Giro d'Italia 2019 rumours

[Brullnux]

Re:

I guess Civiglio action wouldnt happen with San Fermo without Muro di Sormano

Id prefer if they used the final hill of last Lombardia tjough, nobody should fear that

Yeah problem is that the stage ends in Como and last year's Lombardia ended in bergamo so there's a few logistical issues to manage to fit that in lol

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

I guess Civiglio action wouldnt happen with San Fermo without Muro di Sormano

Id prefer if they used the final hill of last Lombardia tjough, nobody should fear that

Yeah problem is that the stage ends in Como and last year's Lombardia ended in bergamo so there's a few logistical issues to manage to fit that in lol

No, it didn't, it ended in Como, the Civiglio hasn't moved from Bergamo to Como since October.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

I guess Civiglio action wouldnt happen with San Fermo without Muro di Sormano

Id prefer if they used the final hill of last Lombardia tjough, nobody should fear that

Yeah problem is that the stage ends in Como and last year's Lombardia ended in bergamo so there's a few logistical issues to manage to fit that in lol

dude what

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

I guess Civiglio action wouldnt happen with San Fermo without Muro di Sormano

Id prefer if they used the final hill of last Lombardia tjough, nobody should fear that

Yeah problem is that the stage ends in Como and last year's Lombardia ended in bergamo so there's a few logistical issues to manage to fit that in lol

No, it didn't, it ended in Como, the Civiglio hasn't moved from Bergamo to Como since October.

What the didn't it end bergamo last year

Oh yeah no it didn't :/ completely forgot there was that little rise at the end of last year's race so assumed that rick was talking about the climb up to bergamo that was used in 2014/2016 that i thought for whatever reason was used in 2018 as well, maybe because of all the even numbers

 

[Valv.Piti]

I dont get the horrible first part. I think its decent enough to be honest apart from the two stages in the po valley, but thats standard for the Giro.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

I dont get the horrible first part. I think its decent enough to be honest apart from the two stages in the po valley, but thats standard for the Giro.

Its something but compn its not nearly enough for the first 12 stages in thw Giro.

Theres not a single selective climb in there apart from 2 1km punchear hills that arwmt even very steep and an uphill drag

 

[Valv.Piti]

But theres some nice time trials at least which should be very interesting.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

But theres some nice time trials at least which should be very interesting.

I'm a big fan of stage 9 and an even bigger one of stage 1, I give you that. But time trials alone don't make a good route and as Red Rick has pointed out the first selective climb comes on stage 12. That's insane. We most likely won't have time gaps between gc contenders not created in either uphill sprints or time trials until stage 13.

 

[Laplaz]

Re: Re:

But theres some nice time trials at least which should be very interesting.

I'm a big fan of stage 9 and an even bigger one of stage 1, I give you that. But time trials alone don't make a good route and as Red Rick has pointed out the first selective climb comes on stage 12. That's insane. We most likely won't have time gaps between gc contenders not created in either uphill sprints or time trials until stage 13.

At least there could be a big fight for the pink jersey, so it could still be raced hard.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

But theres some nice time trials at least which should be very interesting.

I'm a big fan of stage 9 and an even bigger one of stage 1, I give you that. But time trials alone don't make a good route and as Red Rick has pointed out the first selective climb comes on stage 12. That's insane. We most likely won't have time gaps between gc contenders not created in either uphill sprints or time trials until stage 13.

Yeah I'm not even asking for those crazy 2015 type first week stages. Just gimme something like a unipuerto shortish steepish MTF and a borderline Cat 2/1 descent finish of a selective climb and issalgood

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

But theres some nice time trials at least which should be very interesting.

I'm a big fan of stage 9 and an even bigger one of stage 1, I give you that. But time trials alone don't make a good route and as Red Rick has pointed out the first selective climb comes on stage 12. That's insane. We most likely won't have time gaps between gc contenders not created in either uphill sprints or time trials until stage 13.

Yeah I'm not even asking for those crazy 2015 type first week stages. Just gimme something like a unipuerto shortish steepish MTF and a borderline Cat 2/1 descent finish of a selective climb and issalgood

Agree, thats basically the only things this route needs. On the other hand, really analyzing the first 9 days, there's only 2 sprinter stages (not counting stage 2 since its hilly enough to drop the pure sprinters) and stages 6-9 should create a lot of fun racing.

