Giro 2021:- Stage 20: Verbania – Alpe Motta 165 km **Spoilers**

blazing_saddles

Not sure what constitutes an average Giro, never mind a bad one in that case.
Queen stage first butchered, then blacked out.
The first 2 medium mountain stages almost lost to the appalling conditions and the even worse coverage.
The rider most likely to attack, ko’d on an early sprint stage.
The eagerly anticipated GT debut of the next Merxck a let down.
Today’s stage highlights what might have happened yesterday but for the other big climb being removed.
Sprint stages with hardly a sprinter.
Points jersey won with little opposition
Mountain jersey won with even less opposition.

Gravel great. Best stage and also the best stage finish.
Early Bernal explosive.
Proper GT mountain stage today.

phreak

mididoctors said:

All 3 riders on the podium won a major mountain stage pretty much solo involving a early attack

And yet the winning margins on those stages were 27 seconds, 11 seconds, and 24 seconds respectively. No one ever really blew people away. Maybe the days of riders putting a minute or more into rivals have largely gone as the sport is cleaner.

Pross

rozzer32 said:

Haha another unbelievable ride from Ineos. That training and nutrition programme working wonders. And people think cycling has changed.

Think they must have shown the 1994 Fleche Wallonne highlights on the ineos bus this morning.

Had to be one I guess.

The stage was won by a domestique in his mid thirties who has never won a WT race. Martinez pulled back about 10-15 seconds on the duo that had attacked 40km or so earlier.

mididoctors

phreak said:

mididoctors said:

All 3 riders on the podium won a major mountain stage pretty much solo involving a early attack

And yet the winning margins on those stages were 27 seconds, 11 seconds, and 24 seconds respectively. No one ever really blew people away. Maybe the days of riders putting a minute or more into rivals have largely gone as the sport is cleaner.

Some GC riders on those days lost over a minute it's not just the time to the second guy . Bernal killed it on stage 16 which would have been epic if it was on TV lol

Pross

Good stage that, Carusso have it a good go but it was never going to work unless Bernal was struggling. Well deserved stage though.

Ineos are so good at managing races, I'm sure they could have closed the gap if they really needed to but better to keep the support in place. The presence of mind to ease off and allow Martinez back the Martinez even having the presence of mind to ease back and let Bernal take the final 1" time bonus.

Almeida is such a gutsy rider, he's like the Terminator or the bad guy in a horror film where you think you've outrun him and then he's back again.

Pross

ugo.santalucia said:

I think it was good... it was in the balance and Yates form made it interesting in the last few days. Ineos wasn't overly dominant, like in the Tour Sky days, when action was limited to the last 2 minutes of a stage. It's not going to go down as a classic edition, but better than many I remember

Last year's was far better in my opinion.

mididoctors

blazing_saddles said:

Not sure what constitutes an average Giro, never mind a bad one in that case.
Queen stage first butchered, then blacked out.
The first 2 medium mountain stages almost lost to the appalling conditions and the even worse coverage.
The rider most likely to attack, ko’d on an early sprint stage.
The eagerly anticipated GT debut of the next Merxck a let down.
Today’s stage highlights what might have happened yesterday but for the other big climb being removed.
Sprint stages with hardly a sprinter.
Points jersey won with little opposition
Mountain jersey won with even less opposition.

Gravel great. Best stage and also the best stage finish.
Early Bernal explosive.
Proper GT mountain stage today.

The obstacle course it's a knock out street furniture sprint stage was poorly designed .


The TV coverage has been poor .not just the lack of coverage in the mountains but editor choice of Motos .

mididoctors

Pross said:

ugo.santalucia said:

I think it was good... it was in the balance and Yates form made it interesting in the last few days. Ineos wasn't overly dominant, like in the Tour Sky days, when action was limited to the last 2 minutes of a stage. It's not going to go down as a classic edition, but better than many I remember

Last year's was far better in my opinion.

Best giro ever last year 😉

ugo.santalucia

I guess it's what you fancy... I don't like seeing a group of 30 riders up a mountain finish with 2 km to go and we haven't seen that.

No performance was legendary and of course we have missed Bernal in the bad weather. The days of large gaps have gone for a number of reasons, including the fact that riders are more alike. For instance, Pantani was a very different rider from Indurain or Ullrich, hence on his day he could put big time into those guys and lose big time on a time trial.
These days it's "spot the difference"... Bernal and Yates are basically identical and Bernal is hard to take apart from his domestique Martinez, I did tend to confuse them before he got the jersey.

It could have been better, had Bardet been more competitive for example... the climbs were nice too, lots of steep hairpins, for those who like them

phreak

mididoctors said:

phreak said:

mididoctors said:

All 3 riders on the podium won a major mountain stage pretty much solo involving a early attack

And yet the winning margins on those stages were 27 seconds, 11 seconds, and 24 seconds respectively. No one ever really blew people away. Maybe the days of riders putting a minute or more into rivals have largely gone as the sport is cleaner.

Some GC riders on those days lost over a minute it's not just the time to the second guy . Bernal killed it on stage 16 which would have been epic if it was on TV lol

Bernal has been quite clearly the best rider in the race and you can't take that away from him. He, and indeed the team, have been extremely dominant. Just not sure that makes it an exciting race. It hasn't been a vintage Giro imo.

