MOVISTAR’S ECUADORIAN CLIMBER Richard Carapaz shot to the top of the Giro d’Italia overall standings on Saturday when he soloed to victory at the stage 14 summit finish.
The 25-year-old edged ahead of Primoz Roglic in the standings after breaking from the chief contenders on the Giro’s toughest hill yet, while Britain’s Simon Yates was second after attacking on the last kilometre.
“I worked so hard for this, it’s a real dream come true,” said an exuberant Carapaz at the winning post.
I felt good this morning. We knew the altitude was good for me. I gave it everything because I knew the entire Giro was at stake. The 30 seconds I gained on the penultimate climb were enough to allow me to build the lead I needed.”
Man-to-beat Roglic and two-time winner Vincenzo Nibali kept a close eye on each other all day with the Italian testing the Slovenian with a daredevil descent on the penultimate climb the Colle San Carlo.
It was on that hill that overnight leader Jan Polanc ran out of gas and gave up the pink jersey and lost almost eight minutes on the day.
The win – his second of the Giro after a surprise bunch sprint triumph in stage four – and the show of power with which it was achieved, marks out Carapaz as a contender after he came fourth in the Giro last year.
He now leads Roglic by 7 seconds while Nibali is third at 1min 47sec.
Sunday’s stage is one of the longest on the Giro at 232km, starting with a 160km flat section before the race swings into a series of short but challenging climbs and descents which pundits feel may suit Nibali.
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United are a joke!
It’s brilliant!
Did u even read the article?
In what way? This should be interesting.
Lol United are so bad now, hype themselves up all summer and will be fighting Spurs and Everton for 5th place come May.
United fans myself included were patient last year. That patience is going to wear thin very quickly if something decisive doesn’t happen in the next 2 weeks. Not to win the league but to make us competitive for a top 4 spot. Somewhere between Woodward and the glazers is the truth in all this and the focus is going to mount day by day now on both.
What’s going to happen when your patience runs out if you don’t mind me asking??
He’ll start supporting Liverpool
Ask your advice obviously
Hahaha. Well played!
Fair play sir. I doff my cap to you
Yeah a much better team why wouldn’t he?
Have a look at how the Glazers run their sports teams in the US, such as the Tampa Bay Buc’s. They are very happy to have an average team turning over a profit with the option to sell that club in a very lucrative markets (NFL & Premiership). Made their money nickel and diming poor people in trailer home parks ! Bit like they are doing at OT.
You can’t really compare a small/medium market team like the Buccaneers to United though can you? For Tamba Bay to be competitive is half the battle! Now if the Glaziers owned the Patriots, Steelers, etc and acted the same way it would be the same thing.
Teams go in cycles, and right now United are going through a rough one. It’s just about remaining competitive while the team rebuilds. As an Arsenal fan that can be very frustrating though!
My thoughts were not related to market share or size but their view and management style. I think they are lacking that connection to their club. Man U might as well be Dunnes Stores for all they really care. Compare the Red Sox owners of Liverpool, they are IMHO more intune with sports side of the business which can be clearly seen in their desire to build a connection between Fenway and Anfield.
Can you really say it’s the Glazers not investing? As Gary Neville pointed out in the last 5 transfer windows only PSG in Europe have a higher net spend on players than Man United. Now they’re looking at the team thinking ‘we spent all that money but don’t appear to have very much to show for it,’ how can you expect them to pump even more money in? Something is wrong with the way United are investing in the squad. RVP was nothing more than a plaster which temporarily covered over a poor squad, successfully albeit. Fellaini was the definition of a panic buy, paying £28m for a player you didn’t really want when you could have got him £6m cheaper the previous week. Mata was an attempt at making a statement, a superstar became available so United grabbed him to show everyone they can still sign big players even though Kagawa was already surplus to requirements and Mata was there for the same job. Shaw we were told is one for the long term and now we’re told an 18 year old professional athlete is struggling to keep in shape. Zaha has barely been seen in a United shirt since he was bought a year and half ago for £15m. The managers and Woodward have been grossly mis-using the money the Glazers having been giving them, the money is there it’s just not being spent wisely.
They’re spending huge money at Man Utd though, just on poor targets. In the past 12 months I think they’ve spent something close to £150m so you can hardly accuse them of being stingy.
if I were united I’d let Ed Woodward handle the finances he’s done a good job getn sponsers on board and strengthening the clubs position in a marketing sense and is hire ferguson to b d chief negotiator in d market
Ferguson didn’t do that job even when he was manager…Gill did. But I agree with the concept, Woodward is a good CEO but isn’t a cute enough wh0re at transfers.
exactly Woodward has done such an amazing job with the money he has brought to the club in the past 3-4 years but the transfer negotiations should be handled by someone else but definitely not Sir Alex
United!
Only for the letter d..edward woodward would be ewar woowar….drop the w and he is the donkey in winnie the pooh…
Apart from chelsea no other team in the epl has made any decent signings … says a lot about the leauge nowadays
Lukaku to everton?
Sanchez to arsenal?
I think I’ll give them a ring and tell them I’m available.
I was a centre forward 30 years ago. Also a utility centre half.
Got a few goals too.
What’s their number?
Trolling aside what if Woodward is actually doing everything any other person would but the target isn’t interested bigger clubs and champions league are a big factor as well a lot of stick he’s getting when Fergie left the club with a very average squad
City were able to build a title winning squad from humble beginnings and without the promise of Champions League football in the early days. Ditto Liverpool as title contenders.
Why is Cesc Fabregas wearing a blue jersey when he would surely be the best possible successor to Paul Scholes? The answer is hard for Utd fans to accept but the reality is that he turned down the move. This kind of rejection from big name players appears to be coming as a surprise to the Utd management and they need to understand that football is fickle and things can change very quickly.
I wonder if Utd followers now have a greater understanding of what Liverpool went through after the golden era of 70s and 80s ended. When the ‘boot room’ era finished with Daglish, no one foresaw the hardship of the next 25 years. While it’s only the second year United are without Ferguson I wonder are a few starting to sweat over the fact that fighting for a Champions League place is the pinnacle of their goals for a few years. Whilst Rodgers has taken Liverpool to second it’s still a case of wait and see if he brings that or better on a year after year basis. Not much patience in the game these days. The premier league needs both Utd and Liverpool up there fighting year after year with the ‘new money’
#glazersout
This article shows just how much woodward is out of his depht. If only david gill could be reinstated. Also disappointing as a united fan to see the team we could be lining out with.
Good God you would swear nobody ever turned United down before last year , Fergie has for ever talked about targets that were missed out on during his years and that was at a time when if you wanted to play in the PL there were only two teams you went to UTD and Arsenal now you’ve got Chelsea City With Liverpool and Spurs also coming back into the lime light , so there’s a lot more on offer now to players
There’s some amount of panic buttons being pressed lately. One bad season and its curtains for united! ! Preseason we were back to business as usual and now they lost first game of the EPL and everybody thinks were up shitcreek. Wake up boys and girls its early yet. Some fans are just ridiculous, thinking we can win something every season. Its IMPOSSIBLE! CMON UNITED! !