Road Cycling
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George has done some pretty decent service for TJV, so I'm not sure they'd sack him for this. And seems he's already got his offer on the table.
But, it's pretty hard to see him getting another shot as team leader - and there was a decent opening there, with Kruiswijk getting pretty old and Dumoulin looking like his heart might not really be in it anymore.
Let's hope for a better second half!
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Interesting stage last night that shook out the GC standings and the cream really starting to rise.
Bernal starting to look at least half a class above the rest. Did some of his own dirty work to shake Evenepoel off on a gravel section (George the guy who helped him) - and then able to easily pull away from the rest of the GC riders to catch Buchman and pull him to the finish.
George's teammate Foss had a great day - looked really strong and finished in the small group chasing Bernal with Yates and Caruso.
George had a couple of good cameos - firstly in a two man break with Foss, which came to naught - and then helping Bernal to distance Remco. He's now working for Foss who is up to 9th in the GC.
Looking like Bernal's race to lose - though Vlasov is still within final TT range - 45 seconds down. Then Caruso, Carthy, Yates, Buchman, Ciccone, Evenepoel (2.22 down), Foss (2.49), Martinez (3.15). Hard to see a winner beyond these guys - and Bernal will need to crack to let anyone else in.
Evenepoel a big loser on the day - though Dan Martin and Davide Formolo probably bigger losers, because their chances evaporated - 7+ minutes down.
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@crucial Yeah - anything can happen.
Soler, Di Marchi and Mader all already abandoned today - first two due to crashes.
But, George is in the break again and looks like the peloton is giving them more latitude than the other day. 5 minutes ahead now.
Looking at who else is in the break.....if George has found some form........ it's winnable for him.
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@chris-b ... but not if he spends his time having verbal fisticuffs with Brambilla! Anyone know if they have previous beef?
In his post stage interview he just seemed a bit lost and unsure of what his role is now his GC hopes have evaporated.
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@scribe Yeah - though in reality, they were fucked when they let Vendrame get over the last climb with them.
I think George probably needed 30 seconds over the top - and then the others to be looking at each other while he made hay.
Vendrame is apparently a bit like an Italian version of Paddy Bevin - can climb, but has a kick like a mule - and judging by the way he used that dip to catapult himself into the steep section, I'd say he's ridden that climb before.
Ah well, small bit of good news that they relegated Brambilla to 4th at the end - so George at least gets on the stage podium.
Won't get many better chances to win a Grand Tour stage though.
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George ends up 7th on the stage.
Caught by Bernal and Yates from the GC riders, and 5th of those in the break. Here's what TJV have to say....
Bennett seventh on mythical Monte Zoncolan in Giro d’Italia
George Bennett has finished in seventh place in the fourteenth stage of the Giro d’Italia. The champion of New Zealand was part of an early breakaway, but…
I guess he's been animating things, but maybe time to take it easy for a few days and get ready for one more big effort on stage 19 or 20.
Bernal again the strongest of the GC riders - he's got 90 seconds on Yates, who's moved up to 2nd. But, it's largely brutal from here.
A rolling stage tonight, then, mountain stage, rest day, mountain stage, flat stage, mountain stage, mountain stage. finale.
Be decided by who doesn't crack!
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I stayed up to watch it, and that's the lats time I'll spend an evening on the hope that George will end up showing anything (beyond being a good soldier) in a grand tour. He was in the right position and didn't even try to challenge for the win.
I understand that when you don't have the legs, you don't have them, but I don't see how he ever got so highly rated if, when in a position like that, he can't light up other riders, and he never even made an effort.
Anyway, I'm no more than a very casual cycling fan, so I'll be interested to hear what the more informed fans think, but all I know is it was so frustrating to watch him not even try to take advantage of his effort to get away.
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@gt12 said in Road Cycling:
when you don't have the legs, you don't have them
I think that's about the size of it.
I set my alarm and got up to watch the climb.
TBH I thought Mollema was the big danger and that Fortunato and Tratnik would blow up on the final section. I assume that's what those guys thought, as well. Reaction of Covi at the end certainly suggested it - he looked like he finished with gas in the tank, but ran out of road.
A couple of things working against George - 1) he's been heavily involved at the front of the race to date - that was his third time in a break, he had another day helping Foss, and in the first few stages he was riding with the Big Boys. Mollema has been similarly prominent. I guess the sponsors want their pound of flesh. I haven't previously noticed Fortunato, so I'm guessing he's targeted this one big effort.
