Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia 2021 stage 16: Sacile - Cortina d'Ampezzo 212km

[zlev11]

god im still so mad. first i was disappointed that they cut the fedaia, but then i got over it and was enjoying the finale and then the damn tv pictures went out. i took off from work to watch it too. ugh.

 

[victorschipolrijk]

Yates suffering

Bad weather.

 

[hayneplane]

A question particularly for those with great knowledge of the region I have is what is/was the weather forecast like for tomorrow at advance notice this morning.

My idea is that they could have designated today as the rest day at short notice and shift the entire stage as planned to Tuesday if conditions were likely to be significantly better 24 hours later.

I get that TV schedules would be an issue but the integrity of the race route is more important than the viewers seeing it and after all we saw only half the stage and virtually none of the key moves as it was.

 

[SafeBet]

A question particularly for those with great knowledge of the region I have is what is/was the weather forecast like for tomorrow at advance notice this morning.

My idea is that they could have designated today as the rest day at short notice and shift the entire stage as planned to Tuesday if conditions were likely to be significantly better 24 hours later.

I get that TV schedules would be an issue but the integrity of the race route is more important than the viewers seeing it and after all we saw only half the stage and virtually none of the key moves as it was.

Weather should be better tomorrow, a few showers, probably a bit warmer.

 

[victorschipolrijk]

2021 and RAI still sucks at transmitting images over a mountain pass...

RAI is a neanderthal TV!

 

[victorschipolrijk]

But remember:
Bernal can only win GTs with 80km queen stages you can't change my mind.

Really????

 

[victorschipolrijk]

Now I finally get what that "Remco using Giro as a part of learning curve" is all about.
It's always best to watch things with your eyes and there's a lot for him to take from Bernal's performance here.

Only from Bernal???
Remco's not that good, he ought to watch performances of Caruso, Carthy, Bardet.

 

[Bullrun]

I’m KB. The current protocol requires a meeting between the organisers reps, riders reps, team reps, uci reps and commissaires reps. Pretty much everyone involved has a vested interest in a particular decision. using an independent panel who assess the situation at the start of the day and determine that the race is safe to proceed would remove any competing interests. This is what is currently done for anti-doping, which was set up specifically because of worries about rider safety, and in other industries. It’s not “another entity” as it replaces the current meeting between stakeholders The EWP requires.

I might be missing something, but it'd seem the main difference is that the panel wouldn't be comprised of road cycling stakeholders delegates, right?

Who would those people be then? Someone would still need to pick them - would they just be a bunch of UCI sycophants? Perhaps a few weather experts assessing the situation remotely? I should think it'd be necessary for the panel members to be familiar with actual roads and road cycling, so that would somewhat reduce the pool; it'd also require daily meetings. It'd also make sense they'd be the ones deciding neutralizations/modifications during the race, so they'd need to be in situ.

At that point, aren't those people basically weather-only commissaires?

More importantly, while I understand the theoretical benefits of trying to move from a representation system where representatives are liable to defend the private and selfish interests of their group to independent trustees with full autonomy to deliberate in the "common interest", I'm not sure how in practice that mechanism would sort out the problematic scenarios like today: riders put pressure on the race director and he gives in. Because that's where the problem is, not in the other 99.9% of the stages.

Would the decision of the panel be definitive and incommutable? Could that be enforceable if you had riders and race direction both saying they won't ride?

I believe the trouble here is that whatever formal mechanism is in place, the riders + race direction will always have de facto veto power.

Imagine a scenario where the organizer and riders support cancelling part of the stage, the independent panel orders the race to go on as planned, and then a serious accident happens. There's no way those independent people on the panel will accept that sort of risk, even if it's just reputational. And I mean, the first time that happens, the system is abolished even if going forward with the race was the right decision.

So the problem will remain exactly the same. Lazy riders and a weak race direction will overrule that weather panel, just like they do with the current EWP panel.

If it is not working now, that is the perfect time to devise a method that does work

I'm very skeptical there's any method that works in the sense of tweaking regulations, adding a panel, removing a panel, and so on.

One of those issues where moral suasion and stakeholder pressure work better than formal institutional changes.

I don't think that is warranted. You can design the stages, you just have to be willing to set a reasonable standard for implementing alterations when the situations dictate. Sometimes it will be beyond anybody's control, that is just the cost of operating sports competitions.

