Giro d'Italia 2021 Giro d'Italia, Stage 4: Piacenza - Sestola 186 km

[Red Rick]

Important to remember, week 1 of Giro 2020 nobody was considering Hindley and TGH favourites. They weren't protagonists on Etna. Today is not a GC write off for those in Buchmann group.

2020 was the only 2020 year in the last decade tho

 

[HelloDolly]

Did they really omit Almeida already lol.

We probably shouldn't make too many assesements based on this stage alone. Some riders might have been more affected by the weather than others, and if they only lost 11-44 seconds it could have been worse. We should have a clearer picture after Thursday's stage. Hindley wasn't a world-beater in the beginning last year's Giro, but he obviously wasn't a team leader at that point either.

yes this is true but I dont see Almeida , Buchmann, Benett, Shivakov or Martinez wining after today and that I dont think will change

Maybe they can rally for a top 5 but not win

 

[Bonimenier]

2020 was the only 2020 year in the last decade tho

The 2020 from 3 decades ago was way more fun than the one from last decade imo.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Nobody ever considered George Bennett a favourite, shame for him, nice guy, but not surprising.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

yes this is true but I dont see Almeida , Buchmann, Benett, Shivakov or Martinez wining after today and that I dont think will change

Maybe they can rally for a top 5 but not win

Bennett is definitely gone, but I didn't expect him to be up there anyway, Almeida lost too much time as well. Sivakov and Martinez are both helpers, as long as Bernal doesn't totally crack. Buchmann still has a chance to reach the podium.

 

[HelloDolly]

Ineos announced Sivakov is joint leader with Bernal

Buchmann does not seem to have the form . Too many with better form in the race

 

[Fantastico]

We probably shouldn't make too many assesements based on this stage alone. Some riders might have been more affected by the weather than others, and if they only lost 11-44 seconds it could have been worse. We should have a clearer picture after Thursday's stage. Hindley wasn't a world-beater in the beginning last year's Giro, but he obviously wasn't a team leader at that point either.

We had really bad conditions, the first climbs of the race and fatigue and endurance not playing a big role yet. Of course, losing some seconds here is nothing to be neglected, but we shouldn't interpret too much into it. It's not possible to draw conclusions with respect to the real mountain stages yet. Today felt more like a race for one-day than GT specialists.

 

[Fantastico]

Buchmann does not seem to have the form . Too many with better form in the race

I think it is way too early to draw such conclusions.

 

[Carols]

For sure that's probably why I can't help but support him more than anyone else. Never seen anyone make climning look so sexy the way he does except for Alberto.

Alberto was almost Godlike. I replay his Etna climb just to enjoy the beauty of the man and bike as one.

 

[Fantastico]

yes this is true but I dont see Almeida , Buchmann, Benett, Shivakov or Martinez wining after today and that I dont think will change

To be honest, I never expected one of them except Buchmann to be able to fight for the win anyway.

 

[armchairclimber]

Congrats to Dombrowski. Glad I stuck him in my CQ team now.

 

[Panda Claws]

Since when do you need to be able to win to ride for GC and be considered a GC guy lol.

 

[red_flanders]

I'm very surprised about Almeida

I was surprised about him dropping for sure, I was much more surprised that he coasted in and didn't in any way try and limit his losses. I wonder if he was just so out of it he realized it was over with regard to the GC, or if some element of "I'm leaving and I'm fighting with Lefevre" was part of that. Could be either or both. Interesting.

Yates/Evenepoel didn't get dropped, they just didn't attack. We won't know their true level til at least stage 9

If someone attacks and you can't follow, you got dropped.

 

[Bonimenier]

I was surprised about him dropping for sure, I was much more surprised that he coasted in and didn't in any way try and limit his losses. I wonder if he was just so out of it he realized it was over with regard to the GC, or if some element of "I'm leaving and I'm fighting with Lefevre" was part of that. Could be either or both. Interesting.

I'n guessing it was mainly the dissapointment of getting dropped so early. He might have felt that the legs weren't good on the previous climbs and didn't bother anymore.

