Giro d’Italia Stage 18: Live updates, blog
Roar Guru By vitalyg, 24 May 2012 vitalyg is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Cycling, Giro d'Italia, live blog, Mark Cavendish
Stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia gets underway late tonight, as the Grand Tour continues toward Milan. Join us from 9.50pm AEST as we live blog this unusual stage.
Which of these is not like the other? If the question is about the stages of the Giro we’ve seen this week, the answer is: it points down.
The riders will start their day in San Vito Cadore and 139 kilometers later, they will be sprinting for the finish in Vedelago. One of the biggest surprises for me in this year’s Giro is that Mark Cavendish made it thus far.
I bet he’s happy that he did because later he will have another chance to sprint. With most of the sprinters having abandoned, all that Cavendish has to do is position himself well and stay out of trouble. Australia’s Matt Goss abandoned many stages ago.
However, for a sprint to happen, the break needs to get caught. I have a feeling that the rest of the peloton will be happy to spin tomorrow and let the break have the fun.
The riders are still hurt from yesterday and two more mountainous stages lie ahead. Sky will have to work extra hard to ensure their man Cavendish is first to the finish line.
One thing is certain, the pace will be very, very fast. It might even go supersonic if the peloton has issues figuring out which riders can go into the break. They should be done in under three hours.
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The Crowd Says (44) | Page 1 of Comments
The Roar Live Blog: Latest comments displayed at the top of the page | Click here to jump to leave a comment
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- Explore:
- Cycling, Giro d'Italia, live blog, Mark Cavendish
1:11am
vitalyg said | 1:11am | Report comment
No changes on GC today, but tomorrow should be a good one. Be sure to visit and follow along.
12:54am
vitalyg said | 12:54am | Report comment
Guardini wins. 2nd for Cav and Ferrari 3rd.
12:50am
vitalyg said | 12:50am | Report comment
Guardini wins head to head against Cav. Cavendish had the position and the lead out, but doesn’t have the legs to win.
12:48am
vitalyg said | 12:48am | Report comment
Less than a K to go Sky on the front.
12:47am
vitalyg said | 12:47am | Report comment
Saxo Bank on the front with less than 2 to go. Phinney moves up too.
12:46am
vitalyg said | 12:46am | Report comment
Field all together and the pace is ramping up. 3km to go.
12:44am
vitalyg said | 12:44am | Report comment
Everyone is through the final turn now and it’s a straight wide road to the finish line – we haven’t seen much of this in this year’s Giro.
12:42am
vitalyg said | 12:42am | Report comment
Under 7km to go, 11 seconds to Delage and Bak. Ferrari stalking Cav in the bunch.
12:40am
vitalyg said | 12:40am | Report comment
The field is within 10 seconds of the two escapees with about 8km to go. Should come all together in a bit. Sky driving on the front.
12:39am
vitalyg said | 12:39am | Report comment
Delage and Bak make a move to try to get away. Less than 10k to go.
12:35am
vitalyg said | 12:35am | Report comment
Gap is under 20 seconds with 15 to go.
12:32am
vitalyg said | 12:32am | Report comment
The course points downhill and speeds are approaching 60kph.
12:31am
vitalyg said | 12:31am | Report comment
Gap to the break is down to 23 seconds with 18km to go. Pace is fast.
12:30am
vitalyg said | 12:30am | Report comment
Lampre now pacing Scarponi back to the field through the caravan.
12:29am
vitalyg said | 12:29am | Report comment
Just as I said that, there’s some drama at the back of the peloton. Lampre all dropped back. Scarponi was back on the side of the road – must have been a mechanical.
12:28am
vitalyg said | 12:28am | Report comment
Must be extra hard to be in the break mentally today. Usually there’s a chance they might escape, here they know there’s no chance.
12:27am
vitalyg said | 12:27am | Report comment
As we approach the 20km to go mark, the peloton is one happy bunch chasing down the break that is now 47 seconds up the road.
12:21am
vitalyg said | 12:21am | Report comment
With less than 30km to go, the break is out to a minute again. It won’t get much larger. I’m guessing with 10 to go it will be all together.
12:12am
vitalyg said | 12:12am | Report comment
35km to go, break has about 35 seconds on the field. I think everyone knows how this is going to end.
12:04am
vitalyg said | 12:04am | Report comment
Less than 40km to go in the stage and the break of 4 has about a minute on the main field. It will likely stay like that until a few KM from the finish until Sky begins to chase again. The final 5km are flat and straight, should be a drag race to the finish line.
11:59pm
vitalyg said | 11:59pm | Report comment
There was just an image of Taylor Phinney in a Spiderman kit riding the same climbs he rode yesterday as a professional – precious.
11:53pm
vitalyg said | 11:53pm | Report comment
Four riders managed to escape and pulled away at about 50 second. The riders are Clement, Keizer, Kaisen and Delage.
11:46pm
vitalyg said | 11:46pm | Report comment
A break of six got away but was quickly reeled back in. If they keep going like this, it will be a much shorter stage than anticipated. Time-wise, that is.
