The Real Giro 2024 Afternoon

[team fl]

GW again to Wolodymyr. Very bad sprint from Zuzunaga though. Anyway, it's rest day, so time to recover and for some statistics:

General classement:

01. 00:00 Ferenc Krausz (Alive And Dead)
02. 01:12 Alexis Aïnouz (Gipfelstuermer)
03. 01:23 Colin Sullivan (CircleCycle)
04. 01:52 Lenny Wingelaar (CreditPommes)
05. 02:19 George Meldrum (Rang MLord Cycling Team)
06. 02:30 Fenna Kalma (Schappy)
07. 02:31 Flopp McMell (Bright)
08. 02:34 Excelino Marquez (Big Donkey)
09. 02:43 Haregot Woldemariam (Big Donkey)
10. 04:08 Fong Mao (Bright)

After the first 9 stages, the favourite wears Rosa: Ferenc Krausz. While Lenny Wingelaar was strong until the ITT and Alexis Aïnouz could wear it on the day afterwards, Ferenc grabbed it after stage 8 and will start the second week wearing it. And so far, it does not look like he has intentions of giving it away again. But the Giro is still long and who knows what happens.

Points classement:

01. 147 Matvey Natanzon (CircleCycle)
02. 102 André Chassot (Big Donkey)
03. 083 Lenny Wingelaar (CreditPommes)

Matvey Natanzon is Mr. Ciclamino. His team worked well for him and he has strong sprint helpers. Although Smith is the better sprinter, nominally, it is now clear that Circle Cycle believes in Natazon to win the points classement. Not only has he won two stages already, he is also commited to grab points on the road. Behind him André Chassot is lurking, but with already 45 points less. He's been the only sprinter so far to be able to beat Natanzon in a bunch sprint. Was it only a fluke or will Chassot do it again? All other sprinters may win a stage if lucky, but even No. 3 in this classement, climber Lenny Wingelaar seems out of this competition already.

Mountain classement:

01. 080 Flopp McMell (Bright)
02. 039 Samuel Capelli (Brunsketti Swiss Team)
03. 030 Lenny Wingelaar (CreditPommes)

As expected, the Maglia Azzurra is a climber's jersey this year. Although his efforts, Samuel Capelli seems not be able to keep up with the points to be gathered at the mountain finishes. At least not in week one. With Flopp McMell having double the points already he looks like a decent candidate to bring the Maglia Azzurra to Rome. But it's not set in stone (get it, mountains... stone... hihi), lots of more climbs to come!

Youth classement:

01. 04:08 Fong MaoYouth (Bright)
02. 05:01 Wolodymyr Drinfeld (Alive And Dead)
03. 08:35 Emily Schumann (Schappy)

Don't see how Fong Mao can mess this up, as long as Alive and Dead is fully committed for Krausz and his advantage isn't too big so he might focus on Drinfeld....

Team classement:

01. 00:00 Alive And Dead
02. 02:10 Schappy
03. 02:59 Big Donkey

So far, the team classement is still very open among 5 teams (incl. Gipfelstuermer and Bright besides the current top3). There has not been an escape making it with a huge time gap yet, that could change this picture.

Stage wins by riders:

2 - Flopp McMell (Bright)
2 - Matvey Natanzon (CircleCycle)
1 - Alexis Aïnouz (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - André Chassot (Big Donkey)
1 - Woldymyr Drinfeld (Alive And Dead)
1 - Ndamukong Nkengasong (Team FL)
1 - Lenny Wingelaar (CreditPommes)

Stage wins by teams:

2 - Bright
2 - CircleCycle
1 - Alive And Dead
1 - Big Donkey
1 - CreditPommes
1 - Team FL

7 different stage winners from 6 teams in 9 stages. Very good variety so far. Athletico Lula, Brunsketti Swiss Team, Rang MLord Cycling Team and Schappy are still waiting for their first.

[Robyklebt]

Worst case scenario in the sprint. Natanzon wins, Chassot third, 25 points lost, now 55 back. 29 before the stage, Natanzon won a point in intermediates too. Argh.

