Giro d'Italia 2020, stage 21: Cernusco sul Naviglio – Milano 15.7 km ITT

[fbjim]

That's OK. But Sunweb could have won the race had they known the future. That's the point.
There were stages where they could have played different. But bottom line they didn't know their true opponent was early, and they didn't truly know who was stronger in the mountains early either.

and like, call it sentiment, but i can't think of a team that would decide to stop protecting their designated GC leader entirely while he's wearing the leaders' jersey

 

[Breezy1985]

Has a teammate ever been as key to a GC win as Dennis was here?

Luke Rowe was just as miraculous a Dom a few.years back

 

[gunara]

When was the last time the majority of fans were happy about Ineos winning a GT haha

Probably some recent signings, less aggressive PR, and the change of main sponsor 'soften' their image a bit and distance themselves from their early to mid 2010s one. I think when all the ealier proponents leave (anyone from the 2012-2013 Tour winning team), they will be seen more as a normal rich team, if there ever was such thing in pro cycling.
Unless if they do something weird again.

 

[Ranagazoo]

Congrats to Tao!

Wonder if we'll be laughing in years to come that we thought the likes of Nibali and Fuglsang would finish above Tao Geoghegan Hart and Jai Hindley.

 

[Jungle Cycle]

could this be the youngest top 5 in some time??

 

[Carols]

and like, call it sentiment, but i can't think of a team that would decide to stop protecting their designated GC leader entirely while he's wearing the leaders' jersey

If memory serves: Discovery 2009 TdF. Left Contador in yellow behind at the hotel when they left for the stage 18 TT.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

BTW it must be the first GT ever with 4 leaders in last 4 stages of the race (plus conclusion). Amazing!

 

[SafeBet]

The streak continues!
After the 2018 Giro we're still waiting for a GT winner to repeat. All of them had never won a GT before and never won a GT after.

2018 Tour - GT
2018 Vuelta - Yates
2019 Giro - Carapaz
2019 Tour - Bernal
2019 Vuelta - Roglic
2020 Tour - Pogacar
2020 Giro - TGH

 

[Ripper]

Kelderman was cooked on Stelvio. The only “what if?” for Sunweb is it they had identified the Tao threat sooner and not towed him all the way up the hill to his first stage win. Or if they had worked out sooner that Jai was stronger than Wilco.

Yup.

My point was just I'm glad it wasn't so close that people would think the tactics of the past few days made the difference. The main tactic of the past few days that made a difference was Dennis!

 

[JosefK]

The streak continues!
After the 2018 Giro we're still waiting for a GT winner to repeat. All of them had never won a GT before and never won a GT after.

2018 Tour - GT
2018 Vuelta - Yates
2019 Giro - Carapaz
2019 Tour - Bernal
2019 Vuelta - Roglic
2020 Tour - Pogacar
2020 Giro - TGH

It's going to be Carapaz in a couple weeks (Vuelta).

 

[jmdirt]

Congrats Tao!
Congrats Fillipo!

 

[fbjim]

Yup.

My point was just I'm glad it wasn't so close that people would think the tactics of the past few days made the difference. The main tactic of the past few days that made a difference was Dennis!

Less a tactic, and more brute force, that one was.

 

[Leinster]

Agree.

The only way that Sunweb would have saved the win was if they had known the future.

...and known just how strong a climber Dennis was. Whatever else anyone predicted as of Wednesday evening, nobody, but nobody, saw that coming.

Jean Robic, no?

Yes, that’s who I was thinking of.

 

[jnormanroach]

BTW it must be the first GT ever with 4 leaders in last 4 stages of the race (plus conclusion). Amazing!

Yeah regardless of questions about the overall level of competition, watching this as my first Giro I found this a supremely entertaining race.

Better not be more than a 3 year wait for the next Stelvio climb!

 

[Ripper]

Less a tactic, and more brute force, that one was.

Exactly!

It's almost like "it is time, deploy the Dennis". It's like release the Kracken

 

[Ripper]

Congrats to Hart, what a race it was. Also congrats to Hindley for making a great fight. Two young guys fighting for victory - nobody expected this.
Special mention of two big engines - Ganna (4 stage victories, what a talent) and Dennis (absolutely key figure in the race, he showed GT-winning form here).

Hypothetical Sky squad: Bernal, Froome, Thomas, Carapaz, Hart, Ganna, Dennis, Kwiatkowski...ridiculous power

To the bolded part, mostly very true. Dennis is not GT winning material though, as he cannot perform day after day over three weeks. But if you can use his talents on some key block of days, he's frighteningly strong.

 

[Ripper]

Froome at TdF'12. He didn't drop his teammate which decided the race.

LOL!

On a serious note, I am not so sure, given the dearth of big climbs that year, the Froome would have made up the 2 min necessary to make up for the time loss in the TTs. But it sure would have made things spicy if he had attacked his team mate like a total DB.

Fun fact - DB is an abbreviation for a very rude insult. It is also short for David Brailsford. Coincidence?

 

[andrew_s]

Jean Robic, no?

Also Jan Janssen, 1968

 

[Krzysztof_O]

LOL!

On a serious note, I am not so sure, given the dearth of big climbs that year, the Froome would have made up the 2 min necessary to make up for the time loss in the TTs. But it sure would have made things spicy if he had attacked his team mate like a total DB.

Fun fact - DB is an abbreviation for a very rude insult. It is also short for David Brailsford. Coincidence?

Sir Bradley is a man of honour and would've withdrawn from the race had Froomey attacked him (apparently it was close to happening), thus the latter would have won the Tour.

 

[Ripper]

Sir Bradley is a man of honour and would've withdrawn from the race had Froomey attacked him (apparently it was close to happening), thus the latter would have won the Tour.

Lol

 

[Leinster]

To the bolded part, mostly very true. Dennis is not GT winning material though, as he cannot perform day after day over three weeks. But if you can use his talents on some key block of days, he's frighteningly strong.

Do we know for a fact that he can’t do that? I’m not aware that he’s ever even tried for GC at a GT before. The only race I know of where he genuinely went for it was Suisse last year, and he was only beaten on one mountain day by a red-hot, pre-TdF-win Bernal. I can’t help thinking if it was the 80s/90s, with 150-200kms of ITT per GT, he would’ve been pushed that way a lot earlier in his career.

 

[tobydawq]

Not to be for Hindley, but he’s had a very good race and plenty more to come from him I’m sure.

I don't know. I think this was his big chance for a Grand Tour win.

 

[tobydawq]

More than anything this makes me so happy for British cycling fans who had to endure an entire season without a gt win. The drought is finally over.

Yeah, and just wait until Hugh Carthy wins the Vuelta.

 

[tobydawq]

The streak continues!
After the 2018 Giro we're still waiting for a GT winner to repeat. All of them had never won a GT before and never won a GT after.

2018 Tour - GT
2018 Vuelta - Yates
2019 Giro - Carapaz
2019 Tour - Bernal
2019 Vuelta - Roglic
2020 Tour - Pogacar
2020 Giro - TGH

And before that the winners were (going backwards in time) Froome, Froome, Froome, Dumoulin, Quintana, Froome, Nibali, Aru, Froome, Contador, Contador, Nibali, Quintana, Horner, Froome, Nibali, Contador.

Quite a different story.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I don't know. I think this was his big chance for a Grand Tour win.

Yes I agree, but if Roglic, Pogacer, Bernal and co all target the Tour again next year, the Giro will once again be the easier one to win.

There’s no reason to think Hindley can’t continue to improve after this breakthrough GT.