Rate the Giro

tailwindhome

Solid 8 from me.
Could have been improved with a bit more jeopardy for Dumoulin going into the TT.

ocdupalais

TailWindHome wrote:

Solid 8 from me.
Could have been improved with a bit more jeopardy for Dumoulin going into the TT.

The implication of that is that the Giro was saved from being a watery 6 by Dumpin Dumoulin stopping for a pony - That's a bit of an indictment, no?

I'd say 8.2.

salsiccia1

Yep, 8 for me too. Excellent last week, lots of talking points and a great parcours.

Dorset_Boy

It turned out to be an exciting last few days because the top of the GC was so close. However i feel that Quintana (in particular) and Nibali (to a lesser extent) really failed to take the race to Dumpin' Tom when they had the chance. In particular Quintana refused to do anything but sit on others wheels, even when he wanted groups to work. Riding off the front for 300m does not make an attack.

I'll give it an 8 due to the closeness of the GC.

inseine

Would loved to have seen what Thomas could've done and he would've been an interesting ali for Dumoulin (in that the probably climb and TT in a similar way). Same thing with Landa. Pinot came good a little too late.
I was pleased to see Cannonadle get a win and Tejay too.

Joshgav

I thought it was a great grand tour, certainly more interesting that I expect from TdF (based on recent years).

sherer

enjoyed the race i'd give it an 8. Great parcours but like any race it's the riders that make it. Nibs and Quintana could have attacked a bit more when Dumoulin was in trouble to gain a bit more time. Back into the realms of riders having off days which is a healthier sign for the sport too

DeVlaeminck

Yes probably an 8, last week was excellent but the whole 3 weeks wasn't action packed.

joey54321

7.5, the first week or so was pretty dull with Blockhouse not really sparking like expected, the long TT was a fairly dull affair with the expected monster Tom getting a whole bunch of time. However, it did set up a great and intriguing (as well as masterful) defense of the pink jersey which redeemed the race somewhat.

bobmcstuff

Yeah a solid 8 from me too. Very enjoyable indeed.

Friebe gave it an 8 too (well 4 wine glasses out of 5). Seems like a fairly good assessment of the race.

bobmcstuff

inseine wrote:

Would loved to have seen what Thomas could've done and he would've been an interesting ali for Dumoulin (in that the probably climb and TT in a similar way). Same thing with Landa. Pinot came good a little too late.
I was pleased to see Cannonadle get a win and Tejay too.

Given G was the only rider within 1 minute of Tom in the TT and had been climbing well I think he could have been up there. Disappointing that we weren't able to find out how he could do.

rick_chasey

bobmcstuff wrote:

Given G was the only rider within 1 minute of Tom in the TT and had been climbing well I think he could have been up there. Disappointing that we weren't able to find out how he could do.

We have no idea how well he was climbing since he got taken out just before the first real climb, and as ever, week 3 is a different proposition.

specialgueststar

I'm going to give it a 7 - but on the 8 side

Could have done with more Nibs and less Quinzineapan

salsiccia1

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

I'm going to give it a 7 - but on the 8 side

Could have done with more Nibs and less Quinzineapan

:?:

philbar72

solid 8 from me. Looks like Nibbles and Quintana are still yet to peak? both attacked a bit but not as much as you'd expect. Think Dumoulin would be a Podium at the tour if he had a proper team... Ten Dam and Geschke worked their socks off though for him...

rick_chasey

7.

First two weeks were pretty sh!te.

Third week was excellent.

It feels like an 8 but we've had a lot of turgid sh!t GC races recently (in the races I bother to watch).

TheBigBean

6..

reformedfatty

I enjoyed it. First week a zzzfest - when the highlights start at 15k to go it's not a good sign, but I don't know what I'd replace the sprint stages with instead. Shame about G but really enjoyed Landa rising to the occasion to take something away from it for Sky.

Really enjoyed Tom D's defence of the pink jersey.. extremely well ridden tactically, especially given the lack of top quality domestiques to support on the climbs like Quintana and Nibali had. I thought we would be looking at a repeat of his Vuelta defeat at the end but thankfully he held on.

Also rated it as one of the most courageous rides ever when Quintana, Nibali and Pinot combined to try and break him... it looked like it was him (ok, and Jungels) against the world, but he just showed them all up.

Not sure how I feel about the most threatening thing to his lead being a toilet break. Was the race on? maybe. Was there anything they could have done that day? maybe not. I certainly felt that it came across as unsporting especially combined with the later combined efforts.

