Giro 2021:- Stage 16: Sacile – Cortina d’Ampezzo 212 km **Spoilers**

kingstongraham

TheBigBean said:

Worth noting this bit. Never understand it when riders have to wait for their leaders.

TheBigBean said:

GC

10 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:10:01

Just think, without that, he'd be as high as ninth, maybe.

mididoctors

EF moved Hugh up.on GC ... No way carthy was going to hold bernals wheel though

womack

How did Bernal get down that descent on rim brakes in the wet?

I have been told this is impossible!

Let's hope he didn't have full carbon wheels as well.

Pross

mididoctors said:

Remco tired . Pushed too hard . Ridiculous expectations

Always seemed odd, if they were going to send him there then he should have had a bit of racing first. Almeida must be frustrated that he had to go back on the Strade Bianchi stage and then again on the Zoncolan although he would probbly only be one place higher at most if he hadn't.

pblakeney

kingstongraham said:

mididoctors said:

Remco tired . Pushed too hard . Ridiculous expectations

Should go home now and prep for the Tour de France.

Too much, too soon. This Giro will have been a huge learning curve.

Pross

blazing_saddles said:

kingstongraham said:

mididoctors said:

Remco tired . Pushed too hard . Ridiculous expectations

Should go home now and prep for the Tour de France.

ENECO Tour more like.

I have had my jab and caught up with watching all of the coverage.
Shambles of a stage from RAI and Vengi that pretty much finished off the GC battle, but for an accident, or a Yates like collapse.
On the subject of Yates, he'd better stick to the Vuelta because he really doesn't do full on bad weather.

It's an odd one, you would back the person from Lancashire over a Colombian to be more suited to that weather (although the Colombian will be more at home at that altitude).

rick_chasey

Pross said:

mididoctors said:

Remco tired . Pushed too hard . Ridiculous expectations

Always seemed odd, if they were going to send him there then he should have had a bit of racing first. Almeida must be frustrated that he had to go back on the Strade Bianchi stage and then again on the Zoncolan although he would probbly only be one place higher at most if he hadn't.

I can't really stress how big Remco is in Belgium already. Guy's bigger than Boonen in peak 2006.

TheBigBean

kingstongraham said:

TheBigBean said:

Worth noting this bit. Never understand it when riders have to wait for their leaders.

TheBigBean said:

GC

10 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:10:01

Just think, without that, he'd be as high as ninth, maybe.

I suspect he will finish above 9th anyway. How many minutes are you crediting him for leader nursing?

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Pross said:

mididoctors said:

Remco tired . Pushed too hard . Ridiculous expectations

Always seemed odd, if they were going to send him there then he should have had a bit of racing first. Almeida must be frustrated that he had to go back on the Strade Bianchi stage and then again on the Zoncolan although he would probbly only be one place higher at most if he hadn't.

I can't really stress how big Remco is in Belgium already. Guy's bigger than Boonen in peak 2006.

Should a team be taking that into account when selecting their squad though? He'd have been better served, if they felt he was ready and needed to go to a GT, being introduced to it like Bernal was in 2018.

shirley_basso

Bernal: "I wanted to put on a show... this is the cycling I like, when it's so cold, hard stage, when you need grinta. This is what I like. I wanted to do something special"


Such a baller

rick_chasey

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

Pross said:

mididoctors said:

Remco tired . Pushed too hard . Ridiculous expectations

Always seemed odd, if they were going to send him there then he should have had a bit of racing first. Almeida must be frustrated that he had to go back on the Strade Bianchi stage and then again on the Zoncolan although he would probbly only be one place higher at most if he hadn't.

I can't really stress how big Remco is in Belgium already. Guy's bigger than Boonen in peak 2006.

Should a team be taking that into account when selecting their squad though? He'd have been better served, if they felt he was ready and needed to go to a GT, being introduced to it like Bernal was in 2018.

Probably not but Belgian team with the biggest Belgian rider of a generation in the cycling mad Flanders are always going to throw lambs to the slaughter of said rider.

blazing_saddles

rick_chasey said:

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

Pross said:

mididoctors said:

Remco tired . Pushed too hard . Ridiculous expectations

Always seemed odd, if they were going to send him there then he should have had a bit of racing first. Almeida must be frustrated that he had to go back on the Strade Bianchi stage and then again on the Zoncolan although he would probbly only be one place higher at most if he hadn't.

