Giro d'Italia Giro d‘Italia 2024 Stage 15, Manerba del Garda-Livigno (Mottolino), 222 km

[Offline]

Everyone +10 minutes can go on the breakaway from now on. I think almost all mountain stages will be breakaway stages from now on. And don’t think UAE going to work much. The rest need to flight for podium now.

 

[Sciatic]

He was already head and shoulders above all others.

The scenery is great, the main actor is performing, but I'd want at least a duel, or some excitement. Heck, if Pog was absent, this race would have been exciting. Now it's a procession. Pog can't help it he's so good and I really like him, but this Giro is beyond predictable in the results, and a predictable bike race is, imho, either a post-tour criterium or a Sunday club ride. To have the Giro in this category is... painful.

I disagree about the excitement without Pogacar—the way the other podium contenders rode today until the last 2 km is exactly what we would have had most of the race. True there’s no drama left about the win, but the racing is more exciting with Pogacar here. Of course would better if another 1 of the top tier were here.

 

[Rob5091]

Well, chapeau Teddy for doing the business. Team controlled the break and 14 km attack to win. Textbook way to win a stage, but easier said then done over 222 km. and at altitude.

I'm still trying to work out how the heck Ganna can be a climbing domestique for G ...

 

[Bolder]

I'm positive peak Jonas could've pulled off a similar stunt.

So am I. But, he’s not here.

That said, this Giro is playing out EXACTLY as most thought it would the second Pog committed to race it.

That doesn’t take anything away from him, but we expected dominance and we got it.

 

[AmRacer]

So am I. But, he’s not here.

That said, this Giro is playing out EXACTLY as most thought it would the second Pog committed to race it.

That doesn’t take anything away from him, but we expected dominance and we got it.

You don't say!

 

[Brullnux]

Sure but you can see by the ITTs that G is not the G of yesteryear. He’s still pretty good, but not as good as last year in the Giro or the year before in the Tour.

Yeah I'd have gone further at the end of last year and said that G is the best grand tour rider outside of Roglic, Pogacar, and Vingegaard (Remco obviously a better cyclist, but the fact he's prone to bad days counts against him). Now, not so much.

 

[Sciatic]

I'm positive peak Jonas could've pulled off a similar stunt.

Can’t we leave off with these comparisons in the race thread? I think they are pointless when we have actual racing going on (cue someone saying . . . “You call this racing?”)

 

[Froome]

Even the best vingegaard won't stand a chance against todays pog

No. The perfomance on Passo di Foscagno and the final 4 kms was way low in W/Kg compared to La loze, and Vingegaard in La loze had the Tour in the bag. He didn't needed to go full gas.

Vingegaard would had won with a good margin today, and with stages like this in the Tour without Unipuertos, it would be even more nice to Vingegaard finish the job more soon.

Besides that, the stage was easy until Foscagno, so the the kilojoule thing for Pogacar wasn't a problem. A good perfomance by Pogacar but was a sidewalk during all the stage with this competition and way of race.

 

[Brullnux]

Nah come on, the stage wasn't easy, it was 200km of like 5,000 metres gained. What even was Pog's w/kg?

 

[Salvarani]

Nobody would have beaten him today! What a win.

 

[Sciatic]

Tomorrow Quintana attacks with his little brother!

You were partially right!

 

[SHAD0W93]

Another outlier, mean placement is probably still down there somewhere.

An outlier that he smoked the field to make it twice.

It's time to call out that farcical, clickbait, BS stats.

2023 TdF: Pogi gets legitly dropped. Nothing to say there.

2022 TdF: Same time as other GC contenders, gets to the finish with Vingo and G.Thomas.

2021 TdF: Same Time as other GC contenders in both stages, gets to the finish with Vingo, Carapaz and few others.

2020 TdF: Same time as other GC contenders (Roglic).

2020 Dauphine: Same time as other GC contenders (group of 20).


So, from all those stages:
- He won one with an exhibition
- Blew hard on another one
- Had the same time as the best GC rider (besides him) in all other stages.

So much for Pogi inability with multi-mountain GC stages.

 

[Netserk]

Can’t we leave off with these comparisons in the race thread? I think they are pointless when we have actual racing going on (cue someone saying . . . “You call this racing?”)

Did you notice whom the first comparisons in the thread were by?

 

[Froome]

Did you notice whom the first comparisons in the thread were by?

There's no comparison, because Pogacar probably not even 6 w/kg did on Foscagno.

