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Rate the 2020 Giro d'Italia route

Rate the Route!

  • 10 (Awesome)

    Votes: 3 6.1%
  • 9

    Votes: 7 14.3%
  • 8

    Votes: 22 44.9%
  • 7

    Votes: 13 26.5%
  • 6

    Votes: 4 8.2%
  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1 (Horrible)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    49
The is some hit and miss, especially the totally unnecessary lap around Vieste, that stage now could really go to a mass sprint, but probably it will still be a breakaway.
In general not many surprises, good to see Piancavallo from Aviano and the Montescuro stage being much harder than anticipated.

7.5/10 for me. Will go for an 8 .
 
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Gave it an 8 as I really like many of the stages. The pacing ruins some of it though: Still rather backloaded, many weekend days unused, interesting stages likels to be raced negatively because of positioning.
Stage 20 is awesome, starts with a 107 km @ 2.4 % climb :D
 
The is some hit and miss, especially the totally unnecessary lap around Vieste, that stage now could really go to a mass sprint, but probably it will still be a breakaway.
In general not many surprises, good to see Piancavallo from Aviano and the Montescuro stage being much harder than anticipated.

7.5/10 for me. Will go for an 8 .
ETA of the Most Important Thread Of 2020?
 
From the rumours thread:
Overall, I think the route has a lot of bad basics but very nice details. I think the route is very climber friendly, and like the Tour, you only need to be great in like 3 stages. They might deal with 20s here and there in the first 12 days, but minutes will only be dealt in the last week. I really dislike that.
I mostly agree with what you write there, but I don't dislike it as much as you. In terms of mountain stages there are really only 3 stages where I expect big gaps, being Piancavallo, Lago di Cancano and Sestriere (plus maybe Madonna if it's ridden hard enough), but with the exception of Piancavallo you won't gain minutes by waiting for the final climb. Cancano and Sestriere both are not particularly steep 2nd category climbs, so you have to attack from far out, and that I think is brilliant. If I want 1-2 kilometers of gc battle every 2nd stage I'm gonna watch the Vuelta.

Also while the race is of course backloaded (as every giro) at least there are some points where gc riders will go for it prior to the alps. This year there was literally nothing except the TT's to look forward to prior to the Pinerolo stage. Next year I expect gc riders attacking at least 3 times before that, on the Etna, stage 7 and stage 10. That's still not great but it's at least progress from the previous route.
 
From the rumours thread:

I mostly agree with what you write there, but I don't dislike it as much as you. In terms of mountain stages there are really only 3 stages where I expect big gaps, being Piancavallo, Lago di Cancano and Sestriere (plus maybe Madonna if it's ridden hard enough), but with the exception of Piancavallo you won't gain minutes by waiting for the final climb. Cancano and Sestriere both are not particularly steep 2nd category climbs, so you have to attack from far out, and that I think is brilliant. If I want 1-2 kilometers of gc battle every 2nd stage I'm gonna watch the Vuelta.

Also while the race is of course backloaded (as every giro) at least there are some points where gc riders will go for it prior to the alps. This year there was literally nothing except the TT's to look forward to prior to the Pinerolo stage. Next year I expect gc riders attacking at least 3 times before that, on the Etna, stage 7 and stage 10. That's still not great but it's at least progress from the previous route.
Stelvio action is pretty much a given.

Stage 20 depends on the situation mostly.

I hope Dumoulin rides cause I think it would make the race SO much more aggressive.

And you know me, I'm ever the pessimist. This is probably my favorite route in a long time, though I don't remember what I said about last Vuelta's route. I think I was pretty sceptical on that one tho
 
Via Sagarat in the local loop on Stage 9 is a decent little wall, the stage should be too hard for most sprinters, if the breakaway doesn't take it. Still disappointing that that's the harder stage of the weekend.

Rated it a 7 overall. It's definitely closer to 8 than 6 though, let's hope the weather cooperates.
 
It could be anything from 5 to 8 depending on Stelvio and Agnello, and whether these are raced as planned.

So a compromise then, let's say 6,5. Could be 8 if these are raced aggressively.

