Rate the 2015 Giro route!

[Eshnar]

As we do every year...
For me it's a 8/10... I wanted to give it 7 at first but then I remembered that I gave 6 to the previous route... This is light years better.
Up:
- the ITT is great
- Mortirolo from Mazzo
- No hard MTFs
- La Spezia and S.Giorgio stages look good
- A good descent finish

downs:
- I can't explain how much did I facepalmed watching the Cervinia route. It's not bad, I can accept it, but it's simply stupid. You have the Tze Core ****ing THERE.
- The stage to Genova and to Sestri, just a waste
- No Pradaccio
- No Moncenisio

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

8/10 for me as well.

ups:
59km TT is marvelous
Some nice long stages (263km )
Some hilly stages look decent
Descent finish is great
Finestre, Mortirolo

downs:
obvious improvements for the Finestre and Cervinia stage
another TT would be nice

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Copied from other thread:

Very promising first week with solid variation and possibilities for removing some GC contenders along the way.

Second week seems so so, but perhaps it will entice the sprinters to come and stay a bit longer.

Third week is just above average.

Overall a bit too back loaded (particularly with the 2nd week looking softish) with a tad too many MTFs. I would have dropped at least one of them and added a MTT since this race will likely be about climbers anyway.

Like the ITT.

Route gets a 7.

 

[May0maniac]

Between 7/10 and 8/10 for me. It's a shame that the Finestre and Cervinia stages are to easy, they could have been way better. But i like the hilly stages and the long ITT, if a rider wants to attack he has enough opportunities with this route.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Should have a second TT in the first or last week.
TTT schould be 20 km longer
Maybe one real flat stage more in the first week.
One of the mountain stages could have seen numerous big climbs.

All in all a good route for Giro standards, though. So i'll give t an 8.

 

[Red Rick]

Gave it an 8, for reasons given in OP

 

[OlavEH]

8/10 from me.

+ Some good MTFs
+ Fairly balanced
+ Few flat stages
+ The hilly stages looks good
+ Long and hilly TT and 263 km stage with a hilly finish

- Abetone is completely meaningless without Pradaccio
- Only "fairly good", no great mountain stages.
- None of the MTF are espcially tough.

The worst is Abetone without using Pradaccio first. I also find the Aprica loop fairly meaningless. Why not use Gavia instead?

The stages in the western Alps could also be better, but I don't think Zuccore instead of St. Barthelemy would have made much difference. It's the length of the stage and Saint-Panthaleon directly before Cervinia that's important here.

I miss a tougher all day mountain stage than using Aprica twice and would also have liked Pradaccio and a sterrato stage. That would have almost made it a perfect route.

 

[OlavEH]

As we do every year...
For me it's a 8/10... I wanted to give it 7 at first but then I remembered that I gave 6 to the previous route... This is light years better.
Up:
- the ITT is great
- Mortirolo from Mazzo
- No hard MTFs
- La Spezia and S.Giorgio stages look good
- A good descent finish

downs:
- I can't explain how much did I facepalmed watching the Cervinia route. It's not bad, I can accept it, but it's simply stupid. You have the Tze Core ****ing THERE.
- The stage to Genova and to Sestri, just a waste
- No Pradaccio
- No Moncenisio

Do you have any idea why they don't use Gavia? Is there a particular reason?

 

[Netserk]

Do you have any idea why they don't use Gavia? Is there a particular reason?

Maybe they want to be snow-safe. Or maybe they want Finestre to be Cima Coppi.

 

[Eshnar]

Do you have any idea why they don't use Gavia? Is there a particular reason?

Maybe they just wanna avoid snow this year.
Edit: Netserk beat me

 

[hfer07]

I like it

Stage 16 - EPIC

http://www.gazzetta.it/Giroditalia/2015/en/percorso-tappe/tappe.shtml?t=16&lang=en

well balanced overall, but I would have exchanged some flat stages for a few bumpy to medium mountain ones, which are very entertaining.

Promising is the way I'd describe it

 

[OlavEH]

Maybe they just wanna avoid snow this year.

Yep, i also thought about that. What is Cima Coppi next year? Finestre? That means nothing higher than 2200 meters. That's definitely safer than using Stelvio, Gavia, Fauniera, etc.

 

[fauniera]

I like it

Stage 16 - EPIC

http://www.gazzetta.it/Giroditalia/2015/en/percorso-tappe/tappe.shtml?t=16&lang=en

What the hell is epic about that, please? It's a one climb stage.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Stage 1: 1/10. I just don’t get the idea behind a TTT on the opening day. Anything else would be better.
Stage 2: 5/10. It’s a flat stage. But for a flat stage it looks OK’ish.
Stage 3: 7/10. I like the design. Nice stage for a break away with opportunities for different type of riders.
Stage 4: 9/10. Great design! Will see a lot of action. It could have been longer, though, but I really like it.
Stage 5: 5/10. I’m not a big fan of stages like these. Can’t really put my finger on what it is, but I don’t really like the design.
Stage 6: 5/10. The potential is there but what’s up with the 40 km’s of flat before the finish?
Stage 7: 8/10. Good design. Looks like a lot of different riders can win here.
Stage 8: 7/10. I like it. The part before the final climb is probably too easy, though.
Stage 9: 9/10. Great design again. Looks like chaos in the making.
Stage 10: 1/10. 200 km’s of crap.
Stage 11: 8/10. Short and difficult stage. Looks fun.
Stage 12: 6/10. Don’t quite know what to make of this. The second half of the stage looks interesting but the final bump is probably hard enough that nothing will happen before then.
Stage 13: 2/10. The only good thing about this is that it’s only 150 km’s.
Stage 14: 10/10. I like a really long ITT and this one looks brutal. Gaps will be enormous.
Stage 15: 7/10. Good stage but I fear that the final climb won’t be very selective.
Stage 16: 9/10. Now this looks like a great stage! Interesting finish, and I have no idea how this will play out but I’m a fan.
Stage 17: 6/10. Finally a well designed flat stage. It’s short and has a few obstacles.
Stage 18: 8/10. Monte Ologno looks brutal and I like the finish. Should be an entertaining last 35 km’s.
Stage 19: 8/10. Looks like a good stage and will surely be one of the decisive stages.
Stage 20: 7/10. Iconic climbs and will surely be entertaining but a disappointing lead into the climbs.
Stage 21: 6/10. Well, it’s a flat stage but on the last day it’s OK. Hard to rate.

