Giro d'Italia Giro d'Italia stage 19 Biella – Champoluc 166km

[ice&fire]

I hope Vegni is satisfied.

The race is up to be decided in the biggest climb on the last Saturday. What else can he ask for?

 

[perico]

2022 he was still almost winning the Giro. 2023 he crashed out of the Tour on day one and that was that for his GT hopes that year. 2024 he was one of the best riders in week 3 of the Tour and then would have podiumed the Vuelta had the peloton not lost control of O'Connor on stage 6. 'MIA for years', my ***.

2022- he almost won the “Giro,” but look who finished on the podium in that GT- Richie Carapaz.

There are a lot of would’ve, could’ve, should’ve in there.

Carapaz finished 4th in the Vuelta last year, won the KOM at the Tourin 2024, and crashed out on stage 1 in 2023.

He never went away.

 

[YavorD]

Idk about that, at 25kmph drafting plays a huge role and everybody is afraid they will go in the red and then get caught (rightly so, when the level is more or less equal amongst the favorites).
If we are to believe the live stats Majka was riding 330-350W and nobody was attacking. That is just ridiculous.

"Real" Grappa barely goes above 10 and it brings carnage.
So does Finestre.
Climbs like Stelvio, Gavia.....will destroy the peloton as well
Heck, even Tzecore as last climb would give us action.

 

[AlfaLum]

The problem today was not the stage design. The problem was that Majka and Mcnultys level were on par with Yates, Gee, Pellizarri and Bernal while Carapaz his level was on par with Isaac del Toro.

 

[solo80k]

Ages of the top 5 outside of Del Toro:
32
32
27
37

Yeah, says a lot about the others. 😆

 

[Rou]

The race is up to be decided in the biggest climb on the last Saturday. What else can he ask for?

He can achieve the same result with 19 sprint stages before that. Ooops..... I shouldn't give him such ideas because he may like it.

 

[Brullnux]

Yeah, says a lot about the others. 😆

Not really sure what you are getting at, to be honest.

 

[titan31]

The race is up to be decided in the biggest climb on the last Saturday. What else can he ask for?

Imagine if we got what happened in a ton of other recent Giros and the biggest mountain stage got cancelled

 

[noob]

What is Yates so angry about?

s or a?

 

[Lequack]

Man, Roglic in form would have a pretty easy win here against these chums. Shame about all the crashes.

 

[theyoungest]

He can achieve the same result with 19 sprint stages before that. Ooops..... I shouldn't give him such ideas because he may like it.

Yes, it's been a very boring Giro indeed...

 

[AnotherArmChair]

The only riders in the GC who even consider a long ranger are Bernal and Pellisari
But due to crash etc Bernal doesnt have it and Pellizari looked too tired today.

Hope tomorrow they try at least
Yates and Gee look like they cant attack from afar and Carapaz leaves it too late because he has no team mates to help. He is all by himself.


Anyway given how tomorrow is there last chance and neither Carapaz nor Yates will be happy with a podium they may just have to throw the kitchen sink at it.

Getting rid of Mikja and McNulty and Yates is mega important as early as possible

 

[ice&fire]

He can achieve the same result with 19 sprint stages before that. Ooops..... I shouldn't give him such ideas because he may like it.

But his merit is that he can trick lots of people into believing there can be GC action in many more stages that just one.

 

[DarkBlue]

Majka's pace was slow, he didn't cut any difference to Prodhomme who had been solo for several km after a 150km break.

He didn't because he didn't want to , and didn't need to. He was riding to protect Del Toro - it's not UAEs responsibility ride full gas up a climb so Carapaz can attack Del Toro when he's tired - if no one else wants to take it up then they can pace at whatever speed they like.

They know Del Toro can react to a punchy attack off a slow pace, so they set a slow pace.

The challenge tomorrow is can EF / Visma set a fast enough pace up Siestre to get rid of all the UAE doms before Carapaz attacks, otherwise they will just pace IDT up and then he'll catch a solo attack on the descent and final kicker.

 

[jono]

Shouldn't Gee have been given the same time as the rest of his group?

 

[Brullnux]

Tomorrow is very simple, though. Teams will have full contingents at the bottom of Finestre, and then you drill it for 10km and attack.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

What is Yates so angry about?

Q "What was the plan this morning?"
Simon "Err completely different to what we did ... so ... I'll have to review that with the team"
Q "Can you just explain that?"
Simon "Err no I don't want to say anything"

 

[Cycling111]

Tomorrow, EF doesn't have to get into the break. Steinhauser wasted too much energy on the break today.

Tomorrow, they have to pull Finestre very hard and hope that Del Toro explodes and Carapaz doesn't.
It's their only chance to win if Carapaz isn't content with second place and isn't afraid of losing the podium by taking a risk doing Finestre hard.

 

[noob]

It's not that they have to attack Del Toro tomorrow, It's just that Del Toro has to get another crack

 

[Potomac]

The race is up to be decided in the biggest climb on the last Saturday. What else can he ask for?

That's one way to spin it.

 

[dgodave]

Yes, it's been a very boring Giro indeed...

The sterratto stage was exciting, but for a lot of wrong reasons.

The goat attack was thrilling.... and so was del Toro's win in Boromir or wherever now that I think about it..

 

[Brullnux]

I don't think Del Toro needs to crack tomorrow. It's 10km at 9% on sterrato – just 5s per kilometre and Carapaz wins the Giro. Just have to make it as much of a MTT as possible

 

[YavorD]

The problem today was not the stage design. The problem was that Majka and Mcnultys level were on par with Yates, Gee, Pellizarri and Bernal while Carapaz his level was on par with Isaac del Toro.

And that's where the stage design matters.
It not surprising that people like Majka, McNulty and A. Yates are able to stay with the 10 best climbers on 7%.
That was a stage designed to be easy for control from a very strong team.

 

[Potomac]

Tomorrow, EF doesn't have to get into the break. Steinhauser wasted too much energy on the break today.

Tomorrow, they have to pull Finestre very hard and hope that Del Toro explodes and Carapaz doesn't.
It's their only chance to win if Carapaz isn't content with second place and isn't afraid of losing the podium by taking a risk doing Finestre hard.

There's no way a healthy Carapaz doesn't give everything going for the win. He seems like a victory or death kind of rider.

 

[Cycling111]

Man, Roglic in form would have a pretty easy win here against these chums. Shame about all the crashes.

Yes, but in the stage that Ayuso won, he wasn't even third.
A stage finish that in other years he would´ve easily won.
He didn't seem to be in his best shape before the accident either.