- Jun 7, 2010
- 19,196
- 3,091
- 28,180
Okay, it's been only 13* stages and something good might still happen, but anyway.
I look back at people salivating when the route was unveiled marking it high in the poll so it's time for an actual review. Given the 'love' to put it mildly people have for the Giro (probably because it isn't the Tour) what's about to follow won't be to everyone's liking.
Ready for it?
The route is ****. Zomegnan made it too hard.
This has very little to do with Contador even though the danger of a dominant rider making the race boring was there right from the start as I'm against routes like the 2009 Tour (blah) or 2010 Vuelta (double blah) where the organization deliberately wants to keep the suspense until the final stage.
No.
Look at the race behind Contador. There are very good riders afraid to make a move for a fear of paying for it later on. I refuse to believe that people like Gadret and Dupont can get away from Menchovs, Nibalis, Scarponis et cetera going full tilt. I refuse to believe that on a pretty tough climb with an average of over 9% for 6k that the rest are equal to the point that 13 (!) people would get together shortly after the start of the descent after Kasereck
What's even more worrying, is the distinct possibility that the race for 2nd (3rd, 1st, whatever depending on how the stars align) can be over after tomorrow as the combination of Crostis+Zoncolan is sufficiently tough that even people racing with calculators can get a huge advantage that may well be enough for the rest of the Giro. Yes, there's 15 the next day and some people might pay for their efforts but in reality those who suffered on the Zoncolan would have to grow a pair or visit the clinic to be able to turn things around the next day. Point is the gaps after this weekend are likely to be huge even between mortals.
Can MTT, Finestre+ Milano TT turn things around significantly to salvage the final week? Savoldelli lost less than 2 minutes in 05 when there were enough people with the incentive to ride together against him. As a reminder, even though he rode quite strongly, did a great descent and had company for the final climb Savoldelli lost his 1.55 after being dropped with 1 hour and 40 minutes to go on the stage, almost as soon as Finestre started. TT? There are people like Gadret and Rodriguez who will always suffer regardless of their form but others are not likely to lose minutes. The route is horribly unbalanced when something initially superfluous like the MTT (seriously, why the **** 8 mountain top finishes apart from making the fanboys go gaga) becomes potentially important.
Net result, the penultimate weekend will be far more important than the whole final week. As I wrote before, I am against things Ventoux or that overrated climb near Madrid on the final Saturday but surely a better balance is possible instead of 14 and 15 being the toughest stages, one after the other with nothing between.
Taking away Montevergine were nothing ever happens (and it was even worse than ever this year with 25 people getting the same time) no so called favorite (apart from Contador) made a single notable attack in the next 2 MTFs. No so called favorite did anything notable on those crappy anti-sprinter stages which added absolutely nothing to the race.
Speaking of other stages there are many more issues.
The stage to Orvieto. The weather played it's part, something that I'd been telling the 2010 Giro fanboys before but the course design was badly lacking.
3k of sterrato uphill with 35k to go. What the hell was that? A descent on the gravel? What's the point of putting a stage like that in a horribly one-sided Giro pandering to climbers when it's almost impossible for the better roleurs to gain time? Ah, but the universal success of Montalcino you say. The crash and the weather played the part but there the sterrato was on a climb that ended with 5k to go. 5 not 15 or 35. End result this year, a weak Montalcino copy where punctures played a bigger a bigger role in gaps than any riding.
Then stage 11. 144 km, wth? It's too short. The overall route is too tough, so there's Petacchi (who isn't the worst climber ever, but he got his point jerseys by being fast in sprints) leading the group to the foot of the final hill. A worthless stage from a spectator point of view.
No stages for sprinters in the final week? Needless. Extra bumps in the first 10 days just to **** the sprinters off? On a hard course like this needless.
Ok, now I'm reading that Crostis will be taken out. After the hype, hype, hype, Contador dominance and frankly boring riding by the rest it does make the route somewhat better. But again, it's not down to Zomegnan, although the events of the Giro made it easier for him to accept it.
