chasm54

Terrific performance from Cavendish to come from a long way back in a very messy finish. Still the man to beat at the sharp end of the race. His hundredth win as a pro, I believe.

bbattle

Great aerial shot of the last km. The two guys fighting to get on Cav's wheel, Orica making the big move, then Cavendish swinging all the way around and taking the win; all awesome!


Goss and Viviano had no idea where Cavendish was; reminded me of Robbie McEwen just popping up out of nowhere to take the win.

chasm54

Unless you're Andre Greipel (at least) I can't really see the point of fighting to be on Cav's wheel, because if he times it right he's just going to ride away from you.

On the other hand, I'm no expert. I couldn't sprint out of sight on a dark night.

Kind of Blued

Anybody know who went down in the crash, and the injuries?

bbattle

At that point, it was either stick to Cav's wheel or have zero chance at the podium. The elbowing and head butting at over 35 mph always amazes me. Assuming I could ever go that fast, the last thing I'd want to do would be to lean over and hit somebody.

Sprinters typically don't want to be in front, they want to be able to accelerate past the other riders, just like in track. If you can be on Cavendish's wheel, then blast past him, you may have a shot. If you wait for him to go, it's game over.

And then, like today, it was game over no matter what the other sprinters did. Goss had a great lead out, Viviani was right there with a strong kick. All for nothing. They faded and one of the riders on Cav's wheel took third (Bouhanni).

MinnMan

Cav is just unbelievable. To win so many sprint finishes in big races, it's more than having more power than everybody else. Even when his lead out is less than ideal, he seems to always know exactly the right moment to hit the gas. His sense of timing is extraordinary.

dalameda

How are folks watching? Streaming online? I am in the bay area and dont think comcast is carrying it.

MinnMan

I catch the highlights and sometimes longer segments from steephill:
https://www.steephill.tv/giro-d-italia/

Ken Brown

Did you notice that Hesjedal and Wiggins finished 63 and 64, a bit of gamesmanship.

freelifecycling

You can watch final moments and Cavendish's interview here : https://youtu.be/YkBAgJRWn4U

rousseau

Go here to get a free proxy server that puts you in the UK: https://www.expatshield.com/ (you can also upgrade for a few bucks to avoid the ads).

Fire up Expat Shield (you have to do that first), and then go here to sign up for a one month subscription to Eurosport for £5 which you can cancel at any time: https://www.eurosportplayer.co.uk/.

Done and done.

cthenn

Re: TV, I know all about steephill, etc, it's fine, but it's so much nicer to be able to watch it on an actual television, not a crappy pirated feed on dubious websites. Plus, I would just DVR Universal Sports' coverage of the stages and watch them commercial free at night (YOU KNOW IMMEDIATELY WHAT THE PROBLEM IS AND THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED RIGHT THEN AND THERE.) So WTF happened to Universal Sports' coverage? Last year they actually covered the race, which was much more compelling than any of the other GT's (the Vuelta was a reasonable second). Why did US drop the Giro, or is it more complicated than that?