 

[Sciatic]

Did you notice whom the first comparisons in the thread were by?

Was it me? 😜

 

[dobrien]

The target is the Giro/Tour double and not today

I know that, that was really one of the big points of my post that it seems you're missing (at least to me, certainly not trying to start a fight.. ) . IMHO, he ticked a whole lot of boxes investing in today (see my post) but to the quoted point, today comes as close as humanly possible, barring disaster, to ensuring himself a magic carpet ride for the rest of the Giro, and THAT is the best thing he could have done for having the best chance at the double. Just my .02.

 

[AmRacer]

I know that, that was really one of the big points of my post that it seems you're missing (at least to me, certainly not trying to start a fight.. ) . IMHO, he ticked a whole lot of boxes investing in today (see my post) but to the quoted point, today comes as close as humanly possible, barring disaster, to ensuring himself a magic carpet ride for the rest of the Giro, and THAT is the best thing he could have done for having the best chance at the double. Just my .02.

I think Poggi wants join the 'Five stage wins in the same Giro' club.

 

[Froome]

Even the best vingegaard won't stand a chance against todays pog

https://twitter.com/x/status/1681707423906529290

View: https://x.com/WattsinCycling/status/1681707423906529290

https://twitter.com/x/status/1792234027920859434

View: https://x.com/WattsinCycling/status/1792234027920859434




Look at the differences in the VAM mate. I told you, and it was a perfomance in a stage with a high pace (high KJ) after the famous TT where Vingegaard beat Pogacar.

He would had won with a good margin today, but i repeat, Pogacar still did a good perfomance today.

You can also look at the VAM on Col du Granon.

 

[AmRacer]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1681707423906529290

View: https://x.com/WattsinCycling/status/1681707423906529290

https://twitter.com/x/status/1792234027920859434

View: https://x.com/WattsinCycling/status/1792234027920859434




Look at the differences in the VAM mate. I told you, and it was a perfomance in a stage with a high pace (high KJ) after the famous TT where Vingegaard destroyed Pogacar.

He would had won with a good margin today, but i repeat, Pogacar still did a good perfomance today.

You can also look at the VAM on Col du Granon.

If Jonas cannot make it to the Tour, hope we can see peak Jonas smashing competition in the Vuelta.

 

[Sciatic]

Honestly, this could turn out to be the easiest 5000+ altitude metres stage ever.
I'm camping just below Passo del Foscagno, after a *** week, the weather now is literally perfect. Over 10°C at 2100m, not much wind, bit of sun, bit of clouds. They also have tailwind for the majority of the stage.

After cycling around a bit yesterday, the Foscagno really really isn't hard, despite the altitude. The 7 or 7,5% sections didn't feel like that and the upper parts has some super shallow sections that almost felt flat. I still believe Pogacar can get a gap here but only because he's so far above the others, otherwise this would be a sure thing that nothing happens before the final 3km.

Hope you enjoyed the race!

 

[dobrien]

I think Poggi wants join the 'Five stage wins in the same Giro' club.

I really hope he thinks it's more important to join the "I won the Giro/Tour in the same year club"! Although if he is convinced he can do both there isn't much stopping him here... I just think it's a better look for him to shut it down now; ride imperiously at the front of the group like the boss he is, stay out of trouble, let's the pawns fight for the crumbs. Best for the Tour and he coasts home without looking the greedy bully; right now he's totally in the drivers seat.

 

[Salvarani]

Hope you enjoyed the race!

We sure did!

 

[Red Rick]

Mods please do something: @Armchair cyclist

I'm really tired of this crude reasoning being posted 24/7 non-stop by the same culprit. It's like a child posting no matter how other users tell them you cannot compare apples with oranges.

Dude just find the ignore button

 

[dobrien]

Exactly, that's also why I agree with Dobrien

I will always enthusiastically agree with any post agreeing with me!! ;-)

 

[Peyroteo94]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1681707423906529290

View: https://x.com/WattsinCycling/status/1681707423906529290

https://twitter.com/x/status/1792234027920859434

View: https://x.com/WattsinCycling/status/1792234027920859434




Look at the differences in the VAM mate. I told you, and it was a perfomance in a stage with a high pace (high KJ) after the famous TT where Vingegaard destroyed Pogacar.

He would had won with a good margin today, but i repeat, Pogacar still did a good perfomance today.

You can also look at the VAM on Col du Granon.

Please, just stop...