Crash spoiled the race. Little doubt Quintana wouldn't have been in pink though.

Got it mate. Thanks for the engagement, this forum has gone silent since MC's departure. Hopefully, it's only temporary and he comes back soon. Maybe for the TdF?

It's difficult to forecast what Tom can achieve, but I would prefer Pinot h2h considering week 3, though I'm also unsure about his ITT capabilities.

Very interesting-looking GC. I'm not really that surprised. Will try and drill down a bit into it, ahead of the remaining 6 mountain stages, and of-course the final stage ITT.

Well, that was certainly a let-down from Landa. Thought he would have shown more than that -- just folded. Peloton riding hard, expect more attacks out of the leading group by the stronger riders to drop those sitting on. Might not be enough for them as the quality is sorely missing. Would be going with the peloton now. 32kms/2:48

Stage: 12

Wanted 4s for Ewan in what is going to be a bunch sprint.

Gaviria got it. Someone was confident. Still looks soft to me.

Stage: 13

Not getting involved in any more sprint stages in this race. Gaviria is meant to be good but I just don't buy it, and the rest are riding like they're in the PCT.

Actually, he flew home nicely that time, that looked confident and powerful and fast. Okay, might need to begin to take him seriously, now.

Stage: 14 Same goes for today's stage.

Quintana has no time to mess around anymore, he could've been more ruthless on Etna, but now he and MOV have to come out in destructive fashion today, and throw the proverbial kitchen sink at Dumoulin.

Dumoulin, on the other hand, cannot get sucked into the rope-a-dope play, he cannot afford to answer changes of rhythm and feel the pressure of going with Quintana. Dumoulin, just has to ride his own race, his own ITT and keep his losses under control. Pinot looks good, so he is a danger for the stage win, but I expect Quintana to come out all guns blazing and win the stage in strong fashion.

It's the first foray into the mountains proper, so am not getting carried away with any bets. Will be interested to see how it plays out today as it will set a tone to this important mountains portion of the Giro this year.

Quintana from Pinot for the stage, but Dumoulin to lose no more than 30secs, is my best analysis at this point. But today we will see a lot of what is to come, I think.

Dumoulin is developing in front of our eyes, he shouldn't be going this deep, though.

Quintan

BROKEN

Seems Quintana's only chance now is to isolate Tom early on Tuesday and then go on an attack from far out.

Four stages in the mountains of real description, beginning on Tuesday with stage 16.

Firstly, Dumoulin should get through fine tomorrow. Then, a rest day to recover. Then, stages: 18, 19, 20 -- are all testing. I think I mentioned Etna earlier, I meant Blockhaus, stage 9, which Quintana won. Going over it again in detail, I can't help but think that he wasn't as destructive as he has shown previously. He has just rolled away effortlessly on climbs like that in the past, and built a big lead, and if he was as strong as he should be than I would have expected more, although it was a good performance.

MOV are still strong, but Quintana is leaning heavily on Anacona and that isn't a sure thing it is going to work as effectively as it did on  Blockhaus. Also, the pressure is going to ramp-up for one big attack, and he is not as good coming from the back as he is when intimidating his opposition from the front, so there is a flaw in the idea that MOV can just isolate Dumoulin and launch Quintana for big chunks of time. I mean, that's certainly their game plan, but it is not that easy, and even when it was done perfectly on Blockhaus Quintana only got 24secs on Dumoulin and 60secs on a cracked Nibali. So, even if Dumoulin cracks on Tuesday, he only loses about a minute, I think. But that's a minute he has in reserve in the ITT at a highly-conservative estimate. I say this because we weren't expecting the additional minute or 53secs as it was, which Dumoulin copped Quintana on stage 10 ITT. Then, Wednesday is fine for him. Thursday, Friday, Saturday of stages 18, 19, 20 -- are at issue, and I accept that Dumoulin has broken apart previously when in the GC leader's jersey. However, I would advance the argument, as I have from the start about Dumoulin in this race, that he is a different GC rider this season, and there is less of an expectation that he is going to have a shocking day in the mountains, this time around.

I initially wasn't pleased he was going so deep on today's stage 14, as I thought he could be showing his inexperience again and would pay for it on the stage or later down the road, however looking back on it some more it is noteworthy that what he was doing was keeping a tempo which suited him. He could have sat back and let everyone regroup and take a breather, however he instead managed his levels very well, and that ties directly into his clear GC preparation this season.

In conclusion, I think Dumoulin is still at risk of cracking on a stage in the mountains, but this race seems to be falling into place for him, in terms of a somewhat suspect Quintana, no other real threats and an ITT to finish. And the longer he goes without cracking on a stage, the better his chances to win. I think he has reached a new level and this was available data this season, so I think his chances are higher for winning than doing a crack-up job as we witnessed in the Vuelta. And remember, all top GC riders are class time-trialists.

The greats are only remembered for Grand Tour wins , not podiums ......any idea how podiums Hinault won , no me neither .
Quintana can settle for second or take a risk.
He appears to be hoping Dumoulin cracks and he inherits the win.
Doesn't look likely at the moment .
He just does not seem willing to go from a long way out , yesterday showed 2 miles is not enough.
Perhaps if his team attack from 10 miles out , Dumoulin might not have the stamina ........not that I see this happening in a million years.
If you can't time trial how on earth will you pull back all that time following the wheel for so long ?
I hope Dumoulin wins.

Stage: 15 The peloton release the breakaway after some 120kms, thrilling to watch the struggle today, actually. That first break were really riding very well, combining very well, and keeping a very high average speed.

Anyway, I think there are going to be many more attacks, and I think the breakaway/attacker is more likely to get it than the peloton, today. Looks like a classics finale, and the Books framed the market according to that understanding, so 1.) If ORS keep working on the front than the break is under pressure and may not hold on, however it's only 2 against the 10 in the break, and 2.) If it comes back together than expect plenty more attacking action from classics-type riders. Interesting stage, this one.

Yates definitely worth a punt here at 12s...

LOL, ORS stop riding just then.

UK viewers were in a break. He slid out, but appears to be okay, Dumoulin stops racing!

aNOTHER BIKE CHANGE

Quintana