Giro d'Italia 2019 rumours

[Eshnar]

small correction, the first climb seems to be, in fact, the same climb of 2010, just prolonged. Basically from km 1.5 to km 6 in the profile. That's the actual new stuff.

 

[Gigs_98]

Super weird how they changed the finishes of stage 6 and 7. They still use the same climb as originally planned but deliberately put it further away from the finish. This could be a great move if the stage goes to the break as it will lead to a longer finale but otherwise this could mean everything will come back together after the climb. I have reached the point where I can genuinely see stage 6 ending in a reduced bunch sprint of 50 riders or so.

 

[Red Rick]

Super weird how they changed the finishes of stage 6 and 7. They still use the same climb as originally planned but deliberately put it further away from the finish. This could be a great move if the stage goes to the break as it will lead to a longer finale but otherwise this could mean everything will come back together after the climb. I have reached the point where I can genuinely see stage 6 ending in a reduced bunch sprint of 50 riders or so.

Let's make the most interesting finish just sh*te

 

[Laplaz]

Super weird how they changed the finishes of stage 6 and 7. They still use the same climb as originally planned but deliberately put it further away from the finish. This could be a great move if the stage goes to the break as it will lead to a longer finale but otherwise this could mean everything will come back together after the climb. I have reached the point where I can genuinely see stage 6 ending in a reduced bunch sprint of 50 riders or so.

Let's make the most interesting finish just sh*te

238km though. Could still be interesting. And the battle for the pink jersey will be on so pace will be furious.

 

[Brullnux]

Super weird how they changed the finishes of stage 6 and 7. They still use the same climb as originally planned but deliberately put it further away from the finish. This could be a great move if the stage goes to the break as it will lead to a longer finale but otherwise this could mean everything will come back together after the climb. I have reached the point where I can genuinely see stage 6 ending in a reduced bunch sprint of 50 riders or so.

It's even weirder because they finish on the same road but take 5km loop around it. I'm sure it's a logistical decision and not a sporting one.

Stage 4 finish is very tricky, might force the big guns to stay at the front and maybe some gaps will appear because of it. One tight corner in the last km and another long left hander about 200m from the finish.

 

[Red Rick]

First week is now literally nothing except for 2 ITTs, an uphill sprint at 4% and an uphill sprint at 7%.

 

[yaco]

Giro 2019 route is the most unappealing of the GT's - There is a reason why so many sprinters are in attendance at the Giro.

 

[Laplaz]

Re:

Giro 2019 route is the most unappealing of the GT's - There is a reason why so many sprinters are in attendance at the Giro.

Well, there should be 5/6 bunch sprints, which isn't much in a GT.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Giro 2019 route is the most unappealing of the GT's - There is a reason why so many sprinters are in attendance at the Giro.

It's by far the best route, at least in terms of mountain stages. Also, sprinters will have 5 stages - not more than other GTs - and one of them will be in the third week, after most sprinters will have gone home already...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Giro 2019 route is the most unappealing of the GT's - There is a reason why so many sprinters are in attendance at the Giro.

It's by far the best route, at least in terms of mountain stages. Also, sprinters will have 5 stages - not more than other GTs - and one of them will be in the third week, after most sprinters will have gone home already...

Thats a classic yaco take, better just ignore something like that I guess.

 

[Red Rick]

Can't pretend the first 11 days aren't the worst of the 3 GTs, and that's quite a huge achievement.

 

[Jancouver]

Re: Re:

Giro 2019 route is the most unappealing of the GT's - There is a reason why so many sprinters are in attendance at the Giro.

It's by far the best route, at least in terms of mountain stages. Also, sprinters will have 5 stages - not more than other GTs - and one of them will be in the third week, after most sprinters will have gone home already...

When will be your Giro preview available?

Just asking as I consider that the "Post of the Year" and Giro is usually the best GT.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Giro 2019 route is the most unappealing of the GT's - There is a reason why so many sprinters are in attendance at the Giro.

It's by far the best route, at least in terms of mountain stages. Also, sprinters will have 5 stages - not more than other GTs - and one of them will be in the third week, after most sprinters will have gone home already...

Thats a classic yaco take, better just ignore something like that I guess.

Get over it because I have a different opinion to you - For a start, I am one who tends to be neutral regarding race profiles - I take the view that the riders in many cases can make poor profiles decent - All I'm doing in my post is comparing the profiles of the three GT's - Usually I find that the TDF has the most un-interesting profile but in 2019, I feel it's the most interesting with so much racing done at altitude - The Giro route this year is uninspiring in the first half and having three ITT's is overkill.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

Get over it because I have a different opinion to you - For a start, I am one who tends to be neutral regarding race profiles - I take the view that the riders in many cases can make poor profiles decent - All I'm doing in my post is comparing the profiles of the three GT's - Usually I find that the TDF has the most un-interesting profile but in 2019, I feel it's the most interesting with so much racing done at altitude - The Giro route this year is uninspiring in the first half and having three ITT's is overkill.

Tastes, I guess. But it has less TT km (including TTTs) of all previous editions besides last year. Maybe it's underkill...?

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

When will be your Giro preview available?

I don't know, but definitely not before LBL. Also, it depends on when they publish the Garibaldi.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Get over it because I have a different opinion to you - For a start, I am one who tends to be neutral regarding race profiles - I take the view that the riders in many cases can make poor profiles decent - All I'm doing in my post is comparing the profiles of the three GT's - Usually I find that the TDF has the most un-interesting profile but in 2019, I feel it's the most interesting with so much racing done at altitude - The Giro route this year is uninspiring in the first half and having three ITT's is overkill.

