Giro d'Italia 2022 Giro d'Italia: Stage-by-stage Analysis

[Red Rick]

Red Rick about to get sticky.

Spoiler

 

[gregrowlerson]

The Majella Massif sounds orgasmic.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Spoiler

It didn't take you long. Nice work.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Yes!

 

[Devil's Elbow]

If only RCS put the effort into their routes that @Eshnar puts into these threads.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Enjoying your write ups as always Eshnar. Amazing the time and detail that you put into them.

It seems that you were cutting this route some slack, but then stage 12 was a bridge too far!

Maybe the cheap attempt to win you over can succeed if the television describes the monument as; "Now most famous for being Eshnar's avatar, a parcours poet who found fame on the cyclingnews forum"

 

[gregrowlerson]

With Teglio (the magic 8 ball 'sprint) and Santa Cristina coming later, I don't mind Mortirolo being done from the easier side. I think all of this really works, and that stage 16 shall be epic.

 

[gregrowlerson]

"The 8-ball, probably."

Love it!

 

[Red Rick]

Just finnished reading.

I think pretty much all that can be said has been said about this route. Stage 7 I think will actually be a complete nothingburger sadly.

So much of this route would be fixed if you replace the Genova disgrace by a 45 km ITT and make the queen stage just... better. I do like stages 17 and 19 quite a bit.

Stage 20 is just... meh for that area.

Mauro Vegni is the man that made a meeh stage with Fedaia (FEDAIAAAAAA!!!!!)

 

[Mayomaniac]

With Teglio (the magic 8 ball 'sprint) and Santa Cristina coming later, I don't mind Mortirolo being done from the easier side. I think all of this really works, and that stage 16 shall be epic.

My impression is that we might see bigger gaps the next day, on stage 17.
Anyway, just switch around stage 19 and 20 and put a mid length ITT somewhere instead of a week 2 sprint stage and I'm not even mad at the route. If stage 19 was the final mountain stage it would be awesome.
Vegni really shat the bed with his final Giro.

Edit: Thanks for preview, Eshnar! Great as always.

 

[hayneplane]

7 and 9 look really good and the final weekend concluding stages.

Mortirolo stage could be carnage from a long way out of big gaps in GC prior to the stage or a damp squib as nobody is willing to detonate things over 80km out.

I don’t know if the final climb on stage 1 will be too long for MVDP if a team drills it or if it being so shallow means it’s easy to sit in the wheels. Money on Valverde for first Maglia Rosa.

 

[Sciatic]

It’s here!

 

[Laplaz]

Thank you Eshnar, great work as always!
Really looking forward to stages 16 and 17!
Let's hope for fireworks on stage 14 too, it could really do some damage.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

The only stage disappointing is 12, otherwise this is a solid route.

 

[Summoned]

Each year I am astounded by the insight, love, and knowledge that this analysis displays. Thank you again for the time and effort that goes into something that I find more valuable every year.

 

[Escarabajo]

It is here!!!!!
Thank you Eshnar.
Stage 20 is very nice and everyone is predicting a battle on the final climb. But you know what happens in the third week with very steep climbs. It becomes a race of complete attrition. The main thing that will be good is that with the altitude and hardness of the stage we will be assured of having only a very small group in the final climb like it should be. And the scenery of course!!!

 

[sir fly]

Great preview as ever.

Tough route to make a call.
Hard to expect from Hungary and Sicily to be more than warmup and light selection.
Potenza and Torino minefields. Genoa spoiled.
Blockhaus, Cogne, Lavarone promissing. Aprica and Marmolada attrition.

A lot will depend on the course of the events.
Opportunities are there.

 

[OlavEH]

With Teglio (the magic 8 ball 'sprint) and Santa Cristina coming later, I don't mind Mortirolo being done from the easier side. I think all of this really works, and that stage 16 shall be epic.

It better be. It's the only stage with that type of potential this year.

Hopefully guys like Yates, MAL and Landa are all in good shape and willing to attack. That might create som action in stages like Blockhaus, Lavarone and Fedaia.

 

[Remy55]

Fantastic work, thx Eshnar

I repost my take from the rumour thread:


After reading the Garibaldi:

best stages: 9, 14, 16
worst stages: 8, 12, 15
overrated: 1, 20
underrated: 7,17,19

best page: 448

 

[Red Rick]

Petulant Whiners United now open for all

 

[BigCoward]

I don't mind it, but could be better.
Queen stage isn't really a queen stage and an extra TT or at least the 2 TTs being longer would bump the score up a bit. 7.5/10.
Excellent thread, I've never put that much work into anything in my life

 

[Netserk]

Santa Cristina has been climbed another time as well, from the opposite side:

I'd prefer the same approach, but climbing Trivigno. Instead of descending Mortirolo to Grosio, I'd prefer if they took the plateau to Santa Cristina, or alternatively climbed Padrio instead.

EDIT: From Edolo it'd be like this:

 

[Eshnar]

Santa Cristina has been climbed another time as well, from the opposite side:

Yes, I meant it had been climbed 3 times from the west side.

 

[dercuforever]

Thank you for this great analysis.
The route is quite interesting, with some very spicy stages. (7,9,14,15).
If Ineos continue to being strategic gods this could be a very interesting Giro. (Or if someone does a Contador Vuelta 2017 and attack on every single climb)

What surprise me is that Valverde will win this easy if the stage 20 is cancelled. Good thing is that low altitude climbs are less likely to be impacted by snow.

 

[46&twoWheels]

Stage 9 is not only a great stage to have more often than not, but also full of underrated history.
The so called "Valico del Macerone" (now in the Molise region where I live) was the appenninic pass to connect Naples (the capital of the southern borbonic kingdom before 1860) to Abbruzzi and Terra di Lavoro and it played a crucial role in the italian unification in the centre-south., including an essential victory by the piedmontese army (Battle of Macerone).
"Blockhaus" as many already know (we are now in the post-unification period) was home to a stone fort where a group of "bersaglieri" (led by an austrian) contributed to fight the "Briganti" (Bandits), a major problem in the south post-1861

Thank you Eshnar for the usual indispensable analysis
Can't wait.