Giro d'Italia 2021 Giro d'Italia, Stage 17: Canazei - Sega di Ala 193 km

[jaylew]

If he finishes a few more stages with Ulissi, I don't know.

May not be a problem if Ulissi continues to finish with Caruso.

 

[zlev11]

wtf was that ride by Ulissi? best climbing performance of his life

 

[Panda Claws]

Almeida is impressive for sure. I did not expect him to be this strong. But if he continues like that he's gonna justify his Bora salary.

 

[pvieira91]

Looks like Almeida is the strongest GC guy in the race now. Lucky for the top 3 he is so far behind. He will take more than a minute on all of them in the final TT.

If he can keep this strength I will climb some positions. Top 4 is possible. More than that only if Caruso or Yates have a bad day.

 

[JosefK]

Almeida is impressive for sure. I did not expect him to be this strong. But if he continues like that he's gonna justify his Bora salary.

Will Quickstep let him ride the Vuelta, I wonder?

 

[titan31]

I think we just get rid of tomorrow's stage and do stage 16 in full now that the weather's better. Then we'll have some fun

 

[BlueRoads]

On reflection, Bernal went boom after responding to Yates' attack, but was able to follow a slightly lower pace for the rest of the climb, which I guess would suggest a metabolic or fatigue related cause over a biomechanical one. But who knows, his pedaling seemed very square when he went boom.

Also catching a flu certainly not impossible given the weather. But his form seems to have gone down a notch or two.

Could also just be this specific stage, with a high rather steady pace all of the time and then a real punch in the end from Yates.

That Almeida was able to go with Yates was actually incredible.

 

[movingtarget]

Bardet like Pinot is such an enigma. He can no longer string a couple of good stages together. Bad day for Carthy.

 

[tobydawq]

Agree. Think it makes it a bit more interesting, especially with Yates. Almeida is no danger, he is to far back. (whether that is 4minutes or 7).

That is unless Bernal is completely blocking, but I don't see a reason to believe that. Might as well be a bad day after a rest day.

But if it is Bernal's back that is causing the issues, he could face a further decline. I agree that Almeida is too far back of course, but he can probably take at least two minutes to all the others in Milan.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Ulissi? What the ***, it just passed me by as I was absent-mindedly assuming it was Formolo.

 

[tobydawq]

Sure. Stupid that he bonked in the beginning. But maybe silver lining being that he might have a better 3rd week because his first week and a half were less stressful.

Maybe, that's never easy to assess. But him never having won a pro bike race is quickly becoming one of the most bizarre things in cycling.

 

[roundabout]

Maybe the pace was not that high intentionally because Bernal did not feel too good?

It was Castroviejo/Martinez/Bernal/Almeida/Yates/Ulissi/Caruso and I think Bilbao left with over 5km to go.

On one hand Castroviejo being on the front that long suggests that the pace was not super great (with all due respect), but the level of selection suggests the opposite (even if it was the toughest climb in the race and one of the toughest to be done all season)

 

[HelloDolly]

I am really impressed by Fosse, such a great climber for such a big guy

More impressive for me as a GT potential than Evenepoel

 

[Panda Claws]

Will Quickstep let him ride the Vuelta, I wonder?

I think that would be a good idea. Looking at the QST they don't really have anyone else for GC anyway. Perhaps Masnada was promised the Vuelta lol.

 

[BlueRoads]

If he can keep this strength I will climb some positions. Top 4 is possible. More than that only if Caruso or Yates have a bad day.

Ha, you gave yourself away there, I knew it! Welcome to the forum, Joao (even if I write your name incorrectly, I don't mean to be rude)!

 

[Publiuszam]

wtf was that ride by Ulissi? best climbing performance of his life

I was really surprised to seem him at the business end today.

 

[meat puppet]

Could also just be this specific stage, with a high rather steady pace all of the time and then a real punch in the end from Yates.

That Almeida was able to go with Yates was actually incredible.

Then again, if you are strong, you tend to be strong enough to hold your own at least. Regardless of the stage specifics.

 

[Panda Claws]

Evenepoel DNF? Serry and Knox have already passed the line.

 

[jaylew]

Not on Caruso, I suppose.

Not so sure about that. It's not as if Caruso is a great TTer. The two times they've gone head-to head (not including the super short one in this Giro) Almeida has put 30-40 seconds into him over 11-13k.

 

[Red Rick]

How great would it be to still have a Finestre, Mortirolo or Stelvio stage on the final weekend?

Fantastic.

Sadly, I think stage 20 is about as good as it gets with that finishing location. It's too far from everything tbh.

 

[roundabout]

With Martinez there and Yates 4+minutes behind it made little sense for Bernal to respond if he was not feeling super good.

It could be something very simple like being too confident, but that was very strange.

 

[BlueRoads]

Then again, if you are strong, you tend to be strong enough to hold your own at least. Regardless of the stage specifics.

Yes, but it was a weird, or let's say surprising result for me in more than one way; and Bernal lost time to Yates and Almeida, but he also gained quite some time on Carthy, Vlasov, Bardet.
I don't really know what to make of this and think I will have to wait for stage 19.

 

[Eclipse]

wtf was that ride by Ulissi? best climbing performance of his life

Just peaking for tomorrow

 

[Gigs_98]

But if it is Bernal's back that is causing the issues, he could face a further decline. I agree that Almeida is too far back of course, but he can probably take at least two minutes to all the others in Milan.

100% agree about Bernal. In last years Tour, when his back forced him to abandon, the issues also started with him slightly underperforming in the pyrenees then losing some but not a lot of time in the massif central before the total collapse on the Grand Bernard. This is massively worrying for Bernal fans. Not necessarily for Bernal himself since he will likely know the reason for his weak performance today, but then again considering how gutted he was looking at the interview he might not be overly happy about the reason either.

 

[IndianCyclist]

For Yates " With Great Performances come great disappointments"
On his day he can beat/equal any of best GC guys but then he will probably collapse the next day.