Start was as I expected and hoped. FL with his own train, Lorenzini there, Chassot on Natanzon. Usually like to change more often, but... IMO the FL train 100% logic. Since we probably have very similar form I get Natanzon's wheel. With only 29 points difference between us, CC can be expected to take it slowly. Not as aggressive as in the first week. Smith at 200, Giannelli can get an advantage.

Didn't happen, Smith after changing to Mosconi, in the FL train, went at 250. Abreha couldn't really afford going at 200 vs Lorenzini, so there it looked very much like the best case, a Chassot win. 150, as expected Abreha goes. But Kliijn goes as well from behind Chassot. Blocked at 100, Natanzon goes, half blocked at 50, came back very well, but not enough. Aaaah Klijn. Instead of winning back 15 points and setting up 2 nail-biting placement sprints for ciclamino, plus IS fights... all gone.

Kudos to CC for taking the risk today and going for the win, but risking big to lose vs Chassot. I expected a more defensive sprint today. Go at 200 with Smith. The way he went, normally he loses unless we go the same direction at 100 (ok, so still decent chances)

Now 55 back. And CC announced defence now. Which I wanted to avoid... More than for actually winning ciclamino, although I'd take that too, the fight was about keeping it open, thus increasing chances. Like this, IMO Roma will just be Smith winning. Defence go for 4-5 next sprint, let Smith free last logical strategy. Ok, on the other hand with 55 points in hand if he wants to sprint for Natanzon in Rome too... he doesn't even really need the defence next time.

Anyway, not good for Chassot, Klijn this blocker. Grrr. Think no more stages for Chassot now. Which means next time I'm fully on the "let Aïnouz go" train. Nice opening AAD is giving us there... By forcing us to ride for Krausz, while he rides for short term glory for his helpers... hm, FL was already in let's "let Aïnouz go" mode. Next time I'm happy to join. Let AAD either kill his team trying to lose little time or let Aïnouz go 5'

[flockmastoR]

First I thought about covering just with Oppenheimer. Just saw the big escape at the last flat stage where I thought I should have covered him. Then I didn't want to interfere in the stage outcome, binding me to inactivity. But as Brunsketti also rode for his 46 sprint guy against 4 Gips, I felt like it is ok to put Hamarat in as well for the final. Nothing to win for me, some seconds to lose are not really a thing but if I can avoid it easily also no problem (+ Hamarat wasn't the deciding factor, wasn't that close). Yesterday hanging with Hamarat and Oppenheimer more born out of boredom. Trying something for a stage win late. Think it is the second time now. Last time I didn't here that much of critizism for it. But ok, can also understand it. Don't really see why you should have stopped yesterday. If you stop, not much of a matter, I lose some time, I get a good chance for the stage win. After all, Ainouz is not the guy that I have to avoid losing any time, at least not from the position right now.

Anyways, pissing off the sprinter teams, not ideal at all. Let's see if for the next flat stage I just try to stop those Ainouz+guy pre-attack before Atabay. Maybe it also would have been worth a try for sprinter teams like FL that don't wan't those strong late groups to form that easily.

Today looking forward to losing the Rosa jersey again

[CircleCycle]

CC pretty happy with Natanzon's performance, although the last sprint, were he luckily won, was for sure too much risk. A Chassot win there... no, that would have been really bad for the ciclamino ambitions.
Now 55 pts advantage, 2 possible MS left, the team will go for it, but first Natanzon&co need to be brought safely through the mountains. Lets see what happens tomorrow and the day after tomorrow with a possible lots of early action.

[team fl]

was too busy yesterday to use the rest day for a statistics update, but here it is:

General classement:

01. 00:00 Ferenc Krausz (Alive And Dead)
02. 00:55 Alexis Aïnouz (Gipfelstuermer)
03. 02:02 George Meldrum (Rang MLord Cycling Team)
04. 02:52 Colin Sullivan (CircleCycle)
05. 03:52 Excelino Marquez (Big Donkey)
06. 04:17 Lenny Wingelaar (CreditPommes)
07. 04:25 Fenna Kalma (Schappy)
08. 04:36 Haregot Woldemariam (Big Donkey)
09. 04:38 Yotam Ottolenghi (Gipfelstuermer)
10. 04:47 Flopp McMell (Bright)