Pross

The cool kids will still be saying it's better than the Tour even if the Tour gets won by a 100km solo break on the penultimate day.

ddraver

I'm going to have to resign my Cycling Fan Membership, I know, but has Egan lost the Giro then..?

No_Ta_Doctor

mididoctors said:

Pross said:

ugo.santalucia said:

I think it was good... it was in the balance and Yates form made it interesting in the last few days. Ineos wasn't overly dominant, like in the Tour Sky days, when action was limited to the last 2 minutes of a stage. It's not going to go down as a classic edition, but better than many I remember

Last year's was far better in my opinion.

Best giro ever last year 😉

Hackney represent!

As for this edition, I thought it was pretty good. The gravel was excellent, the butchered queen stage was epic but unseen (and finished with a massive performance from Bernal, including getting his jacket off to finish in pink).

Bernal's form in the final week kept it interesting, given he'd been looking like the new Merckx the week before.

We've seen gc riders grovelling in alone, today we had the top 8 on gc all battling up the final climb, the only domestique also being in the top 8.

We've had gutsy attacks on descents, riders in the top 10 gambling from long range instead of defending their position.

It's been good. The fact that 3 riders were potentially in pink in Milan at the start of today gave it some genuine tension

No_Ta_Doctor

ddraver said:

I'm going to have to resign my Cycling Fan Membership, I know, but has Egan lost the Giro then..?

No, he's won it

DeVlaeminck

Decent stage - thought it was an OK Giro - not great but not bad. The non-televised stage would have been nice to see.

orraloon

Ah c'mon, we've had breakaway winners, first time winners, uncertainty on state of GC contenders, cracking scenery. Wots not to like?

bobmcstuff

No_Ta_Doctor said:

mididoctors said:

Pross said:

ugo.santalucia said:

I think it was good... it was in the balance and Yates form made it interesting in the last few days. Ineos wasn't overly dominant, like in the Tour Sky days, when action was limited to the last 2 minutes of a stage. It's not going to go down as a classic edition, but better than many I remember

Last year's was far better in my opinion.

Best giro ever last year 😉

Hackney represent!

As for this edition, I thought it was pretty good. The gravel was excellent, the butchered queen stage was epic but unseen (and finished with a massive performance from Bernal, including getting his jacket off to finish in pink).

Bernal's form in the final week kept it interesting, given he'd been looking like the new Merckx the week before.

We've seen gc riders grovelling in alone, today we had the top 8 on gc all battling up the final climb, the only domestique also being in the top 8.

We've had gutsy attacks on descents, riders in the top 10 gambling from long range instead of defending their position.

It's been good. The fact that 3 riders were potentially in pink in Milan at the start of today gave it some genuine tension

It's been a solidly decent Giro for me, not mind blowing but entertaining throughout. Expecting much more than that regularly is unreasonable I think.

Bernal cracking the other day made the GC really. Added real tension as you felt he could have shipped loads of time either then or on subsequent stages. I've enjoyed the stage wins.

salsiccia1

I've enjoyed this one, but in fairness I never really don't enjoy the Giro.

Plusses: some great new climbs, loads of interesting stage wins and winners, the Brunello stage, a nice big of intrigue in the GC in the last week

Minuses: bad weather, favourites crashing out, weak mountains and points competitions

All in all, it's been decent entertainment

pblakeney

orraloon said:

Ah c'mon, we've had breakaway winners, first time winners, uncertainty on state of GC contenders, cracking scenery. Wots not to like?

Wot he said.

RichN95.

It’s worth noting that on PTP not a single person picked Bernal to win GC

huret

So fans don't need to wear masks at the roadside now? Just asking as I'm going to some Dauphine stages next week. I have a feeling it won't be the same in France.

RichN95.

huret said:

So fans don't need to wear masks at the roadside now? Just asking as I'm going to some Dauphine stages next week. I have a feeling it won't be the same in France.

If you wave a chainsaw around, who’s going to make you?

dabber

huret said:

So fans don't need to wear masks at the roadside now? Just asking as I'm going to some Dauphine stages next week. I have a feeling it won't be the same in France.

How are you going to handle the quarantine?

gsk82

RichN95. said:

It’s worth noting that on PTP not a single person picked Bernal to win GC

I said on a thread recently that if his back is ok he'll win comfortable. But I went for Evenepoel in ptp because I try to give myself a consolation if someone I don't want to win wins.

lettingthedaysgoby

Taco winning stage 3 was a particular highlight. The sheer joy and disbelief on his face when he realised he was going to make it. Glorious stuff.

mididoctors

RichN95. said:

It’s worth noting that on PTP not a single person picked Bernal to win GC

They all pick Yates I bet?

bobmcstuff

mididoctors said:

RichN95. said:

It’s worth noting that on PTP not a single person picked Bernal to win GC

They all pick Yates I bet?

Yeah I did- I just went on the odds... and it was supported by the Tour of the Alps

mididoctors

bobmcstuff said:

mididoctors said:

RichN95. said:

It’s worth noting that on PTP not a single person picked Bernal to win GC

They all pick Yates I bet?

Yeah I did- I just went on the odds... and it was supported by the Tour of the Alps

I think I would have too tbh . That said he is finishing 3rd ..... So not bad . Surprised no one picked bernal

RichN95.

"Hang on lads, I've got a great idea"

gsk82

RichN95. said:

"Hang on lads, I've got a great idea"

Did everyone else go a different way?