Giro d'Italia 2013 - Final Thoughts

[taiwan]

3.

Nibali was too strong, Cav was too strong. Weather messed up the route.

Uran and Visconti's victories were good though.

 

[contessador]

Gave it an Eight out of Ten. Two points off for not being able to see more action in the high mountains. Overall I liked this very much from the beginning, unlike the dull TdF 2011 that had no real elements of interest until the last week.

All this is very subjective, really, as I read through the posts.

 

[jens_attacks]

i give it a six

mountains stages slaughtered
the sprints absolutely dominated by cav zzzzz
wiggo abandon
killer caught again

vs
tutti pazzi per pirazzi
killer at least going down in fashion
nibali putting a show and savin this giro from disaster on tre cime
gio visconti
some good action hilly stages
the colombians, too bad they didn't have all the space though


overall i think it's better than 2012.

 

[The Hitch]

Removal of Crostis and death of WW were really depressing, but Tour 2009 invented a new level of depressing racing imo

Death of WW and death of Tondo.

No one is more willing to make a big deal out of the removal of the Crostis from the 2011 Giro than me, but in this case i think that has to take a bit of a back seat.

 

[woodenswan]

"where is Pirazzi? has he cracked, has he attacked? we don't know yet.."

 

[Pricey_sky]

I gave it a 4

Nibali/Cav were great , as was the first week. The weather ruined the epic mountain stages and the ones we did get were very boring.

 

[phanatic]

With the weather as bad as it was, and so many mountains being removed, it felt more like watching back to back ten day races than a real Giro. It was better than MSR of course, but I think I preferred last year's procession. I was happy to see Nibali and Betancur do well, and Majka was a real surprise for me.

 

[Squire]

During the first week I felt another 2010 Giro coming. Was wile excited. Weather ruined much of the fun, but I also think it created much of the fun. All in all a good Giro, but not super.

Lots of great stages, despite cancellations and changes. I really enjoyed the Montasio stage, and the Jafferau stage also looked like a good one, shame we couldn't see it. Slightly disappointed with Galibier, although the incredibly high epic-factor helped a lot.

Despite having seen the opposite opinion voiced quite a lot here on this forum, I think the Colombia team acquitted themselves pretty well. Lots of fireworks in the first week, and despite coming into the race obviously lacking in form, in the last week Duarte was, dare I say it, the second best climber in the race (possibly third, behind Betancur as well). Will they be doing Dauphiné or Switzerland? If so, the climbs are all Fabio's.

Pretty decent Giro by myself as well, I must say. Belkov, Navardauskas (odds 41) and Duarte all provided a nice addition to my income. A shame Sanchez couldn't net me some winnings in the MTT as well.

To Eurosport: Next time, no Declan Quigley! Liked how Kelly was a wee bit more talkative and funny, though.

And btw; I feel for Marco Canola Would've been great...

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

it's fine line between weather making racing epic and ruining a race, sadly we were on the wrong side this time.

Decent first week, the high mountains were disappointing due to circumstance and it was all too easy for nibbles.

 

[Kingsley A]

I voted 7.

The GC was a bore-fest after the first ITT and with the cancellation of so many climbs in the Alps and Dolomites the GPM quickly became one too.
However I don't really remember a stage that I was bored whilst watching: something happened to spark excitement every day.

The fight between Betencaur and Majka. Could Uran overhaul Evans? Would it be a sprinter or a climber that took the points jersey? All of these questions kept the race interesting even after it had become obvious that Nibali had won unless he crashed/had an ill timed mechanical/got ill.

Unusually for a Grand Tour there wasn't a stage that I could say was boring. There was some form of excitement everyday and so for that reason I would say it has been a pretty good Giro. It is nobody's fault, not RCS or even Carlton Kirby's that stages had to be truncated or cancelled. The proliferation of medium mountain stages where riders with vastly different characteristics can thrive seems a good recipe for exciting racing. I hope ASO will learn from this and make bigger use of the Massif Central in future.

So overall, a big Meh! on the GC but a big win on 20 stages providing some sort of excitement.

7/10.

 

[wwabbit]

Btw, does anyone else think that Cadel Evans would have dropped off the podium if Stage 19 was not cancelled?

 

[Morbius]

Day by day it was fascinating and there were lots of interesting sub-plots. However this was the third Giro in a row with a dull GC competition.

11 was Contador showing the Giro contenders how it is done
12 was a procession
13 Nibali was strong, but had no competition. When the podium is filled out by Sky's fourth-best GC rider and a rider on the decline who was only at the Giro for training, you can be sure there was no real overall race.

 

[The Hitch]

Btw, does anyone else think that Cadel Evans would have dropped off the podium if Stage 19 was not cancelled?

Or if stage 20 wasn't 90% cancelled or if stage 15 was not 80% neutralized 10% cancelled or it stage 14 wasnt partly cancelled.

 

[Captain Sensible]

. Maybe wiggo descending like bambi on ice .

pmsl
:d:d:d

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Not a good Giro but better than last year. 2012 was abysmal.

 

[Telmisartan new]

Gave it a 5.Mediocre edition,great first week then ruined by the weather.Some great moments but history won't be kind to it although Nibali can't do anything about that,pleased for him,strongest rider and produced a classy display.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Day by day it was fascinating and there were lots of interesting sub-plots. However this was the third Giro in a row with a dull GC competition.

11 was Contador showing the Giro contenders how it is done
12 was a procession
13 Nibali was strong, but had no competition. When the podium is filled out by Sky's fourth-best GC rider and a rider on the decline who was only at the Giro for training, you can be sure there was no real overall race.

Come on, i rate the Giro 2012 as a very very good Giro with respect to GC even though not epic. It does not matter if the big names were not there but the competition between whoever is present. For me
Vuelta2012(Epic)>Giro2012(excellent)>tdf2012(insipid)

 

[Pippo_San]

Giro 2012?

I mean Thomas De Gendt ended third. THIRD FFS (forgetting in the meanwhile it was won by a certain Hesjedal, who'll never podium a GT again...)

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Come on, i rate the Giro 2012 as a very very good Giro with respect to GC even though not epic. It does not matter if the big names were not there but the competition between whoever is present. For me
Vuelta2012(Epic)>Giro2012(excellent)>tdf2012(insipid)

With respect to the GC being open, yes, as there was a lack of competition for the clearly dominant victor in 2011 and 2013.

However, one important aspect of competition is people actually competing, which they didn't seem inclined to do in the 2012 edition.

 

[RedheadDane]

Giro 2012?

I mean Thomas De Gendt ended third. THIRD FFS (forgetting in the meanwhile it was won by a certain Hesjedal, who'll never podium a GT again...)

So, it's bad that some other than the usual suspects does well?

 

[SafeBet]

So, it's bad that some other than the usual suspects does well?

It's not about one rider doing well.
It's more about all of the others doing ****.

 

[RedheadDane]

It's not about one rider doing well.
It's more about all of the others doing ****.

Or not being there...

 

[Arnout]

Overshadowed by the weather, sadly. As a result, the third week was less interesting than it could've been.

 

[RedheadDane]

I personally found it very interesting!
Just not in the way it might've been expected.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

if there wasn't any cancellation if would've been
1 Nibali
2 Uran
3 Betancur
4 Majka

probably