Aïnouz used both time trials to get in rosa. And both times, it got immediatly taken away by Krausz, who starts with it into the last week. The horrible week. The week with too many mountains. But first, let's write about the lurkers, the hopers, the wanna-bes: George Meldrum maybe is the biggest surprise on a podium place right now. He rides for a fairly new and unexperienced team. But he keeps his cool, does nothing crazy. A pure lurker. Question is: Will he seize the opportunity, once a window opens up for a GC attack? Same is true for Colin Sullivan, but with a much more experienced team manager. Now the hopers: Marquez is the best climber in this bunch, nominally. He's already almost 4 minutes behind Krausz, so he might get some freedom or even cooperation with Krausz for stage wins. As long as he does not become a lurker. Lenny Wingelaar is in a similiar position, but not as strong in the mountains as Marquez. Kalma is even worse, but he has the flat punch that could get him some opportunities. Or he goes for the Maglia Azzurra, which also seems to be Flopp McMell's goal, another good climber, another hoper, another candidate for a leap of faith. In between is Yotam Ottolenghi. It is not really clear what he's up to, as his team seems to be active all over the place, not achieving much though. But they try, and so he tries. So, is he another hoper or already hopeless? Anyway, something seems odd in the top10 GC picture, the wanna-bes, (or their absence): On the one hand, Fong Mao, the leader in the youth classement is missing, staying at place 11, and on the other hand, classic rider Haregot Woldemariam is still there on place 8. My guess: In the end, Fong will be there, and Haregot will be out of the top 10. Or Big Donkey plans a long attack with Haregot, who knows. So, for the last week, AAD has to find out a way to control all these lurkers and hopers and wanna-bes while the rest has to find out a way to challenge him. Or the classements they're fighting for, or the stage wins, or how to have the most fun not being a climbers team at all, like this Team FL...

Points classement:

01. 235 Matvey Natanzon (CircleCycle)
02. 180 André Chassot (Big Donkey)
03. 112 Lenny Wingelaar (CreditPommes)

Enough written already by Big Donkey and CircleCycle in the former posts. It's Matvey vs. Chassot. The last sprint was huge for Matvey, and unfortunately also bad for Team FL, as CircleCycle may be able to fully go for stage wins in the sprint than just playing it safe, which could open a window of opportunity for Abreha, Klijn or others.

Mountain classement:

01. 080 Flopp McMell (Bright)
02. 039 Fenna Kalma (Schappy)
03. 030 Samuel Capelli (Brunsketti Swiss Team)

We have a fight? Capelli and his team look very committed to the fight for the Maglia Azzurra. And so is Flopp McMell with some interference by Fenna Kalma. On the fourth place, Excelino Marquez (58) is lurking (not a hoper here), on place 5 Lenny Wingelaar (53). Still a lot of mountain points to collect on the way to Rome. So, this fight will continue to be annoying for early escape attempts...

Youth classement:

01. 04:59 Fong Mao (Bright)
02. 07:38 Wolodymyr Drinfeld (Alive And Dead)
03. 14:55 Emily Schumann (Schappy)

Booooooooring! We (pluralis majestatis) want to see a Drinfeld attack against Mao! But it's good that the leader in the youth classement is wearing the white jersey, the most boring colour of them all, like this classement (no offense to Fong Mao though).

Team classement:

01. 00:00 Alive And Dead
02. 02:57 Gipfelstuermer
03. 04:08 Bright

Still no early escape with a huge gap that could overturn the team classement. Maybe this will change in the last week with all these difficulties ahead. Otherwise, it will be AADs classement it looks like.

Stage wins by riders:

3 - Matvey Natanzon (CircleCycle)
2 - Flopp McMell (Bright)
2 - Alexis Aïnouz (Gipfelstuermer)
2 - André Chassot (Big Donkey)
1 - Wolodymyr Drinfeld (Alive And Dead)
1 - Fenna Kalma (Schappy)
1 - Excelino Marquez (Big Donkey)
1 - Ndamukong Nkengasong (Team FL)
1 - Lenny Wingelaar (CreditPommes)
1 - Zacharias Zuzunaga (Team FL)

Stage wins by teams:

3 - Big Donkey
3 - CircleCycle
2 - Bright
2 - Gipfelstuermer
2 - Team FL
1 - Alive And Dead
1 - CreditPommes
1 - Schappy

Still a very nice distribution of stage wins, although Abreha would have liked to come up in these statistics as well, for one less Natanzon stage win for example. But instead, Nkengasong and Zuzunaga were succesful. Most succesful stage hunters so far with three wins each are Big Donkey (who might get some more with Marquez or Chassot) and CircleCycle (damn this sprint train). Three teams are still left with no stage wins so far: Athletico Lula (that is off for the most time), Brunsketti Swiss Team and Rang MLord Racing Team.