I look back at people salivating when the route was unveiled marking it high in the poll so it's time for an actual review. Given the 'love' to put it mildly people have for the Giro (probably because it isn't the Tour) what's about to follow won't be to everyone's liking.
Ready for it?
The route is ****. Zomegnan made it too hard.
This has very little to do with Contador even though the danger of a dominant rider making the race boring was there right from the start as I'm against routes like the 2009 Tour (blah) or 2010 Vuelta (double blah) where the organization deliberately wants to keep the suspense until the final stage.
No.
Look at the race behind Contador. There are very good riders afraid to make a move for a fear of paying for it later on. I refuse to believe that people like Gadret and Dupont can get away from Menchovs, Nibalis, Scarponis et cetera going full tilt. I refuse to believe that on a pretty tough climb with an average of over 9% for 6k that the rest are equal to the point that 13 (!) people would get together shortly after the start of the descent after Kasereck
What's even more worrying, is the distinct possibility that the race for 2nd (3rd, 1st, whatever depending on how the stars align) can be over after tomorrow as the combination of Crostis+Zoncolan is sufficiently tough that even people racing with calculators can get a huge advantage that may well be enough for the rest of the Giro. Yes, there's 15 the next day and some people might pay for their efforts but in reality those who suffered on the Zoncolan would have to grow a pair or visit the clinic to be able to turn things around the next day. Point is the gaps after this weekend are likely to be huge even between mortals.
Can MTT, Finestre+ Milano TT turn things around significantly to salvage the final week? Savoldelli lost less than 2 minutes in 05 when there were enough people with the incentive to ride together against him. As a reminder, even though he rode quite strongly, did a great descent and had company for the final climb Savoldelli lost his 1.55 after being dropped with 1 hour and 40 minutes to go on the stage, almost as soon as Finestre started. TT? There are people like Gadret and Rodriguez who will always suffer regardless of their form but others are not likely to lose minutes. The route is horribly unbalanced when something initially superfluous like the MTT (seriously, why the **** 8 mountain top finishes apart from making the fanboys go gaga) becomes potentially important.
Net result, the penultimate weekend will be far more important than the whole final week. As I wrote before, I am against things Ventoux or that overrated climb near Madrid on the final Saturday but surely a better balance is possible instead of 14 and 15 being the toughest stages, one after the other with nothing between.
Taking away Montevergine were nothing ever happens (and it was even worse than ever this year with 25 people getting the same time) no so called favorite (apart from Contador) made a single notable attack in the next 2 MTFs. No so called favorite did anything notable on those crappy anti-sprinter stages which added absolutely nothing to the race.
Speaking of other stages there are many more issues.
The stage to Orvieto. The weather played it's part, something that I'd been telling the 2010 Giro fanboys before but the course design was badly lacking.
3k of sterrato uphill with 35k to go. What the hell was that? A descent on the gravel? What's the point of putting a stage like that in a horribly one-sided Giro pandering to climbers when it's almost impossible for the better roleurs to gain time? Ah, but the universal success of Montalcino you say. The crash and the weather played the part but there the sterrato was on a climb that ended with 5k to go. 5 not 15 or 35. End result this year, a weak Montalcino copy where punctures played a bigger a bigger role in gaps than any riding.
Then stage 11. 144 km, wth? It's too short. The overall route is too tough, so there's Petacchi (who isn't the worst climber ever, but he got his point jerseys by being fast in sprints) leading the group to the foot of the final hill. A worthless stage from a spectator point of view.
No stages for sprinters in the final week? Needless. Extra bumps in the first 10 days just to **** the sprinters off? On a hard course like this needless.
Ok, now I'm reading that Crostis will be taken out. After the hype, hype, hype, Contador dominance and frankly boring riding by the rest it does make the route somewhat better. But again, it's not down to Zomegnan, although the events of the Giro made it easier for him to accept it.
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