Eshnar, when can we expect you to do your mythical write up?

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah no I don't count stage 2 as a non sprinter stage. That's just a sprinter stage with Kittel vaccination

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Yeah no I don't count stage 2 as a non sprinter stage. That's just a sprinter stage with Kittel vaccination

not a sprinter stage at all. Unless you count a 50ish men peloton sprint as a sprinter stage.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

Agree, thats basically the only things this route needs. On the other hand, really analyzing the first 9 days, there's only 2 sprinter stages (not counting stage 2 since its hilly enough to drop the pure sprinters) and stages 6-9 should create a lot of fun racing.

yes, and one of those 2 sprinter stages have very good chance to get echelons.

Eshnar, when can we expect you to do your mythical write up?

duh

 

[Red Rick]

Valv Piti: "When?"

Eshnar: "Yes"

Red Rick:

 

[Gigs_98]

The question is really how much better an uphill sprint or a reduced bunch sprint are compared to a classic bunch sprint. Cause I don't see any other scenarios happening for stage 2 or 4. And the only thing I can see preventing us from a buch sprint on stage 8 is a massive crash on the descent which is seriously way too tricky and close to the finish for a stage that flat (cause that stage might try as hard as it wants to look hilly, it really isn't. Just take a closer look at the climbs they use). What we are left with are stages 6 and 7 which probably won't end in a (reduced) bunch sprint, but anything other than a peloton with more than 50 riders in it with 10 k to go would massively surprise me, so those stages won't exactly be classics either. And add to that that the two panflat sprinters stages in the 3rd week come right after the rest day, which means we won't be bored in the first week thinking, "at least on Tuesday things are really gonna kick off", we will have to wait two more days in the 2nd week before we finally see some double digit gradients.

I also think we aren't just complaining because this looks like a rather boring route, at least I am also annoyed because not using any hard climbs outside the Alps always seems like such a wasted opportunity. Italy probably has as many great climbs for proper high mountain stages as France, in the Apennines alone, yet the giro hardly ever has decisive mountain stages outside of the Alps.

 

[Red Rick]

If we're just gonna be lazy as ***, just do repeat of TA GC stages in 1st week of Giro. Job done, off to the pub

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Valv Piti: "When?"

Eshnar: "Yes"

I mean, I still need the new profiles and I have no idea when they are gonna be published...

 

[OlavEH]

Re:

I dont get the horrible first part. I think its decent enough to be honest apart from the two stages in the po valley, but thats standard for the Giro.

Considering the almost unlimited potential for medium mountain/hilly stages in the Apennines, this is really disappointing. I'm surprise to what small degree RCS have used these hills in the last few years. It's almost like they go out of their way avoiding these kind of stages.

 

[Eshnar]

The profiles from stage 3 to 7 are updated on the official site. Not many novelties there. Some small changes in length.
edit: actually the finale of stage 7 is slightly changed, it's not the same as 2010 anymore.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

The profiles from stage 3 to 7 are updated on the official site. Not many novelties there. Some small changes in length.
edit: actually the finale of stage 7 is slightly changed, it's not the same as 2010 anymore.

Is it better or worse?

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

The profiles from stage 3 to 7 are updated on the official site. Not many novelties there. Some small changes in length.
edit: actually the finale of stage 7 is slightly changed, it's not the same as 2010 anymore.

Is it better or worse?

tbh, it's different, but the concept is the same. The uphill final stretch is the same, but the previous hill is another one, double as long as the original (and the steep part is basically equivalent to the original hill) and with a very irregular descent. I think both designs are good, maybe the one of this year might encourage someone on the first hill.

 

[Red Rick]

Yeah nobody is attacking on that first hill. Nobody with a chance at least.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Yeah nobody is attacking on that first hill. Nobody with a chance at least.

I was not talking about GC guys.

 

[SafeBet]

I like the new one better. The only problem is that the descent, although irregular, is mainly on big roads outside the city centre, where the bunch will have the edge over attackers. The final km is tough and seems tailor made for Valverde. I would have liked them to put the finish line a bit closer to the heart of L'Aquila but I imagine logistics would have been a nightmare.