[Robyklebt]

3 stage wins... ok, minimum achieved.

Not that easy necessarily for Marquez, since due to the lack of a second climber he has to rely a bit on others, well Drinfeld. .
He goes early himself... a) Can Krausz follow? If yes, does he suck immediately? Then the stage chance is over for both I fear. He of course has to suck a bit, less mountain, less sprint, but if he does too much, too early, riding makes no more sense to me... b) Krausz can't follow, then Drinfeld controls, until the attack, depending from how far Marquez goes, that might be enough for Krausz, followed by others potentially though.

Worked Sunday, good, I'm already much more eager to ride for sprint again.* Of course we want more, 6 stages left, 6 times chances with Marquez-Chassot. And since we're here mostly as stage hunters, of course we would prefer 5 wins and 5th in GC to 3 wins and third in GC. 1 win first GC best, but that's already impossible, we won too many stages

GC of course further up is better, we're not going to compromise stages win chances to be further up in GC.

Blue, if Flopp keeps going for it, including today in the early Umbrail that is called Stelvio at c4f, he basically has it won. He most likely won't win another stage then. But somehow it looks like he had early form, not a bad form setting considering his age, so stage wins probably are unlikely anyway, having had already 2, no need for more. Only bad guys like Natanzon think 3 wins are necessary.

Ciclamino: Here too it seems decided really. Natanzon lucky last time, yes. But also daring, brave, which got rewarded. He could have played it safe, getting us place 2-3, or 3-4, so 10, or 7 points difference. If Donks wins that, then it's 19 or 22 points. And it stays kind of open anyway, with let's say 19 points advantage only, 2 sprints, shitloads of intermediates, stays open. Natanzon took the risk, if he loses it it's down to 14 points, but by winning it up to 55, worked out perfectly for him. Now really hard for Chassot. Not over... but almost.

[flockmastoR]

Very happy with this year's Giro so far. Good collaboration with Donkey for the HC stages. As expecting, he was beating Ferenc. A bit sad that he did it 3 times in a row, but it is the way it is. Drinfeld already put out the pressure of ending another Giro (and potentially the whole month) without a stage win.

4 stages left, A&D leading the team classification still. So now we also want to win that one. Means we want the sprinters to be happy again. Means tomorrow and Sunday we will support the sprinters for a MS. Hamarat will be fit to help block the final phase. LeCun will try to control the start tomorrow. Lets see if we can persuade the sprinter teams with that.

[Robyklebt]

