Giro d'Italia Giro D'italia 2025 Stage 16: Piazzola sul Brenta – San Valentino

[Cycling111]

Well if del Toro doesn't lose time here that will deflate the rest.

Roglic seems hurt so I am not expecting much.

Ayuso is watching his chance of winning a grand tour disappear before his eyes. I'd still like to see him surprise me.

My heart would love to see Bernal do something. He has certainly been trying but maybe lacks that little bit extra.

Who knows, maybe Carapaz FTW (he has been keeping a low profile) and del Toro to keep his grip on pink?

You haven't even remembered Tiberi.
We wouldn't even know he existed if it weren't an accident

Hopefully he'll surprise us and attack. He's the one with the least to lose now that he's no longer in a podium position and may not get another chance like this.

He should be brave and attack, with Caruso behind.

Yesterday I saw Derek Gee surprisingly strong. He easily closed the gap in Grappa and then put on his vest like Del Toro
But these are riders who never attack.

 

[HashRouge]

I'm really excited for this one. It's the only one of the big mountain stages I can sit and watch live. Due to terrible planning I shall be catching up with stages 19 and 20 on Saturday night (and possibly Sunday morning depending on whether I decide to watch the full stage or just the highlights).
I'd like to see some weakness in del Toro. I find UAE's talent hoarding really difficult, because it makes it hard for me to like someone like del Toro, even though he's normally the sort of bold, plucky young rider I'd really enjoy watching. So I'm rooting against them here, which means I need del Toro to lose time. Ayuso is really interesting, because he's actually behind S Yates and only about 30 seconds ahead of Carapaz, which could make for some very exciting racing.

 

[Netserk]

Any rider that believes in his chances to win Pink and that isn't riding for UAE should go let his team go all out from the start. You need to test Del Toro on a stage like this, you need to see if you can gain time on him, and you need to make the whole GT as hard as possible if you want him to crack.

Visma should send WVA, Affini, Kruijswijk in the attack and leave Kelderman with Yates. Make a move like you would do in the TDF.

I don't see the big advantage in riders up ahead, better to rest the team and send them up the road the day after.

 

[Berniece]

I don't see the big advantage in riders up ahead, better to rest the team and send them up the road the day after.

With the assumption that he's able to ride away, or take a small group with him, that others are dropped and his teammates can set a high pace. I agree that the next day is more suited to it due to it being more rolling, and less mountain after mountain.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't see the big advantage in riders up ahead, better to rest the team and send them up the road the day after.

Nah man, Van Aert needs to show how hard is he's trying pointlessly attacking in 3 man groups in the first hour before finishing 40 minutes down.

 

[Netserk]

Nah man, Van Aert needs to show how hard is he's trying pointlessly attacking in 3 man groups in the first hour before finishing 40 minutes down.

Why does he even bother (it's not like he is assisting teammates). He has been climbing like *** so far. Stage 1 may be his best climbing performance this race. Similar to the Tour last year.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

As Toms Skujiņš would say, the real Giro d'Italia starts tomorrow. There's no more hiding and un jour sans after the rest day can be costly.

I'm not so well-refined that I've ever pooped my pants from climbing or drinking Grappa, but I had planned to climb Monte Baldo from Mori 8 years ago. However, after I'd had that little breather through Brentonico and started the first steep ramp towards San Valentino, it didn't take me long to realise that my aluminum bike and solid gold body wouldn't be able to survive the heat or the gradients that day. So instead I rode back down the road and did a Samu/Nibali tribute ride to Polsa. Not even Aranburu could get away with such a shortcut here though.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I'm not so well-refined that I've ever pooped my pants from climbing or drinking Grappa,

Come now, don't be so modest

 

[CyclistAbi]

Lets hope the body responds in a way it will still be possible to turn this race around. A lot of other riders will need to crack, though. Just like i imagine a whole lot of people being loud yesterday will.

But it's a big ask, i know, said that, the finale of this stage has Rogla written all over it. We'll see.

 

[CyclistAbi]

So if Rogla will play C. C. Capwell, on Santa Barbara climb, who from UAE team is Cruz and who is Eden? The love seems strong. Possible scenario:

Spoiler alert.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Matxin logging on to defend his boy from the dregs of instagram!

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Will UAE let Pidcock in the break?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Will UAE let Pidcock in the break?

Don't think UAE cares, but other teams might.

 

[Rackham]

Rog's salvation here (in terms of not blowing up and finishing gruppetto) could come from the nature of the final week's route itself. Ironically the massive pace he doesn't like (especially when nursing an injury/or bad form) could be knocked off tomorrow, unless UAE want to burn through all their doms or needlessly put Ayuso or Del Toro in difficulty. Can anyone really see Ineos dropping the hammer over multiple cols? I don't see it. Tarling and Ben Turner already got dropped from the break yesterday. I think a break will get away on this stage and the peloton will ride tempo behind them until the battle eventually kicks off from a slower starting point.

The Giro has basically been raced like the Tour de France's recent editions over the past week (since the gravel stage) yet I don't see the firepower in any team here to maintain those sorts of speeds and constant drilling over the mountainous route this final week offers.

We'll see tomorrow and I could be totally wrong but that's the sort of irony this type of stage offers (& upcoming stages): so hard on paper that they're actually easier to ride.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Will UAE let Pidcock in the break?

Will Pidcock allow himself to enter the break?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Matxin logging on to defend his boy from the dregs of instagram!

It's all fun and games until you go after his baby boy!

 

[Rackham]

Half these guys will never have even watched a bike race before they knew a Mexican was leading a GT. No idea why a UAE team manager would actually answer these people online.

It's beyond asinine for these 'fans' to attack the team (UAE) who've made the rider (Del Toro) as strong as he is. It's never easy to accommodate multiple leaders when they're both in a position to win. Jumbo didn't manage it, Astana sure as hell didn't manage it back in 2009. Hell, even Sky didn't manage it particularly well either when their riders started fighting each other for the Tour. Let's also definitely not mention Movistar, at all.

So it's kind of funny seeing the 'angry' reactions online in the Ayuso versus Del Toro question because IMO it's a problem that has hardly ever been properly solved by anyone.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I'm not so well-refined that I've ever pooped my pants from climbing or drinking Grappa

Nobody who saw me climb the 20% sections of the Grappa would call me "well-refined". They'd be tempted to take the bike away from me for the sake of preserving the integrity the sport.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Heh, I watched that soap when it first aired back in the 80s when I was still into soaps as a teen, it actually wasn't too bad in the beginning.

Anyhoo, for those who live on the West Coast in the US the stream will start at 2:00am - YEEEEAH!

Smol bean Carapaz for the win! (Or Del Toro, I'm sure everyone is itching to find out how he will do on the queen stage.)

 

[Lequack]

Will Ayuso even start tomorrow?

 

[Cycling111]

Magnier DNF.

 

[kamaveli]

This one has huge upset potential. Nothing can be said based on this Giro because all the gaps have come from different kind of efforts or by luck.

Altough Del Toro closed gaps effortlessly yesterday we still don't know how he fares when best climbers on this Giro put up longer maximum efforts. Yesterday the pace wasn't that hard otherwise there would have been more casualties than injured Roglic and off form Pidcock.

 

[Unchained]

Will Ayuso even start tomorrow?

Yes he will start. No UAE will not let Pidcock off the leash tomorrow,

 

[noob]

Matxin logging on to defend his boy from the dregs of instagram!

Is this real?! 😱

 

[Tim Cahill]

Is this real?! 😱

Apparently so, pretty funny stuff, hopefully there will be a showdown between the two at some point, that's what we all want to see.