Tastes, I guess. But it has less TT km (including TTTs) of all previous editions besides last year. Maybe it's underkill...?

For me the less ITT kms the better, though this years route could have had two ITT's in which one is flattish and one more hilly - The better Giro routes have two hilly/mountainous stages in the first half - Anyway rider attitudes are more important than the route.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I think its much more easy for the organizers to make the race than the rider making the race. Where there's good stage/race designs, theres usually good/great racing. You can have all the will to make a race as a rider or team, but if they route doesn't present any opportunities, its simply not happening. Pyrenees 2009, Tour de France, case in point.
Obviously there's also proof to the opposite, take the Giro 2012 as an example with amazing stages in the dolomites not delivering due to a perfect storm of different circumstances that made it incredible stale.

But generally you will see that the riders' attitude is incredibly dependent on the route.

 

[Eshnar]

Profiles up to stage 15 are updated on the official website. Stage 8 is slightly different and has a couple of tougher climbs than originally planned, but the nature of the stage is the same. Stage 15 has no S.Fermo as was already known. A bunch of stages are slightly longer than originally announced due to detours.

 

[Red Rick]

Kelderman is not gonna make it to the Giro.

Somebody tell RCS that Muro di Sormano is a good idea again.

 

[Mayomaniac]

By the way, the new version of stage 20 has been confirmed in a printet advertisement for the Giro sticker album that I saw on a page of La Gazzetta last week.

 

[Eshnar]

They are updating everything, now only stage 20 and 21 are missing, might be up to date by the time you read this post

Presolana and Croce di Salven are uncategorized rofl
GPM categorization is getting beyond a joke.

 

[Gigs_98]

Just went through the new profiles and it just reminded me of how ridiculously hard this route is from stage 12 onwards. You can really see why many riders are trying to hit their peak a bit later than usually for this race. I mean of the last 10 stages all but one could have gc implications. There is one time trial but of the other 9 stages 3 are over 200 kilometers long (and not just, they are actually all over 220 kilometers long), additionally there are two other five star stages which are both over 190 kilometers long.
But at the same time it's not like we get super hard mountain stage after super hard mountain stage. There are actually only 4 really hard mountain stages in this whole race, of which only one ends with a properly hard mtf, so inbetween those stages you get a mix of easier mtf's, medium mountain stages, days which will probably go to the break, but with the exception of stage 18 not one really boring day. And as 4 big mountain stages aren't actually that much (mind you, that's not only 4 mountain stages in the last 10 days but 4 mountain stages for the whole giro) riders will probably have to attack on the less obvious stages as well.

Really, the longer I look at the 2nd half of this race the more I'm looking forward to it. Those last 10 days could be absolutely phenomenal.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Just went through the new profiles and it just reminded me of how ridiculously hard this route is from stage 12 onwards. You can really see why many riders are trying to hit their peak a bit later than usually for this race. I mean of the last 10 stages all but one could have gc implications. There is one time trial but of the other 9 stages 3 are over 200 kilometers long (and not just, they are actually all over 220 kilometers long), additionally there are two other five star stages which are both over 190 kilometers long.
But at the same time it's not like we get super hard mountain stage after super hard mountain stage. There are actually only 4 really hard mountain stages in this whole race, of which only one ends with a properly hard mtf, so inbetween those stages you get a mix of easier mtf's, medium mountain stages, days which will probably go to the break, but with the exception of stage 18 not one really boring day. And as 4 big mountain stages aren't actually that much (mind you, that's not only 4 mountain stages in the last 10 days but 4 mountain stages for the whole giro) riders will probably have to attack on the less obvious stages as well.

Really, the longer I look at the 2nd half of this race the more I'm looking forward to it. Those last 10 days could be absolutely phenomenal.

Yes, stage 12 to 17 are all gc relevant and all placed in the right order. The 2nd half of the race could be super hard and all the stages are placed in te right oder so that they shouldn't prevent any actioon on the previous day.
We already saw that last year, the route wasn't perfect, but all the big stages were placed in the right order (Sappada right after the Zoncolan stage) to encourage attackers.

 

[Red Rick]

Just went through the new profiles and it just reminded me of how ridiculously hard this route is from stage 12 onwards. You can really see why many riders are trying to hit their peak a bit later than usually for this race. I mean of the last 10 stages all but one could have gc implications. There is one time trial but of the other 9 stages 3 are over 200 kilometers long (and not just, they are actually all over 220 kilometers long), additionally there are two other five star stages which are both over 190 kilometers long.
But at the same time it's not like we get super hard mountain stage after super hard mountain stage. There are actually only 4 really hard mountain stages in this whole race, of which only one ends with a properly hard mtf, so inbetween those stages you get a mix of easier mtf's, medium mountain stages, days which will probably go to the break, but with the exception of stage 18 not one really boring day. And as 4 big mountain stages aren't actually that much (mind you, that's not only 4 mountain stages in the last 10 days but 4 mountain stages for the whole giro) riders will probably have to attack on the less obvious stages as well.

Really, the longer I look at the 2nd half of this race the more I'm looking forward to it. Those last 10 days could be absolutely phenomenal.

And that's why it's so sad there's absolutely nothing good in stage 2-8. Barely any time to be lost by being *** then and peaking later.

 

[Valv.Piti]

But you would take the Giro route straight up in a heartbeat compared to the other GTs. Simply because its the best despite the lesser flaws. Yes, mediocre at first, but absolutely world class from stage 12 and onwards.

I look forward to Ponte de Legno the most (maybe the most out of any cycling day apart from Flanders), but also look at that beauty of a stage using San Carlo to Courmayour. Beeeeeatiful