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2021 Giro d'Italia, Stage 19: Abbiategrasso - Alpe di Mera 166 km

Page 23 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

What is gonna happen?

  • Bernal bonk

    Votes: 5 6.8%
  • Yates yeet

    Votes: 7 9.5%
  • Almeida almighty

    Votes: 19 25.7%
  • Caruso cruisin'

    Votes: 9 12.2%
  • breakaway take away

    Votes: 14 18.9%
  • Vincenzo victory

    Votes: 10 13.5%
  • I hate rhymes and alliterations

    Votes: 10 13.5%

  • Total voters
    74
  • Poll closed .
That crash on Wednesday that got rid of Schultz and Remco really paid off for Ineos today. If those two were there to do dom duties for Yates and Almeida, you likely distance Castro earlier or have them ride up the rode to help Yates and Almeida.

Just wish last Monday had been dry and raced in full as this could be a much different race if it was.

Today losing Mottarone helped him too here tbf.

Crashes. Injuries. Race conditions. Shortened stages. All of these happen and can be called part of racing but also should serve as context for achievements.

Bernal will win this Giro, but he greatly benefited from neither Pogacar and Roglic being in the race, the crash of Landa, the weather impacting Yates. None of this is his fault. However, it doesn't change the calculation that his two grand tours were won with some serious good fortune when you look back at Pinot being hurt and Dumoulin and Roglic absent in 2019.

No doubt one of the best riders, but jury still out on how great he really is until he beats some of the best on equal footing.
 
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I think the only thing Bernal has done wrong this Giro is being the only person on this planet who took Remco serious for GC. He could have taken his time in the early part and done the same as Yates and battered this back end of the race. Luckily he has gained enough and managed to stay in front with time to spare for the ITT. If he can manage tomorrow then it's in his bag. Hoping Caruso can stay on the podium, he should be fine.
 
I really don't think he ran into his limit or cracked at the end at all. He just kept the same pace rather than do the traditional hard effort to the finish. He looked completely different than yesterday at the finish and was in no way giving it his all at the end for a few extra seconds. At this point he's trying not to do any extreme efforts. He and the team did exactly what he said they were going to do yesterday
I'm not so sure about Bernal just keeping the same pace. Caruso has been the epitome of steady climbing in this Giro and he closed most of the gap Bernal had on him in those last few hundred meters. Almeida was the only one who certainly accelerated at the end dropping Bernal and halving his deficit to Yates. Yates and Caruso on the other hand rode steady strong tempo to the finish with the gap between them hovering between 30-35 second for several kilometers.
 
Copeland to RAI: "Simon doesn't care about the podium. We'll try to win the race tomorrow. It's hard because we lost Schultz and Nieve is injured, but perhaps we can get some help from other teams."
Play a risky game and let Almeida to the break tomorrow so QS won't be doing any crazy shenanigans behind. The guy's 8'30" behind so you can give him like 5 min and still be rather comfortable. Other GC guys don't look that great while Yates team's also not that amazing. That's most likely a stupid strategy though.
 
Of course, but bike racing has always been the same. We very rarely get to see ‘Mano-a-mano’ racing.

Most of the time it’s Sky/Ineos, but others do the same when they can.

Again missing my point. They are so strong that later we get to enjoy Tomas do it in the TdF and Carapaz in the Vuelta. Or maybe Hart or Porte all with crazy teams of domestiques. Makes it pretty hard to get excited about tours if you are not an Ineos fan
 
I think the only thing Bernal has done wrong this Giro is being the only person on this planet who took Remco serious for GC. He could have taken his time in the early part and done the same as Yates and battered this back end of the race. Luckily he has gained enough and managed to stay in front with time to spare for the ITT. If he can manage tomorrow then it's in his bag. Hoping Caruso can stay on the podium, he should be fine.
Was that the thing? Iirc, it was only Remco marking Bernal in the first week, not the other way around.
But if we look at this from another perspective, by taking Remco seriosuly, Bernal made up some time on Yates as a side effect. If not Remco, he could've been satisfied staying with Yates in 1st week.
 
Congratulations to Simon Philip Yates for winning stage 19.

Yates likely being the best climber on this year Giro. Bernal rode rather smart today. Wearing and defending maglia rosa does this to you. There are days you pay for it. Almeida proved again on why the team did him wrong.

As for the tomorrows stage. Rather exciting either way. Bernal holding on makes him rightful owner, Bernal not being able to cope, well that would be something to talk about for sure.
 
Again missing my point. They are so strong that later we get to enjoy Tomas do it in the TdF and Carapaz in the Vuelta. Or maybe Hart or Porte all with crazy teams of domestiques. Makes it pretty hard to get excited about tours if you are not an Ineos fan
They will still have a hard time beating Roglic and Pogacar in the Tour. They won one grand tour last year in the weakest Giro field seen for years and they may only win one GT this year and their one day results are poor. That's hardly dominance even if they have the strongest squad in most stage races.
 
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I'm not so sure about Bernal just keeping the same pace. Caruso has been the epitome of steady climbing in this Giro and he closed most of the gap Bernal had on him in those last few hundred meters. Almeida was the only one who certainly accelerated at the end dropping Bernal and halving his deficit to Yates. Yates and Caruso on the other hand rode steady strong tempo to the finish with the gap between them hovering between 30-35 second for several kilometers.

If GPS was not completely wrong, Bernal lost about 10 seconds to Yates on the last few hundred metres
 
Crashes. Injuries. Race conditions. Shortened stages. All of these happen and can be called part of racing but also should serve as context for achievements.

Bernal will win this Giro, but he greatly benefited from neither Pogacar and Roglic being in the race, the crash of Landa, the weather impacting Yates. None of this is his fault. However, it doesn't change the calculation that his two grand tours were won with some serious good fortune when you look back at Pinot being hurt and Dumoulin and Roglic absent in 2019.

No doubt one of the best riders, but jury still out on how great he really is until he beats some of the best on equal footing.
Bernal has been great this Giro. He was also excellent in the Tour he won, even though his big race-winning attack came under odd circumstances. Pogacar's only GT win, so far, also came in unusual circumstances, including but not limited to Bernal's back injury taking him out of the race. You can only beat whoever's on the start line with you.

So at this point, we really haven't seen a true Pogacar vs Bernal race in a GT, so it's very early to say if one or other is better. I think actually the suspense might make it better when it does finally happen.
 
Yates is the best climber.
Bernal is not fading: he already showed before he is not the best climber in the world. He is (if his back allows) solid, but already had difficulties following a top shape Pinot (tour 2019) and now Yates.
Almeida got a gap because he went all out for stage victory. Bernal doesn't need to do that, if he wants to follow track of every rider going for stage victory, he isn't riding for GC.
 

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