Giro d'Italia 2021 Giro d'Italia, Stage 20: Verbania – Alpe Motta 165 km

[ppanther92]

Castroviejo and Martinez deserve biiiig bonuses. Scary to think what the race would be like if Sivakov was still in.

But give back Bahrain Landa and Mohoric and their fire power also increases.

 

[mountainroad]

Good stage.
I'm wondering how the people are feeling who were proclaiming Yates the strongest rider of this Giro?!

As was mentioned in these forums yesterday, GT spectators suffer from recency bias. People seem to have forgotten the degree to which Bernal aggressively obliterated his opponents during the first two weeks, building a (barring technical difficulties tomorrow or a Pogačaresque TT ride from Caruso) virtually unassailable lead.

 

[Red Rick]

No, but here's a nice story told last week by the hero of the day:

"As an amateur, I lived in the same farmhouse where Nibali was staying. We are three years apart: when I arrived there, Vincenzo was seen as a legend, he was a God. He used to come and play table football with us even when he was a professional and had his house 200 meters away from us. And he never accepted to lose, he has always been very proud and stubborn, it's his strength. But when he lost, we forced him to go under the football table".

I love this so much.

 

[Red Rick]

As was mentioned in these forums yesterday, GT spectators suffer from recency bias. People seem to have forgotten the degree to which Bernal aggressively obliterated his opponents during the first two weeks, building a (barring technical difficulties tomorrow or a Pogačaresque TT ride from Caruso) virtually unassailable lead.

People were calling Yates the strongest at that moment, and they might have expected Yates to be stronger today as well, which he wasn't.

The disappointment is that if an Ineos rider is the strongest in the race one or two days their win is never in doubt.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

GC

 

[Black Betsy]

Mighty George Bennet showed his trophy cabinet to young lad Vadim Pronsksiy

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Almeida will be top 5 after tomorrow ITT.

Simply incredible courage from Damiano and Bardet and their gregarios. Vicnenzo and Landismo would be proud.

 

[jmdirt]

People were calling Yates the strongest at that moment, and they might have expected Yates to be stronger today as well, which he wasn't.

The disappointment is that if an Ineos rider is the strongest in the race one or two days their win is never in doubt.

Uh no, several were proclaiming that SY was the strongest of the Giro, but he 'just didn't have the support'.

If Yates or any other rider is strong why don't they just sit on EB's wheel (behind his team). When EB goes, be on his wheel. People talk about his team like he's riding on a travois behind them. He's riding just as hard as anyone.

 

[jaylew]

Almeida will be top 5 after tomorrow ITT.

Possibly, but he may not overtake Dani and wind up 6th.

 

[jmdirt]

As was mentioned in these forums yesterday, GT spectators suffer from recency bias. People seem to have forgotten the degree to which Bernal aggressively obliterated his opponents during the first two weeks, building a (barring technical difficulties tomorrow or a Pogačaresque TT ride from Caruso) virtually unassailable lead.

I was one of those who said that.

 

[staubsauger]

Not as a pro, but Scinto never took him to the big races.
He has a 6th place on the gc in the Giro della Valle d'Aosta in the u23 ranks, but he was already 22 at the time.

He secured his top 15 spot on the general classification today and even surpassed Valter! Although he might lose that spot tomorrow, but he still finishes ahead of Formolo.

 

[groogster]

Possibly, but he may not overtake Dani and wind up 6th.

If everything goes as supposed, Almeida puts 1 minute on Martinez in a 30k flat iTT. But it will also depends on how they will recover from todays effort.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations to Damiano Caruso for taking the stage win and cementing his podium position.

Bernal won this Giro edition fair and square. Ineos was stellar too. Not the strongest but not the weakest field. To me personally Landa crashing, that took away some of the appeal. But still nice win.

 

[railxmig]

I was clapping my hands when my namesake was crossing the line to a brilliant win. I'm also perfectly fine with Bernal 95% winning this bike race and happy that Colombia has another GC prospect with Dani Martinez after Uran and Quintana are more and more possibly not reaching their former glory while Bernal's health problems are unsure. If he'll win a Vuelta within next years to claim all GTs won then i feel he has a very good pedigree for Lombardia and LBL, where i guess those back problems may not be as important.

