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Giro d'Italia 2021 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1: Torino - Torino 8.6 km ITT

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It is...

  • Ganna happen

    Votes: 37 45.1%
  • not Ganna happen

    Votes: 45 54.9%

  • Total voters
    82
  • Poll closed .
I would think they would rank higher placement overall in front who will be on the team in a few Months time, its about money after all.
Remco will get plenty of chances in the years to come, if he can come back to previous form.
Almeida is after all their outspoken number one, or was until yesterday anyway.
That's a real good indication that Almeida is on form maybe better than last year, Bernal and Yates had good TT´s but was 20 seconds after him on this short stage? you are not impressed, no?
I don't know how Remco will do in the mountains, few do, few even know before the crash, but we know that Almeida will be ok and that is it a 30 K TT at the end which Almeida will most likely do a whole better than Yates, Bernal and Landa.
I think you overestimate the prize money involved and/or underestimate the financial importance of having your future star rider get results.
 
Edited by King Boonen: Quoted insult removed.

Well I'm no Remco fanboy and I say you need to wait and see. You don't know and I don't know. What we do know is he CAN climb mountains if you bother to check, the only question is day after day. We haven't seen how he fares on HC mountains day after day over three weeks. Evenepoel weighs the same as Contador did and we know he has huge TT power. Do the sums.
 
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Well I'm no Remco fanboy and I say you need to wait and see. You don't know and I don't know. What we do know is he CAN climb mountains if you bother to check, the only question is day after day. We haven't seen how he fares on HC mountains day after day over three weeks. Evenepoel weighs the same as Contador did and we know he has huge TT power. Do the sums.

That would seem to indicate Evenepoel is on par with Contador 2010 tdf shape. He may have trouble following accelerations, but shouldn't lose much time in the mountains
 
Who is at this year’s Giro that’s so much better uphill than the field at last year’s? There’s a fair few familiar faces, plus Bernal and Remco, and no Tao.
Considering last year's best climbers were Hindley, Tao and Wilco, i think this year there is indeed much stiffer competition with Hindley, Carthy, Yates, Bernal, Vlasov, Sivakov and perhaps Buchmann, Bardet, Evenepoel depending on form.

Obviously last year a lot of good climbers (Thomas, Lopez, Vlasov, Kruijswijk) crashed out, and obviously that could also still happen this year with a lot of guys, but in case they don't, it's rather plain to see that there is a lot more rivals to beat in order to reach the podium.
 
another
He was with the best most of the way through last year’s Giro, until the Ride of the Rohan. And he’s still only 22. It’s early even in terms of this Giro, let alone his whole career, to say he can’t climb with the best.
Finally someone on this forum that thinks almeida could be this year better in the mountains. Yeah, people forget that he's only 22 years and have a lot of potential.
 
Almeida's literally never climbed with the very best in a GT and this isn't exactly a TT heavy route. Evenepoel is the only wildcard they have
Almeida is 22 and has literally done only one GT in his career so far. His climbing wasn't at the level of the best GT climbers, but was right behind them. He has shown good climbing performances this season also. Both in T-A and UAE Tour he was objectively worse only to Pogačar and the Yates brothers. His climbing level was comparable to Landa, Quintana, Buchmann, Kuss...and he out climbed Bernal on Prati di Tivo.

In my opinion there's no question Remco is the better climber and the better GT prospect, although Almeida is a very big talent, too. It's just that Remco is an exceptional talent. BUT...

..., I really don't get the talk "X rider has never shown skill xyz at a certain level, so he'll never reach that level." Why? Especially when we are talking about talented young riders. Tao has never shown he can climb with the best either, yet he won a GT last year. Similar to Hindley, yet he was arguably the best climber of the race and finished on the podium. Pogačar also has literally never climbed with the best in a GT before the Vuelta 2019, but he finished on the podium. And he never did a great ITT before stage 20 of the Tour last year, but then PDBF happened.

We are not talking about a massive transformation here. We are talking about a good young climber (Almeida) becoming a very good climber. That's completely realistic. We've seen stranger things happen in cycling, that's for sure. For one, he showed last year he can cope with the 3 weeks and doesn't fade which is a very important "skill" to have.

