothermia, then all power to you. It’s not suitable to make someone who is, remember, at work, do so.

The idea that it's ok for any crashes seems a bit stupid to me, I get that they happen but everything that can be done to minimise the chance of a crash can only be a good thing, at the end of the day it should be about racing, there aren't many people who would happily work in those kinds of weather conditions.

Well, it's worth noting that by all accounts none of the teams (or riders) actually asked for the stage to be shortened. This was a decision of the organisers alone. As for safety (as opposed the say 'health'), they left in the most dangerous descent - if they'd been really concerned with rider safety, they'd have finished the stage at the top of the Giau (in terms of timing) and just rolled down into Cortina. Altitude? Giau is all of 8m lower than Passo Pordoi. 

I'm also not convinced that wet descents are somehow unacceptably dangerous. Descending fast is a key skill in bike racing - whatever the conditions - and pro rider should be able to descend wet as well as dry. Note also, that there was no snow or ice on the road (nor any suggestion that there might be), so beyond the issue of cold hands (so wear gloves like Bernal!),  the whole 'snow' issue was irrelevant.

I don't think it was a unanimous decision. It was the correct decision to stop the race after that accident but what you go onto say could apply to any big mountain stage in any conditions. Last year the stage was shortened because the riders were knackered and (understandably) didn't fancy 250k in the rain. 

I think yesterday was a difficult decision given the forecast. If there is a danger of laying snow/ice an alternative needs to be found. You seem to be suggesting that Roubaix should be cancelled if it is wet?

I was disappointed with the alternative route. Is the descent into Cortina any safer than the others? With a bit of forward planning they could easily have had a stage with a similar profile but using passes at around 1600/1700m

I was wondering if in terms of serious injury they are actually safer? I would think accidents are much more likely, but more of the sliding out variety, at slower speeds. The ones I remember having difficulty watching have been the Remco (lombardia) Gilbert (tour) type of accident in the dry. Even Porte's (tour) wasn't caused by the wet even though the road was damp

I suspect applying for and getting the appropriate road closures isn't trivial for a significant last minute route change.

Scroll down to a nice animation of how the GC race has evolved so far.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/giro-ditalia-which-gc-riders-lost-time-on-...

Are you suggesting that weather-based last minute route changes in the Giro are a surprise? Happens most years on a high mountain stage. It doesn't take a lot of forethought to realise that perhaps you should have well thought out Plan B route in place on a stage like yesterday's.

Agreed. As well as the speed aspect there also the issue that sliding out in the wet is usually a 'low-side' crash - once traction's gone it's gone completely and you fall on the inside of the bike and slide feet first - whereas many dry crashes are 'high-side' ie., you flip over the bike and go head-first into whatever barrier there is (or isn't).

It’s not a normal workplace is it? It’s a sporting event. If you applied normal H&S rules it could never go ahead!

That's OK then, let's not worry about peoples health and wellbeing if it's for sport.

You really need to think about it a bit harder. Sport often requires conditions deemed unacceptable in a normal workplace because it’s not a normal workplace. Football clubs aren’t filling RIDDOR forms in when a player gets a broken leg. Once you start converging the two you’re sounding the death knell of professional cycling in any recognisable format because it’s extremely dangerous anyway. I strongly suspect cold, wet mountain stages wouldn’t feature that highly when looking at serious injuries in pro cycling. 
 

The consensus among people with their ears to the ground seems to be the decision yesterday was made based on a combination of factors with the riders’ strike last year being one, the lack of TV coverage being another and the weather being the third. I don’t think if the weather was the only consideration the same decision would’ve been made. 

If a big race like this is neutered too much, they might as well all be on exercise bikes in a gym.

Bike handling is a key skill for cyclists, the sport should not be about who can go uphill fastest as it would become if you eliminated all the risks you are talking about.

It really annoys me that those that are good at descending (note not necessarily fastest) are constantly denied their chance to shine as at the slightest sign of any risk they neutralise the stage.

Perhaps we should use tennis balls in cricket to stop the people who can't catch a cricket ball hurting their hands?

Anyways, I thought Quest did an ok job of 'talk about this for 5 minutes whilst we show pictures of people shuffling around near the finish'. Commanding performance from Bernal, even having 5 seconds to give away faffing with his jacket at the finish, shaking over the cobbles. I did an hour on Sunday night in a big shower in the Cheshire flatlands and that was more than enough. I'm ready for a rest day watching. 

You're lucky - in a fit of optimism I tried watching the live broadcast on S4C.

Best bit! Classy rider. Didn't look at all phased by the weather - I think he said in an interview that he actually likes that sort of weather - takes 'grinta'.