11:38pm
vitalyg said | 11:38pm | Report comment
The attacks have started as riders try to establish another break. It will be up to Sky to keep it all together at the end.
11:34pm
vitalyg said | 11:34pm | Report comment
Not sure what that Lampre rider was doing there challenging Cav. Cav gets most points at the intermediate sprint.
11:32pm
vitalyg said | 11:32pm | Report comment
Break is only a few seconds away, 2km left to go to the intermediate sprint and Keizer just attacked the peloton.
11:26pm
vitalyg said | 11:26pm | Report comment
13 seconds to the break.
11:26pm
vitalyg said | 11:26pm | Report comment
The peloton is back together, but Sky is desperately trying to catch the break before the intermediate sprint.
11:22pm
vitalyg said | 11:22pm | Report comment
Cavendish wants the intermediate sprint points, so Sky is chasing down the break to give Cav a few more points. He’s currently 1 point ahead of Rodriguez.
11:20pm
Darryl Kotyk said | 11:20pm | Report comment
Good job covering today’s fast paced action. Thanks Vitaly.
11:17pm
vitalyg said | 11:17pm | Report comment
The break is down to 1:15 and the peloton has split. This is getting interesting. Sky seems to be going hard on the front.
11:10pm
vitalyg said | 11:10pm | Report comment
82km to go and the gap is still around 2:40. The peloton seems to be just riding along, but they are moving fast due to the terrain.
10:57pm
vitalyg said | 10:57pm | Report comment
Sky on the front, not much of a surprise here. 90km to go in the race and the break has 2:40 on the main field.
10:55pm
vitalyg said | 10:55pm | Report comment
I’m not really sure why the organizers decided to put this stage here. This type of stage would have been great as one of the 12 days when the riders had to go without a rest day. Inserting it at this point is just too anti-climactic.
10:48pm
vitalyg said | 10:48pm | Report comment
Less than 100km to go. First time in a few days that Cavendish is smiling in the peloton.
10:45pm
Fishy said | 10:45pm | Report comment
Who are the main threats to Cav today?
10:40pm
vitalyg said | 10:40pm | Report comment
Break growing very slowly. The four are now 2:50 up the road from the main group.
10:36pm
vitalyg said | 10:36pm | Report comment
No breakneck speeds in the peloton tonight, the guys seem content to roll at a casual pace for a while before they have to chase down the breakaway.
10:32pm
vitalyg said | 10:32pm | Report comment
This would be the day where the break gets away if it wasn’t for the surviving sprinters wanting to have their last say.
10:31pm
vitalyg said | 10:31pm | Report comment
The riders are 25km into the stage and there’s a break of 4 up the road with a 2:40 gap: Boaro (Saxo Bank), Clement (Rabobank), De Negri (Farnese-Vini) and Pagani (Colnago).
10:24pm
vitalyg said | 10:24pm | Report comment
Stage 18 preview via cyclingthealps.com
10:23pm
vitalyg said | 10:23pm | Report comment
Blue jersey points after stage 17
1 RABOTTINI Matteo ITA FAR 65
2 GOLAS Michal POL OPQ 34
3 AMADOR BIKKAZAKOVA Andrey CRC MOV 28
4 POZZOVIVO Domenico ITA COG 24
5 BARTA Jan CZE APP 24
6 RUBIANO CHAVEZ Miguel Angel COL AND 24
7 DE MARCHI Alessandro ITA AND 15
8 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin ESP KAT 13
9 HESJEDAL Ryder CAN GRM 13
10 FAILLI Francesco ITA FAR 12
10:22pm
vitalyg said | 10:22pm | Report comment
Red jersey points after stage 17
1 CAVENDISH Mark GBR SKY 110
2 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin ESP KAT 109
3 HESJEDAL Ryder CAN GRM 72
4 POZZOVIVO Domenico ITA COG 63
5 AMADOR BIKKAZAKOVA Andrey CRC MOV 52
6 SCARPONI Michele ITA LAM 52
7 KRISTOFF Alexander NOR KAT 49
8 KEIZER Martijn NED VCD 48
9 TIRALONGO Paolo ITA AST 43
10 DE MARCHI Alessandro ITA AND 43
10:21pm
vitalyg said | 10:21pm | Report comment
GC after stage 17
1 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER Joaquin ESP KAT 74:46:46 0:00
2 HESJEDAL Ryder CAN GRM 74:47:16 0:30
3 BASSO Ivan ITA LIQ 74:48:08 1:22
4 SCARPONI Michele ITA LAM 74:48:22 1:36
5 URAN URAN Rigoberto COL SKY 74:49:42 2:56
6 INTXAUSTI ELORRIAGA Benat ESP MOV 74:49:50 3:04
7 POZZOVIVO Domenico ITA COG 74:50:05 3:19
8 TIRALONGO Paolo ITA AST 74:50:59 4:13
9 DE GENDT Thomas BEL VCD 74:51:24 4:38
10 HENAO MONTOYA Sergio Luis COL SKY 74:51:28 4:42