5 stages for the Donkey, very happy, goal reached. Usually not a big stage hunter in the Giro, ok, the Zafzaf year I won lots, but with 90+88 climbers and in some stages other teams riding for them while I wanted the escape to go through... but otherwise concentrating on GC I rather let stage chances go if I feel it helps my GC chances somehow. Prioritize time gain over stage wins. This year no, twice beat Krausz in sprint, once managed to drop him a bit earlier and won 12"... so 24" gained in 3 stages.. .that's usually not worth it if I ride for GC, try to get more, then fail in stages and usually GC too, but something different this year. Donkey satisified. 5 stages seemed a lot to him, with his team maybe not to others, but reached his goal. Then today Klijn interrupted the nice 3 win series, argh. A sprint at an intermediate, but in the sprint to me looked like Klijn might have late form too, probably cost me 30 or so points compared to him, or even less. With same form would then expect to gain more in the last 50 meters, not that one pixel or whatever it was. So finally a non-CC-Donkey sprint winner. And our usual sprint star FL still at 0. Surprising. Crisis in Liechtenkiesel we guess. Heads will roll. If not, maybe they will play with marbles, and let them roll. That's fun too. Anyway, 5 stages for Donkey, nice, and we hope it's not over. Of course now we want to exceed the goal.
-Tomorrow... break goes through? Drinfeld, Kalma? More Kalma than Drinfeld, but Kalma can't get rid of climbers either and while 52 sprint is quite nice, others have more, Flopp 57. Sullivan 54, Marquez and Wingelaar 53. So riding for Kalma would weaken him further. So Drinfeld comes back? For him riding is logic, 59 sprint. Or climbers go through without the low 80es? Marquez attack, followed by Krausz. Not followed by Krausz? Go through, or caught by the blocking Krausz/Sullivan whoever? Or Capelli with 74 flat comes back, attacks, Kalma/Drinfeld follow and win? Or Soria with 76-79? The double Bright classics? Costigan who somehow seemed to be in good form lately? Pretty open stage, which might mean the break goes through. 6 km after the 3 km climb, -5 and +5 in it, hm... somehow don't really know what to make of it. Ah, let's hand out some stars:
*** Clouds
** Drinfeld, Soria
* Flopp, Marquez, Sullivan
(REally only wanted to hand out **+*, but wanted a star for Marquez, he's a star, he wants stars)

-Saturday the big Grappa stage, double Grappa, downhill, can Marquez attack over the Grappa and keep the advantage till the finish? Here Marquez one of the favorites again, but the downhill finish doesn't really favor him, waiting is risky business, attacking might go nowhere, maybe we just go for the Almirall escape win Ok, won't work, AAD would chase him down to avoid the epic GC attack on the first Grappa ascent.

*** Marquez
** Sullivan, Krausz
* Flopp, Meldrum, Wingelaar

-Sunday, the Donkey will start as a newly crowned millionaire (only in Yen, but plan to win big at the horse races, Japan Derby!), last sprint... After today, Klijn looked so strong, he probably has to be the favorite. Or Smith, if CC decides to switch the train, after all Natanzon now has over 50 points advantage. And even with the switched train Natanzon can expect to finish not worse than 10th, so 6 points, Chassot winning would be 44 difference, so as long as he has 44 advantage, no problem. Plus with Smith's suspected form, highly likely he would beat Chassot there.
*** Klijn
** Smith, Abreha
* Chassot, Natanzon, Hochhausennnnn

Will refrain from predicting the jersey winners, it all seems so open, unpredictable

Interesting how we have many double stage winners.
Flopp-Aïnouz-Chassot-Zuzu
And 2 triple stage winner, Natanzon and Marquez.
14 stages gone for this 6 riders, Klijn-Wingelaar and Drinfeld, also Kalma, hoping to join the multi stage winner club.

For the Donkey, good choice to bring Chassot. His first win was the one that made me most happy here, that alone was worth it. Better to get that win with him, than 5 Marquez stages. (I of course plan to get 5 Marquez stages anyway now) With Garcia, early form, probably I wouldn't have beaten early form Flopp, maybe on stage 1 a chance vs Wingelaar? Not that I remember how this went down, just from the numbers, 55 sprint for Garcia looks good. Form Prati di Tivo. But against Flopp with still 87... ok, still can work. But Chassot, finally sprint wins just better. More fun. Made the mountain stages harder for Marquez, with the constant isolation risk, 3-1 for AAD, and even if not isolated Woldemariam just has to work... so it's still 1 helper for AAD 0 for Marquez... Livigno was doubting a lot, what if AAD decides not to care about stage and let the early attacker, Flopp again, through? Fortunately wasn't the case. Second Marquez win was more confident, that's why I killed my team pretty much there, Henri and Longbottom doubtful for the rest of the Giro really, isolation only short, end, early attacks difficult with flat parts, last 2 km look good for Marquez, but Krausz attacked as far as Marquez.. wasn't happy at all. Brocon then looked difficult, but tried, good collaboration with AAD, slow chase too, he had the full team while I had all except Henri until much later than I thought, isolation, but this time unexpectedly Marquez dropped Krausz, strangely not much energy difference, despite Marquez being without help for quite a while, but ok, downhill probably helped a lot.