 

[Anderis]

If everything goes as supposed, Almeida puts 1 minute on Martinez in a 30k flat iTT. But it will also depends on how they will recover from todays effort.

Assuming that Martinez is top form, motivated and not over-fatigued, not sure if I would favour Almeida to gain 1 minute over him on any kind of ITT ever.

Last year on long and flat WC ITT Martinez only lost 1:52 to Ganna and less than 1:30 to 2nd Van Aert and I bet it wasn't even one of his major goals of the season to peak for unlike for many of those who fought for medals. Almeida is nowhere near the level of Ganna or Van Aert on flat a ITT IMO so it's far from given he will gain that much on Dani, unless the Colombian emptied himself on those mountain stages.

 

[Sciatic]

Enjoyed Caruso’s pat on the back for Bilbao - some real gratitude for someone who knows what it’s like to work your balls of for someone else.

I loved that—glad they caught it for replay as I didn’t notice it during the live broadcast.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Assuming that Martinez is top form, motivated and not over-fatigued, not sure if I would favour Almeida to gain 1 minute over him on any kind of ITT ever.

Last year on long and flat WC ITT Martinez only lost 1:52 to Ganna and less than 1:30 to 2nd Van Aert and I bet it wasn't even one of his major goals for the season to peak for unlike for many of those who fought for medals. Almeida is nowhere near the level of Ganna or Van Aert on flat a ITT IMO so it's far from given he will gain that much on Dani, unless he emptied himself on those mountain stages.

He was also only 6sec behind Almeida in the 13km ITT in the UAE Tour this year, Dani Martinez is more than capable of riding a good TT.

 

[IndianCyclist]

People were calling Yates the strongest at that moment, and they might have expected Yates to be stronger today as well, which he wasn't.

The disappointment is that if an Ineos rider is the strongest in the race one or two days their win is never in doubt.

Just to be fair Bernal the race leader also said it
Egan Bernal: Simon Yates is the strongest at the Giro d’Italia right now

 

[Sciatic]

Mighty George Bennet showed his trophy cabinet to young lad Vadim Pronsksiy

Yeah, but he deviated from his line there to hold him off in that critical sprint finish

 

[roundabout]

Stages yesterday and today were very different in terms of racing, but the gaps between the top 8 on GC on the stage were not substantially different (even if the order was).

it seems today downhills were more decisive than uphills which is not a bad thing, but it again highlights the need for a hopefully more selective final mountain stage next year

 

[Mayomaniac]

Mighty George Bennet showed his trophy cabinet to young lad Vadim Pronsksiy

What happened?

 

[Sciatic]

What happened?

Came from behind with a sprint to the line to finish in whatever-ish place.

 

[groogster]

Assuming that Martinez is top form, motivated and not over-fatigued, not sure if I would favour Almeida to gain 1 minute over him on any kind of ITT ever.

Last year on long and flat WC ITT Martinez only lost 1:52 to Ganna and less than 1:30 to 2nd Van Aert and I bet it wasn't even one of his major goals of the season to peak for unlike for many of those who fought for medals. Almeida is nowhere near the level of Ganna or Van Aert on flat a ITT IMO so it's far from given he will gain that much on Dani, unless the Colombian emptied himself on those mountain stages.

Sure that Almeida hasn't the level of Ganna or Van Aert but If both are on the same kind of form tomorrow and being a 30k flat iTT Almeida will put around 1 minute on Martinez. But we'll see it tomorrow what happens

 

[BlueRoads]

I think Almeida -Martinez should depend on the form of the day and how well they got through these weeks. On their day they are probably both able to beat each other (well, not on the same day... you know what I mean).
Almeida might be more ambitious tomorrow, although Martinez has fought for a good spot for himself in this race as much as was possible in his role, too.
Interesting "duel" in any case.

 

[Rollthedice]

Formolino!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1398686916707598338

View: https://twitter.com/BasTietema/status/1398686916707598338?s=20