There's a long way to go in the 98th Giro d'Italia, but already with a fortnight of the race to go, we know who the men are who will in all likelihood fight it out for the overall podium following a day on which Astana once again showed their attacking strength.
The stage win in San Giorgio del Sannio went to the Kazakh outfit's Paolo Tiralongo, for the 37-year-old Italian's third victory in his home Grand Tour following earlier wins in 2011 and 2012.
Follow breakaway rider Steve Kruijswijk of LottoNL-Jumbo finished second, 21 seconds back, with Giant-Alpecin's Simon Geschke third, a further two seconds behind.
Once again, though, Rigoberto Uran of Etixx-Quick Step, runner-up in Milan for Team Sky in Milan in 2013, lost time to his rivals as race leader Alberto Contador – surviving a weekend he had begun with doubts over his ability to stand the pace following his disclocated shoulder on Thursday – maintaining his lead ahead of tomorrow's rest day.
Astana's Fabio Aru took a solitary second from Contador, who crossed the line at the end of the 224km stage from Benevento alongisde Team Sky's Richie Porte, who remains third, 21 seconds off the race lead.
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
17 thoughts on “Giro d’Italia Stage 9: Paolo Tiralongo wins from break as Astana show strength again”
Oldest ever Giro winner I
Oldest ever Giro winner I believe, coming from Astana as well who as a team are dominating, suspicious eh ?
If the Giro is anything to go
If the Giro is anything to go by so far, Nibali is going to be pretty dominant at the TdF
When Sky are dominating
When Sky are dominating (2012, 2013) – it’s not suspicious, now when other teams do, it’s. And please do not start with the Iglinski brothers and Vino, 2012’s Sky team was full of rotten apples as well. Enjoy the racing which is always exiting at the Giro and hope the cheats (if any) get caught.
ninj4fly wrote:When Sky are
Ok, so you want people to ignore the Astana riders who were caught, red handed, doped to the tits whilst applying extra scrutiny to Sky riders you’ve dismissed as ‘bad apples’ based on (at a guess) internet rumours in a direct comparison between between Astana and Sky?
Seems a slightly flawed argument.
Just to nip the predictable arguments in the bud:
1) I’m not British.
2) I’m not in any way a Sky ‘fan boy’.
Yes the team look exceptional
Yes the team look exceptional and Nibali’s chances for July look very good indeed.
Exciting Giro so far, really enjoying it
Can’t agree with this logic, however – it’s perfectly valid to be suspicious about a team with their recent record and management – sure, no team should be beyond suspicion but there’s a clear difference in record, attitude and anti doping stance between these two teams – one which applies their own strict rules, often to their own detriment,.another which sails very close to the wind indeed.
..besides, there’s plenty of people out there prepared to be suspicious of Sky and call them on any perceived transgression, given their public commitments on the subject of doping.
I couldn’t help chuckling at the sight of Aru’s domestique having a go at Porte, Sky’s leader, for not taking a turn in the chasing group of GC contenders, meanwhile another Astana rider is up the road winning the stage! Perhaps even Porte was struggling with that pace, but regardless, why should he contribute when two of the four riders are Astana?!
You have to admit the team look amazingly strong and whilst I really hope it’s genuine, suspicion is understandable
ninj4fly wrote:When Sky are
You also have to look at the language being used in the press, which has long been an indication of what was known but not said.
Do you think Greg Henderson just decided one day to tweet about Aru, or is it more likely to be something commonly discussed and acknowledged in the peloton and he just let it slip at the wrong time?
The riders themselves have a pretty damn good idea of who is clean and who is juiced, and they pass that on to the journalists in off-the-record ways.
That filters through into a code if you look hard enough, between the lines.
Adjectives like unbelievable, incredible, extra-terrestrial, superhuman in describing strength or team performance are the journo ways of telling us that doping is going on without explicitly saying it.
ninj4fly wrote:When Sky are
I started a thread asking are we right to be sceptical of Sky ….
As Chris says if we take Garmin to be clean they can barely compete now. I saw a comment last night that the Giro is once again showing a two speed peloton, that should be the real worrying sign.