Similar with Remco. People doubting him say "He has never done this in a GT. That's a different sport. I need to see it to believe it." Well, no shiet. He has never ridden a GT, that's why he hasn't shown a thing yet. But I see a way bigger chance that he becomes a great GT rider than the other way around. To not be able to translate your strengths from a short stage race to a GT is more a rarity than the rule. How many great GC riders in short stage races can't ride for GC in a GT? I can think of just a few in today's peloton. Ion Izagirre (he has a Vuelta top 10 though), Schachmann (who hasn't even tried yet I think), Rui Costa, maybe Benoot. That's about it. So I'll assume Remco is one of the 90% of GC riders who can. If he fails time and time again like Rui Costa did, then I'll change my mind. I don't think he'll podium this Giro because other reasons (injury, long lay off, no racing rhythm), but that's another story.
 
It’s a testament to the crazy times we are in right now that folks are dismissive of Alameida, a guy who merely got 4th in the Giro in his first GT at age 22 (21?) and who has climbed well all year and just smashed all other GC riders in an ITT. Not saying a I think he’ll win it, nor am I saying he’s a talent of Pogacar/Remco proportions, but he is a real deal talent. Not many riders have performed as well in a GT at his age in the past 20 years.
 
It’s a testament to the crazy times we are in right now that folks are dismissive of Alameida, a guy who merely got 4th in the Giro in his first GT at age 22 (21?) and who has climbed well all year and just smashed all other GC riders in an ITT. Not saying a I think he’ll win it, nor am I saying he’s a talent of Pogacar/Remco proportions, but he is a real deal talent. Not many riders have performed as well in a GT at his age in the past 20 years.

He beat an off form Remco by 2 whole seconds. Wouldn't consider that a smashing of all GC contenders
 
I'm quite a fan of Almeida, sad to see him leave DQT. His 2020 Giro was great considering the circumstances, and like i said in his thread, he could have made progress climbing since last time just like anyone else his age. However, he's a worker. That's why i said that intrinsically, Remco is a better climber. That doesn't mean he'll be the better climber this Giro. But as long as this year doesn't feature the same amount of top-dog DNF's as last year, Almeida will need to have improved his climbing, just to be able to match his GC of last year.

I would think they would rank higher placement overall in front who will be on the team in a few Months time, its about money after all.
Remco will get plenty of chances in the years to come, if he can come back to previous form.
Almeida is after all their outspoken number one, or was until yesterday anyway.
That's a real good indication that Almeida is on form maybe better than last year, Bernal and Yates had good TT´s but was 20 seconds after him on this short stage? you are not impressed, no?
I don't know how Remco will do in the mountains, few do, few even know before the crash, but we know that Almeida will be ok and that is it a 30 K TT at the end which Almeida will most likely do a whole better than Yates, Bernal and Landa.
Higher placement. You would have a guy who is 2s slower in a 9k TT work for the guy who is 2s faster? Knowing the "slower" guy is still building up his form and is likely to improve over the next few weeks. It's about money, indeed. And the team has Belgian sponsors, and those companies are big in Belgium, and will get a lot more exposure in Belgium with Evenepoel, than with Almeida. Money they will get from the Giro is peanuts in comparison to what they get from their sponsors, and in this case the sponsor has much less interest in having "his" team put the local golden boy to work for the Portuguese rider who is going to leave the team anyway. In case Evenepoel implodes, and is no good anymore for GC and can't even get into a break or go for a stage, then there is no more use for him, and he can just as well start working for Almeida. But in this situation? You 'd have to be delusional to even consider the possibility.
 
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This is the statement that got you to post? What climbing achievement has Almeida done that lends you to believe he’s a better climber? The zero climbing wins? Whereas Remco has actually won climbing stages.

Mr Evenepoel won exactly 2 short MTF‘s one of them mostly because of the crosswind action prior to the final climb and the other one even a „sprinter“ won there just the other day .. so not very convincing to use examples as proof that he is a godlike climber (unlike Agent Almeida)

And in other races the likes of McNulty, Guillaume Martin, Grossschartner, DAYER Quintana and Ben Herman’s dropped him, yeah sure he lost a couple of kg but not like 20 or so.
he is a world class TT and rides very entertaining on rolling terrain but he’s not climbing with the best of the best and be probably never will. Extremely sad
 
Well I'm no Remco fanboy and I say you need to wait and see. You don't know and I don't know. What we do know is he CAN climb mountains if you bother to check, the only question is day after day. We haven't seen how he fares on HC mountains day after day over three weeks. Evenepoel weighs the same as Contador did and we know he has huge TT power. Do the sums.
I thought his TT results were more based on efficiency than outright power?
 

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