Giro d'Italia 2024, pre race chat, team info, etc.
Thought it might be handy to start a thread, as teams begin to be finalised and news undoubtedly generated, as the weekend approaches.
I also thought I would give advanced warning that I will be on my travels,from the second weekend of the race and so have decided that I won't be knocking out the usual stage threads. The new 1 hour editing feature on here is also an added complication.
Besides, in their wisdom, the RCS have reverted to cheap and nasty 2D graphics, that I find more appropriate for a 2pro race.
Comments
-
Race of breakaways is my hunch
"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 pm0 -
You don't think Pogacar wants to win 10 stages and every jersey he can?
"Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago0 -
-
Vingegaard won't start the Tour. If he does, then it'll be to prepare for the Vuelta and to ride in the service of Kuss.
0 -
Visma Lease a Bike will have some wonder drug in their cupboard that will see Vingegard recover quicker than an Alberto Contador broken leg.
0 -
Are you suggesting that Vingegaard's fishmonger is better than Contador's butcher?😆
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.3 -
-
It's not as if all Vingegaard has to do is be able to turn up at the end of June at the Tour, to win.
He has to be compete against one of the greatest riders the sport has ever known.
We all know it's small margins in form make big differences in this sport. Indeed, lack of proper preparation must have contributed to Pogacar's third week demise, last season.
Jonas will be lucky to be ready in time to ride La Route d'Occitanie. Not ideal doesn't even come close.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Pogacar doesn't strike me as someone who would happily do "just enough" to win the Giro to try and save a bit for the Tour though. Instead, he always seems like he wants to show how strong he is at every opportunity.
0 -
-
I did think this optimism was completely out of character.
0 -
It's got to be the best opportunity for anyone to do the Giro - Tour double that there has been in 25 years and also opens up the chance for the elusive (men's) Triple Crown for the first time in nearly 40 years.
1 -
For sure. It's on a plate for him. Won't get a better chance.
Needs to keep it black side down in the Giro which is not a given.
0 -
What's best for him regarding the Tour? To take the pink early and just manage through the last week? It's possible he could get it on stage one and just build a bit of a lead and be out of sight by the first TT.
After stage 15 it looks like there's nothing that he should be even vaguely afraid of getting mugged on.
0 -
Buchmann not happy about not being picked for Bora
0 -
I really struggle to see him taking it easy at any point, he just doesn't seem a rider capable of that. It makes him great to watch and brings lots of wins but it will also cost him wins (and has arguably already cost him one Tour win).
1 -
If Pog is sensible, though his team selection says otherwise, he takes a decent lead early on and just shadows every pretender.
0 -
He needs to reign it in a bit, and do as little as possible to win; but that's not how he rides. However, attempting the Giro-Tour double requires the team to view it as a 42 day Grand Tour....No point winning the Giro by x number of minutes if it costs him energy/resources for the next one.
At the moment, they have to expect Jonas to be there on the Tour, in whatever form.....
As for Buchmann, is it really a massive surprise? However, the man management/ communication seems a bit off; I'd guess when RB take over, Denk will be moved elsewhere - and Buchmann will be riding for another team.
All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."0 -
I think Denk still owns 49% of the team even with the Red Bull money.
0 -
His Tour win in 2021 was pretty sensible tbf.
He got a big gap in the first proper mountain stage and then just marked rivals for the rest of it (he sprinted for a couple of stage wins but I doubt they took a lot out of him)
That's the prototype to follow to do the double, but there's a lot of variable in there (not least Pogi's ambition to cannibalise races)
0 -
His team selection reads more like a bunch of mates he wants to spend 3 weeks with rather than the most effective team at controlling the race.
0 -
It's light on climbers, isn't it? A lot of responsibility falling on Majka and Grosschartner.
0 -
-
The best chance for Pog, sure. Best chance for anyone else? Doubtful. 😉
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.0 -
Bit harsh on Bjerg who regularly turns himself inside out on the mountains, and Domen Novak who can put his hand up as domestique of the season so far after putting other leaders into the red at Catalunya and at Liege
0 -
Bit weird keeping all of Yates, Ayuso, Almeida and Soler for the Tour.
0 -
I don't think so. Both of them are riders to pace on earlier climbs, neither of them are going to be able to put the GC riders into the red on later climbs.
0 -
I waiting to see if anyone just picks Pog for everything on the PTP thread :)
Can't say I'm really looking forward to this race, usually my favourite of the GT's.
0 -
I can see Thomas, Bardet, Martinez et al being mentally beaten very quickly and it turning into a race for second. In which case Pog's team will be largely irrelevant as he can sit on the Ineos or Bora trains.
1 -
Bora strikes me as yet another team selection of leftovers, with a possible dark horse in Florian Lipowitz.
All in for Roglic at the Tour, with potential support from Vlasov, (co leader?) Hindley and Higuita. I think Buchmann is unhappy about losing a leadership role, to be given a mountain domestique job. Maybe the injury to Kamna is the reason.
I am assuming Meeus will get the odd bodyguard for the sprints, in favour of Welsford.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0
