Giro d'Italia 2023 Giro d'Italia, Stage 7: Capua - Gran Sasso d'Italia (Campo Imperatore), 218 km (Friday, May 12)

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And I think we can all agree, that campo imperatore is no a good climb for racing, that Passo lanciano + blockhaus is a much better mountain stage in this part of Italy

But the Giro has an obligation to pass through the country and they have to do Gran sasso every so often .

I think they have done it much better this time. For sure today is not exhilarating, but we get a real gc test, and it's on the Friday, a midweek stage before a exciting hilly stage tomorrow and the time trial Sunday.

So it's a good way to soften the legs and get some fatigue before those engaging weekend stages.

Could be much worse , they could put in on the stage 9 Sunday preceded by flat stages

In my opinion, it's the stages 10-12 that are the bad part of this giro
 
And I think we can all agree, that campo imperatore is no a good climb for racing, that Passo lanciano + blockhaus is a much better mountain stage in this part of Italy

But the Giro has an obligation to pass through the country and they have to do Gran sasso every so often .

I think they have done it much better this time. For sure today is not exhilarating, but we get a real gc test, and it's on the Friday, a midweek stage before a exciting hilly stage tomorrow and the time trial Sunday.

So it's a good way to soften the legs and get some fatigue before those engaging weekend stages.

Could be much worse , they could put in on the stage 9 Sunday preceded by flat stages

In my opinion, it's the stages 10-12 that are the bad part of this giro
I'd rather have a nice marathon breakaway stage to L'Aquila: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42864487
 
Agrreed. It used to be on par with Vuelta for the GT with most action. But now it's like the Tour, without all the fun stuff of the Tour. Basically a lot of sprint stages, shallow climbs, all the climbs being in the middle of stages etc.

I think the reason is the ongoing and tightening internationalisation of pro cycling. Of course (almost) everyone cheers more diversity in the sport, more winners from uncommon countries etc., but it also leads to a levelling between the different races. The Giro doesn't have 5 Italians who have a plausible claim to victory and the Vuelta doesn't have 5 Spaniards. The Tour has never had any French guys in living memory of course, so pretty much the same pack of guys goes to each of those races, and TV audiences demand that the racing is similar too.
 
Mate it's stage 7
I know, and so many teams have something to ride for and still don't. What are they waiting for `? the TT? they will all get beat by Remco there so they have to take every opportunity to gain time, still nothing happens. Hell they even had Remco isolated a couple stages ago, he crashed twice day before yesterday and still no one does a thing today. Its not like this Giro is littered with Mountain stages to make up for the time they will loose in the TT
 
  • Wow
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