What the Donkey misses a bit here is Matsushita. The great 63 reg 85 flat star, emergency purchase for Zafzaf in March 18, very very useful. Novello as expected didn't do much, but he's useful as loader for Marquez, Almirall and Longbottom are nice enough, but can't hang on to the AAD classic armada of course. So keep Novello, let him do his 10 km max tempo, let him load Marquez, still ok. An asshole though. Lorenzini... didn't do much finally, the CC train just too strong, can't try the 2 man train as I had originally planned against that... reverse one even less, then Smith just goes hang on whoever is on Lorenzini and goes at 200 and beats Lorenzini by 5 lengths... But was still nice to have him. Also because of the lack of alternatives... Sucky squad right now somehow, only Garcia really an option, but not for Lorenzini, for Chassot or Woldemariam. Who knows, maybe Lorenzini surprises the others in Rome!

[Robyklebt]

Interesting stage:

Group goes, Gipfel too late, group doesn't want him, keeps him away, caught, he starts chasing. After the first possible sieb Donkey joins green. Hope was maybe Marquez, but hoped more for an attack on Duron by some classics with a possible puller ahead. Zuzu seemed nice, Woldemariam on him.

Then Sullivan goes, with Costigan. And Wingelaar, Meldrum McMell on him. Interesting. With that stage chances for Marquez increased, most of the classics ahead, winning a sprint vs the rest seemed more likely. So helped AAD after a while. Final wall, siebed Kalma on the first km, then attacked.. caught by Drinfeld soon after, on the final 5% Ottolenghi goes, 4" ahead, Drinfeld only gets half back. 2" back in the end, with Soria and Kalma at 5".

Great action by CC, but as a stage hunter seemed logic to go all in after that, my chances really increased a lot there. Problem is I rode the final wall in "fun" mode, not thinking it through properly, oh, I have my wins, let's try the humiliation of AAD, not just to go for the win, or something like that. Instead of tempo, hope Drinfeld drops at the 2nd siebkm. If he does, then still can attack the next km, or if Krausz waits for him, then just go on with Ottolenghi and Mao in the wheel. If Drinfeld stays, then of course the problem, where do I hang, Drinfeld or Krausz, probably Drinfeld... but still. The playing, the attack was bad, cost me all my chances of course. Stupid. But Ottolenghi after his team worked, ok too. Good attack on the 5, AAD after almost having the win in his pocket made a big mistake too there by not putting Drinfeld in as well. Or at least Krausz at yes alone. Or both at yes alone.

Hm, max 7 wins now, need to win tomorrow and after tomorrow. Tomorrow pretty open between the climbers, I'd say.

[Robyklebt]

Very weird stage. Win number 6 for Donks, 4 for Marquez. So not complaining, but it was weird.

No escape at all, ok, many off, it's Saturday. Half on. Escapes looked hard in the past days. And likely Big Donkey would chase. Ok...
Donks attacked with Lonbottom before the first Grappa. Thought would be siebed anyway, Almirall helped, he get's to try to catch the siebing AAds, that leave only Wolde and Novelli with Marquez.
Surprise, no sieb, Balinow up, Longbottom wins the first Grappa GPM (or maybe one of his companions) Weird. The peloton only broke apart at km 104, when Almirall and Novelli attacked with followers, while at the same time Schimmelpfennig siebed. GPM at 106. Almirall Novelli isolation attempts went nowhere, they tried another attack for the stage (or just my own entertainment)..

Final climb, first km Rella siebs LeCun, second km Donkey goes while Voigt, Schappy, is in tempo. Which was good for me, otherwise Rella or so might go in, in the last second, or somebody stronger. Gained 23" with the attack (thought 13" at first, disappointing, but that Novelli in between). Next km only 3" gained on Drinfeld, that was worrisome in retrospect, but then it was Oppenheimer and Thayer, 2 classics riding up. Weird. 151 Krausz goes in 153 GPM. There 2'04" for Marquez on the climbers group, with Oppenheimer at 2'50" Who stopped, was almost expecting AAD to wait for Oppenheimer at that point. Didn't, Sullivan, then Krausz and Meldrum riding in the back. 1'29" left before the 3 completely flat km, 1'11" at the end. Utter domination by Marquez. But why???

