Giro - Stage 8

Eagle of Toledo said:

Sometimes the racing tactics make you shake your head. Ricco was in the front group and was asked to come back (team orders). If he'd stayed he would have gained over 4 min (maybe even more with him driving the break) and its not as if the bunch would have chased any harder, there were already some big names in that break. Then Saunier Duval - Prodir did a lot of the chasing, what the?

First, if Ricco was in breakaway, break wouldn't succeed. It would be chased down by Liquigas, Lampre, T - Mobile. Some big players wanted breakaway to succeed, probably for later favors.
Second, Saunier Duval's DS wasn't sure that Simoni would make up lost time in the mountains and he (Gibo) is leader. Gibo changed team to be sole leader for Giro, he could stay with Lampre if he could manage these situations (co-leadership).

not a bad move imo.

Eagle of Toledo said:

Sometimes the racing tactics make you shake your head. Ricco was in the front group and was asked to come back (team orders). If he'd stayed he would have gained over 4 min (maybe even more with him driving the break) and its not as if the bunch would have chased any harder, there were already some big names in that break. Then Saunier Duval - Prodir did a lot of the chasing, what the?

Huh?

The riders in the break would have told Ricco to get out. There would be no chance of success with Ricco there. Saunier probably now have a deal with T-Mobile for help if they need it later in the Giro.

vitamin s said:

not a bad move imo.

I bet you Ricco didn't think it was such a good move.

Eagle of Toledo said:

I bet you Ricco didn't think it was such a good move.

It wasn't his decision to make. He is paid to help Gibo this year.

Bro Deal said:

Huh?

The riders in the break would have told Ricco to get out. There would be no chance of success with Ricco there. Saunier probably now have a deal with T-Mobile for help if they need it later in the Giro.

I believe you are closest to the truth. Simoni was somewhat upset that Ricco did not stay in the break. The break tried to discourage him from staying by attacks and stalls of those directly in front of him. They succeeded in discouraging him. Then Saulnier Duval and T- Mobile were constrained to do the work to keep the break from getting to far away. The interesting thing now is that there are a lot more dangerous riders in the top of the general classification. Sella, Rubiera, Noe, the russian I forget his name, and of course Pinotti, are all minutes ahead of the pre-race favorites, and are pretty good climbers. The entire GC is compressed within 6 minutes with all the mountains to come.

Let us see what happens tomorrow - 9 km climb to the finish....

ilpirata said:

I believe you are closest to the truth. Simoni was somewhat upset that Ricco did not stay in the break. The break tried to discourage him from staying by attacks and stalls of those directly in front of him. They succeeded in discouraging him. Then Saulnier Duval and T- Mobile were constrained to do the work to keep the break from getting to far away.

Yes, further reading of some of the reports (I never got to see the stage live) it sounds like it was not instigated by his team at all, which made no sense to me, but indeed by the other riders in the break as mentioned above. I personally don't agree with it, if he made the break he deserved to be there just as much as anyone else, if they had to work harder to stay away then so be it. As you can tell I like Ricco but I don't think he's an overall contender just yet so not sure why they were so worried, he could prove me wrong and nothing would please me more, but I think he needs to polish his TT to be an overall threat.

Eagle of Toledo said:

Yes, further reading of some of the reports (I never got to see the stage live) it sounds like it was not instigated by his team at all, which made no sense to me, but indeed by the other riders in the break as mentioned above. I personally don't agree with it, if he made the break he deserved to be there just as much as anyone else, if they had to work harder to stay away then so be it. As you can tell I like Ricco but I don't think he's an overall contender just yet so not sure why they were so worried, he could prove me wrong and nothing would please me more, but I think he needs to polish his TT to be an overall threat.

It happens quite often that non-GC contending riders discourage or actively ride against a potential GC-er to ensure that their break has a better chance of success. It is up to the rider to hang in there and/or decide whether to let himself be dropped.

Remember, this is a favor that he could call in later in the Giro...

And you are correct that his real weakpoint are his TT-ing skills.

Powerful Pete said:

It is up to the rider to hang in there and/or decide whether to let himself be dropped.

Indeed, and according to the CN article it seems he made the wrong decision by his DS who preferred him to tough it out and stay (aprently radio contact was lost). I can understand him being upset, the stage finishing near his hometown and all...