Giro d'Italia 2020 Giro d'Italia: Stage-by-Stage Analysis

[fbjim]

I would be epic if they replaced Agnello/Izoard combo with the only climb that could compensate for this loss - mighty Finestre! Not happening though.

I think it was discussed but the problem was that any rain would likely cause a complete stage cancelation.

 

[fbjim]

Scheldeprijs isn't raced like Roubaix for the simple reason that the riders don't race it properly. Got it.

I think this is actually kind of the point, Scheldeprijs is the big sprinters event so basically every top team is invested in making it a sprint finish. Contrast that to the old course of Paris-Tours, for instance.

Or the Tour this year, where Stage 6 was soft pedaled because nobody in the peloton thought it was hard enough to invest in, but much easier stages on paper were hard as nails because Sagan/Bora realized the only way to get points on Bennett was to whip up the pace on cat 2/3s enough that the sprint teams would drop. Without that investment you get a soft pedaled early climb and a chill out day until the last 40k.

 

[gregrowlerson]

It seems as if I can have my cake and eat it too.

"I want a Giro with a short stage and a wrong....jacket."

 

[Extinction]

La Gazzetta dello Sport absolutely scandalized by the comportment of the "pedallers", for "cyclists" is too noble an identity, recalling Charlie Gaul's frozen jersey triumph on the Bondone in 1958 and Hinault's frigid ride to victory in Liege. "These guys, yes, were noblemen on bicycles!", not the shameful petit bourgeois pedallers we have today. "The Giro has been stabbed in the back!", writes Pier Bergonzi, who further reminds us of the heroic and legendary snow-ridden Gavia stage of 1988. "We who have an infinite esteem for athletes who are (usually) among the most stoic and heroic of figures, did not recognize them yesterday. We only saw the frightened shadow of those past champions, cowardly racers, hidden one behind the other to not feel chilly and shrink away from kilometers of fatigue". And what a shameful sight to see riders, writes Luca Gialanella, "hugging eachother, because one doesn't race in the rain and since the course has been halved". Christian Salvato, president of Italian riders, continues Gialanella, confirmed that "we did not ask for the extreme weather protocol to be applied". And well then, the motive? "Tired riders, too long transfers, early alarm clocks, long stages, the cold". You see, even the riders don't know why they did it, concludes Gialanella. Marc Madiot, DS of Demare's Groupama team, commented: "If you don't want to suffer in the third week then change jobs. One isn't required to be a professional cyclist". Bergonzi: "The truth is that the riders have made fools of themselves". O tempora, o mores!