Ditto. At least I know how waterproof my spring/autumn jacket is now. Or isn't.

There is a balance somewhere. Personally I found the Gavia in '88 inspiring but I'd like to hear the views participants other than Andy Hampsten and Erik Breukink. A different era but I bet there were some old timers complaining of the road side support they received at the time.

It still happens, but I share your concern. Both Nibali's Giro wins were assisted by the pressure he applied on the descents (Wiggins, Kruiswjik). Nobody wants to see crashes but the general view, a few days ago seemed to be that Moscon was a muppet for trying to follow him (unlike Landa and Buchmann who were unlucky this year and G last) and Bernal show maturity by not. Froome would have probably won the tour anyway, but who can forget him taking yellow after his descent of the Peyresourde. When he won the Giro people also forget how much time he put into Pinot and Dumoulin on the descents, due to them "waiting" for Reichenbach. After seeing the way Pidcock descended in Milan-San Remo (without any recon?) I'm hoping to see him pull out a 20 second lead next year.

From a purely personal point of view, I'm much more interested in a rider who can display excellent bike handling skills (often from a track/CX background) and 'race-craft' than a rider who happens to have the highest VAM.

If you aren't already aware, may I point you in the direction of the excellent INRNG blog. Their take on the cancellation in their rest day review is very good, knowledgeable and balanced: 

https://inrng.com/2021/05/giro-rest-day-review-canazei/

Including the fact you can't really compare with the Gavia and Hampsteen in '88 because that was a 120km stage.

Their daily previews of stages, and general between-race posts, are excellent. I get the feeling bookies set their odds taking their predictions into account. 

I think it's you who needs to think a bit harder, nobody is saying the sport isn't dangerous already, what is being said is that you don't need to make people suffer cold wet conditions just for the fun of it, it's not like they haven't been riding in some pretty uncomfortable weather for most of the Giro, so if they deemed the conditions to be bad enough to shorten the stage, good on them for making a sensible decision, in my opinion.

Today looks a bit spicy. 

The finish looks to suit Bernal perfectly and I’m expecting he’ll wrap up the Giro today.

I’m hoping Yates can recover some of the time he’s lost on his rivals. He looked so strong in the tour of the alps, but somehow hasn’t shown the same brilliance in the Giro (so far).

Agree with you on the descent.The only reason I can assume they kept it in is because they were unable to move the requisite timing infrastructure in time to have a summit finish. It's less about the absolute altitude, and more about time at altitude - exposure to objective danger type stuff that's the reason alpinism is done at speed. Less time in almost freezing conditions = less chance of getting hypothermic.

Descending fast is a key skill, I agree. But there is a threshold when it becomes unacceptable which clearly we disagree on. As for snow and ice, maybe there wasn't any because of the surface management (i.e. gritting etc) - an effort which may not have been reproducible across the three passes? Also cold hands + descending is a nightmare combo. Gloves only do so much, especially when its been pissing down all day. 

The accident/ambulance situation is interesting. I guess with the big accident the other day they ran out of ambulances and it would have been over a certain time to get another? Whereas with riders speed out ambulances can move up and down accordingly, presumably within an acceptable time threshold. Not something I'd thought about myself. 

Not at all - wet Roubaix are fun. Not that I've ridden P-R style cobbles, but I'd rather ride across wet cobbles (from my experiences of them) that descend a 10% hill in the wet. A wet Roubaix does not also have the duration in cold conditions a full queen stage would have had - it's not just about the descents, its about hypothermia and then the two combined. 

Do those roads exist though? I agree with the argument but would such a reorganisation have been possible? It's the whole race infrastructure that needs shifting, not just going down some other roads. Including permissions etc. The way the change was implemented did imply that it was a clear plan B, but hard to move the finish on such short notice I think.

Thanks for the link and I agree with your assessment of the review. I didn't know about the 1956 Mont Bondone stage. Some of those "oldtimers" would have had a point in '88

I can't help but feel that Bernal's back with raise it's head at some point. I hope it doesn't as he's been the strongest rider by miles. 

Yates has been in such odd form hasn't he? Very hot and cold.

I don't know the area well, but others have suggested they do, with the same start and finish. Last minute changes are going to be difficult, but I don't think it is unreasonable for 2/3 high mountain stages to have a Plan B. The hail that affected Bernal's Tour was "freak weather" that no-one can be expected to plan for. I don't think rain in the Dolomites with the possibility of snow over 2200m is. I think there was a stage a few years ago that was supposed to go up the Mortirolo (1800m) and then the Gavia (2500m) before finishing in Bormio, I would be looking at an alternative involving two ascents of the Mortirolo if the Gavia was snow bound.