 

[Wvv]

I was surprised about him dropping for sure, I was much more surprised that he coasted in and didn't in any way try and limit his losses. I wonder if he was just so out of it he realized it was over with regard to the GC, or if some element of "I'm leaving and I'm fighting with Lefevre" was part of that. Could be either or both. Interesting.

Saving his energy to help Remco for pink glory.

 

[Ranagazoo]

Looking further down the standings... looks like it's stage hunting for the likes of Mollema, Cepeda, Champoussin, Vanhoucke and Reichenbach. To be fair we knew about Mollema already but I thought some of the others might try for a top 15-20 in the GC.

 

[Bonimenier]

Looking further down the standings... looks like it's stage hunting for the likes of Mollema, Cepeda, Champoussin, Vanhoucke and Reichenbach. To be fair we knew about Mollema already but I thought some of the others might try for a top 15-20 in the GC.

I don't understand why Mollema didn't lose time the previous stages. It was the plan all along to go for stages, and this one would have been great for him.

 

[Escarabajo]

I was surprised about him dropping for sure, I was much more surprised that he coasted in and didn't in any way try and limit his losses. I wonder if he was just so out of it he realized it was over with regard to the GC, or if some element of "I'm leaving and I'm fighting with Lefevre" was part of that. Could be either or both. Interesting.

I am with you on this. In fact I was listening to a Colombia radio during the broadcast and they saw DQ pulling at the time when Almeida was dropping. So the message is loud and clear that Almeida will not have any support.

 

[JosefK]

I am with you on this. In fact I was listening to a Colombia radio during the broadcast and they saw DQ pulling at the time when Almeida was dropping. So the message is loud and clear that Almeida will not have any support.

So if one is a Quickstep rider, it's best not to mess with Lefevre (and/or don't let one's agent mess with the big guy).

 

[titan31]

Looking further down the standings... looks like it's stage hunting for the likes of Mollema, Cepeda, Champoussin, Vanhoucke and Reichenbach. To be fair we knew about Mollema already but I thought some of the others might try for a top 15-20 in the GC.

Ya, was surprised some stopped. You've those, Fabbro and Jorgenson who I thought would have stayed closer for longer. Guessing it's stage hunting and KOM attempts for them.

 

[jmdirt]

I love it when JOE wins!

 

[Escarabajo]

To be fair, Moscon is a superb one-day racer and Sivakov has not looked his sharpest since the Dauphine last year. I'm not sure Martinez is here for GC so maybe he didn't go all out?

Martinez look like following wheels on these stages. We might see something different in the high mountains.

 

[Luthor]

I am with you on this. In fact I was listening to a Colombia radio during the broadcast and they saw DQ pulling at the time when Almeida was dropping. So the message is loud and clear that Almeida will not have any support.

Never mess with Lefevere. We all knew Remco would be preferred but still a *** move. In the end Remco also lost 10' so karma I guess.

 

[spalco]

So if one is a Quickstep rider, it's best not to mess with Lefevre (and/or don't let one's agent mess with the big guy).

I would have to rewatch to get the timing correctly, what exactly was going on at the front when Almeida dropped, but my impression was that if DQS was leading at that precise point, they weren't making tempo, but keeping the speed steady to protect their chances.

But regardless, it's the top Belgian team with the by far most exciting Belgian GC prospect in generations, hoping to break a 40+ year curse of not winning the biggest races in what's arguably Belgium's national sport. You'd be a moron to think you're on top of the pecking order there.

 

[Bonimenier]

I would have to rewatch to get the timing correctly, what exactly was going on at the front when Almeida dropped, but my impression was that if DQS was leading at that precise point, they weren't making tempo, but keeping the speed steady to protect their chances.

But regardless, it's the top Belgian team with the by far most exciting Belgian GC prospect in generations, hoping to break a 40+ year curse of not winning the biggest races in what's arguably Belgium's national sport. You'd be a moron to think you're on top of the pecking order there.

The moment he dropped it wasn't DQS leading in the peloton. A bit later when Almeida wasn't too far yet Serry paced when he got caught from the break, but I guess it was already clear at that point that Almeida would lose quite a lot of time.