Giro 2020 Start list quality poll

[Tour de Berghem]

What is your opinion ?
Vote ! ;-)))

 

[SafeBet]

GC riders: 4
Sprinters: 7
Stage hunters: 2
Depth of rosters: 1

Average: 3,5. I voted 3 because it's raining and I feel sh*t today.

Edit: I missed Ewan not being on the startlist so the sprinters field drops to 5 instantly.

 

[Anderis]

I feel like it's by far the weakest Giro startlist in years. Sometimes it feels more like Tour of the Alps statlist or something like that.

Especially if you take out the few big names, there's not a lot of depth in terms of potential underdogs or strong domestiques. Some riders will have a unique opportunity to have the best GT of their life.

 

[gregrowlerson]

4 (I only consider gc).

But that's still better than the Vuelta, because at least the Giro still has proper gc riders that target it.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

But look on the bright side: plenty of bargains for the Giro CQ Game. [/shameless plug]

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

There is plenty wrong with the PCS algorithm for putting a number of field quality, but they rate this as 733, which puts it in 12th place for races over the last year, between the Omloop and the UAE Tour.

But it only came 13th of the 2019 races, 19th in 2018, and 25th the year before that.

Maybe the depth here is never that great.

 

[Savant12]

I'm just delighted that we have another 3 week tour to look forward to. I don't really care who is in the field for the Giro.

I do hope that we don't have just one strong rider dominate over 3 weeks and that we get some proper racing. I feel there are a lot of stage wins up for grabs away from the GC favorites as I don't see any team on a Jumbots level that can control the race so easily over 3 weeks.

 

[skippo12]

I feel like it's by far the weakest Giro startlist in years. Sometimes it feels more like Tour of the Alps statlist or something like that.

Especially if you take out the few big names, there's not a lot of depth in terms of potential underdogs or strong domestiques. Some riders will have a unique opportunity to have the best GT of their life.

Not really sure about the comparisation. Tour of the Alpes and Giro have similar starting lists most of the time. Don´t think anyone would say "What a bad Tour. Looks like a Dauphine starting list".
Overall I think it is better than expected. Sucks that Ineos ruined Carapaz schedule and we don´t have the defending champion but Thomas, Nibali, Yates and Kruijswijk is comparable to Roglic, Landa, Carapaz and Nibali last year. Some teams lack depth but that will probably make for more interesting racing because we won´t see a dominant train in the mountains.

 

[Red Rick]

Double the Nibali

Double the fun.

 

[skippo12]

There is plenty wrong with the PCS algorithm for putting a number of field quality, but they rate this as 733, which puts it in 12th place for races over the last year, between the Omloop and the UAE Tour.

But it only came 13th of the 2019 races, 19th in 2018, and 25th the year before that.

Maybe the depth here is never that great.

I think the italian wildcard teams are the reason for the low scores. The wildcard teams in the Tour or Vuelta tend to be a lot stronger.

 

[Anderis]

Not really sure about the comparisation. Tour of the Alpes and Giro have similar starting lists most of the time. Don´t think anyone would say "What a bad Tour. Looks like a Dauphine starting list".

Not really sure about the comparison. Tour of the Alpes is nothing like Dauphine. It might have a few big names that are preparing to the Giro but it's not a WT race which means the depth of the startlist, besides those few big names, is nothing like most of the big WT stage races like Dauphine, which is exactly what my impression is when looking at this year's Giro's startlist.

 

[OlavEH]

Voted 5 purely based on the GC contenders.

I'm missing a couple of those top South American climbers. And the both the top and the depth of Italian riders are pretty weak now. Hell, if Nibali retires soon there are probably none obvious top 5 GC contenders from Italy!

 

[BlueRoads]

I think the italian wildcard teams are the reason for the low scores. The wildcard teams in the Tour or Vuelta tend to be a lot stronger.

I don't really think they are the only reason. Apart from the contenders for the win and one or two helpers of some teams, this is a rather bad startlist quality for a GT.
This year almost everyone has been placing their best eggs in the Tour, and it is easier to do the Tour-Vuelta than Giro-Vuelta double.
There are quite some good sprinters - but more those with names, not necessarily the best right now, apart from Démare.

Edit: Ah I see you mean in general. But even in other years 80% of the best go to the Tour and not many do the Giro-Tour double.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't really think they are the only reason. Apart from the contenders for the win and one or two helpers of some teams, this is a rather bad startlist quality for a GT.
This year almost everyone has been placing their best eggs in the Tour, and it is easier to do the Tour-Vuelta than Giro-Vuelta double.
There are quite some good sprinters - but more those with names, not necessarily the best right now, apart from Démare.

Edit: Ah I see you mean in general. But even in other years 80% of the best go to the Tour and not many do the Giro-Tour double.

I think this year is the first year in like 5 years the Tour had the strongest podium of the 3 GTs.

