Stage 10 This is bad news for y'all IMO. I reckon Kittel's underdone fitness wise and perhaps he's just building for the tour. If this was his primary objective and he was in peak form he wouldn't be losing to Nizzolo
It's ok, Cav'll do him. Who cares about anything other than sprinters is a more pressing question :ninja:
A look at the overall Points: Kittel - 139 Nizzolo - 120 Froome - 109 Guardini - 89 Nibali - 82 KOM: Brambilla, Betancur - 16 Basso - 15 Uran, Palini - 13 Rest - <7 Youth 1. Betancur 2. Majka 3. Ulissi 4. Kwiatkowski 5. Talansky Team 1. Dereks 2. MMPC - 1'33 3. Rohan - 5'20 4. CC - 10'32 5. HFF - 11'46 6. FPC - 16'55 7. LLDC - 25'05
About what I'd expected for Citrosol. Betancur to go alright in the mountains, and sfa else happening. Happy that Inxausti is also in the top 10 at this stage.
Break of the day: Rujano (VCD) Martinez (EUS) Sanchez (HFF) Garzelli (VIN) Reda (AND) Brambilla (BMC) Plaza (LTB) 93ks left, break has 7'20. MMPC working on the peloton all day so far. Sanchez takes the first intermediate sprint. Garzelli takes the second. With about 50ks left MMPC have stopped working and nobody can be fucked doing any more. The break now has 13 minutes with 40ks left. 16 ks left. Contenders attack each other. Current leading group is Betancur, Scarponi, Evans, Uran and Majka. Froome and Nibali sitting back as each have teammates and neither present a serious overall threat. 500 metres later and Pozzovivo and Nibali are going. Froome is still in the pack as are Wiggins, Basso, Ulissi, Kwiatkowski, Talansky, mollema, Cataldo, Schleck and Gesink 11 ks left. Sanchez attacks, he's put 30 seconds on the fellow breakaway riders. 15 ks left. Nibali and Pozzovivo have joined the leading contenders. Froome still back, perhaps he's just on a bad day? 500 metres later. Velits and Roche putting a big turn on at the front to try and get Froome back. Cataldo helping out for Basso too. 7 ks left. Sanchez has 16 seconds on Rujano, Brambilla and Reda. Martinez, Garzelli and Plaza all done. 12 ks left. Rogers and Nocentini left to watch over the pack as Froome, Basso, Roche, Mollema and Cataldo have left the pack and have 45 seconds. They trail the leading contenders by 1'34" though 10 ks left. Evans seems to have left the contenders thanks to an acceleration from Uran who is going all Froome to Wiggins on Froome himself. Froome has now lost 2'34" on Nibali et al with all the teammates struggling. 4 ks left. Groupe Brambilla/Reda/Rujano have caught Sanchez. They're playing cat and mouse though and Plaza is back in it. 7.5 ks left. Froome is done. Terrible ride on a terrible day. 4.5ks left. Uran, realising he needs to put time in to be an overall chance, attacks. Majka reels him in. 3.7ks left. Nibali attacks, Scarponi tries to follow as does Uran but they're struggling. Pozzovivo, Betancur and Majka all seem done. Froome has lost, as of now, 6'32" on Nibali so far. 1k left. Breakaway sprinting for the win. 2k left and Nibali is solo nearly 2 minutes ahead of Scarponi and Uran who've cracked. Rujano has metres but he's cracked. Sanchez wins! Nibali crosses 3 minutes or so behind. Uran 1'30 or so, Scarponi not far off. Evans, Betancur, Majka & Pozzo all finish close. Froome finishes next having broken off from the pack, perhaps finding something but loses mega time and will have fallen out of the top few. That last kick from Froomey gained him two minutes on Nibali who was flagging, he's only 100 seconds behind now so he's still a very good shot.