2017 'PRO' cycling discussion.

[spartan]

like Nibali said Karma is a bitch

Dumoulin finding out what happens when you insult the tactics of two guys
who've won six Grand Tours between them.

Ruthless.

[kkibbler]

On Eurosport they're saying he didn't stop, it was a split during the descent. /shrug

[Rondje]

This tweet might be interesting, but remember Twitter isn't the most reliable source. I'm more then interesting in the post race interviews.
https://twitter.com/enporta/status/868074022776561665

The DS of Sunweb just confirmed that TD got attacked while taking a piss stop.

And then Tom stopping for Nairo when he crashed all by himself.... Cycling is rotten if we talk about sportsmanship.

[MattSoutherden]

If they get back on, NQ and VN will have no team left.

[Rondje]

They are back! And I take my words back about Yates his white pants, he can wear what he want if he rides like that

Go on Tom, beat them all on the last climb.

[Norregard]

So, does this mean that from now on feeding zones, crashes and nature breaks are now fair game to attack? That's just sadder than sad. R.I.P. racing etiquette.

[sychen]

I have to say.. Disappointed in the way the riders have behaved this Giro. I get that it's all about competition and winning.

Cycling have had a gentlemanly nature through its history and the idealist in me love to see that side.

The Props to TD when NQ crashed and disappointed when both him and Nibs sent their team mate to drive the paceup during poopgate then blaming not wanting to lose to time to podium contenders.
Then turn around yesterday and refuse to even pull to defend their place allowing Pinot/zak to close in on 3rd.

It's just a bad look for cycling.

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[Miller]

If they did attack during a Dumoulin comfort stop, and we don't know the full story yet, then they'd better make that attack stick. They didn't.

More 'polemica' after the stage finish I expect!

[Norregard]

Then turn around yesterday and refuse to even pull to defend their place allowing Pinot/zak to close in on 3rd.

That's just tactics though. In a way, it's in Nibali and NQs advantage if Pinot or Zakarin put pressure on Dumoulin. He doesn't have a lot of backing from teammates so the more he has to divide his attention to keep his pink jersey, the better. Nibali and NQ are willing to lose to be able to win. You can have an opinion about it ofcourse (I love seeing attacking riders myself!), but it's not ungentlemanly.

[LeDuke]

People/teams are going to hammer NQ at the Tour. And rightfully so.

Every time he flats or crashes, he'd better hope he has 8 guys ready to pull him back up.

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[kkibbler]

That's just tactics though. In a way, it's in Nibali and NQs advantage if Pinot or Zakarin put pressure on Dumoulin. He doesn't have a lot of backing from teammates so the more he has to divide his attention to keep his pink jersey, the better. Nibali and NQ are willing to lose to be able to win. You can have an opinion about it ofcourse (I love seeing attacking riders myself!), but it's not ungentlemanly.

We might be watching different races because what I saw yesterday was 2 riders willing to place 4th and 5th to see the leader place 2nd.

[Rondje]

Seems we have to wait till after that race to find out what really happened. Dutch Eurosport earlier said that Spekenbrick (DS Sunweb) confirmed that TD had a piss break, but Dutch journalist Thijs Zonneveld just called him and he couldn't confirm it and said Eurosport might have miss interpreted him.

[CrankAddictsRich]

I am watching on RAI and they said it was a split on the back as they were coming into the descent... They had someone in a car that they ere interviewing, but I missed the name and team. It was not during a nature break. Sounds like we'll have to wait for the post stage interviews... lots of versions of the story.

[Norregard]

Luke Roberts (Sunweb) quoted by RAI saying it wasn't a nature break and Dumoulin was just caught out at the back of the peloton. The source of the original story (Spekenbrink, Sunweb) was called by Thijs Zonneveld and didn't want to confirm a nature break.

[CrankAddictsRich]

Ruben Plaza up the road in the break, I'm predicting a big Yates attack on the final climb.. or possibly on the flat into the climb and then a bridge up to him, today.

Also, looking at today and tomorrow, I think Tom D will win this. I don't think the stages are going to be hard enough to significantly hurt his team and isolate him. He's got 3 team mates with him now, going into the final climb. Tomorrow there's the one big climb mid-stage and then another final climb, but it seems like he's at least plenty capable of hanging on when they attack and even if he loses some time on tomorrows final climb, there's 15km of flat (relatively flat) going to the line that allows him to grind back. Factor in some added time on the final TT and his chances are getting good.