Have the giro organisers outsmarted themselves?

[auscyclefan94]

Have the giro organisers outsmarted themselves?

The first 7 stages have been some of the most exciting racing I have ever seen. But with stages 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 which have cause major gaps amongst contenders, have they done too much that it will close up the overall race for the next two weeks?

With all the mountains in the final week, will riders play it defenseivly to just not lose time and play a waiting game as they could crack massively after attacking in a prior stage?

Your thoughts?

 

[Ferminal]

The unpredictability of the first week and some of the outcomes mean that there is less predictability in the following two weeks.

If that makes sense.

 

[klmorgan]

Have the giro organisers outsmarted themselves?

Interesting thought.

The first 7 stages have been some of the most exciting racing I have ever seen. But with stages 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 which have cause major gaps amongst contenders, have they done too much that it will close up the overall race for the next two weeks?

Stage 2 and 3 just show poor planning. The TdF will also start in the Netherlands, and you cannot see them having the poor run-ins in the last 20-30kms of those stages that caused a lot of the problems. It just says something about the thought process.

Stage 6, was always going to be set for a break-away to succeed, which they did, given the following two days. Having a break-away succeed early in the tou, simply provides a lot of hope for those competitors who are not sprinters of GC contenders to have some success. The ability for this to happen so early in the Giro, is only something that they can be praised for.

Stage 7, is a good way of bring some tradition from the early season classics to the Giro, like the Tour will do with the pave. The, better thing would have been to have it a little further from the finish, however the racing can only be said as spectacular on the day.

With all the mountains in the final week, will riders play it defenseivly to just not lose time and play a waiting game as they could crack massively after attacking in a prior stage?QUOTE]

The week, when you looked at it was always going to be about minimising the risks of loosing time, rather than being defensive. The rider who has done this the best has been Vino, hence why he is leading at this moment. Time can only tell if he will remain that way.

Time, will only tell whether the organisers are winners or losers with the planning, however at the moment, they are leaning towards winners (with only a couple of problems).

 

[Bernardus]

Stage 2 and 3 just show poor planning

Absolutely not, stage 2 did use several roads in its "hill zone" that they could have avoided. They probably shouldn't have used those roads in the first nervous stage of a GT. Stage 3 on the other hand was exactly how a windy stage should be.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm with ACF on this one. They've provided an absolute thriller of a Giro so far, but they have eliminated all but four riders from contention. And Vino will blow up at some point, Nibali's only there as an emergency and Basso isn't the guy that won the Giro by ten minutes anymore so Evans should be able to win this now without so much as trying. People who could have been interesting to see are now either sitting at home (Bruseghin, Vande Velde), too far out to be in any contention but too close to be allowed to animate the race (Sastre, Tondó), or so far out as to be total irrelevances (Simoni, Pozzovivo). We've had one hell of a first week, but I think that might impact on the rest of the race. Especially with such a hellish final week. You saw what happened in the last week of the Vuelta last year after so many tough stages - riders just didn't have it in them to attack, and it made what had been a very entertaining Grand Tour end on several days of nothing, leaving a bad taste in the mouth (the opposite to the Tour, which had a fairly exciting climax, leading people to forget two weeks of utter tedium leading to it). By putting the stages in Holland, that left a lot of things down to luck (crashes and street furniture), and then yesterday's monolithic stage, in the first week, Zomegnan has provided more excitement in a week than the last two Grand Tours did in three, but he might just have killed the final two weeks. Still, ACF can be happy nonetheless, because regardless of whether or not it will be exciting, only complete idiocy or crashing out can stop Evans winning this now.

 

[eljimberino]

Mt Vontoux was a bit anti-climatic last year in my opinion.

I think the onus is on the racers and not the organisers to make the race exciting or attack or defend or preserve. The onus is on them to prepare, as best they can, for the stages they target according to their strengths and weaknesses. Then on the day adapt to weather and bad/good luck.

According to most people here, Millar and Vino are not in contention. But the latter two have taken their chances, hence their GC positions. Yesterday suited Evans to a tea. Blaming the race organisers for Sastre or Basso for not attacking today is silly. The likes of these two need to take every chance, because they cannot know what will happen in 10 days. That, in my opinion, makes for great racing. Attrition is the only way. Otherwise you're pandering to a certain type of rider.

 

[Archibald]

I'm with ACF on this one. They've provided an absolute thriller of a Giro so far, but they have eliminated all but four riders from contention. And Vino will blow up at some point, Nibali's only there as an emergency and Basso isn't the guy that won the Giro by ten minutes anymore so Evans should be able to win this now without so much as trying. People who could have been interesting to see are now either sitting at home (Bruseghin, Vande Velde), too far out to be in any contention but too close to be allowed to animate the race (Sastre, Tondó), or so far out as to be total irrelevances (Simoni, Pozzovivo). We've had one hell of a first week, but I think that might impact on the rest of the race. Especially with such a hellish final week. You saw what happened in the last week of the Vuelta last year after so many tough stages - riders just didn't have it in them to attack, and it made what had been a very entertaining Grand Tour end on several days of nothing, leaving a bad taste in the mouth (the opposite to the Tour, which had a fairly exciting climax, leading people to forget two weeks of utter tedium leading to it). By putting the stages in Holland, that left a lot of things down to luck (crashes and street furniture), and then yesterday's monolithic stage, in the first week, Zomegnan has provided more excitement in a week than the last two Grand Tours did in three, but he might just have killed the final two weeks. Still, ACF can be happy nonetheless, because regardless of whether or not it will be exciting, only complete idiocy or crashing out can stop Evans winning this now.

agree with most of this, but not the complete 'given' that it's Evans win now. He'll still have to do it all on his own, which will be a factor...

