2019 Giro d'Italia Stage 20: Feltre - Monte Avena 194 km

[Valv.Piti]

Very unrealistic that Dumoulin is having the pink jersey after the long ITT.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

The best thing of the day was Belli hyped for Lopez punching a fan

Anyway the stage started well but they regrouped after both Cima Campo and Manghen and then nothing happened until the final 10 kms, considering Movistar strenght would have been better if Roglic and Nibali wouldn't have played Schleck and Contador for two days in a row so we could have seen Movistar smashing the field.

Overall one of the most boring Giro i've ever seen.

Its certainly not one of the best, but none of the worst either.I have watched the race since 2007 and closely since 2010. I'd say 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014 were worse Grand Tours. 2017 was on par IMO. The rest were a bit better (2007, 2008 for example), while some of them also were comfortably better like 2010 or 2018.

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

Congrats to Carapaz and Movistar. I still wonder why so few picked Carapaz as a pre race favourite. Nibali came up short but will rue backing the wrong horse when Carapaz went up the road in stage 13. Roglic can hold his head high he fought valiantly with lack of team support particularly after his mechanical then fall on an ill fitting bike. Probably peaked a little too soon but that makes his likely podium even more noteworthy.

Because look at Carapaz previous results and look at the start list

Thats why

He had been 4th at a GT after Froome, Dumoulin and a random dude who was at his first GT podium. Those are more or less the same GT credentials as Roglic. I saw him as a candidate to fight for 5th place with Landa, Mollema and Majka. I guess Nibali's judgement wasn't much different.

Perspective - Carapaz got 4th after the late collapse of Yates and Pinot - So he should have finished 6th.

Aparently getting a high spot late in the race clouds people's perspective because by that time GC positions are earned by right.

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

The best thing of the day was Belli hyped for Lopez punching a fan

Anyway the stage started well but they regrouped after both Cima Campo and Manghen and then nothing happened until the final 10 kms, considering Movistar strenght would have been better if Roglic and Nibali wouldn't have played Schleck and Contador for two days in a row so we could have seen Movistar smashing the field.

Overall one of the most boring Giro i've ever seen.

Its certainly not one of the best, but none of the worst either.I have watched the race since 2007 and closely since 2010. I'd say 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014 were worse Grand Tours. 2017 was on par IMO. The rest were a bit better (2007, 2008 for example), while some of them also were comfortably better like 2010 or 2018.

I'd put 2009 for sure above this, there was fight everywhere from di Luca and his team in a 2015 like scenario, a wonderful TT in Cinque Terre, one of the best Appennines stages ever designed in Monte Petrano but i liked also 2013 with the snowy stages (only personal that, i admit) and a dominant rider that attacks everywhere is not bad IMHO, for sure better than group sprinting on the MTF like happened in 2008 when the gaps were minimal even on an hard climb like Pampeago (and always minutes behind breaks).

Going back a really bad one was 2004, there were 11 flat sprints, a big uphill sprint in Pontremoli, mountain sprints in Montevergine and Bormio 2000 and only two stages could be saved, the one with Cunego attack and then the one in which Simoni attacked him with Garzelli but only for the long range attacks because behind nothing really relevant happened and even Bradley McGee was able to finish in the top ten.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Congrats to Carapaz and Movistar. I still wonder why so few picked Carapaz as a pre race favourite. Nibali came up short but will rue backing the wrong horse when Carapaz went up the road in stage 13. Roglic can hold his head high he fought valiantly with lack of team support particularly after his mechanical then fall on an ill fitting bike. Probably peaked a little too soon but that makes his likely podium even more noteworthy.

Because look at Carapaz previous results and look at the start list

Thats why

He had been 4th at a GT after Froome, Dumoulin and a random dude who was at his first GT podium. Those are more or less the same GT credentials as Roglic. I saw him as a candidate to fight for 5th place with Landa, Mollema and Majka. I guess Nibali's judgement wasn't much different.

Perspective - Carapaz got 4th after the late collapse of Yates and Pinot - So he should have finished 6th.

Aparently getting a high spot late in the race clouds people's perspective because by that time GC positions are earned by right.

The 2018 Giro GC was in the end disproportionately decided by 1 stage. Carapaz didn't consistently climb with the best AND he TT'd worse than MAL in that race. Add to that that Landa was the designated team leader and there was not a single way it was rational to believe he was a favorite compared to Dumoulin, Roglic, Yates, Nibali and MAL.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Re: Re:

Well in basketball you do occasionally get players flying into the stands to try to save a ball going out of bounds, but that is on the player and no the fans.

Very true. But like you said, any contact between athlete and spectator in a basketball game is very much on the athlete trying to save the ball, rather than some random fan trying to have intentional and unasked for contact with the athlete. (I would hate to see what would happen to a fan if he stepped unto the court and tried to interfere with a 6'7", 250 pound basketball player, I'm sure the results would not be pretty.)

In a somewhat similar vein - while technically golf may not be considered a true sport, as a spectator your respect what the golfer is trying to do and you would never try to interfere with it. In places such as Augusta even just running around will get you kicked off the entire course. (Not that I would know, I'm not rich enough to have been invited to a fancy place like that. But I have read the rules being I like to watch the Masters.)

I think what cycling suffers from in situations like the Lopez one is a general disregard and lack of respect for the athlete, and that's lamentable.

 

[Squire]

Re: Re:

I think what cycling suffers from in situations like the Lopez one is a general disregard and lack of respect for the athlete, and that's lamentable.

I wouldn't call it 'general'. With so many fans lining the route, there are bound to be some idiots. And the crowds in Italy are noticeably more respectful than the Alpe d'Huez ones (or the Californian nutcases, *shudder*). Rarely have you seen people running alongside riders or standing too far into the road during this Giro.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Re: Re:

I think what cycling suffers from in situations like the Lopez one is a general disregard and lack of respect for the athlete, and that's lamentable.

I wouldn't call it 'general'. With so many fans lining the route, there are bound to be some idiots. And the crowds in Italy are noticeably more respectful than the Alpe d'Huez ones (or the Californian nutcases, *shudder*). Rarely have you seen people running alongside riders or standing too far into the road during this Giro.

I'm not in the position to say one way or the other being I'm not a pro rider having to ride any type of GT, but one thing I can say as a former athlete of one type or another for sure is...

Please stay out of the pros' way - they've worked much too hard only to have some of you, the petty little spectators, to get in the way!

And if it's a matter of rude spectators having to be policed by other spectators (via just a touch of violence), so be it.