• 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 2023 Stage 8: Terni – Fossombrone 207 km

Page 16 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
The gc situation is honestly pretty exciting right now. I hope Remco smashes the TT tomorrow so Roglic and Ineos have to attack him from far out in the Alps. If that's the case then neither Remco nor Roglic seem to have a very strong team right now, while both TGH and Thomas might be genuine threats to them. If Ineos isolates them on the Coeur and one of the two attacks, don't know how they would respond.

That being said, I'm a little worried about whether Remco can actually smash tomorrows TT. Dropping today was a really bad sign for a rider who was dominant on the exact same terrain 3 weeks ago.
I think the drop was harder, because he paced himself wrong - either he overestimated himself or pride got in the way of common sense. In the end the gap in itself was way too small to indicate significant decrease in TT ability. Maybe the residual effects from his crashes still affect the ability to hold his TT position or put out his normal power in that position, but this is something that today's somewhat weaker climbing performance says nothing about.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jmdirt
After the non-show yesterday, I totally forget to watch and was honestly surprised Remco couldn't follow.

After watching some fragments here and there, it seems like Roglic is very fine and confidently in his smashing attacking mode (as in the Vuelta stage where he unfortunately crashed), but what I do not understand is that Thomas could follow and Remco not.

Thomas following Roglic indicates, to me, that Roglic didn't do anything extraterrestrial and a good Remco should be able to follow.
Remco wasn't good, but what bothered me more was the flashbacks to the Giro 2021 we got in the descent. Remco was struggling to hold wheels, and I don't know if this has to do with (lack of) confidence on Italian roads, him just struggling because he was cooked, or both. In either way, he is lucky not to lose more time, which could have happend if Thomas and Hart just committed a tiny bit pulling.

In any case, it doesn't bode well, and I fear a bit that he won't be able to reproduce the same level in tomorrow's TT, while Roglic will obviously be upbeat.
 
The gc situation is honestly pretty exciting right now. I hope Remco smashes the TT tomorrow so Roglic and Ineos have to attack him from far out in the Alps. If that's the case then neither Remco nor Roglic seem to have a very strong team right now, while both TGH and Thomas might be genuine threats to them. If Ineos isolates them on the Coeur and one of the two attacks, don't know how they would respond.

That being said, I'm a little worried about whether Remco can actually smash tomorrows TT. Dropping today was a really bad sign for a rider who was dominant on the exact same terrain 3 weeks ago.

If Remco smashes them tomorrow, which I assume he will, Ineos will continue to ride like today: first pace at the front, then hang on and hope anyone better than them will fall of their bike or catch covid before the end of the Giro. Roglic will attack but he will be lonely and his attacks will backfire. Remco wins, Tao and G get 3rd and 2nd.
 
After the non-show yesterday, I totally forget to watch and was honestly surprised Remco couldn't follow.

After watching some fragments here and there, it seems like Roglic is very fine and confidently in his smashing attacking mode (as in the Vuelta stage where he unfortunately crashed), but what I do not understand is that Thomas could follow and Remco not.

Thomas following Roglic indicates, to me, that Roglic didn't do anything extraterrestrial and a good Remco should be able to follow.
Remco wasn't good, but what bothered me more was the flashbacks to the Giro 2021 we got in the descent. Remco was struggling to hold wheels, and I don't know if this has to do with (lack of) confidence on Italian roads, him just struggling because he was cooked, or both. In either way, he is lucky not to lose more time, which could have happend if Thomas and Hart just committed a tiny bit pulling.

In any case, it doesn't bode well, and I fear a bit that he won't be able to reproduce the same level in tomorrow's TT, while Roglic will obviously be upbeat.
What was most surprising is that Leknessund was able to follow the initial attack, and Evenepoel wasn't. I also didn't get the impression that we were seeing prime Roglic here. The two Ineos guys actually closed the gap on him pretty fast there at the end of the climb.

Tomorrow I think Evenepoel will be fine, maybe not as good as he otherwise would have been, but Roglic hasn't exactly been shining in TTs so far this year, and a 30k flat TT has never been his cup of tea anyway.
 
Very nice stage and a expected move by Roglic in those final meters of the final climb, after all this is his cup of tea. Evenepoel with not much of a loss here, Tao and Geraint looking good and Almeida as always in a bad position when Roglic made his move. All in all we’ll have an open Giro until the end.
Yeah 5+ km is a few meters.... DUH
 
Last edited:
What was most surprising is that Leknessund was able to follow the initial attack, and Evenepoel wasn't. I also didn't get the impression that we were seeing prime Roglic here. The two Ineos guys actually closed the gap on him pretty fast there at the end of the climb.
I think a few riders overpaced a bit at the start of the climb. Leknessund and Kämna both tried to follow Roglič and blew up and Evenepoel was quite close until a steep ramp near the top and then lost momentum. Meanwhile guys like Almeida and INEOS went up more steadily and TGH still had a kick left near the top. The climb seemed quite deceptive (even though they had already ridden it earlier in the day) and Roglič had good legs and just attacked hard at the bottom.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Carols and jmdirt
So Roglic the wheelsucker attacked from the base of the final climb and pulled Ineos to the finish from, what, 7km out? And Remco not only didn’t attack but then let others pull him in? It’s almost like race conditions and leg sensations influence riders’ tactics.
So, i was wathcing the wrong channel, 'cause i saw Evenepoel pace basically the whole way from the end of the descent.

Anyway, he blow himself up trying to follow Roglic, who also slowed down near the top. The stady pace of Ineos was the best pacing strategy on the climb , but they should have really worked with Rogla in the last 2 km, unless they were also on the limit, which is possible of course.
 
Anyway, he blow himself up trying to follow Roglic, who also slowed down near the top. The stady pace of Ineos was the best pacing strategy on the climb , but they should have really worked with Rogla in the last 2 km, unless they were also on the limit, which is possible of course.
I always marvel at how much of a race is spent at the exact threshold of a riders' ability that they are able to comfortably respond to changes of pace but unable to give a turn or make an attack.
 
Remco isn’t really shaken after the race, he says he should’ve ridden his own pace and he would’ve finished with Roglic.
I think if he really believes that he doesn't know how speed and distance interact. I'm most surprised that G and Hart really dropped him with ease in the last hundred meters of the climb.

But let's get not ahead of ourselves. Remco is still the favourite by a mile. It would be a big success if a few GC guys could stay within a minute of him tommorow. If that happens and Regolic and Thomas just loose 30-40 seconds then we can talked much more serious about a declineing of Remcos form.
 
So, i was wathcing the wrong channel, 'cause i saw Evenepoel pace basically the whole way from the end of the descent.

Anyway, he blow himself up trying to follow Roglic, who also slowed down near the top. The stady pace of Ineos was the best pacing strategy on the climb , but they should have really worked with Rogla in the last 2 km, unless they were also on the limit, which is possible of course.

Must have been watching a different race.
Lol. On the broadcast I was watching they didn’t show his group much because, you know, they were behind. But from what I saw (and heard from broadcasters), he slotted in behind Almeida for the final bit up the climb and then Caruso led down the descent, and he finished a few behind in the finale, and he DEFINITELY never attacked, unlike Roglic, so maybe we did watch a different race.

I watched a race that didn’t prove Remco was a wheel sucker or Roglic a swaggering hero, but one that showed simplified narratives are misguided and both do what it takes to win.
 

TRENDING THREADS