Giro d'Italia 2021

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Comments

  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,951
    jimmyjams said:

    shirley_basso said:

    Why do some stages have downhill finishes?

    I was looking at profiles today and can't understand why stage 16 doesn't finish at the top of the mountain.

    There is nothing much at the top of the Giau (the last mountain of stage 16), a hotel/restaurant on one side, and opposite a parking area for ~ 40 cars. Whereas the finish town (Cortina d'Ampezzo) is a nice little pretty town with lots of amenities and facilities, and which will financially benefit from spectators.

    The descent from the Giau to Cortina is fast and not very technical, so even if it is Reichenbach first at the top of Giau (or Pinot were he been taking part), he should still be in front at Cortina.
    The Giau and the Fedaia on the same day is gonna be awesome, especially with the Pordoi et al on the menu too. Very hard.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    shirley_basso said:

    Why do some stages have downhill finishes?

    I was looking at profiles today and can't understand why stage 16 doesn't finish at the top of the mountain.

    You've got to give Basso's rivals a chance to keep in touch
    _
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    rick_chasey said:

    What races has evenepoel done since his accident?

    Talking about coming into a Grand Tour without any race preparation, how do you see Dylan Groenewegen doing?
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    blazing_saddles said:

    rick_chasey said:

    What races has evenepoel done since his accident?

    Talking about coming into a Grand Tour without any race preparation, how do you see Dylan Groenewegen doing?
    No idea to be honest. He tends to be better in sprints in the 2nd and 3rd week so he'll have a few opportunities there.

    I suspect it might be quite tough for him, but I haven't paid attention to the start list and his competition.
    _
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    rick_chasey said:

    blazing_saddles said:

    rick_chasey said:

    What races has evenepoel done since his accident?

    Talking about coming into a Grand Tour without any race preparation, how do you see Dylan Groenewegen doing?
    No idea to be honest. He tends to be better in sprints in the 2nd and 3rd week so he'll have a few opportunities there.

    I suspect it might be quite tough for him, but I haven't paid attention to the start list and his competition.
    I wonder where his head will be and whether he can mix it up in a full bunch sprint.
    I wonder more about his condition and whether he can cope with the early big climbs.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,100
    rick_chasey said:

    blazing_saddles said:

    rick_chasey said:

    What races has evenepoel done since his accident?

    Talking about coming into a Grand Tour without any race preparation, how do you see Dylan Groenewegen doing?
    No idea to be honest. He tends to be better in sprints in the 2nd and 3rd week so he'll have a few opportunities there.

    I suspect it might be quite tough for him, but I haven't paid attention to the start list and his competition.
    Ewan, Sagan, Nizzolo, Viviani, Gaviria.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    edited May 2021
    Yeah I'd be surprised if he wins a stage.

    I think it will be good for him to finish it, though.

    Not looking forward to the reaction to the inevitable Sagan chop on Dylan
    _
  • singleton
    singleton Posts: 2,523
    I hope that Evenepoel regains his form and has a great career ahead of him, as he appears to have a huge talent. It may even be that this Giro is his first big win, but as it stands I can't back him and I'm also surprised that he's starting as one of the favourites..
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    The RCS have gone full ASO and are no longer broadcasting the previously promised 17 of the 21 stages live, from start to finish.

    https://us6.campaign-archive.com/?u=823d3a40b51c82f60f316baa5&id=92e6168d67

    All 21 stages.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,646
    blazing_saddles said:

    The RCS have gone full ASO and are no longer broadcasting the previously promised 17 of the 21 stages live, from start to finish.

    https://us6.campaign-archive.com/?u=823d3a40b51c82f60f316baa5&id=92e6168d67

    All 21 stages.

    To be fair, the Giro stage openings tend to be a touch nuttier and more worth watching than those in the Tour
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,544
    edited May 2021
    Both EF Education-Nippo and Israel-Vini Fantini have new jersey designs for the Giro.

    EF



    ISN-VF


  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,596
    andyp said:

    Both EF Education-Nippo and Israel-Vini Fantini have new jersey designs for the Giro.

    EF



    ISN-VF


    Both are better than their standard kit
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    Both those kits look great...
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    edited May 2021


    Nice opening to the team presentation using the recently departed Ennio Morricone's arguably finest score, "Once Upon a Time in the West".
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,181
    The presentation has gone a bit bondage now
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,692
    Prefer this year to the duck...

    (Wouldn't flatter my lockdown belly at all)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    I liked the Palace kit more. Saw a guy in the Rapha Palace jersey the other day - they were going for five hundred quid! I wouldn't be able to bring myself to wear it outside even if I'd bought it at retail.

