An eeeeh Giro

[mewmewmew13]

I found many of the mountain stages to be a tad boring which is probably due the predictability of the AC attack and therefore many people were just bored with it. I also struggled to get excited into it partially due to Wouter passing away. I felt quite hollow after that. Another element is that not many of the riders competing I particulary like. None of my favourites were competing.

This pretty much sums it up with a bow for me.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I know there are still 3 more stages, but I don't think I'm rushing when I say that this Giro was like a big big present box with an orbit gum inside. The only stage that got my atention was the one after zoncolan ( for me the best in giro since the one in 2007 that ended in briancon, with andy, mazzoleni, di luca and I think simoni isolated with two mountains to go).
- the competitors are weak ( each time when MUUUU attacked, there were maximum two others to accelerate after him). kreuziger and niballi - big disappointments as this was their hihglight of the season
- tv transmision - weak weak weak, like every year. not just the quality but also how it was directed
- feeling - didn't feel it
- crowd - very small on mountain stages
Per unit, it's far far far from TDF. Maybe, as someone said on this forum, it's also about the month. And maybe those 8-9 mountain stages make them to be a little worn. And Zoncolan doesn't have half of Hautacam's (for example) class, even if they are both "young'. To conclude, I think they tried to much to make some Olimpic Games with 10 of 100m man race, and nothing else.
This is my opinion.

IF only AC isnt so dominant.

Yeah, this race would probably be more exciting if it was not so dominated by Alberto. I can see how watching a race for second and third place is a bit like the orbit gum.

I'm still enjoying the race though. If had only one choice and I could go watch the Giro or the Tour, I think I'd pick the Giro because of the smaller crowds, but you still have the scenery, excitement of a big race and so on.

 

[Ryaguas]

I know there are still 3 more stages, but I don't think I'm rushing when I say that this Giro was like a big big present box with an orbit gum inside. The only stage that got my atention was the one after zoncolan ( for me the best in giro since the one in 2007 that ended in briancon, with andy, mazzoleni, di luca and I think simoni isolated with two mountains to go).
- the competitors are weak ( each time when MUUUU attacked, there were maximum two others to accelerate after him). kreuziger and niballi - big disappointments as this was their hihglight of the season
- tv transmision - weak weak weak, like every year. not just the quality but also how it was directed
- feeling - didn't feel it
- crowd - very small on mountain stages

Per unit, it's far far far from TDF. Maybe, as someone said on this forum, it's also about the month. And maybe those 8-9 mountain stages make them to be a little worn. And Zoncolan doesn't have half of Hautacam's (for example) class, even if they are both "young'. To conclude, I think they tried to much to make some Olimpic Games with 10 of 100m man race, and nothing else.
This is my opinion.

I dont agree at all... Maybe You love too much Le Tour?
For me this Giro has been awesome... seeing the best showing his 100% is just awesome...

 

[mastersracer]

The coverage has been OK but quirky - the directors sure like to show meaningless replays in slow motion including circling riders doing things like pointing out a curb. The cuts to the studio are also kind of weird - the studio has the look of a 70s dance show.

 

[joe1265]

least thing Bert could do is to at least make it look like he's struggling when he's gifting these stages.

I still don't know why Andy didn't haul off and smack him after that face pat last year - pretty much Bert just told the whole world "I carry Andy's balls in my saddlebag" with that move.......

NO GIFTS!!!!

 

[Angliru]

least thing Bert could do is to at least make it look like he's struggling when he's gifting these stages.

I still don't know why Andy didn't haul off and smack him after that face pat last year - pretty much Bert just told the whole world "I carry Andy's balls in my saddlebag" with that move.......

NO GIFTS!!!!

The way Andy celebrated upon crossing the line at the top of the Tourmalet one would've thought that he had dropped Contador by 5 minutes and won the Tour in the process instead of having been gifted a stage. All the air punching was way over the top. Contador patting Andy's cheek was message to remind him that "I allowed you to win, don't try to spin it like you beat me convincingly."

 

[lukinox]

I don't even know where to start...
First: the tour is the most famous, prestigious and rich race in the world, the giro will always come second. Having said that for the italians the giro IS the race of the year.
I think there are 2 reason why this year giro didn't seem that good.
1st reason: last year giro has been epic and a tough act to follow.
2nd reason: Contador completely killed the race and to be honest in the form he's in, he would have killed any race even Andy Shleck would have been incapable to even come close. (he couldn't beat AC at last year's tour and AC was really struggling at the tour last year).
So all in all not a great giro but still an entertaing one.
As crowds go I was on the Zoncolan last saturday and there were tons of people. (by the way television doesn't do justice to the brutality of that climb!)

 

[Christian]

The way Andy celebrated upon crossing the line at the top of the Tourmalet one would've thought that he had dropped Contador by 5 minutes and won the Tour in the process instead of having been gifted a stage. All the air punching was way over the top. Contador patting Andy's cheek was message to remind him that "I allowed you to win, don't try to spin it like you beat me convincingly."

Winning the hardest stage minutes above everyone else bar one is still a pretty great achievement ... heck I'd punch the air for that. Not everyone is as minimalistic as Cadel with their celebrating

 

[ProfTournesol]

This year's Giro has been a big disappointment. Last year had close racing and an interesting parcours, the winner was unclear until the end of the race. This year's race is perhaps too hard, but the main yawn factor is that one rider is minutes ahead of the rest of the field, clearly in a different league performance wise, and not only can win or gap rivals at will, and purely on his own individual effort, but can also gift stage wins to his friends. This is a disappointingly familiar scenario that reminds me of a similar boring era of the TdF, dominated by a particular American rider. Bjarne Riis could have saved his team some money by withdrawing the rest of his team after the TTT and left Contador to win it on his own.

