2024 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1: Venaria Reale - Torino, 140 km (Saturday, May 4)

[Rob5091]

Pozzovivo crashes takes nearly a minute to get going and miracolously make it back to the peleton a few kms later in the final. Really!

The man is a legend - the dream lives on!

 

[del1962]

Can't remember a high-profile positive influence cycling spouse/relative since Lemond's wife Cathy tbh, they always just seem to make things worse.

Oh for the days before social media

 

[Izzyeviel]

I’ve learned my lesson about that at Tour stages I’ve attended. Even though you don’t have to look through a mobile phone camera to take a picture or video, it’s not the same as having all one’s attention focused on the race as it passes by,

Yeah, but in everyones defence, its not often you see a Slovenian leading the Giro...

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations to Jhonatan Manuel Narváez Prado for winning the stage.

Pogi for sure wanted to win the stage today but was denied. UAE in my opinion did a good job but not stellar and that likely means they will get fatigued early if Pogi will push them to the limit all the time. Schachmann close to stage win and overall Bora very active and close to the front today. Some of the GC favourites already in big trouble but somehow i feel much can still be resolved deeper into the race if the form returns. Tomorrow likely similar strategy by UAE, all in.

 

[Taxus4a]

Great day of cycling today. We are lucky to have riders like Pogacar. He is going to try to give a big spectacle when possible. Narvaez was able to try his wheel, not easy in the case of Pogacar, but it is the wheen to follow if you can, it is quite predictable... If you try you can lost a lot as Carapaz al Lieje, or if you hold a little bit more beat Pogacar as his compatriot did today. Today Narvaez was well positioned when he attacked, Carapaz was 10 meters behind.

For people as Bardet, very short stage...now he has more freedom to take a break and rejoin GC

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Can't remember a high-profile positive influence cycling spouse/relative since Lemond's wife Cathy tbh, they always just seem to make things worse.

Valtteri Bottas maybe?

 

[Tim Cahill]

Valtteri Bottas maybe?

Yeah I forgot about Cromwell actually, as for Bottas, I find it completely impossible to hate the Finns, as much as I've tried. The B*stards.

 

[pastronef]

what a win. I shouted a lot. INEOS leads a GT once again. I'm a Sky fan since the start and today was another great day for them. great to see Thomas hug Narvaez after the line

 

[42x16ss]

Valtteri Bottas maybe?

That's not a maybe IMHO. He's been nothing but positive. How many sports people with his profile go so far out of their way to not just make their spouse's races but hand out bottles on the roadside.

He even motorpaces Cromwell (and sometimes her best friend Deignan too) in the off season.

 

[42x16ss]

A surprising number of podium contenders are gone already...

 

[jmdirt]

I'll skim the thread a little bit after I watch the CLINIC horse derby on TV, but I hope that the wheel sucker posters are out in full force!

Congrats Narvaez!

 

[proffate]

A surprising number of podium contenders are gone already...

This seems premature. A minute or two lost probably will not matter much by the end of the race.

 

[Froome]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1786893105213448326

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1786893105213448326


O' Connor is in good shape. Maybe he can do podium.

 

[proffate]

Rob Hatch goes "there is celebration here, because Narváez and Geraint Thomas have done it!"

What, pray tell, has Geraint Thomas done? It's not like he led Narváez out or buried himself for him to set up the attack, because he had to preserve his own GC aims and Narváez isn't the one that made the attack, he followed Pogačar's attack.

Good grief. The pair were literally hugging on camera when he said that. What has G done? He has celebrated. Let's hire someone to follow you around with a microphone all day and see how many minor verbal flubs we can record...

 

[Brullnux]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1786893105213448326

View: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily/status/1786893105213448326


O' Connor is in good shape. Maybe he can do podium.

O'Connor was with Pellizzari going over the top I'm pretty sure? Or was that Paret-Peintre?

 

[Froome]

O'Connor was with Pellizzari going over the top I'm pretty sure? Or was that Paret-Peintre?

I don't know but probably O'Connor started the climb in the back of the group.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Good grief. The pair were literally hugging on camera when he said that. What has G done? He has celebrated. Let's hire someone to follow you around with a microphone all day and see how many minor verbal flubs we can record...

