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Letting the Air Out G18-98
Mads Pedersen (Trek Segafredo) the Danish National Champion, has ridden enough pave in his life to know that you need a little less air in the tires to handle the rough roads. Having ridden thorugh Rome while a Visiting Artist to the American Academy in Rome, I knew just how rough the roads were. I didn't think they were all that bad, after all I have also ridden in Manhattan (New York City) as well as the back roads of West Virginia.
But Pedersen actions are a great analogy for what happened during the final stage of this Giro. Chris Froome and others high up in the general classification basically called a sit down strike to protest the concieved dangers of the course. After much slow riding and discussion it was decided to neutralize the stage, taking the final GC times on the third lap of the ten lap circuit. This was done in order to reduce risk - or to take away a very real chance that there would be serious racing through Rome and upsets (maybe even for Froome himself) in the overall standings at the end of the day. Once this was set, those with hopes of winning the stage, or assisting their sprinters, got on with racing, while the rest just tooled around the city for awhile. The Gruppo Maglia Rosa finished the day ten minutes behind the sprinters!