 

[El Pistolero]

This year's Giro has been a big disappointment. Last year had close racing and an interesting parcours, the winner was unclear until the end of the race. This year's race is perhaps too hard, but the main yawn factor is that one rider is minutes ahead of the rest of the field, clearly in a different league performance wise, and not only can win or gap rivals at will, and purely on his own individual effort, but can also gift stage wins to his friends. This is a disappointingly familiar scenario that reminds me of a similar boring era of the TdF, dominated by a particular American rider. Bjarne Riis could have saved his team some money by withdrawing the rest of his team after the TTT and left Contador to win it on his own.

The main yawn factor to me is the lack of attacks from Scarponi and Nibali. Yes, they can't beat Contador, but surely the battle of second must be interesting for them. They almost never attacked each other and it's always Contador that cracks one of them worse then the other. They're the boring ones, not Contador.

 

[bridgeman]

Surprisingly boring. One fast guy, and the rest are riding like a bunch of little sheep.

For me, this is the best part of this years Giro;

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/giro-ditalia-his/stage-19/photos/175709

One of the sweetest victory pictures I've ever seen.

 

[Parrulo]

I agree with the horrible TV coverage. It's ironic, really cause Zomeg introduces all these ridiculous stages in order for people to watch it more on TV, and then he doesn't manage to get decent images.

Take last year - we didn't get images of the prologue, the helicopters couldn't go up because they were in the in-flight zone of Schiphol airport. How long had they planned the route? Did no one think of that?!

Same this year - as soon as there's a drop of rain and some trees by the side of the road we go to images from the finish line. Compare that to the Tourmalet stage in last year's TdF - I don't know how the French do it but we had live images all the way up even though you couldn't see a thing because of the fog. Apparently this was not a problem for French helicopters.

Finally on those "epic" mountain stages you only get to see two groups of riders - usually Contador and the group that's following him. Anything that goes on besides that you can only guess at, as you get no images and no time gaps. The French are once again much better at this - they show you images and time gaps of distanced riders, even if they're not in the top-5 (in this case Kreuziger for example).

Zomeg wants to play in the first division but once again he has proven to be an amateur compared to the Tour de France. Crappy coverage, boring racing, last-minute route changes, almost no breakaways getting through, riders abandoning by the dozens ... personnally I believe it would be a good thing for the sake of the Giro if he were indeed sacked!

Airplanes fly all year long in much higher altitudes ... so what is the problem here?



He sells the TV rights, doesn't he? Then it's his responsibility to make sure there is decent coverage



Thanks for the heads up. From now on I will consider the exact same scenario on every mountain stage to be exciting



Zomeg should have never put Crostis in there in the first place, it was bound to fail from the start; if Zomeg took care of the details he could have avoided the Milan fiasco as well - elections were bound to go into the second round and they are always on Sundays ... just choose a different course or do it a different day and you avoid any conflicts



This makes you lose all credibility. In the beginning no one even wanted to go in breakaways, I think there were 3 stages with only one guy



I'm talking about all the sprinters who had to abandon because of the course ... big middle finger right to their face from Zomeg

 

[usedtobefast]

hello? Scarponi has attacked several times on different days. then Contador attacks and he is dropped.
Nibali attacked and he lost a spot on gc. so much for that idea. i think the racing has been great. maybe YOUR guy isn't doing so well, but there is always
next year. Alberto has been good to watch. Rujano, Henning,Anton have made
good racing too. the sprints have been cool when they happen.

 

[Anonymous]

IF only AC isnt so dominant.

it doesnt mean that i find the Giro boring....just that AC is so much better than the others.

 

[greenedge]

It needs Cadel and Vino and Basso to be here replacing Nibali

 

[gregrowlerson]

Please clarify what you mean by class in regards to a mountain climb.

I think Zoncolan is in an entirely different league than Hautacam -- a league above. I don't recall ever seeing a motorbike crack on Hautacam, but I sure saw one on Zoncolan.

This has to be the post of the day (whenever it was made)!!!

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

I think it would have been a much better giro without AC

 

[El Pistolero]

I think it would have been a much better giro without AC

Nah, it would have been a better Giro if the weather sucked like last year and someone like Arroyo getting free 13 minutes or something in a break. That's the main reasons why last year was so good.

 

[zigzag wanderer]

The final week has been pretty uninspiring for me. Hopefully today will save it.

I know people complain about TdF being backloaded but this Giro has been middleloaded.

Contador's dominance is not Zomegnan's fault - unless he designed the course to entice Contador to race - in which case he must have known exactly what was coming.

Keeping the stages exciting while keeping the G.C. exciting is a very difficult balance to strike.

 

[McLovin]

sooo...can anyone tell that il grande finestre can compare with petit madeleine from last year?
it's not all about gradient, not at all.

 

[Parrulo]

sooo...can anyone tell that il grande finestre can compare with petit madeleine from last year?
it's not all about gradient, not at all.

 

[roundabout]

Today's stage was hardly great so he has a point.

A rider like Kiryienka (who on his day is pretty great but is not really a top climber) losing very little time (if any) to the so-called favorites on such a monster climb says it all.

 

[McLovin]

@Parrulo yes, i'm glad you admit it. that's the right spirit.

 

[IlCobraFan]

Disappointing boring Giro, not even close to the 2008 edition (amazing route + startlist). Last year wasn't impressive either, I think Tour of California had more stars!

 

[Captain_Cavman]

Nah, it would have been a better Giro if the weather sucked like last year and someone like Arroyo getting free 13 minutes or something in a break. That's the main reasons why last year was so good.

And everybody falling over...