Giro d'Italia 2021 Giro d'Italia, Stage 6: Grotte di Frasassi – Ascoli Piceno (S.Giacomo) 160 km

[Hugo Koblet]

This was indeed a great stage. Far better than I had expected. Nice win for Mäder. He was close in Paris-Nice but salvaged that loss today - and more to. It looks more and more like a battle between Bernal and Evenepoel as expected. Let's just hope nothing happens to either of those, otherwise this Giro might get very boring.

 

[Big Doopie]

Bernal looked tired and a few times I saw him favouring his back.

You did? Really? Wow! Impressive powers of (imagination) observation you have...

 

[Red Rick]

Lots of headwind. No point in Bernal killing himself when no one else would pull through. I'm honestly surprised he won the sprint considering no one else sniffed the wind.

Thought he might have taken a pull to help distance the rest if he felt really great. Anyway, the headwind is why Bernal winning the sprint was significant.

 

[Anybody_but..]

Remco looked very strong. He just followed the top guys and kept a lot in reserve. He is stronger day by day. Bernal looked tired and a few times I saw him favouring his back. We might be in for a good Giro. I thank Ineos for the strong pace that broke Vlasov and Yates and company to a certain degree. I'm sure the 2 will have better stages. Horrible what happened to Serry.

What a BS.
It looked liked Ineos didn't want to take The Pink so early (TBH - Remco the same).

 

[Red Rick]

Especially since it's been a great stage throughout the day. Far better than feared.

I was literally only referring to a team taking the lead and snailpacing it.

 

[Red Rick]

Well well well, look at that...

I swear Yates is overrated only until he isnt

 

[Bolder]

Remco did not look all that stressed. Very clever to let Bernal

Big loser was DSM, who lost Hindley and wasted Bardet's good legs.

 

[fbjim]

Not adventurous to say this but I think it's still well too early given the brutality expected in stages 9-12.

Bernal looks good but his domestiques (excepting Ganna) less so, and I don't know if having him climb into a headwind to pull a small group 15" clear was the intended playbook.

 

[johnymax]

Not adventurous to say this but I think it's still well too early given the brutality expected in stages 9-12.

Bernal looks good but his domestiques (excepting Ganna) less so, and I don't know if having him climb into a headwind to pull a small group 15" clear was the intended playbook.

Martinez looked strong to me with his attack.

 

[tobydawq]

Bernal can crush this race on Wednesday if we can go by how he performed in Strade Bianche.

 

[Pinot's goat]

Bernal can crush this race on Wednesday if we can go by how he performed in Strade Bianche.

He needs there to be equally strong riders for this to happen, going solo is unrealistic and the pace with not be as high as Strade Bianche as there are less specialists here.

 

[Panda Claws]

He did gain 6 boni seconds too.

 

[tobydawq]

He needs there to be equally strong riders for this to happen, going solo is unrealistic and the pace with not be as high as Strade Bianche as there are less specialists here.

I don't know, after the second sector there are no flat roads on asphalt. He could make an absolutely epic move if he has the guts.

 

[spalco]

Bernal can crush this race on Wednesday if we can go by how he performed in Strade Bianche.

He could, but it's a gamble how much to invest on a long solo with many mountains to come.

Also that stage probably suits evenepoel too.

 

[SafeBet]

I don't think he needs to solo in the Montalcino stage.
There are a lot of very good riders for such a stage in this peloton: Bettiol, Formolo, Sagan, Bardet, Brambilla...
And I believe Moscon will be great there too.

 

[fbjim]

Unless it's rain and total chaos I'm mostly expecting the GC guys to huddle around each other for safety on the Strade stage. Like a pave TDF stage I expect more crisis management and general chaos than pure hero attacks.

 

[Breh]

What a BS.
It looked liked Ineos didn't want to take The Pink so early (TBH - Remco the same).

I really think it's about time we drop this weird narrative. Sky/Ineos really don't mind taking the jersey early. Hart, Bernal and 2018 Giro were just outliers.

Froome held the jersey for 19days in his Vuelta win. In most of their Tour wins they took the jersey by stage 7 or 8. In 2017 they almost held it from start to finish.
Thomas took the jersey on the first mtf possible.

They don't care.

 

[railxmig]

I think some here may overrate the Bianche stage a lil bit. In 2010 there was the weather and some more oldschool GC guys (cough, Basso, cough) not used to this terrain. Right now a lot of best GC guys come from either MTB or other sports. Besides someone like Yates, Ciccone (?) or Carthy who may struggle the rest should be okay. I also don't expect Bernal to put hours on anybody else as i don't believe he's that good on such terrain even after that 3rd in Strade. Also, i don't expect Eventpoll to falter (unless he starts lacking in form) as he soloed a cobbled stage in 2019 Belgium Tour.

 

[jflemaire]

Any theories why Bernal was looking behind him so much? The comparison with Evenepoel who kept looking straight ahead was striking.

 

[fbjim]

Any theories why Bernal was looking behind him so much? The comparison with Evenepoel who kept looking straight ahead was striking.

Bernal was more interested in the gap and group size, Remco was more focused on marking Bernal.

 

[LesDiablesRouges]

Any theories why Bernal was looking behind him so much? The comparison with Evenepoel who kept looking straight ahead was striking.

Bernal was trying to gauge if should attack and to see if he could get a read on Evenepoel. He was also trying to get Remco to pull.

 

[Anybody_but..]

I really think it's about time we drop this weird narrative. Sky/Ineos really don't mind taking the jersey early. Hart, Bernal and 2018 Giro were just outliers.

Froome held the jersey for 19days in his Vuelta win. In most of their Tour wins they took the jersey by stage 7 or 8. In 2017 they almost held it from start to finish.
Thomas took the jersey on the first mtf possible.

They don't care.

Bernal is not Froome, 2nd man Sivakov is out, and finally we (and Ineos) have the same question mark: what are the capabilities of Remco in GT?
Nobody knows. Fresh blood.
The are much more frightened of him than ever were because of Contador or anybody else.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Formolo is still hanging on to somehow finish inside the top 10 on the gc at the end when he could be a great stagehunter...

 

[JosefK]

I think some here may overrate the Bianche stage a lil bit. In 2010 there was the weather and some more oldschool GC guys (cough, Basso, cough) not used to this terrain. Right now a lot of best GC guys come from either MTB or other sports. Besides someone like Yates, Ciccone (?) or Carthy who may struggle the rest should be okay. I also don't expect Bernal to put hours on anybody else as i don't believe he's that good on such terrain even after that 3rd in Strade. Also, i don't expect Eventpoll to falter (unless he starts lacking in form) as he soloed a cobbled stage in 2019 Belgium Tour.

Also, the fact that Ineos have Ganna and DQS have Cavagna may make long solo attacks more challenging, as either of those two guys can close gaps on the flat (and on moderate hills, too).

 

[Ranagazoo]

Serious ninja work by Caruso, up to 7th. About time he gets a chance to go for gc.

It's a pity he only gets to ride for himself when his team leader crashes out, but to be fair he rode with Richie Porte at BMC so it's happened quite a few times