I'd not really thought about it myself. Another concern would be the lack of fans and TV coverage due to covid/weather. I think there have been cased of riders crashing "out of sight" and not being found quickly.

I agree, the descents and hypothermia are linked. Pretty sure there have been some cold wet Roubaix's but the riders are working all the time. It was a difficult call, with hindsight I don't think there would have been riders suffering from hypothermia , especially with modern equipment, but I am more critical of a lack of a plan B

All fair points there. I think the plan B was just to do what they did - use and obvious cut through in the existing route.

In contrast - looks excellent today. Hope someone tries a long one to move up and/or dethrone Bernal.

I'm not sure alpinism speed is a good analogy. That's largely to do with avalanche/stone-fall/snow-bridge risk rather than cold/altitude.

I'm also a bit mystified about why they are risking hypothermia in those conditions. The old adage "there's no bad weather, just bad clothing" should apply. I'm commonly out in near-freezing and wet conditions and can be comfortable with the right clothing. And I'm not generating anything like their waste heat. I can't help feeling that there's something 'traditionally hard-man pro' about having minimal (i.e., too little) insulation/waterproofing in the peloton. I know the contrast between high-energy climbing and low-effort descending makes it tricky, but if riders are getting to the top of climbs already cold (as seems to happen) then someone's made a pretty fundamental (and avoidable) mistake.

I think Bernal’s back will hold. Apparently he’s doing physio and exercises every day for it. My theory is that if he goes into a race pain free he’ll be fine, but if he goes in with issues they’ll get worse.

Yates is odd. He keeps alluding to something, but no one has explained what it is. Can’t be a stomach bug as it’s gone on too long, maybe he was Ill in week 1 and then didn’t have the legs in week 2 on a couple of days?

Im trying to watch stage 17 live between meetings and one thing that strikes me is just how beautiful Italy is when it’s not pissing it down.

Tend to agree - you will get cold on descents but hypothermic is pushing it a lot.  Cold hands can be a problem but I’ve been wet and cold in similar conditions for hours and have bad circulation in my hands and feet and while gear changing can be a problem I’ve never had a problem braking. 

The concept I was after was reducing time in a bad situation, not about the more specific hazards. Sorry if I didn't make it clear. 2 summits instead of 1 obviously hits this.

You're also presumably not doing 30 min descents at 80 kmh? Go and stand in a similar wind for 30 mins in your winter bike kit after going in a cold shower and you'll be at least a bit hypothermic. Then do it twice more and try and ride your bike down some wet and twisty roads. A lot of those at the front of the race did stop and pile on coats (there are pics around), but if you're trying to win GC you simply can't do that.

Edit: great that you and Yanis enjoy going out when it's filthy. All power to you. I absolutely hate it.

Looking like a good day for Yates!

Looking like a very good day!

Bernal dropped, losing about a minute, and Yates riding back up onto the podium.

What a ride from Dan Martin though.

It looks like perhaps it didn't...

Legs or back? Who knows?

Edit: I’m waiting to see Caruso’s power data to try to work it out. Did Yates just smash it or is something up?

Sadly I don't have those sorts of hills - just the Peak District.

I think that's my point - clothing management is an integral part of racing GTs - knowing when it's more important to takes some time to don layers and when it's more important to push on. Riders who lost several minutes because they were 'too cold' obviously got it wrong.

Actually I don't particularly enjoy it at all - I'm a wimp. But I know how to make it tolerable by making sure I'm wearing appropriate clothing for the conditions.

Caruso’s power data is on Strava now.

It’s useful because he tends to ride to power on the big climbs (a steady 400w).

Yates must have really put the hammer down to put a minute of time into him - I haven’t tried to work it out in detail, but I reckon 6w/kg+ after he and Bernal attacked. 

It all looks very interesting for the final few days.

Bloody hell, that was unexpected!

I hope Bernal's back is ok, just an off day (km) rather than something longer term.

Blood in the water...

...more attacks in the next stages.

Brilliant result for Dan Martin and Yates. 

Loved the scenery and sunshine whilst stuck at home. I want to go to Italy. With an E-Bike though.

For all Yates was impressive at the finish, Almeida was even more so.

I like the way Martin is now "Birmingham borne" rather than Irish at the moment on BBC sport.

I blummin loved that, stage lit up. Been so impressed by Bernal - he's human after all! Kudos Yatesy, but also  youtube.com/watch?v=fOad90BvvjM&t=72

Why are breakaways so successful in the Giro but hardly ever succeed in the Tour?