Older riders now being better than they were 10 years ago should really be a concern for all of us.
ianrobo wrote:ninj4fly
Yes you did. For me, this comment of yours at the time sums up the belief system you seem to employ quite nicely
Not anyone, not one. That’s a little stronger than a healthy, and certainly justified, skepticism about some of the riders and teams we see each year. We all know there’s still doping going but I prefer going to way of investigation of performances and teams – riders and others – on demand, in depth and protracted, listening to the subtle (and not so subtle) descriptions from those in and connected to the peloton as has been mentioned and applying strong sanctions to those found to transgress – starting from a position of saying everybody is guilty and then scrabbling for square evidence to bash into round holes to try and support that doesn’t really advance matters IMO.
Just great to see older
Just great to see older fellas do well once in a while 😉 I’m guessing Tiralongo must be the oldest stage winner of a grand tour since Chris Horner’s Vuelta?
‘When Sky are dominating
‘When Sky are dominating (2012, 2013) – it’s not suspicious’
It was massively suspicious. And many of us said as such.
The air of suspicion is
The air of suspicion is cycling is ridiculous. Whoever is winning is doping, it’s the only possible explanation. There is no way anyone could ever win a cycling race without doping. It is literally impossible.
Ok, ignoring Sky for a
Ok, ignoring Sky for a moment: If we take Cannondale-Garmin as a barometer as Vaughters’ team is allegedly clean, then in the past few years they’ve gone from having a Giro winner in Hesjedal to struggling to hang onto the coat tales of the Maglia Rosa group. e.g Slagter’s popped in spectacular fashion when Tiralongo went away from him on a slight uphill yesterday. That’s what concerns me most.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out how more ‘mature’ riders like Landa and Tiralongo are managing to crush the rest of the peleton this past week or so. It’s hard not to be sceptical when riders like Cataldo turn up at Astana and ride like they are 25.
Going back to Sky, I think they are playing a clever game by leaving Porte to ride in the wheels for now and saving the team’s legs for when needed more. Will be harder to control with Landa and Cataldo in the top five though.
Yep. It’s a codified
Yep. It’s a codified reporting style. See this extract from Cyclingnews about Valverde’s win in Liege this year:
‘Valverde’s first triumph came in 2006, the year of the Operacion Puerto blood doping scandal, and the second came in 2008, the year his DNA was matched to the blood bags found in Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes’ possession in Madrid.
The Spaniard eventually served a two-year ban after a protracted case that went all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but he returned seemingly missing without a beat in 2012. Valverde turned 35 on Saturday and, somehow, he has just enjoyed the best Ardennes week of his career, placing second at Amstel Gold Race last weekend before claiming his third Flèche Wallonne win on Wednesday.
‘Somehow’??!! I think we know….
Course it is extreme but I
Course it is extreme but I watched the two races yesterday and in California could we believe what they did was clean for example ?
Andrew Hood @EuroHoody
Mick
Andrew Hood @EuroHoody
Mick Rogers said this Giro so far has been the hardest GT he’s raced since he’s started using SRM in terms of power output
ianrobo wrote:Andrew Hood
Maybe Mick needs to hunt down some of his favoured ‘contaminated meat’ then so he can get back to his best. He’s as dodgy as anyone.
Astana are blatantly filthy at this Giro, Sky and Tinkoff-Saxo are a tier below but still extremely dubious. Whatever, enjoy the racing and hope the dirty get popped. It’s been a great race so far.
I think their win over the
I think their win over the UCI has given them all added impetus to dope. You’ve just had your year/season/career threatened by the cancellation of the racing license, but now it’s back on. What better way to give a ‘fu@k you’ to the authorities by going out and winning everything…..that was Lance’s response.
In the interviews with Rodgers he had a slightly bemused look about when asked to provide how Saxo-Tinkoff were planning to deal with Astana. A bit of a wry smile as if ‘maybe report them to the authorities….’ As they are not competing with those cheats.
Cataldo’s response on there team tactics also seemed ‘Armstrongian’. His said ‘we’re just going to destroy the other teams’.
Interestingly I thought Nibali has looked quite constrained and sub-par early season – this was before the results of the license review. ‘Somehow’ he may find form for the TdF!