 

[hayneplane]

The teams and riders schedule understandably got front loaded due to risks of further covid related cancellations as evidenced by the Dutch races getting pulled. It meant the Tour got even more depth than usual and the Vuelta will get the majority of riders prepared to double up.

There is still 3 relatively recent Grand Tour winners in the field which isn't too far off the usual level for a Giro. That said beyond the main contenders there is a massive drop off to the point where a couple of crashes for the big boys could see a real WTF top 5 GC. Robbed of the Remco show but wont dwell on that further and am keen to see how Vlasov goes over the full 3 weeks. The sprinters have some quality but the stage hunting field suffers for the clashes with the classics.

Sagan vs Demare for the points jersey could live up to the Bennett vs Sagan battle in the Tour.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

This is actually one of the better features on PCS. Once the race has started, you get the "Race ranking position" based on points for every participating rider. I think it's commonly overlooked, but it's definitely an interesting feature. Obviously interpretation is needed, you could have a sprinter heavy field with no GC guys or the other way around, but as a general indicator, i like it.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

The teams and riders schedule understandably got front loaded due to risks of further covid related cancellations as evidenced by the Dutch races getting pulled. It meant the Tour got even more depth than usual and the Vuelta will get the majority of riders prepared to double up.

There is still 3 relatively recent Grand Tour winners in the field which isn't too far off the usual level for a Giro. That said beyond the main contenders there is a massive drop off to the point where a couple of crashes for the big boys could see a real WTF top 5 GC. Robbed of the Remco show but wont dwell on that further and am keen to see how Vlasov goes over the full 3 weeks. The sprinters have some quality but the stage hunting field suffers for the clashes with the classics.

Sagan vs Demare for the points jersey could live up to the Bennett vs Sagan battle in the Tour.

How are the points distributed? Is that jersey viable for a non GC rider? Also, would Demare bother fighting for it?

 

[Blanco]

4 (I only consider gc).

But that's still better than the Vuelta, because at least the Giro still has proper gc riders that target it.

I would say that Vuelta often had a better GC field in the last 5-10 years, and I guess it will be the case this year too. But you're partly right because it's often 2nd GT of the year for those riders, and not the main target.

 

[Tour de Berghem]

How are the points distributed? Is that jersey viable for a non GC rider? Also, would Demare bother fighting for it?

It's like in the Tour. Flat stages give more points. Then sprinter are the riders favourite for this competition.

Indeed, this are the winners of recent editions:

Maglia ciclamino​
2013	Mark Cavendish	Omega Pharma-Quickstep	158​	-​
2014	Nacer Bouhanni	FDJ.fr	291​	-​
2015	Giacomo Nizzolo	Trek Factory Racing	181​	-​
2016	Giacomo Nizzolo	Trek-Segafredo	209​	-​
2017	Fernando Gaviria	Quick-Step Floors	325​	-​
2018	Elia Viviani	Quick-Step Floors	341​	-​
2019	Pascal Ackermann	Bora-Hansgrohe	226​	-​

 

[(F)lexer]

It feels weak, but one could've seen it coming due to how COVID has shaped the cycling calendar this year.

I gave it a 5, but my excitement for the race is an 8. That's because of an amazing route, and also the fact that the race doesn't have a clear favorite, also worth mentioning that Inoes' squad doesn't really look like it's going to be able to dominate the race in the mountains. And well, it's the Giro, of course I am excited. Also I remember the 2015 edition not really having many big time contenders aside of Berto, Aru&Landa and maybe Krujswijk, and it turned out to be one of the best GT's of the decade, so yeah..

Just please God, hopefully the weather will be mean to us in the final week

 

[Blanco]

Sagan vs Demare for the points jersey could live up to the Bennett vs Sagan battle in the Tour.

I would include Matthews in that battle as well..

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I would include Matthews in that battle as well..

That would be really great. It would be very fun if sprinter teams started smashing up the first third of every stage in every GT

 

[SafeBet]

I would include Matthews in that battle as well..

I have Matthews as the favorite .

 

[Blanco]

It feels weak, but one could've seen it coming due to how COVID has shaped the cycling calendar this year.

I gave it a 5, but my excitement for the race is an 8. That's because of an amazing route, and also the fact that the race doesn't have a clear favorite, also worth mentioning that Inoes' squad doesn't really look like it's going to be able to dominate the race in the mountains. And well, it's the Giro, of course I am excited. Also I remember the 2015 edition not really having many big time contenders aside of Berto, Aru&Landa and maybe Krujswijk, and it turned out to be one of the best GT's of the decade, so yeah..

Just please God, hopefully the weather will be mean to us in the final week

Landa and Kruijswijk were not considered big time contenders at the time certainly. Porte and Uran were considered though...

 

[Escarabajo]

We thought the same about the Vuelta last year and we saw what happened. Vlasov will win the Giro and will go on to win the Tour next year!