I expected AAD much more aggressive in the first climb. Go with Rella after a first sieb by Drinfeld, Hoping to have Novelli behind. Only 1 helper is not the end of the world, but doesn't help. Try to bring it to 0 in the upper parts, Oppenheimer 73, Woldemariam 72. For stage. Or if he's happy waiting, keeping his guys fit for the second lap, some others go with classics. Nothing to lose really, finish 15th or 18th, who cares?

Second ascent, Marquez goes in the second km. NO reaction, why? Talk with each other. If we ride we might get him. Meldrum had reason for his second place (but at the same time he risks being dropped by all others if he starts early.. but if he had just ridden once I was at 50", even if later dropped by the others, he wouldn't have lost 1'11" to Marquez I think. Something, but everybody happy with Oppenheimer riding. Why not Wingelaar with an attack? Hoping that Krausz is following, together up and down, can work. Or with Sullivan there too. Once the advantage went over the minute I really started hoping. Attack in the beginning was 2 reasons, early, no hard blocks and have my wins, so if I fail doesn't matter.. .should have learned from Sappada that that's not a good reason, but well... One option was to go green, hoping Krausz follow, go together. That option I thought I might get second place in GC (which yes, I said I don't care, but I do a bit too of course, money money!) and still an ok chance for stage, 50-50 basically. Went red then, seemed a good moment, Voigt who had already ridden in tempo, nobody else. Then no actoin in the back, Donks gets second in GC, which in this scenario I really didn't expect. Third seemed likely for a while now, automatically almost, too close to Sullivan to not catch him, but second?

The depressing thing of course is that now I'm in the exact same place in GC I was a year ago. The difference: I tried to ride for GC last year, 1 stage win only for Payot. This year didn't care much, 6 stages and still second. 1'55" back last year, 2'07" this year.. but ok, that was because of today, 0 GC danger, AAD could just gift me this minute. Hm, future of Donks is in stage hunting? No no, missed the trying to figure out how to beat the other guy, the siebing and all that goes nowhere... winning lots is nice, but that's Marquez, next year... climber will come 1 month late (change of buying plan and no money, what came first is like the egg and the chicken) we'll see if he likes stages too, but hope he will have a route that allows him to hope for GC, not the route Marquez got this year.

[flockmastoR]

Good attack by Marquez, kind of expected him to go early. The longer he is riding with just one helper in the peloton, the higher the chance of Krausz to follow him. In fact, I hoped for the duo to be in front of the peloton on top of the second Grappa pass. Let the others ride in the back, hope for Drinfeld to follow the weaker climbers. Dual threat for the stage. Get a 50/50 chance at least in front, able to gamble a bit more if Drinfeld stays in the race behind. Krausz couldn't follow, from there unsure how to react, start with Oppenheimer and check the time gain. No risk for Rosa at any time, so decided to just go on like that and let the other climbers decide if they want to try for stage too. They didn't, so I decided to go slowly not to lose Drinfeld myself. Then M'lord started to ride for his 2nd place in GC, a bit too late. In the end just 16s missing, if he starts some km earlier he might keep the second place. Attacks by Ottolenghi and Kalma also lost some time. Unsure what those attacks were meant for, some GC positional stuff I think. All in all very unhappy with those last 2 stages, 2 second places with Drinfeld where he should have won at least the Sappada stage were he had topform and was our leader (Krausz helping him in the end). Bad riding, lucky that he has won that stage earlier. Stage wise not a really good GIRO after all. 1 stage win, 5 second places. The second places with Krausz were expected when I realized Marquez had approximately the same form settings and McMell/Wingelaar had earlier form. 49 sprint after all doesn't give you a lot of chances when you always have stronger riders in your wheel because of the GC situation.

So early mountain stages the goal was not to lose big time on the early form riders and take over Rosa after the first TT. Last week I would have been able to win time on Meldrum and other riders but didn't see a reason for it. Drinfeld never in the white fight against Mao, at some point thought about trying to go for that, but decided that going for the team classement is promising more success. For that reason, the Giro was not meant for escapers this year. Went for those hilly stages and found some collaborators (Bright at some stages, Gip, some FL riders). So team classement should be fixed, possible that I cover some Bright riders today, or just help the sprinter teams.