Rate the 2013 Giro d'Italia Route

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

8/10 for me. Nice light-ish route with some serious flaws, but it somehow works better than previous editions.

 

[cineteq]

I don't get why some people are complaining about short mountain stages. Make them long with five mountains, and the vast majority of times they wait for the last half of the last climb anyway. Some of the best mountain stages are reasonably short.

Right! Stage 14 Vuelta 2012 149km was ridden really aggressively and fast. As always, it comes down to how many riders really want to compete/win.

 

[LaFlorecita]

but being absolutely cooked often paralyzes any attempts to attack. the tour showed correctness of 150k stages, imo.

Yeah because the Tour is always great in your eyes Pathetic.

 

[LaFlorecita]

One good mountain stage can't save 5 bad, but I like the ITT and the hilly stages, so it gets a 5 from me.

This +1000

 

[CasperVg]

I like it, feels pretty balanced to me. A shame there isn't one more 150km+ mountain stage. But otherwise cool (8/10 voted)

 

[LaFlorecita]

Right! Stage 14 Vuelta 2012 149km was ridden really aggressively and fast. As always, it comes down to how many riders really want to compete/win.

I must've missed that

 

[cineteq]

I must've missed that

you missed out, it must have been that Alberto didn't win that stage.

 

[LaFlorecita]

you missed out, it must have been that Alberto didn't win that stage.

Who raced aggressively??

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I don't get why some people are complaining about short mountain stages. Make them long with five mountains, and the vast majority of times they wait for the last half of the last climb anyway. Some of the best mountain stages are reasonably short.

Try riding up a couple of climbs in your neighborhood.

Then try going for a much longer ride over several climbs in your neighborhood.

 

[cineteq]

Who raced aggressively??

"Rodríguez admitted that the pace Saxo Bank had set during the day had taken its toll, saying he expects there to be "a massacre"

"Polish guy [Majka] set a very hard rhythm and I said to myself, ‘If we continue at this pace I'm not going to reach the top."
http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-14/results

 

[Bavarianrider]

It's not like those stages miss any mountains. There are more then enough of them. It's more the 50km flat run in which is missing. So i don't really see it that bad.
I don't really know what you peole excpect. It's a good Giro route.
Actually it's a very traditional Giro which reminds me of the 90es early 2000es types of routes.

 

[Eshnar]

"Rodríguez admitted that the pace Saxo Bank had set during the day had taken its toll, saying he expects there to be "a massacre"

"Polish guy [Majka] set a very hard rhythm and I said to myself, ‘If we continue at this pace I'm not going to reach the top."
http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-14/results

ofc it was a hard rhythm. It couldn't last long. You know, short stage.
I'm quite sure Purito survived it.

 

[Eshnar]

6/10 for me.
It's been since 2009 I don't see a Giro with a long ITT so I'm quite pleased by that.
But, it's also since 2009 I see a Giro with only one mountain stage I like
The medium mountain stages are very good at first glance. It's less backloaded than 2012 but we're still not there. Overall, TTs and mountains do are balanced. I could give it a 7 too but I can't stand watching the Val Martello stage profile. They even included the short wall in the end, f*ck it.

 

[Magnus]

Try riding up a couple of climbs in your neighborhood.

Then try going for a much longer ride over several climbs in your neighborhood.

If you're in reasonably good shape and eat and drink properly it's not much of a difference. It's all about intensity.

 

[LaFlorecita]

"Rodríguez admitted that the pace Saxo Bank had set during the day had taken its toll, saying he expects there to be "a massacre"

"Polish guy [Majka] set a very hard rhythm and I said to myself, ‘If we continue at this pace I'm not going to reach the top."
http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-14/results

I'm sorry I thought you meant the top guys raced aggressively Anyway, the result was very small gaps between the gc contenders, great

 

[Eshnar]

If you're in reasonably good shape and eat and drink properly it's not much of a difference. It's all about intensity.

Let's make a 400 kms long stage then. It's all about intensity after all.

 

[Descender]

For once I agree with you entirely.

Same. Lol.

 

[Progsprach]

Quality of Stages: nice hills stages and TTs are decent as well (except on Ischia how did they avoid the hills) the mountains themselves are ok but stages too short
13/20
Balance GC: decent amount of TT and high amount of MTF, no real descent finish, some opportunies for long range attack
14/20
Balance Points: sprinters are shut out of points jersey battle, it's puncheurs vs climbers, that battle seems kind of interesting though
5/10
Originality: Well, I'll count the MTT and Galibier to their credit as some of the stages in Southern I., otherwise fairly standard
5/10
Variety: 3 different time trials (flat TTT,mostly flat ITT,MTT), 1 long mountain stage, otherwise short ones ,different styles of hills stages decent overall
6/10
Pacing: Still a little too much backloaded for my taste, but better than most of the time
6/10
Locations/Geographical Coverage: not enough middle Italy, too much Northern Italy, the usual but Ischia interesting addition, Napoli great start, Brescia not that good finish
6/10
55/10, but since the last few GT routes have been pretty bad, I'll round up this time so 6/10 it is

 

[LaFlorecita]

Same. Lol.

............

 

[User Guide]

6 for me, could of been worse as they are definetly trying to take away the bonkers factor.
But this IS the Giro should be at least one stage that makes you say omfg,be it strade bianche or huge multi climb stage
Not doing a few laps of WC course a tad annoying too.

 

[ILovecycling]

Let's make a 400 kms long stage then. It's all about intensity after all.

Its a bit offtopic,but....why dont we have a hilly Classic about 350km orso?It could be insane

 

[Eshnar]

Its a bit offtopic,but....why dont we have a hilly Classic about 350km orso?It could be insane

you should ask someone else.

 

[Magnus]

Let's make a 400 kms long stage then. It's all about intensity after all.

This is the professional road racing section and we're discussing a stage race. UCI maximum is what? 250 km?

Of course distance makes a difference in terms of which riders a stage suits better. But a GT stage isn't hard because of its length or its mountains. It's hard because it's ridden hard.

 

[Netserk]

This is the professional road racing section and we're discussing a stage race. UCI maximum is what? 250 km?

Of course distance makes a difference in terms of which riders a stage suits better. But a GT stage isn't hard because of its length or its mountains. It's hard because it's ridden hard.

the max is 240, but there may be up to two stages longer than that. After the 240, there is no absolute max.

 

[Eshnar]

This is the professional road racing section and we're discussing a stage race. UCI maximum is what? 250 km?

UCI rules are irrelevant. It's 240 kms if I recall correctly but it's a breakable limit.

Of course distance makes a difference in terms of which riders a stage suits better. But a GT stage isn't hard because of its length or its mountains. It's hard because it's ridden hard.

It's hard when you're left alone. Unless you put three Zoncolans in a row, staying in the peloton makes it less hard. What I want 'hard' stages to do is to wipe out domestiques.