• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia 2021 stage 11: Perugia – Montalcino 162 km

Page 48 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

???

  • Poll?

    Votes: 11 12.6%
  • No

    Votes: 12 13.8%
  • Yes

    Votes: 10 11.5%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 12 13.8%
  • Bag?

    Votes: 22 25.3%
  • Rain?

    Votes: 14 16.1%
  • Button?

    Votes: 8 9.2%
  • Ban poll

    Votes: 14 16.1%
  • Delete OP

    Votes: 21 24.1%
  • Vin(cenz)o

    Votes: 24 27.6%

  • Total voters
    87
I have a hard time believing Almeida would rebell like this. He never had problems following team orders, why would he start now? To show his new team how shitty teammate he is? It makes no sense.

Remco and Almeida exchanged some words the first time Almeida waited. After that he left Remco. A few minutes later we see Remco taking the radio off.

My take on this is that Remco didn't feel good and told Almeida not to wait. Almeida was eventually told by radio to wait and he did. When he found Remco, Remco told him to go without him, because he had no legs. After a while the car tells Remco to not give up (he's probaly frustrated and takes the radio off) and they also tell Almeida to wait again and help.
Yeah I like that theory. If this is the case I feel that the DS has a duty of speaking up about it. If they remain silent on this it will just continue to look like Almeida was a bad teammate, especially to those who did not watch the whole race.
They need to clear his name if this is so.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
There were several (10,12,14?) cut shots to the group and I can only two where Almeida was riding in proximity to Evenepoel. Everyone else seemed to be riding near their GC contender., whereas it almost looked like Almeida was doing everything to ride away from him.

I must admit that in the 3rd section of the sterrato João should have pull down so he can stay besides Remco but at the end he did his job, if it wasn't for Almeida today Remco probably would lose 4 minutes instead of 2. On the other end we can also say that if João helped Remco earlier Remco would lose 1 minute instead of 2... who knows why it ended being the way it did... one thing I know for sure, João followed team orders...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
“Unfortunately, I lost two minutes. It wasn’t the best day for me. I was suffering a lot on the second sector, then on the third one, when they started sprinting, I felt the legs were pretty empty, that’s why I was in the last position and couldn’t follow. It’s the way my body reacted after eleven days of racing that came after so much time with no racing. I’m thankful to the team and João for the job they did for me today, from the start until the finish. It’s not a good result for me, but I’m still seventh in my first Grand Tour and remain confident, as there’s still a long way to go until Milano”, said Remco after Wednesday’s stage."
Exactly. So-so legs, not being uncomfortable on gravel. It was obvious as he was struggling on non-technical sections. I often find that the hardest part of racing on gravel isn't the technical nature, it's how much harder you have to push to stay in the wheels - if you aren't feeling well, it'll show.

This can't come as a surprise and doesn't in any way mean he won't bounce back, possibly even in this Giro.He's never done a race this long and hasn't raced since his accident. He just never had the legs today. It's ok and he fought hard to only lose 2 minutes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JosefK
Seems unlikely that you deliberately let any of your domestiques rest on a stage that is by far the most dangerous for your captain. They could have chosen to deliberately rest Masnada and Knox on a number of stages in the first 10 days. But this stage.. nah.
Agree. Letting Masnada and Knox in a day like today is suicide. Where were they today? I was counting on them to be next to Remco.
 
Last edited:
  • Wow
Reactions: Sandisfan
Agree. Letting Masnada and Knox in a day like today is suicide. Where were day? I was counting on them to be next to Remco.
DQT has been crap most of this Giro. On paper i thought they had an insane team, but Masnada and Knox have been a joke. Serry and Cavagna have been underwhelming to say the least. And while Almeida deserves some criticism as well, he's basically the only one that's reached an acceptable level and has been of help to Evenepoel in the final of some stages. I'm sure Honoré and Keisse have done some good work, but it must have been off-camera.

Let's hope Bagioli and Vansevenant can actually be of some use in the Vuelta.
 
I have a hard time believing Almeida would rebell like this. He never had problems following team orders, why would he start now? To show his new team how shitty teammate he is? It makes no sense.

Remco and Almeida exchanged some words the first time Almeida waited. After that he left Remco. A few minutes later we see Remco taking the radio off.

My take on this is that Remco didn't feel good and told Almeida not to wait. Almeida was eventually told by radio to wait and he did. When he found Remco, Remco told him to go without him, because he had no legs. After a while the car tells Remco to not give up (he's probaly frustrated and takes the radio off) and they also tell Almeida to wait again and help.

100% with you in the first sentence... it´s a nonsense to believe that João would refuse to help Remco... however you are making assumptions concerning what was the conversation between them and the Team´s Directors. Only Deceunick can explain what really happened with Remco and João and which orders were given and when.
 
DQT has been crap most of this Giro. On paper i thought they had an insane team, but Masnada and Knox have been a joke. Serry and Cavagna have been underwhelming to say the least. And while Almeida deserves some criticism as well, he's basically the only one that's reached an acceptable level and has been of help to Evenepoel in the final of some stages. I'm sure Honoré and Keisse have done some good work, but it must have been off-camera.

Let's hope Bagioli and Vansevenant can actually be of some use in the Vuelta.

Keisse has been good imo. He's done a decent bit of work for Remco. Probably helps that I expect less from him than the others (he's the QS Puccio tbf). Serry hasn't been bad too imo especially considering he was hit by a car.
 
My take on this is that Remco didn't feel good and told Almeida not to wait. Almeida was eventually told by radio to wait and he did. When he found Remco, Remco told him to go without him, because he had no legs. After a while the car tells Remco to not give up (he's probaly frustrated and takes the radio off) and they also tell Almeida to wait again and help.

But then if Remco told Almeida not to wait, did DS also order Almeida not to wait for him at that moment? If so, then it seems reallly strange they had suddenly changed their mind and told him to wait just several minutes later.

There's also something like pre-stage team meetings where every rider is been given exact orders for the stage and I belive Almeida was told to stay with Remco all day long no matter what. Except maybe if Remco would already be loosing like 7-8 mins and then sacrificing Almeida would become pointless. But Remco was max several dozen of seconds behind the main group and it was still long way to go before the finish..
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
But then if Remco told Almeida not to wait, did DS also order Almeida not to wait for him at that moment? If so, then it seems reallly strange they had suddenly changed their mind and told him to wait just several minutes later.

Maybe the DS didn't say anything and only found out later that Almeida left. If the DS tells Almeida to wait, but Remco tells him to go, what should he do? There was some kind of miscommunication between Remco, Almeida and the DS.
 
Maybe the DS didn't say anything and only found out later that Almeida left. If the DS tells Almeida to wait, but Remco tells him to go, what should he do? There was some kind of miscommunication between Remco, Almeida and the DS.
If your colleague at work tells you not to do smth but your boss tells you otherwise, what should you do?
Also please read again what I wrote about pre-race team orders. ;)
 

TRENDING THREADS