Average: 6,38

It doesn’t make it any better that the route seems to heavily favor climbers with only one ITT. On the plus side, there aren’t many flat stages and a lot of the stages look very open to different type of riders. So overall somewhere between 6 and 7, I guess. Let's make it a 7!

 

[roundabout]

Don't get the critics of stage 19. Gotti won the Giro on an arguably easier stage than that.

 

[hrotha]

I think I like it. The ITT is hillier than I'd like, but at least it's very long. Personally I'd prefer one flat 60-km ITT and then a hilly 45-km one, but this is better than usual. I like that the Mortirolo stage is at the beginning of the last week instead of at the end, there's several MTFs where the hardest climb is not the last one, the route doesn't seem to be very backloaded and there's plenty of kinda-hilly finishes in otherwise easy stages without throwing silly walls in there.

As a negative point, it seems to me, without analyzing it closely or even looking at it twice, that most mountain and medium mountain stages are rather on the short side.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Don't get the critics of stage 19. Gotti won the Giro on an arguably easier stage than that.

yep, stage 19 is a solid variation of a MTF with three climbs concentrated at the business end.

If the riders fail to race it, well we know where to point the fingers.

 

[Netserk]

I think I like it. The ITT is hillier than I'd like, but at least it's very long. Personally I'd prefer one flat 60-km ITT and then a hilly 45-km one, but this is better than usual. I like that the Mortirolo stage is at the beginning of the last week instead of at the end, there's several MTFs where the hardest climb is not the last one, the route doesn't seem to be very backloaded and there's plenty of kinda-hilly finishes in otherwise easy stages without throwing silly walls in there.

As a negative point, it seems to me, without analyzing it closely or even looking at it twice, that most mountain and medium mountain stages are rather on the short side.

Sestriere: 196km
Cervinia: 236km
Aprica: 175km
Madonna di Campiglio: 165km
San Giorgio del Sannio: 212km
Campitello Matese: 188km
Abetone: 152km

That's quite fine, no?

 

[jens_attacks]

i like it too. gave it 8
mountains very good
long stages very good

for ten:
around 40 kms team time trial not those 5 or whatever they are
instead one of the early mtfs : a descent finish after 1 category climb
another 30-40 km time trial

 

[hrotha]

Sestriere: 196km
Cervinia: 236km
Aprica: 175km
Madonna di Campiglio: 165km
San Giorgio del Sannio: 212km
Campitello Matese: 188km
Abetone: 152km

That's quite fine, no?

I suppose.

 

[hfer07]

What the hell is epic about that, please? It's a one climb stage.

Pardon me, but did you bother looking at the stage profile? there are FOUR (4) climbs on it:

Campo Carlo Magno
Passo del Tonale
Aprica
Mortirolo
Aprica

 

[More Strides than Rides]

Sestriere: 196km
Cervinia: 236km
Aprica: 175km
Madonna di Campiglio: 165km
San Giorgio del Sannio: 212km
Campitello Matese: 188km
Abetone: 152km

That's quite fine, no?

Its certainly better than the last few years, though. Since Nieve's 7 1/2 hour conquering in 2011, I feel like many stages felt like the route designers just scissored 60k of the front of the profile.

EDIT: I may just be letting 2013's stage on the Galibrier pull my bias.

 

[fauniera]

Pardon me, but did you bother looking at the stage profile? there are FOUR (4) climbs on it:

Campo Carlo Magno
Passo del Tonale
Aprica
Mortirolo
Aprica

Really epic these 4% climbs.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

I really like the Mortirolo stage, disappointing as it is, and the Verbania finish.

The ITT is very good, but the second half is too technical and not flat enough for my liking. RCS keeps doing this. If you have a single ITT to counteract the mountain stages, why not make it one that is tailor made - from start to finish - for pure TTists?

Overall it's quite a bad route, though. Lots of climbing, but it often doesn't add much to the race, if you pretty much only care about the GC battle, like myself.

The only multiple mountain stage that makes sense to me is the Mortirolo one. Stage 9 I feel is massively overrated. The long section between the 2nd and 3rd - and final - (3rd category) climb is way too easy to have an all out GC battle, unless there are thunderstorms, or whatever.

 

[veji11]

Copied from other thread:

Very promising first week with solid variation and possibilities for removing some GC contenders along the way.

Second week seems so so, but perhaps it will entice the sprinters to come and stay a bit longer.

Third week is just above average.

Overall a bit too back loaded (particularly with the 2nd week looking softish) with a tad too many MTFs. I would have dropped at least one of them and added a MTT since this race will likely be about climbers anyway.

Like the ITT.

Route gets a 7.

Same reasons, but i'll give it an 8. To me one change and one change only would have made it great : just don't go all the way up Cervinia and do downhill to Chatillon. We would have had One big mountain stage ending in a descent.

But I must say I quite like the softish MTFs after hard climbs in Aprica and Sestrieres. Could make for interesting racing.

And the ITT is gutsy. And those nasty stages 4, 9, 11 and 12 could give some GC contenders seizures à la Wiggins 2013.