Giro d'Italia 2019

[Debs]

Paganini in the Val di Fiemme

Stradivarius came from his home in Cremona to the Val di Fiemme, crossed by today’s stage, to purchase the wood from which he made his priceless violins. He is thought to have gone in person to Paneveggio wood in search of centuries-old fir trees for his soundboxes. What he found were now called resonance firs.

The timber of the fir is elastic with a lymphatic system that acts like organ pipes. The trees are cut in October and November when the moon is waning. The best trees can be recognized by thin, perfectly concentric growth rings, with straight fibres and few knots. In the XVI and XVII centuries, the cold of the so-called Little Ice Age created unique conditions for wood quality - hence the excellence of violins made by Stradivarius and the otehr Cremona luthiers. Today it is impossible to find such specimens, but the demand for “resonance firs” still exists: dozens of cubic metres are used every year to make Tesero pianos, by Cremona lute-makers, or are exported to Japan for piano cases.

[Debs]

So the epic Stage 20 with it’s 5300+ meters of climbing still didn’t produce a serious shake-up of the top ten GC positions. Terrific win of Astana’s Bilbao, his second stage win in this tour, but we will never know if his team mate López would have won the stage if he’d not been knocked off his bike and to apparently loose over a minute and a half - to include an altercation with the spectator that got in his way. [See YouTube clip below]

Landa excelled on the last climb to the finish and pushes Roglič off the 3rd GC podium place, although it’s quite possible Roglič could win that 3rd place back again after Sundays 17 km time trial.
It’s not impossible [ due to puncher or mechanical problem ] that Carapaz can loose this Giro, but it looks very unlikely. The big question tomorrow is who will actually win the time trial : )

Giro d’Italia 2019, stage 20: Feltre to Croce D’Aune-Monte Avena (194km)

1. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Astana, in 5-46-02
2. Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, at same time
3. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 2 seconds
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar, at 4 seconds
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at same time
6. Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First, at 15 seconds
7. Mikel Nieve (Esp) Mitchelton-Scott, at same time
8. Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 25 seconds
9. Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 44 seconds
10. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at same time

General classification after stage 20

1. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar, in 89-38-28
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, 1-54
3. Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, at 2-53
4. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 3-06
5. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 5-51
6. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 7-18
7. Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 7-28
8. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 8-01
9. Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos, at 9-11
10. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 12-50

[Debs]

Giro d’Italia 2019, stage 21: Verona to Verona – ITT (17km)

1. Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb, in 22-07
2. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Soudal, at 4 seconds
3. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal, at 6s
4. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 9s
5. Josef Černy (Cze) CCC Team, at 11s
6. Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ, at same time
7. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team, at 17s
8. Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, at 20s
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 23s
10. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 26s

Final general classification after stage 21

1. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar, in 90-01-47
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-05
3. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 2-30
4. Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, at 2-38
5. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 5-43
6. Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 6-56
7. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 7-26
8. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 7-49
9. Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos, at 8-56
10. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 12-14

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Final points classification

1. Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, 226 pts
2. Arnaud Dèmare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, 213 pts
3. Damiano Cima (Ita) Nippo Vini Fantini, 104 pts

Final climber classification

1. Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, 267 pts
2. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, 115 pts
3. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, 84 pts

Final youth classification

1. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, in 89-45-46
2. Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Ineos, at 1-53
3. Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First, at 8-39

Final team classification

1. Movistar Team (Esp), in 269-34-59
2. Astana (Kaz), at 17-53
3. Bahrain-Merida (Bah), at 19-23

Super combativity award

Fausto Masnada (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermic

[pev999]

Thanks once again to Debs for superbly curating another cycling race thread. it is very much appreciated.

[BruceW]

Chris Froome in hospital after a serious crash in training sounds like fract femur ribs and elbow but no signif head injury

Going to be a battle after that lot to regain the real top of his sport considering he is older

Will be missed at the Tour although I guess G gets a free run now the team will be poorer without Froome

[Debs]

Dreadful news about Chris Froome, sounds like a very nasty crash into a wall at 60kph.

He’s obviously out of it for the rest of this season, and talk of a comeback is far too early to say.
Feel sorry for the guy, he must be suffering a lot right now.

[biddler66]

Dreadful shame. Shows just how dangerous cycling can be. 60-70 clicks wearing lycra can get nasty very quickly. I crashed on the track a long time ago and broker shoulder etc, still gives me issues now. Speedy recovery Mr F and all the best. Hope to see you back on the stages soon !