That was my point: if you're not willing to accept the risk of stages needing modifications/neutralizations mid-race, as the person I responded seems to suggest, then you might as well not design stages as this one. If one wants to keep high elevation stages as part of routes, as everyone does, then that risk is impossible to evade.

 

[Luthor]

Not sure if it was shared here but Rai uploaded 30 mins of moto 1 on their site. It's only for Italy tho.
If you want to see it, use a VPN or use VLC with the link provided in this tweet, it worked for me(Media > Open Network Stream)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1396952468207046671

View: https://twitter.com/achryssou/status/1396952468207046671

 

[Sciatic]

Not sure if it was shared here but Rai uploaded 30 mins of moto 1 on their site. It's only for Italy tho.
If you want to see it, use a VPN or use VLC with the link provided in this tweet, it worked for me(Media > Open Network Stream)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1396952468207046671

View: https://twitter.com/achryssou/status/1396952468207046671

Thanks sharing that!!

 

[CyclistAbi]

Congratulations to Egan Arley Bernal Gómez for winning queen stage.

Yesterday i still had some hopes Yates will offer some resistance. That is out of the picture now. I guess i will just enjoy week 3. Observing cocky and smiling Bernal and some Ineos dominance. Gotta hand it to them.

 

[Bonimenier]

Congratulations to Egan Arley Bernal Gómez for winning queen stage.

Yesterday i still had some hopes Yates will offer some resistance. That is out of the picture now. I guess i will just enjoy week 3. Observing cocky and smiling Bernal and some Ineos dominance. Gotta hand it to them.

One of the last thing I'd call Bernal is cocky. Seems like a very down to earth and grateful guy.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Nah, he is cocky on this race, rightfully so. He just shines in all disciplines. You have to be a bit cocky, to perform like that.

 

[CyclistAbi]

You don't get to win queen stage, wearing pink by initiating a successful long range attack on Giro and get to call yourself a down to earth guy. As for grateful i agree with that. Bernal wanted to do Giro in 2020 already and he is for sure grateful he got a chance and he is doing such a stellar job in 2021.

 

[VeloMaster]

Giro d'Italia 1988 - Stage 14 Passo di Gavia - YouTube

Dunno know about you, but I see bare legs and hands.

I have a signed poster of Andy Hampsten, ski goggles and all, on the climb, hanging in my indoor cycling space. He gave it to me when I bought a Hampsten cycles road bike. I still ride it and race it to this day.

 

[jmdirt]

For some historical context of racing conducted in the mountains in atrocious conditions I suggest you watch stage 15 of the 1998 TdF or the 1988 Gavia stage won by Andy Hampsten.

If I recall that 1998 stage over the Galibier, Bobby Julich overshot a hairpin on the descent of the Galibier in pursuit on Pantani.

If today was worse conditions then the race organizers made the right decision. But that isn't what I am reading. Bike racing is inherently dangerous. But these are professionals supported by professional teams.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSoXUZnk7SE

 

[Pantani_lives]

I feel cheated. I went all the way to the baker for pancakes - through the rain! Then I went all the way to the kitchen to make tea. Then it turns out they don't reward me for my efforts!?

 

[SafeBet]

Times on the descent towards Cortina

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1396931860559712257

View: https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/1396931860559712257?s=20

 

[will-10]

GCN are apparently trying to get hold of yesterday's footage.

 

[Leinster]

I suspect the Izagirre brothers are low-key nutcases down a wet descent. Ion won the Tour stage to Morzine where he dropped Nibali on the descent, in a downpour.

 

[will-10]

I suspect the Izagirre brothers are low-key nutcases down a wet descent. Ion won the Tour stage to Morzine where he dropped Nibali on the descent, in a downpour.

Can they just be good, without being nutcases?

 

[Red Rick]

The Izagirre brothers are without doubt better descenders in the rain than Nibali.

 

[Billie]

In the rain the tyres also play a very important role for descending.

 

[search]

Times on the descent towards Cortina

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1396931860559712257

View: https://twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/1396931860559712257?s=20

Seems like they made a little mistake there, though. The finish times are not correct for most (everyone apart from Caruso and Bardet is 27s too far behind Bernal), so neither are those for the descents, I guess.

edit: nope, just the "Finish" times are affected, so not a major issue

 

[Mayomaniac]

Gorka still going all out on the Giau descent after almost crashing on the previous one because of a flat tire is a bit crazy when you're not riding for the gc, but still really impressive.