Giro 2019 Field Discussion/Speculation

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Anybody know about Bernal's programme leading up to the Giro?

What races (other than Colombia 2.1) is the most likely? All the Italian races? Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour of the Alps, etc? Maybe the Itzulia?

Colombia, T-A/Catalunya and Tour of the Alps Im pretty sure. Then you could throw a race in like Itzulia or a late February-race, but I really dno. I think 3-4 stage races before Il Giro is optimal.

Really think Itzulia rarely happens in a Giro season. I think it's totally in the middle of where you'd want an altitude camp or something.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Probably, but 3 stage races and nothing else just seems a bit low on racing. You could also go Colombia, T-A + Catalunya and then Trentino, but you would risk burning out. You could obviously also skips Trentino (or a similar race in April) like Contador did in 2015.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

And did anyone suggest that Cancellara was declining?

There was certainly a decline in results before the retirement, especially in time trials.

But then he had a recline for his final season. And the way he won the Olympics certainly proved that he was still at the very top of his game.

By the way, I'm always amazed by those 12 consecutive monument podiums when I check his results.

 

[Velolover2]

Could be fun to see Bernal in Strade Bianche if he is riding T-A.

It's such a weird race. He could enter top 10.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I would love to see Bernal doing the Ardennes, but he's probably not gonna do them this year.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

I would love to see Bernal doing the Ardennes, but he's probably not gonna do them this year.

Maybe Liege, some riders do that right after Trentino or just after a training camp. Regardless, he probably wont be at 100%, that should be reserved for TdF-peaks.

 

[Velolover2]

I think he has a much better shot at Fleche Wallone than Liege. At least with the current Liege route.

He wouldn't beat Ala or Bala, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got 3rd. He is pretty fast and a finish like that should suit him even better.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

I think he has a much better shot at Fleche Wallone than Liege. At least with the current Liege route.

He wouldn't beat Ala or Bala, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got 3rd. He is pretty fast and a finish like that should suit him even better.

We don't know what this looks like.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Dno if someone said it, but he has basically confirmed he will ride the Giro. Nice. Really, really looking forward to that race now. Probably even more than Flanders given the route and riders participating!

 

[tobydawq]

Bernal? Or Valverde?

If Bernal, yes this was confirmed today and is what the last page of this thread has been about, so you probably knew someone had said it.

If Valverde, he hasn't been mentioned in this thread recently, and it would just be a little strange to just refer to him as "him"

Maybe you thought this was his thread?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Bernal.

Yeah, for some reason I thought this was the Bernal-thread. Hangover I guess lmao. But nearly all my favourite riders are riding

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

And did anyone suggest that Cancellara was declining?

There was certainly a decline in results before the retirement, especially in time trials.

But then he had a recline for his final season. And the way he won the Olympics certainly proved that he was still at the very top of his game.

By the way, I'm always amazed by those 12 consecutive monument podiums when I check his results.

Cancellara spent chucks of his final couple of seasons battling injuries. Obviously he could still put in great performances when he was healthy as the Olympics showed.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Bernal.

Yeah, for some reason I thought this was the Bernal-thread. Hangover I guess lmao. But nearly all my favourite riders are riding

Okay, I just thought it was Valverde because you also mentioned Flanders.

 

[Robert5091]

Bernal does the Giro - seems the Giro will be a lot more interesting then TdF.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Bernal does the Giro - seems the Giro will be a lot more interesting then TdF.

I cannot not (thats sounds weird) believe for a second that the Tour will be more entertaining. Everything just points in the direction that the Giro will be a great, great race

 

[Nirvana]

Re: Re:

And did anyone suggest that Cancellara was declining?

There was certainly a decline in results before the retirement, especially in time trials.

But then he had a recline for his final season. And the way he won the Olympics certainly proved that he was still at the very top of his game.

By the way, I'm always amazed by those 12 consecutive monument podiums when I check his results.

Cancellara spent chucks of his final couple of seasons battling injuries. Obviously he could still put in great performances when he was healthy as the Olympics showed.

He also trained less on time trials since 2010 preferring the classics as major focus.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Bernal does the Giro - seems the Giro will be a lot more interesting then TdF.

I cannot not (thats sounds weird) believe for a second that the Tour will be more entertaining. Everything just points in the direction that the Giro will be a great, great race

It sounds weird because it's wrong. It's a double negative, so you're actually saying that you believe the Tour will be the most entertaining

 

[Robert5091]

Yep, too many negatives - Don't be dark!

 

[Velolover2]

According to PCS, Woods is riding the Giro and Uran the Tour as excepted.

I'd really like to see Woods get a top 10 but I don't know about his chances with three time trials. Luckily, those are all hilly.. but is it enough?

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

Re:

According to PCS, Woods is riding the Giro and Uran the Tour as excepted.

I'd really like to see Woods get a top 10 but I don't know about his chances with three time trials. Luckily, those are all hilly.. but is it enough?

Way too much focus on the time trials here, IMO. The real question is if his climbing is good enough. The worst time trialists can get a podium in, or win the Giro. This year will be no different.

https://twitter.com/cycling_visual/status/1078004884484562945

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

According to PCS, Woods is riding the Giro and Uran the Tour as excepted.

I'd really like to see Woods get a top 10 but I don't know about his chances with three time trials. Luckily, those are all hilly.. but is it enough?

Way too much focus on the time trials here, IMO. The real question is if his climbing is good enough. The worst time trialists can get a podium in, or win the Giro. This year will be no different.

https://twitter.com/cycling_visual/status/1078004884484562945

Agreed. If it were three flat time trials, it could be different but they are all undulating.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Ponte di Legno-stage <3

 

[tobydawq]

About the picture above with the hardness of the stages:

The way the numbers are calculated is to take the sum of the square of the average percentage for each climbing kilometre during a stage (p_1^2+p_2^2+p_3^2+..., where p_i denotes the average percentage of the ith climbing kilometre of a stage). It seems like a good way of measuring, because very steep parts are taken into consideration properly.

Thomas De Gendt asked the uploader on Twitter to also make a list of the easiest stages. The uploader cheekily answered that the Mont Ventoux stage of 2016 must be the easiest of all time, since Froome didn't even need his bike to get through the stage (that De Gendt incidentally won).

De Gendt drily countered that at least he had won the hardest GT stage of the century, which turned out to be true. The Stelvio stage of 2012 scored no less than 4332 points on this scale. The Ponte di Legno stage of next year is the 5th hardest Giro stage of the century.

https://twitter.com/cycling_visual/status/1078004884484562945

 

[Red Rick]

Given that they do this by kilometer, I think it's an alright indicator of total hardness of the stage. Obviously the way it's raced is massively important, so hard stages can be soft pedalled, etc.

Overall I'd say hardness would be an amount of time spent at certain intensities, but you can't predict that super well just from the numbers of the stage.

 

[Eshnar]

Apparently G.Thomas is still undecided, and has not ruled out racing both Giro and Tour. We'll see.
Also, the Wild Cards will be announced next week.