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

[Red Rick]

"Nibali will not attack on the Splügenpas. He will attack on the Passo della Spluga"

 

[BlueRoads]

"Nibali will not attack on the Splügenpas. He will attack on the Passo della Spluga"

Sounds better, to be fair.

 

[Eshnar]

"Nibali will not attack on the Splügenpas. He will attack on the Passo della Spluga"

that's surprisingly accurate.

 

[limak_]

Spluga, Gorizia... Italians don't begrudge foreignized names.

The Inner Ring | Giro d’Italia Stage 19 Preview

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"then the valley to climb the Passo dello Colma – a pleonasm as Colma is the local word for a pass"

 

[jaylew]

Ewan: 5 starts in Giro and Vuelta, 0 finishes.

He's on pace but has a long way to go. Cipo only finished 6 of 27 GTs and 0 of 13 Vueltas/Tours

 

[ciranda]

Horses and donkeys, you have to look at their teeth.

 

[Tigerion]

He shouldn't be allowed to start in Giro and Vuelta ever again.

I don't understand this line of thought. They would be sitting out the back and we wouldn't see coverage of them for the entire last week. What difference does it make having more riders in a groupetto?

 

[Red Rick]

Commentators trying to hype this climb up must have the hardest job in the world

 

[Mayomaniac]

Commentators trying to hype this climb up must have the hardest job in the world

Trying to hype the Col de la Loze stage when it was clear than nothing would happen before the final 4kms was probably also hard, but at least you had the raw numbers of the 2 climbs to back it up...

 

[Mayomaniac]

Cassani pretty much throwing Bardiani under the bus by saying that Albanese threw away the last 2-3 years...

 

[Red Rick]

Trying to hype the Col de la Loze stage when it was clear than nothing would happen before the final 4kms was probably also hard, but at least you had the raw numbers of the 2 climbs to back it up...

I don 't think I've ever heard a commentator go "This Giro/Tour/Vuelta has been a bit *** innit? Let's be honest"

 

[sir fly]

They're not the Swiss Alps and the Italian Alps.
It's Alpine Switzerland and Alpine Italy.

 

[Red Rick]

Ganna you disappoint me.

 

[limak_]

I don't understand this line of thought. They would be sitting out the back and we wouldn't see coverage of them for the entire last week. What difference does it make having more riders in a groupetto?

Abandoning the race is a sign of a complete lack of the respect to the race, organisers, cycling fans, the tradition, and other riders who give everything to survive all the 21 stages.
Actually the stage victories shouldn't be confirmed until the rider finishes the whole race.

 

[gregrowlerson]

He shouldn't be allowed to start in Giro and Vuelta ever again.

I'm sure that it's been suggested by other's, but how about any stage race stage winner has to finish that entire race for that win to still count?

Yeah I know, super Mario wouldn't have liked that.

 

[sir fly]

Wonder how they maintain the road surface.
The layer's not new and there isn't a single dent.

Here, after the winter, 5 star Roubaix sectors everywhere around.

 

[Amazinmets87]

Abandoning the race is a sign of a complete lack of the respect to the race, organisers, cycling fans, the tradition, and other riders who give everything to survive all the 21 stages.
Actually the stage victories shouldn't be confirmed until the rider finishes the whole race.

What's to prevent riders faking injuries ala Ewan? And surely you wouldn't disqualify a rider for abandoning due to a legitimate injury...

 

[limak_]

I'm sure that it's been suggested by other's, but how about any stage race stage winner has to finish that entire race for that win to still count?

Yeah I know, super Mario wouldn't have liked that.

Seems I answered your question even before you asked it

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

I don 't think I've ever heard a commentator go "This Giro/Tour/Vuelta has been a bit *** innit? Let's be honest"

Stefano Garzelli sometimes opens things up in the commentary by something along the lines of "Honestly this stage was a bit of a snoozer". But yeah, no one just straight up disses the whole thing.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Commentators trying to hype this climb up must have the hardest job in the world

It's actually a really tough climb. If there is an issue, it's that Yates doesn't have climbing domestique's.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Seems I answered your question even before you asked it

Yes indeed. Rather spooky lol

 

[Rollthedice]

I'm still amazed how much Nibs is determined to finish this race. He's giving a lesson for all those disrespectful, whining and selfish sprinters.

There's only two ways to stop him finish a GT, kick him out or break his back.

 

[limak_]

There's only two ways to stop him finish a GT, kick him out or break his back.

I'm convinced that he'd find a way to finish the race in both cases anyway.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

I don't blame sprinters for abandoning a race they have zero incentives to complete. I mean, this is cycling, traditions are nice and all but people will do everything to get an advantage, surely killing your legs up monstrous climbs at 70 to 80 kilos doesn't bring you many advantages for the rest of the season. If there were a prestigious last week sprint stage in the Giro and the Vuelta, like in Paris, then things would be different.

I do have a problem with Ewan's statements though. It's great if he wins stages in all GTs in one season, but that sounds so awesome exactly because of the tremendous effort one needs to make in order to do that and survive 63 days of hard racing. If you do (not even) half of that and skip the hard part, well, it's a lesser achievement in my book.

 

[Lo squalo di messina]

Man nibs could at least have said bye when Keisse got dropped.