Vincenzo Nibali won the Giro going downhill.
I spy with my little eye a certain Michele Scarponi, who sadly lost his life while out training near his home two weeks ago, in there amongst his teammates after his captain, Nibbles, won the race. I’m torn about a death like Michele’s – we subject ourselves to similar risks every time we climb aboard our bikes and we accept it as part and parcel of our craft. Yet, while every day members of our tribe lose their lives to their trade, it takes a high profile rider to remind us how real that risk is.
But onto lighter topics, Nibali won the Giro last year going downhill, and it happened on the one stage I managed to sleep through which is another way of saying I missed it. But I love waking up to a that WTF feeling only a reshuffled GS can give you.
The race starts Friday morning, which is sooner than I expected, so I’ll stop typing so you can start picking. Get them in by the time the clock goes to zero, and remember that our Grand Tour scoring rules are a little different than the smaller events. So jump on that start list and get prognosticating!
Good luck!
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View Comments
@RobSandy
He certainly appeared to bend the post which takes one heck of an impact.
VSP PICKS (2nd Rest Day Swaps):
Yup, Dumoulin is certainly showing some class. I like him as a rider and I really hope he wins. Sunweb aren't one of the BIG teams and it would be fantastic for them to get the win.
You could say that that was a bit shit of Zakarin, Merida and Movistar.
Chapeau to Dumoulin to hang in there. Shame Landa did not get the stage.
@wiscot
@Teocalli
Indeed. Especially after the class Dumoulin showed the other day. Hopefully this was TD's "bad day" and he recovers well. As for how TD should ride the rest of the Giro? No gifts. Fuck Movistar.
Awesome win by Nibbles BTW.
I'm not a fan of Quintana or Movistar but I think they (and Nibali) were between a rock and a hard place today.
I can understand the point of view that the bunch should have killed it quickly and let Dumoulin back but personally I think this one was just the other side of etiquette.
Had it been on the flat between the Stelvio and Umbrail then yes it would have been the correct thing to do.
But at the very foot of the final climb in the Queen stage of a Grand Tour... sorry, that's just shit luck.
Kudos to him for toughing it out to hold on to pink - just a pity he couldn't hold on to brown.
@ChrisO
Yeah, it's a tough call. I'm just hoping that this was TD's bad day and that he is better tomorrow. I still think (barring other shitty luck) that Quintana would need at least 2 minutes over TD going into the final TT. Nibbles seems to be getting stronger too. Shit luck for Yates - had it not been for the crash, he's be in podium contention.
Basically, a GT needs three TTs - one each week.
Co-rider VV Dam opined that he did not expect the others to stop since it wasn't a crash. Usually peloton does not stop for interludes as these. Too bad for Tom but I hope he'll return with a vengeance today.
Shit happens...