I can't really stress how big Remco is in Belgium already. Guy's bigger than Boonen in peak 2006.

Should a team be taking that into account when selecting their squad though? He'd have been better served, if they felt he was ready and needed to go to a GT, being introduced to it like Bernal was in 2018.

Probably not but Belgian team with the biggest Belgian rider of a generation in the cycling mad Flanders are always going to throw lambs to the slaughter of said rider.

Shouldn't you be watching the Ronde van Limburg, Rick? It's on now.
Proper racing.

rick_chasey

I missed all of this which is a shame.

Bernal though, woof. Lad also looks lit on the bike.

lettingthedaysgoby

Bernal is on another level. So impressive.

Lanterne_Rogue

rick_chasey said:

I can't really stress how big Remco is in Belgium already. Guy's bigger than Boonen in peak 2006.

At Harrogate in 2019 Belgians were virtually stopping people in the street to try and talk about Remco. It really was something else - I lost count of how many times he came up in conversation with them.

rick_chasey

Lanterne_Rogue said:

rick_chasey said:

I can't really stress how big Remco is in Belgium already. Guy's bigger than Boonen in peak 2006.

At Harrogate in 2019 Belgians were virtually stopping people in the street to try and talk about Remco. It really was something else - I lost count of how many times he came up in conversation with them.

The loud f*cker in the grey raincoat shouting about MvdP was me, in the meantime.

kingstongraham

TheBigBean said:

kingstongraham said:

TheBigBean said:

Worth noting this bit. Never understand it when riders have to wait for their leaders.

TheBigBean said:

GC

10 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:10:01

Just think, without that, he'd be as high as ninth, maybe.

I suspect he will finish above 9th anyway. How many minutes are you crediting him for leader nursing?

I was adding on 2 minutes, but being generous, maybe 3. So he might be 8th.

I don't see him staying with Bernal even if he was allowed to. And his biggest loss was all his own doing.

salsiccia1

blazing_saddles said:

1) Give the Vuelta it's original Spring slot back and move the Giro to late August.

I think there's a lot in this suggestion. It would answer a lot of questions:

- Every year for as long as I can remember they end up with at least the threat of stages being cancelled/re-routed, and many times it happens
- The days of epic rides a la Gavia 88 are over, riders won't (and probably shouldn't have to) go through that
- The start/finish towns want their places looking good, seeing them drenched and foggy does nothing for them
- The Vuelta seems to be an endless procession through burnt brown countryside in September; look how good the scenery was in Andalusia last week

Whether the Giro would be happy to move and end up being the 'consolation' GT is another question though. And would the UCI be up for it?

kingstongraham

It's a great idea - and I don't think it would mean the Giro becomes the consolation prize. You'd probably get more trying the Tour/Giro double though.

Pross

salsiccia1 said:

blazing_saddles said:

1) Give the Vuelta it's original Spring slot back and move the Giro to late August.

I think there's a lot in this suggestion. It would answer a lot of questions:

- Every year for as long as I can remember they end up with at least the threat of stages being cancelled/re-routed, and many times it happens
- The days of epic rides a la Gavia 88 are over, riders won't (and probably shouldn't have to) go through that
- The start/finish towns want their places looking good, seeing them drenched and foggy does nothing for them
- The Vuelta seems to be an endless procession through burnt brown countryside in September; look how good the scenery was in Andalusia last week

Whether the Giro would be happy to move and end up being the 'consolation' GT is another question though. And would the UCI be up for it?

Some of the Vuelta stages are also up at the sort of temperatures that affect rider safety too. That said, I suspect the Pyrenees or anything near the northern coast would be likely to suffer from bad weather this time of year too. Problem would be that the Giro would then get the issue of riders turning up for a week or so to get some pre-Worlds training before going home as the Vuelta does now. Would it bring more riders trying the Tour - Giro double though as Tour - Vuelta has been done recently?

bobmcstuff

neonriver said:

With the lack of pics I’d assume they’ve been unable to fly the relay planes to transmit the pictures. Not a lot RAI can do about that

Exactly, doesn't matter if there are motos alongside the riders if there is nowhere to send the pictures. They said at the start the planes and helicopters couldn't fly today.

mididoctors

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

Pross said:

mididoctors said:

Remco tired . Pushed too hard . Ridiculous expectations

Always seemed odd, if they were going to send him there then he should have had a bit of racing first. Almeida must be frustrated that he had to go back on the Strade Bianchi stage and then again on the Zoncolan although he would probbly only be one place higher at most if he hadn't.

