2009 Giro : stage 15 :Sunday, May 24 :Forlì - Faenza : 161 kms

stage 15.

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

The stage Bertolini won last year.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008...tages/giro0811

The stage today

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009...tages/giro0915

I don't see the GC men battling it out tomorrow! They will let a break go and concentrate on Monday's monster.

Serramenti will be there. Bertolini or Serpa

Another ISD man will try. Cioni or Scarselli

David Millar?

Lampre - Cunego/Gasparotto/Mori

I'm surprised BBox didn't try today. Voeckler tomorrow?

Katusha - Brut/Ignatiev/Mazzanti

Milram - Fothen

Saxo Bank - Voigt?

Xacobeo - Isaichev?

Barloworld - Augustyn/Cardenas?

AG2R - Efimkin?

Columbia - Pinotti/Possoni? Time for Columbia to try for another stage win. Maybe Boassen-Hagen again? There is like 30km of flat after the last climb.

Caisse - David Garcia Lopez?

Will Silence Lotto try? Gilbert?

Again, I like a break to take this one and a big break again of 10 - 15 riders will try.

Voeckler is surely running out of chances? Or is he looking for the stage on Thursday or Saturday? It's time we see him attack! He's after a stage win.

Yeah, it looks too far after the last climb for any GC attack to stick, especially with a tough day on Monday. Only chance of them piling the pressure on is if someone has a bad day.

As far as the break goes, i reckon that Gilbert will fancy it. Voigt has been fairly quiet recently. Could end up being a battle between those two at the end.

Voeckler and Bertolini strike the front runners to me on this stage.

We'll soon see who gets in the break!

Lovely stage coming up. The road goes up and down and the route is beautiful Tuscan scenery. I happened to ride a part of the route from San Benedetto in Alpe to Marradi last summer and I can say that the route should be beautiful. There are tougher and higher mountains/hills in that area so they could have made the route harder if they wanted to. It seems they made this stage especially for the breakaways.

My bet is that a breakaway will take this stage too. It's pretty much up and down and I can't see any team wanting to waste their energy pulling a breakaway back when they need that energy tomorrow. The main breakaway should form before the 55K Passo dell'Eremo. There are a few steep short ramps after San Benedetto in Alpe so maybe the climbers who are out of contention for the GC will take off there or then on the Colle Carnevale after that.

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I guess nobody saw THAT coming. Great stage.

i wish the riders of the Tour de France would show that sort of abandon. nothing like a desperate bid for seconds on the gc on a stage where it shouldn't happen. sure it didn't succeed for basso, but hats off to him for giving it a go.

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"Kick over the statues and the tyrants die. Wave bye bye to their heroes with a hammer."
--The Redskins, Kick Over the Statues

Surprising that was a great stage, even though it came to naught it's an unexpected move and it really looked like it was going to work.
Once Basso & Garzelli picked up the 2 other riders from the break I though they might have enough to keep it going. Plus with DiLuca's attack which I'd say was odd and I doubt he could have crossed solo up to Basso & Garzelli, it prompted some hard responses from Menchov then Sastre & Pellazotti. I thought they had then disposed of Leipheimers group and more or less sealed Leipheimers GC victory hopes.

Whilst all those attacks and fast pace etc. didn't work yesterday they may play an affect on today's stage. A bit of a softening up so to speak.

A very strange move by Cervello calling Pauwels to wait up, it's not as if Sastre was in trouble he was already in a fast moving bunch and didn't need any team help. Cervello unnecessarily blew their chance for another stage win.

Yep, wierdest/dumbest bit of riding (or perhaps directing to be more precise) I've seen in a long time. Team car comes up and tells him to stop pulling, on a decent too. Fact that Serge took the sprint for second shows he has plenty left in the tank. There's was no doubt some loooong faces at the dinner table last night...

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thanks for the input fellas

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.