    I'm off work till Tuesday and going to a shepherd's hut in the Peaks for a piss-wet weekend by the looks of it. Will probably watch the first stages in full...
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    And the first two stages look super dull...

    Fortunately I have absolutely shedloads of beer.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,907
    phreak said:

    hanshotfirst said:

    Still find it a bit mad that Evenepoel is considered a favourite seeing as he hasn't raced a grand tour before and hasn't ridden at all this year.

    Sure he'll be well up there in years to come but when your first race after being out for 9 months is arguably the toughest of all 3 Grand Tours... can't see it.

    Then again, it is the Giro. Anything can and will happen.

    Does seem a stretch, doesn't it? On the strength of the field, despite last year's not being great, it produced the best Grand Tour of the year (imo), so hopefully there will be some similarly exciting racing this year.
    Evenepol is not going to win the giro
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • bm5
    bm5 Posts: 581
    Mad_Malx said:

    The presentation has gone a bit bondage now

    That presentation was awful. Never expect much but that was poor. Complete chaos, wait til the teams on the stage before announcing them!
    Hope the rest of the race is better organised.

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,291
    You don’t ask Italians to organise things! 😂
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,100
    Only just looked at the profile of all the stages - there's a lot of mountaintop finishes this year. Stage 16 is the only one that really has a descent to the finish, and that's going to be a beautiful stage. 14, 17 and 19 look like horrible climbs to finish a hard day with - all three of them over 10km at 9% or more, and 20 not much better. Going to be a really tough final week (and a bit).

    I honestly can't see Bernal getting through all of that without one bad day.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,461
    Which of the mountain stages do people think will get shortened due to weather this year?
  • yorkshireraw
    yorkshireraw Posts: 1,632
    If Bernal's back goes Carapaz might be sat at home ruing a missed opportunity.

    Interesting that from the contenders when Froome won 3 years back (Pinot, Tom D, MA Lopez, Mas) only Simon Yates is in the mix this year. Things have moved along quickly.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,100
    edited May 2021
    Has Sega di Ala ever been in the Giro before? I searched for it and only found a video of Nibali putting 1:39 into Wiggins on it in the Giro del Trentino in 2013. Looks a good one for the third climb of the day.

    Ah - was that day Wiggins parked his bike against a wall from 10 feet away:

    https://youtu.be/kuRNYu_NXCc
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,951
    Pross said:

    Which of the mountain stages do people think will get shortened due to weather this year?

    As the race has borrowed the gravel stage from 2010 I'm hoping that the stage finishing in L'Aquila also features torrential rain and a huge breakaway that gets 13 minutes on the favourites.
  • jimmyjams
    jimmyjams Posts: 780
    kingstongraham said:

    Has Sega di Ala ever been in the Giro before? I searched for it and only found a video of Nibali putting 1:39 into Wiggins on it in the Giro del Trentino in 2013. Looks a good one for the third climb of the day.

    Ah - was that day Wiggins parked his bike against a wall from 10 feet away:

    https://youtu.be/kuRNYu_NXCc

    The road to Sega di Ala is the north ascent of Passo delle Fittanze della Sega (1393 m), the top of the pass being maybe 3 km farther on and about 150 m higher than the hamlet.

    For a while, in 2008 and 2009 there were rumours that the 2009 or the 2010 edition of the Giro would go up (over?) the pass.
    In 2009, the sports councillor for Trentino, Mellarini, tried to persuade the Giro organisers to arrange a 2010 stage which went past his house near the foot of the climb, and then up the climb. That might sound a bit self-centred, however, in his defence, Mellarini has been very active and often successful in getting sports events for Trentino, both for reasons of sport and for the tourism it attracts and advertises, while, as Trentino 2013 showed, he wasn't amiss in suggesting the climb could be decisive.
    And now, still in office, his wish will come true!

    Apparently about 2007 or 2008, Cunego said that he considered the ascent from Sdruzzina to Sega di Ala worse than the Mortirolo, and a local wit must have heard that too, because in 2009 someone had painted on the road 'This is worse than the Mortirolo' (in Italian, of course).
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Outstanding post
    _
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,310
    Is the BBC Wales coverage in English or Welsh?
    left the forum March 2023
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    ugo.santalucia said:

    Is the BBC Wales coverage in English or Welsh?

    What we know for sure is:

    Welsh-language channel S4C is offering daily live coverage of the 2021 Giro d'Italia on its linear TV channel and via its app and S4C Clic streaming and catch-up service. S4C is also available to stream for FREE via BBC iPlayer.

    I am guessing that the streaming option is good news for some.

    If memory serves, I think there are English subtitles available but commentary is definitely in Welsh.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.

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