Giro

[Luna]

Astana was broken into pieces... but I don't like the gestures of vino - his teammates were fighting.

That happened under the pressure of losing seconds so close fron the finish. He calmed down a few minutes later.


I also didn't expect LIQ do dominate that way.

Strong performance by Cervelo. Sastre limited the losses and doesn't look as lost as before the stage.

But LIQ not easy to beat now...

[Lizard]

Very strong Liquigas and a weak day for Vino (I like at least the second thing). Sastre as I predict still in the race, ha! But either Basso or Nibali will follow him everytime - but maybe Nibali won´t be able to, and if once a LIQ-captain is gone, they will have a hard time to hold the gap. But for now, top favourites Basso and Nibali for sure.

[NoPikouze]

Standings after stage 5
1 Italië Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas 14:30:03
2 Italië Ivan Basso Liquigas +13

6 Kazachstan Alexandre Vinokourov Astana +33
7 Rusland Vladimir Karpets Katusha +39
8 Australië Richie Porte Saxo Bank +45
9 Schotland David Millar Garmin +45

13 Duitsland Linus Gerdemann Milram +1:04

16 Nederland Pieter Weening Rabobank +1:15
17 Oostenrijk Thomas Rohregger Milram +1:16

25 Australië Cadel Evans BMC +1:59

28 Spanje Xavier Tondo Volpini Cervélo +2:09
29 Spanje Carlos Sastre Cervélo +2:13

35 Italië Michele Scarponi Androni Giocattoli +2:35
36 Nederland Bauke Mollema Rabobank +2:40
37 Italië Stefano Garzelli Acqua & Sapone +2:49

40 Spanje David Arroyo Duran Caisse d'Epargne +3:43
41 Italië Damiano Cunego Lampre +3:45

48 Engeland Bradley Wiggins Team Sky +4:36



My opinion:
***** Nibali
**** Basso, Vino
*** Karpets, Evans, Sastre
** Gerdemann, Scarponi

Best sprinter : Farrar (but maybe a non sprinter can win the jersey ?)
Best young rider : Porte, Mollema (I dont see anyone else)

Nibali needs to be strong enough physically though, it could be a problem since he didnt plan to ride... And how much time can he leave to guys like wiggins, cunego, garzelli etc if they attack ? Someone who is quite far behind might get some freedom and make a comeback.

[olmania]

Congrats to the FrenchTouch today

[iBanesto]

I don't understand Lampre and Katusha today, maybe they misjudged the parcours or something. I was convinced this was a nice stage for either Petacchi or Pozzato, selective enough to get rid of fat assed sprinters and placed before difficult stages so the GC-men would relax. They proved me right, the big group was about 90 people strong with many sprinters already out. Peta was gone, but only because of that funny attack. I'm sure he would have been there, if Lampre placed him at the front before the final climb, Modolo, Hondo, Cooke all made it over the climb. Nice selection for Peta & Pipo. But they forgot to pull back the early break! Instead they were making stupid attacks with Klimov, Petrov, Bono. Missed opportunity, especially for Lampre, a team that seems solely focussed on stage wins.

Tomorrow the Giro gets tough. Anyone checked the weather forecast? I did. Lots of rain all day. Rain + Strade bianche = Epic racing.

[Luna]

Epic!

[iBanesto]

Epic!

+1

[Bear]

One of the best stages I have ever seen

[Rockstar Inc]

strong Cadel Evans, weak Pippo P and i'm a little bit suprised about Pinotti

[Lizard]

EVANS!!! I was hoping for him to be able to take the stage.. but my first hope was if Gerdemann could take it. In the end it´s fine like this, just Nibali´s fall was something I don´t like. Riders should not lose their jerseys due to other problems than being the weaker rider...

[iBanesto]

This first week is madness, 7 stages and the 20th on GC is 6 minutes down. I've never seen something like that before. Let's focus on what happened today, because the GC might look different tomorrow when we get the first real climb. GC won't change much between Terminillo and Monte Grappa, plenty of time for discussion then.
Once again a crash made the race. Liquigas went down and took Scarponi and Sastre with them. I don't know what had happened to Sastre before that, maybe he had to chase back to the big group on the first climb even before the decisive crash. That would explain his extreme lack of power on the final climb, he lost three minutes on Nibali and Basso. Nibali himself was going ok, he definitly was faster than Basso who once again had trouble cornering. Scarponi blew my mind, he was in front of Nibali after the crash, then he was caught by Nibali before the climb and rode away solo on the climb. He lost NO time at all to the front group on a 15 km solo effort and took a minute out of Basso and Nibali. Without the crash he would have fought for the stage victory. Evans was the one who preserved his forces more wisely than Vino and thus won in the end. Vino rode like he always does, if he feels good he attacks, if he doesn't feel good he attacks nevertheless. Evans calmly countered his attacks, just like Cunego kept cool on the long climb. Garzelli blew up on the last kicker because he did too much in the chase. Cunego made an impressive jump to the front. Pinotti... he seemed like he really couldn't go one second faster, unlike the Top 3, they all looked like they had another attack in their legs. In the end, if you take the crash into consideration, todays performance looks like that:

A:Evans, Vino, Cunego, Scarponi
B:Garzelli, Pinotti
C:Nibali, Gerdemann, Bakelandts & Co
D:Basso, Karpets & Co

Subjective and without riders that didn't factor today.

[olmania]

This is cycling !
What a stage !!! Excellent, maybe the best race I've ever seen, epic !!!
I really like this cyclism ... and Evans, excellent !
I want more stage like that ! I hope for a rainy day on the pavés in the Tour


ps : let the *** on the RSF road was a good idea for the realism

[Robyklebt]

Bunch of fuckers everybody here.

Give me a working stream, so I can see something, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... yeha yeah, already now it, from monday on the streams work again ok. Until Monte Grappa.

[Bear]

For robys without eurosport or working streams: KLICK

At least the last kilometers...

[Robyklebt]

I hate Bear, now he gives me a YOUTUBE link, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, blocked

But saw the final km on the Gazzetta... not live, their video.... will look at the highlights too later.

[iBanesto]

dailymotion works for you?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdbe45 ... pe-7_sport

[Bear]

I hate Bear, now he gives me a YOUTUBE link, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, blocked

But saw the final km on the Gazzetta... not live, their video.... will look at the highlights too later.

I hate you too

[Robyklebt]

I hate iBan too

[Cerro Torre RT]

I just have to say i saw Nibali to be pretty strong today if the team didn't sacrifice him for a very weak Basso, i think he would have gone with Scarponi and would also have had a shot at the stage win without the crash.

But althought i don't like at all who has won it, i just have to claim it as one of the most exciting stages i have ever seen in tours. Until the sprint there was no way to know who of the 3 may take it. Cunego again showed he is a great downhill rider, because he is quite fast and just never makes mistakes like Evans did (The same at another point and he would have been involved in the Liquigas crash, he was quite lucky today). But well, i accept, great performance today, a heroic win, probably the 2nd most valuable stage win of the whole Giro this year.

[VC Aywaille]

Today, a great cycling moment!

Just bad that Gerdeman make his best when Nibali touch the ground... Not verry nice in my opinion. For what? Helping Vino to conquest the jersey? Beuuuurk.

But except this, a really nice stage. I hope more stages like this! That's why i like cycling!

[Cerro Torre RT]

But at least that was not a deciding moment. The problem is Gerdemann could not wait for another one, that passage was his only chance, at hte climb he can't compete. And so what, if Nibali and his teammates are not able to do a downhill without mistakes, they are not supposed to win a Giro, this is reserved for the TDF. And afterwards, it was Basso getting Nibali to lose so much time. He would have lost a minute without the crash because of waiting for Basso as well. So i am very looing foward to see Basso tomorrow, he has to deliver a big show to tell his managers did all rigth to tie Nibali to him. And to be honest, i expect nothing but the opposite.

[Bear]

Cyclingnews Live Coverage:

10:43 GMT

191 riders rolled out this morning under cloudy skies. News from the top of the Terminillo is that it snowed last night but that the race will still finish there. The team buses will also be allowed to drive to the top, meaning the riders wont have to finish, turn back around and roll down to the bottom of the climb in order get to their team bus. How thoughtful of the race organisers.

Snow last night. I am excited to see the pictures of the Terminello ...

[iBanesto]

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/photos/2 ... stage18/40

Terminillo is of course 1000m lower than the Gavia and much further south, but who knows...
And maybe we will also have snow on the Gavia when the Giro gets there.

[Bear]

Cadel Evans on twitter after yesterdays victory:

CadelOfficial: I won a magnum of Brunello Di Montalcino today ) Did anyone see the last 15k? I didn't!!! #Giro
Saturday, 15 May 2010 9:44 AM

[olmania]

I saw a webcam, no snow but fog and humidity, with 5°. I hope that was the good webcam