Fewer very flat stages would be my guess so not as many big name sprinters with the teams to chase down breaks.

My guess is that very few squads are at full strength in the peleton (Ineos excepted, arguably, Visma certainly aren't), but there are still a lot of top riders who can make a break stick.  Add to that the fact that there are relatively few people in genuine GC contention. 

How many teams have sprinters LEFT? Even at the start of the Giro, if there was any sort of gradients near the end of the stage everyone else wanted to leave it to Bora. They chased hard once on the stage Sagan won but they had no help at all and I don't think Sagan had anyone left in the last 5k. Yesterday he basically said they didn't want to do that again and risk  loosing the Jersey. Pleased to see Bettiol win a stage after being brilliant for Cathy on the gravel and in the mountains. 

Makes sense - geography of few flat stages and more mountains. And the Tour always has an ultra high profile sprint finish so the sprinters don't drop out.

Really looking forward to the next couple of days. Bernal is odds on, but there are quite a few parallels to 2018. Was it just me or did Bernal look very tired during the post stage interview yesterday, especially  considering what an easy  (but long) stage it should have been for him? I'd like to see Yates chip away close to a minute today, to do that it will need to be hard before the last climb. Caruso is happy with second so not sure where Bike Exchange will get help from, EF?

What's Sagan been up to....fined and docked UCI points!! Bossing it on the front to stop any breakaway!!?

I think Ineos will close ranks on the final climb today and just pace Bernal up them. Do a Wiggins and just ride to power ect.

Hard to see Yates putting a minute into Bernal today unless he really really blows (unlikely as it’s not especially hard before the final climb and the final climb isn’t as bad as Wednesdays). 

Personally I’m cheering on Caruso. He’s done so well considering he didn’t come in as team leader.

He wanted an easy day before the tour? If he wanted to race, surely he would have been better than Gaviria or Cimoli from a breakaway. 

I agree it's unlikely and that Bike Exchange won't be able to do it on their own like they did on stage 17, as you say climbs aren't as hard and they also befitted from a long fight to get in the breakaway making it hard early on. They were however, prepared to risk leaving Yates isolated with Bernal and Martinez on the final climb. Even if he doesn't gain any time today they need to make it hard for Bernal today, to have any hope tomorrow.

Hopefully Landa should be recovered for the Vuelta.

I've just been watching some of the Team BikeExchange  videos on their youtube channel, one of Simon's team mates was complaining about sinusitis and feeling unwell, perhaps he was ill as well?

Would make sense. He also implied in one of the interviews post-stage that he performs worse in the cold and wet, which is where he’s lost a lot of time. Looked strong again today - can he take back the 3 mins he needs tomorrow? Will he try? Should be a good watch.

It’s going to be interesting.

Ineos will have a strong team around Bernal. The final climb doesn’t look too bad (https://www.giroditalia.it/en/tappe/stage-20-of-the-giro-ditalia-2021-verba...), so it looks like it will be challenging to get back 3 minutes.

Yates might attack on the second cat 1 climb of the day - that would make things really spicy. Having said that Ineos might be tempted to work with Bahrain to keep Caruso’s second place?

What I suspect we will see again is Quickstep putting the hammer down to try to set up Almeida for the stage win, reducing Yate’s opportunities to attack. If I was a betting man I’d say Yate’s will take a minute on Bernal and Caruso and move into second, but Bernal will win overall.

Bloody hell, that was fast and furious yet again when the breakaways were trying to escape the peleton.

Good day for Yates.

Also a good day for Bernal - he got the job done. First time he did not respond to Yates attack - no panic - decided in advance?

Well that was a pretty special ride by Caruso.

Bernal looked really strong. Great stage.

I was hoping Bardet could finish off after lighting the fireworks. 

Massive effort from Martinez!! Barnsley riding like a GT winner!

Great result for Caruso - first GT stage win!

Martinez - one hell of a super/mountain domestique.

No panic from Bernal and Ineos even when 2nd in GC up the road. Impressive.

Bernal looks so young.... I can't help thinking (as a 56 year old bloke) he looks fragile and gentle but he must be hard as nails....proper poker face!

He'll win the young rider award.  It seems young rider and GC are becoming more and more interlinked.

Well Bernal wrapped it up in the end.

Ganna... just wow.

Martinez - equally wow.

Agree, surely one for the future. Wonder if he will do the tour too. 

Correction... Martinez was amazing. He rode out of his skin and he’s got the potential to be a GC leader.

Ganna is out of this world. He’s in a different league when it comes to the TT. I hope he goes for the hour record.