 

[Christian]

Have the giro organisers outsmarted themselves?

I read an interesting article in a Luxembourg-newspaper the other day which said that Zomegnan's tendency to go more and more spectacular (Venice, Amsterdam, Strade Bianche, D.C.) could be a tactic to detract attention from the Giro's doping problems. I have not verrified this, but the article stated that 8 out of 15 top-3 finishers from the last 5 years have since tested positive or have been involved in a doping affair.

But indeed I have to say this week was amazing and so Zomegnan you succeeded. In every GT there are always more exciting weeks and less exciting weeks (except in the Armstrong-era, where every week was boring), so I don't think they outsmarted themselves!

 

[Zen Master]

Have the giro organisers outsmarted themselves?

The first 7 stages have been some of the most exciting racing I have ever seen. But with stages 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 which have cause major gaps amongst contenders, have they done too much that it will close up the overall race for the next two weeks?

With all the mountains in the final week, will riders play it defenseivly to just not lose time and play a waiting game as they could crack massively after attacking in a prior stage?

Your thoughts?

Nonsense, Giro once more showed supremacy over TDF
IMHO it will be really hard to control the race in the final week

 

[BroDeal]

At least the Giro eliminated its contenders with exciting racing. Last year's Tour managed to do the same thing with one stupid team time trial.

The Giro is not over by long shot. Riders like Arroyo might surprise.

 

[Potomac]

I think it is a case where the first week the course produced excitement, not the riders. When finally given a profile for the riders to produce the excitement....they did nothing.

 

[hfer07]

Have the giro organisers outsmarted themselves?

Actually the Giro organizers are achieving what Prudhomme wanted to do last year's TDF: to have the top 5 contenders put a big show in the last week.
The Giro is always full of surprises

 

[santacruz]

IMO they should make the first 7 days of a grand tour incredibly exciting and difficult, deciding the outcome of most of the GC favorites.. and then the next 2 weeks should be sprint/breakaway stages, with only 2 more GC days at the very end, lol.

 

[barn yard]

what the giro organisers have done is set up an actual bike race, what happens in the tour is a 3 week procession with 2 or 3 days where some action might happen maybe for 15 mins or so

 

[Wallace]

I Evans should be able to win this now without so much as trying.

?

Evans could well win this without trying?--I don't mean to distort your point of view--you've clearly been watching this race very closely--but without much of a team, and given that all it would take is one unprotected bad day to turn everything around, and given how %$!ingly hard the last week is going to be, "without trying" seems like kind of a ridiculous understatement. I'd put it this way: if everything goes Evans' way, if he doesn't have a bad day or make any tactical errors, if he is strong enough at the right moments, preserves his strength for when it matters, and doesn't get caught out by any unexpected alliances or endless attacks by stronger teams, then he stands a reasonable chance of winning this race.

If you want to watch a predictable race, there's this thing going on in CA right now that can be followed without paying any attention. As for this year's Giro, it's been surprise after surprise, for me at least.

 

[cotterpin]

what the giro organisers have done is set up an actual bike race, what happens in the tour is a 3 week procession with 2 or 3 days where some action might happen maybe for 15 mins or so

+1
this is so true; this giro has been fantastic!

 

[Michielveedeebee]

+1
this is so true; this giro has been fantastic!

giro is always fantastic especially the 2008 version! really enjoyed that one.
Must say that this first week I've seen is the best of a GT first week in years!

 

[timmers]

what the giro organisers have done is set up an actual bike race, what happens in the tour is a 3 week procession with 2 or 3 days where some action might happen maybe for 15 mins or so

For the Tour only since 99! This Giro is great! The opportunity is there, where if you make it to the last week and have a team to put the hurt into other contenders, and maybe, if you have the legs, pull of a result! That is how it should be in a stage race!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

?

Evans could well win this without trying?--I don't mean to distort your point of view--you've clearly been watching this race very closely--but without much of a team, and given that all it would take is one unprotected bad day to turn everything around, and given how %$!ingly hard the last week is going to be, "without trying" seems like kind of a ridiculous understatement. I'd put it this way: if everything goes Evans' way, if he doesn't have a bad day or make any tactical errors, if he is strong enough at the right moments, preserves his strength for when it matters, and doesn't get caught out by any unexpected alliances or endless attacks by stronger teams, then he stands a reasonable chance of winning this race.

If you want to watch a predictable race, there's this thing going on in CA right now that can be followed without paying any attention. As for this year's Giro, it's been surprise after surprise, for me at least.

Evans is in a good position - Vino is in the maglia rosa. Astana will have to work their domestiques ragged retaining it for the next few days. And they've lost one of their absolute key riders in Paolo Tiralongo. Evans, at present, needs only to shadow Vinokourov and keep an eye out for the Liquigas pair. He can then take the maglia rosa in the last week somewhere and not overwork his team. His only problem is if they get it on Zoncolan, they'll have to all make the cut on Kronplatz and THEN pace him to the final climb on the other days. But there are enough riders well down who will be after the KOM and stage wins that he can let go to neutralise the time bonuses at the line. Who, who is still in contention, will take enough time out of Evans in the mountains? Garzelli? Too old, not got enough motor anymore to take major time. Basso? Not in the right kind of form. Nibali? Will more than likely run out of steam. Pinotti? You must be kidding. He could put in a stunning GC run but taking time out of Evans on the mountains is out of the question! No, the people who'll take time on Evans in the mountains are people like Pozzovivo and Sastre, who he can afford to let go in one case, and afford to give some rope in the other - they're out of the GC.

If Evans loses this, it's either because his team completely imploded, or because he's an idiot.