I can't really stress how big Remco is in Belgium already. Guy's bigger than Boonen in peak 2006.

Should a team be taking that into account when selecting their squad though? He'd have been better served, if they felt he was ready and needed to go to a GT, being introduced to it like Bernal was in 2018.

DQS hype made him perceptively too dangerous and Ineos crushed him mercilessly early on . They based a lot of racing on him stage 1 to 10 . Left him no room

phreak

I guess it's a similar situation across Europe, but we have had the wettest May on record in the UK, so it's perhaps a little hasty to make sweeping decisions based on what is a rare occurrence. The last time the Giro visited the Dolomites it was glorious sunshine.

pblakeney

Pross said:

blazing_saddles said:

kingstongraham said:

mididoctors said:

Remco tired . Pushed too hard . Ridiculous expectations

Should go home now and prep for the Tour de France.

ENECO Tour more like.

I have had my jab and caught up with watching all of the coverage.
Shambles of a stage from RAI and Vengi that pretty much finished off the GC battle, but for an accident, or a Yates like collapse.
On the subject of Yates, he'd better stick to the Vuelta because he really doesn't do full on bad weather.

It's an odd one, you would back the person from Lancashire over a Colombian to be more suited to that weather (although the Colombian will be more at home at that altitude).

I saw photos of Bernal training in Columbia. He was in full winter gear.
I think we have false perceptions of the weather there, at altitude in particular.

DeVlaeminck

I'd think the Giro would move as the post above it becomes possible for the best to double up with the Tour without risking their A race.

Would the Vuelta move though? Maybe - I'm certainly more excited for the first big Tour of the year than the last.

rick_chasey

phreak said:

I guess it's a similar situation across Europe, but we have had the wettest May on record in the UK, so it's perhaps a little hasty to make sweeping decisions based on what is a rare occurrence. The last time the Giro visited the Dolomites it was glorious sunshine.

Is also a week earlier than normal.

salsiccia1

phreak said:

I guess it's a similar situation across Europe, but we have had the wettest May on record in the UK, so it's perhaps a little hasty to make sweeping decisions based on what is a rare occurrence. The last time the Giro visited the Dolomites it was glorious sunshine.

That was October last year, wasn't it?

pblakeney

Pross said:

salsiccia1 said:

blazing_saddles said:

1) Give the Vuelta it's original Spring slot back and move the Giro to late August.

I think there's a lot in this suggestion. It would answer a lot of questions:

- Every year for as long as I can remember they end up with at least the threat of stages being cancelled/re-routed, and many times it happens
- The days of epic rides a la Gavia 88 are over, riders won't (and probably shouldn't have to) go through that
- The start/finish towns want their places looking good, seeing them drenched and foggy does nothing for them
- The Vuelta seems to be an endless procession through burnt brown countryside in September; look how good the scenery was in Andalusia last week

Whether the Giro would be happy to move and end up being the 'consolation' GT is another question though. And would the UCI be up for it?

Some of the Vuelta stages are also up at the sort of temperatures that affect rider safety too. That said, I suspect the Pyrenees or anything near the northern coast would be likely to suffer from bad weather this time of year too. Problem would be that the Giro would then get the issue of riders turning up for a week or so to get some pre-Worlds training before going home as the Vuelta does now. Would it bring more riders trying the Tour - Giro double though as Tour - Vuelta has been done recently?

Vuelta late May/early June starting south and heading north? Transition to Madrid if reqd.
Le Tour as is.
Giro late August/early September starting north and heading south? Transition to Milan if reqd.

You'd miss the Dolomites in the final week but there are still plenty challenging hills to race up in the south.

ugo.santalucia

Bad weather makes for good racing... shame we didn't see much racing on TV

ugo.santalucia

Is Simon Yates a bit soft? Discuss...