- On the day, everyone in the break will be watching George to make sure he's doing his share of the work. A bit easier for someone like Fortunato to shirk a bit.
But, margins between these guys are small - there's no mugs in the race. Guys like Bernal and Yates able to light up the other GC contenders at the end (even though all of those guys have been protected all day) because they're really a class above.
George sits somewhere in the next tier - with some significant weaknesses. Not good in the cold - but, he also doesn't have much kick. He's really got to just grind people off his wheel a bit like Tratnik did. (That's harder for him, because the others will mark him more closely).
It's doable for him, but I'm living as much in hope as expectation.
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@crucial That's possible too, because there's going to be plenty of people ahead of him crack - so if he went back to focusing on the GC then scraping a top 10 is probably within reach.
But, I sort of hope not - I'd rather see a stage win (or a fight for one).
I guess some of the equation will be what happens with Foss - he slipped a couple of places last night and he's not ideally suited to the big mountains.
I see Groenewegen pulled the pin before last night's stage, so the whole team has a fair bit of freedom.
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@chris-b said in Road Cycling:
@crucial That's possible too, because there's going to be plenty of people ahead of him crack - so if he went back to focusing on the GC then scraping a top 10 is probably within reach.
But, I sort of hope not - I'd rather see a stage win (or a fight for one).
I guess some of the equation will be what happens with Foss - he slipped a couple of places last night and he's not ideally suited to the big mountains.
I see Groenewegen pulled the pin before last night's stage, so the whole team has a fair bit of freedom.
You have to admit that aside from the early problems George was never given the team to help with a high placing or stage win.
Compare what he had to do last night with help from one team mate to the bottom of the climb alongside Bernal. Freak that Bernal is, he also also provided every chance to show his abilities. He had no work to do at all yesterday until he used the saved energy on the climb.
George is never going to blast away. He’s not explosive enough. But on a long climb he could make a riders around him crack as long as he is fresh going into it -
@crucial They certainly haven't given George a team to dictate like Bernal.
The commentators said early on that TJV had allocated three support riders each to George and Groenewegen. I haven't quite worked out who George's third man is/was - I guess Van Emden (along with Bouwman and Foss).
Foss has been a pleasant surprise and would have been handy in support if George had remained in contention. I guess the plan would be similar to Bora - who have resources split between Buchmann and Sagan. Hang in behind the Ineos train and hope Bernal cracks.
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George picked up a couple of spots without doing anything last night. Withdrawals helping him.
Two majorly nasty stages to come yet so there's still hope for a top 10.
Tonights 5 star
We have been giving George a hard time for lost opportunities but he is doing fairly well overall sitting 3 minutes ahead of the likes of Nibali.
Mollema seems to have found his legs late in the tour. A couple of good showings have hom eating back the once 40 minute deficit. Too little too late but will it will be interesting to watch how far the top ten let him catch up before shutting him down. -
@crucial Fuck look at the scale of those climbs - the first one to warm up is a gentle 1000 metres!
My dark horse, Buchmann one of the guys who crashed out.
Mollema in the break AGAIN last night? A tiger for punishment! He's giving the sponsors some value.
On that point - breakaway specialist Thomas de Gendt briefly had a crack a couple of nights ago. I didn't realise he was even riding until that point. Amazingly invisible for Thomas!
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@chris-b said in Road Cycling:
@crucial Fuck look at the scale of those climbs - the first one to warm up is a gentle 1000 metres!
My dark horse, Buchmann one of the guys who crashed out.
Mollema in the break AGAIN last night? A tiger for punishment! He's giving the sponsors some value.
On that point - breakaway specialist Thomas de Gendt briefly had a crack a couple of nights ago. I didn't realise he was even riding until that point. Amazingly invisible for Thomas!
I'm kind of hoping that the succession of climbs there will see a few more GC riders fall back down the list.
There's a rest day after that but the following day has a couple of Cat1 kickers right at the end. Then there is a flat stage followed by two days of nasty climbs.
Hard to tell who in the top 10 has already ridden their race and may crack but we might get an indication tomorrow. No one will want to let a big gap open on the first climb and some will be feeling the effects of that by the second one.