Pinot's and TJ's stage wins were good to see.

Edit : 8

inseine

Rick Chasey wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Given G was the only rider within 1 minute of Tom in the TT and had been climbing well I think he could have been up there. Disappointing that we weren't able to find out how he could do.

We have no idea how well he was climbing since he got taken out just before the first real climb, and as ever, week 3 is a different proposition.

a climb where he was a fast as the winner, apparently. Not conclusive but sufficient to let us imagine he could have challenged;

meanredspider

Perhaps, rather than King of the Descents, they should introduce a rule that if the GC leader gets a lead of X minutes, they have to take laxitives every day. That would spice things up.

squired

7. Was on holiday for the first week, so didn't see any of that. Sounds like I didn't miss much. For me the racing was a bit defensive, but I'm happy with the result. The stage profiles always make for more interesting racing than the Tour.

blazing_saddles

Memories are so short.
Could the race be ridden in reverse, everyone would be scoring it a 2.

Virtually zero drama or incident in the first week and a half.
No GC action, with no contender losing more than the smallest handful of seconds and that included the climb to Etna, which completely failed to erupt.
The second week ended with some of the dullest parcour and racing to match. The points competition took centre stage then, but was as one sided as the Tour's with Sagan.
We had a good ITT, a bit of a surprise at Oropa, Policegate and Poogate, plus the final pair of mountain stages delivering some nice action, but little in the way of GC gaps.

If this race was an 8, how does one score 2010, or 2005?

A right in the middle of the road 5 from me.

lettingthedaysgoby

Dull first week followed by lots of individually great bits that for me somehow didn't all add up to anything greater.

6.5, maybe a 7.

philwint

I'll go with the 8 consensus

Last two weeks were good, and the last few days excellent, but week one was dull.

The last stage was sufficiently exciting for me to have eurosport player on my phone on the passenger seat next to me* as I drove back to Leeds from watching the Aviva Premiership Final at Twickenham on Saturday. My months data allowance lasted until about 5 mins after Quintana finished, I knew i was running low so that added even more tension

*Audio only!

daniel_b

Highly enjoyable, glued to pretty much every stage - definitely an 8 for me.

rick_chasey

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Memories are so short.
Could the race be ridden in reverse, everyone would be scoring it a 2.

Virtually zero drama or incident in the first week and a half.
No GC action, with no contender losing more than the smallest handful of seconds and that included the climb to Etna, which completely failed to erupt.
The second week ended with some of the dullest parcour and racing to match. The points competition took centre stage then, but was as one sided as the Tour's with Sagan.
We had a good ITT, a bit of a surprise at Oropa, Policegate and Poogate, plus the final pair of mountain stages delivering some nice action, but little in the way of GC gaps.

If this race was an 8, how does one score 2010, or 2005?

A right in the middle of the road 5 from me.

Fair.

Gotta take the context of the GC sh!t it's sitting inbetween.

mugensi

I'll give it a solid 7. First week was ok and was delighted for Gaviria winning 4 stages overall. Dumolin was a worthy winner however I don't think Quintana deserved 2nd or even 3rd for that matter. I thought it was very unsporting of him not to pull the other riders back when tom stopped to take a dump especially as Dumolin had waited for him when he ditched his bike a few days earlier but I guess that's racing. Overall it was quite enjoyable, looking forward to TDF now.

DeVlaeminck

inseine wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

bobmcstuff wrote:

Given G was the only rider within 1 minute of Tom in the TT and had been climbing well I think he could have been up there. Disappointing that we weren't able to find out how he could do.

We have no idea how well he was climbing since he got taken out just before the first real climb, and as ever, week 3 is a different proposition.

a climb where he was a fast as the winner, apparently. Not conclusive but sufficient to let us imagine he could have challenged;

Did he climb it as fast as the winner, I seem to remember some confusion over the time gaps as at one point he was showing as a couple of minutes down and it was assumed he was holding the leaders but in the end he lost over 5 minutes.

phreak

A 7 for me in that it was a close thing and went down to the final stage, which was good, but it never really felt like a classic race, with off-road issues having too much of an influence (police and poo).

Mad_Malx

I'm giving it a 7 (on the Bristol Scale).

wombly_knees

Tending towards 6. Good final week, but was highly insipid the first two weeks. Even the sprints felt quite vuelta like in its wgaf-ness.