Giro d'Italia 2021 Giro d'Italia, Stage 7: Notaresco – Termoli 181 km

[Samamba]

Seriously what the *** is that mentality?

The mentality of wanting to be able to win stages at the Tour and Vuelta too?

There is zero reason for him to ride that incredibly hard 3rd week. It would just hamper his chances to win at the Tour. He already needs to finish the Tour and start the Vuelta 4 weeks later.

 

[Panda Claws]

Seriously what the *** is that mentality?

I've always felt like Lotto Soudal is one of the most 'YOLO just do whatever you want lmao' teams out there. Hence, why Thomas De Gendt didn't work out at QS but seems to love it there. Hence, why they let Adam Hansen just keep riding GT after GT after GT after GT.

But then again in this case it's probably worth it to just let Caleb Ewan call it quits. He isn't gonna gain much from riding this one out unless he wants the points jersey. And Lotto doesn't have a wildcard to defend either.

Edit: I do agree with the respect angle that Samu Cuenca pointed out. But it's not like there is zero precedent for sprinters calling it quits early.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I have already defended Ewan's wish to leave the race before the finish, but now that he's wearing the maglia ciclamino, although he hasn't targeted it at all, I actually think it would be somewhat disrespectful to the race and it's history to abandon as long as he's wearing it. Still, I understand why he's (probably) going to do it regardles of what I think.

 

[Leinster]

I've always felt like Lotto Soudal is one of the most 'YOLO just do whatever you want lmao' teams out there. Hence, why Thomas De Gendt didn't work out at QS but seems to love it there. Hence, why they let Adam Hansen just keep riding GT after GT after GT after GT.

But then again in this case it's probably worth it to just let Caleb Ewan call it quits. He isn't gonna gain much from riding this one out unless he wants the points jersey. And Lotto doesn't have a wildcard to defend either.

Edit: I do agree with the respect angle that Samu Cuenca pointed out. But it's not like there is zero precedent for sprinters calling it quits early.

Tbf to Hansen he was a crucial part of Greipel's leadout, which was where a lot of their stage wins in that period came from, and he was also a handy stage hunter/ break-getter-inner (the team's other stock-in-trade) when let off the leash.

I think the difference between the 2 Belgian teams is whereas Quickstep will throw numbers at a race ( 3 or 4 guys launching attacks in a classic, the whole team guttering everyone in the crosswinds) Lotto will either send one guy (deGendt) on a long-ranger, or set it up for one other guy (Wellens?) to try a late attack.

 

[Panda Claws]

Tbf to Hansen he was a crucial part of Greipel's leadout, which was where a lot of their stage wins in that period came from, and he was also a handy stage hunter/ break-getter-inner (the team's other stock-in-trade) when let off the leash.

I think the difference between the 2 Belgian teams is whereas Quickstep will throw numbers at a race ( 3 or 4 guys launching attacks in a classic, the whole team guttering everyone in the crosswinds) Lotto will either send one guy (deGendt) on a long-ranger, or set it up for one other guy (Wellens?) to try a late attack.

Not meant as a dig at Hansen. I just doubt it was at all optimal to have the same person ride 20 straight GT's in a row. And that many other teams would have told him that they would not be pursuing that peculiar goal of his.

 

[Leinster]

Not meant as a dig at Hansen. I just doubt it was at all optimal to have the same person ride 20 straight GT's in a row. And that many other teams would have told him that they would not be pursuing that peculiar goal of his.

I think it was worthwhile as long as he was productive. Lotto obviously felt he did a good enough job in 2012, at the age of 31, to have him do it again the following year and so on. Greipel won on the Champs Elysees on his 2nd last TdF, so they must've felt he was doing a good enough job to do the same again in 2017.

I wasn't so much taking it as a dig at Hansen, as thinking, I'm not sure it was that hard a call for Lotto to have a reliable engine who they knew was good for some solid water carrying for 3 GTs per year. It's not like they were leaving out a Sam Bennett to bring him.

 

[Red Rick]

Not only that, of the other days that he can't win, there's at least 6-7 grupetto days, plus a TT. Not only can he not win any of those, riding them probably actively hurts his chances of winning stages in the other GTs. He has 2 stage wins, so he's got what he came for.


He's aiming to win stages in all 3 GTs in the same year. Only 3 riders have ever done that, and of them, only 1 (Pierino Baffi, 1958) managed to finish all 3 as well.

I hope people realise it's something a loooot of guys could've done if they'd just sprinted a wee bit and gone home for the other 2 weeks.

Anyway, riding for 2 weeks is arguable IMO, but "just win stage so he can *** off early" is disgraceful and makes me want the whole team to get booted from the race if Ewan just steps out

 

[titan31]

Loads of sprinters will do it imo. After stage 13, you'll get a fair number of DNS for the Zoncolan stage on 14. Unless they want the sprint jersey (so someone like Nizzolo or Viviani), I'd say Ewan and then others like Merlier, Groenewegen, possibly Sagan will all call it a day