We're not following Hatch around all day though. He's being paid to provide commentary on an international broadcast. I'm not judging what he says in the bar with his friends, any more than I'm judging how skilfully Thomas or Narváez rode back to the team bus or the hotel, because it isn't relevant. When he's on the live mic, he's on the clock and because that job entails making public broadcasts, what he says and does in his job is public.

I always thought I could never do that kind of job because I would struggle to be objective, but I'm progressively realising that objectivity is no issue, the issue is that you have to be biased towards the right people.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Rewatched the final. No way did Arensman get dropped intentionally. He was working his bike, did not softpedal for a moment. Was on camera trying to bridge solo, and at the finish he was pulling the small group he was in, clearly trying to limit his losses. If he wanted to lose time, either to go in the break the following days or to save energy to work for Thomas, he would have finished in the group with Sheffield. Additionally, it would make no sense for Ganna to still hang on if the team needed to conserve energy for Thomas. Especially with Ineos in recent years not having a clear cut winner, and finding strength in numbers, quantity over quality, now putting all their eggs in one basket? I find that hard to believe, more so because everybody expects Pogacar to take pink, and behind that a dozen guys are close to each other.

Imho father Abraham, i mean Arensman was a bit salty because he knew his son's preparation didn't go as planned and his form was off. The second tweet shows he blames the trainers/team which in turn points to it not being planned /ordered by the team at all. On Dutch Eurosport they said Arensman chose Romandie over Tour of the Alps, to have some racing in his legs closer to the Giro, to be sharper during the Giro. In the Wielerflits preview and analysis they refer to Arensman as a GC guy with the Giro as his main season goal. His dad probably knew before the Giro that Arensman's form was off, and that he would not be able to get a top result, which imho is why he wrote the tweet, to downplay his son's chances and keep expectations low, while trolling Ineos.

 

[proffate]

We're not following Hatch around all day though. He's being paid to provide commentary on an international broadcast. I'm not judging what he says in the bar with his friends, any more than I'm judging how skilfully Thomas or Narváez rode back to the team bus or the hotel, because it isn't relevant. When he's on the live mic, he's on the clock and because that job entails making public broadcasts, what he says and does in his job is public.

I always thought I could never do that kind of job because I would struggle to be objective, but I'm progressively realising that objectivity is no issue, the issue is that you have to be biased towards the right people.

Do you know what "flub" means? Clearly not. Turns out even professional speakers make mistakes when ad libbing. Pog was also on the clock when he was racing today but he started his sprint early so I guess we have at least two examples where people aren't perfect at their job.

 

[search]

O'Connor was with Pellizzari going over the top I'm pretty sure? Or was that Paret-Peintre?

I don't know but probably O'Connor started the climb in the back of the group.

O'Connor started the climb fairly well positioned, and was last (16th) to go over the top from the favorites' group. The order was Thomas-Valter-Tiberi-Cian-Hermans-Mauri-Caruso-Dunbar-Martinez-Alaphilippe-Lutsenko-Chaves-Rubio-Ganna-Pellizzari-O'Connor with Honore a bit behind, who came back on the descent.

Strava lists him with the very same time (3:43) for the shorter segment of the climb as well, ~20s behind Pogacar - so it's more likely that that time posted above is just wrong.

 

[Roku]

Already discussed this on the preview, but Pogacar main competitor will be the limited support from his own team. Molano and Oliveira should have been replaced by two climbers. Ulissi and Sivakov would have been enough to warrant adequate support.

By the way, keep your eyes on Hirt for a high GC placing. Such a good performance on the first stage bodes very well for one of the true third week endurance specialists of the peloton.

 

[memyselfandI]

Jfc it's going to be long three weeks to listen this Rob Hatch thingy..

Btw it for sure looked Pogi didn't give full beans in that final sprint, probably for a reasons he said in his (team bus) interview before start of the race. Nice for Narvaez to come by longer outer line for that matter.

 

[kn0s]

Jfc it's going to be long three weeks to listen this Rob Hatch thingy..

Btw it for sure looked Pogi didn't give full beans in that final sprint, probably for a reasons he said in his (team bus) interview before start of the race. Nice for Narvaez to come by longer outer line for that matter.

So he gave it away in the end?

 

[wirral]

The official website has Mikael Cherel in 5th place on the stage. He must have come out of retirement.

 

[memyselfandI]

So he gave it away in the end?

That's how it looked to me. For sure he was not sprinting all out. And he was not attacking all out in last climb where the podium pair-trio was formed.