The main aspect missing is a BIG mountain stage earlier in the second week.
 
Gave it a 7...Prologue/ITT OK, two boring stages, terrible transfer, Etna for once may see decent action (and if so, what took the organizers so long to use that twist on the climb?), more borefest, stage 12 is intriguing, I don't mind (or leaned to accept) a backloaded design to keep it close (winning TV-$ formula) and the 18 hard, 19 flat, 20 hard proposition looks good to me.

More ITT than Le Tour and the attempt to counter-balance it with 18 and 20. Many boring stages though. Dumoulin, Froome, Thomas, Roglic should go for it...just sayin' ;) .
 
I like the route (gave it 8). In the first week mountain stages to Etna and Camiglaitello Silano will shuffle the GC and show who's strong. The second week has no big mountains but a lot of hilly stages that could also bring some interesting action plus a time-trial (not easy but should be good for strong TT-ists fighting for GC). This (plus two other short TTs) will make the route a bit more balanced than the Tour (still favouring climbers though). The last week in the Alps is brutal with four mountaintop finishes and a lot of huge climbs. I love the fact that monstrous Stelvio from Prato will appear for the first time since 2005! And it's not very far from the finish line. Hopefully the biggest constantly steep (no flats and descends) climb in cycling (1850 meters of elevation gain) will give us drama on one of most scenic roads in the world:
wEiOts8a6jMAF1DJXnTx_231019-014354-968x530.jpg


3701407091_c6846d31fc_b.jpg


Penultimate stage to Sestriere is also huge, with Agnello and Izoard included. The toughest climbs are far from the finish line but no flat sections will make a lot of riders crack at the end of the race. Hopefully the highest climbs won't be cancelled due to weather.

CZK4uPIc8FsdqosfGGz4_231019-014551-913x542.jpg
 
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Can't give them a pass on the very long distance transfer without a rest day + other substantial transfers in the first 9 days. I understand that a third rest day wasn't an option as per UCI rules, but no one forced them to go all the way down to Sicily, especially not on day 4. This is amateur hour.

Some say the 2020 Giro is the ideal Tokyo Olympics prep race, but this may sway some riders to skip the Giro altogether.

As for the stage profiles... IMO it depends too much on the two high altitude stages. I'll give them a pass on the Stelvio one, though, as everyone wants to see the Stevio E ascent in a race, but I would have much preferred 3-4 additional GC relevant mountain stages, preferrably earlier in the race... The Stelvio stage could then haven been lighter (the horror...), with just the two climbs at the end.

The third week also has the Madonna di Campiglio stage, which will almost certainly be soft pedaled by the GC guys . Because of this I don't believe it will do the damage that some hope for.

The hilly and medium mountain stages are hit and miss. Like I don't get the excitement for stage 7 at all. Almost no steep ramps. No action before the last easy climb, IMO. Looks incredibly boring. Definitely way too many likely sprint stages for a Giro route also. And the gazillion km week 3 flat stage trend has GOT to end.

I'll rate it a 6/10 for now. Stage profiles aren't final, of course.
 
8/10

It's more or less what we're used to in the past fifteen years, but why change a winning formula? I'm surprised there's no resting day before the transition to Sicily. The first two weeks won't create big gaps in the mountains, but stages 5, 7 and 10 can have interesting finals and provide the first skirmishes between the GC contenders. There will be some boring sprint stages, but no one is obliged to watch those in full. The time trialists can take several minutes, but not enough to throw the climbers out of contention.

As usually the real work comes in the final eight days. Piancavallo is a great MTF to make clear who are the best climbers. The stage to Madonna dC will probably be ridden conservatively because of what comes next. Stage 18 and 20 have the potential for a spectacular climax. Let's hope that the weather won't spoil the party and that there will be climbers with the guts and legs to attack from far out. Laghi di Cancano (the MTF after the Stelvio in stage 18) is said to have some gravel, tunnels and nasty turns. I think it's a good decision that they didn't add any dirt roads to the top of Sestrière, because that would discourage climbers from attacking earlier and it could be problematic in bad weather.

Pantani would have lost five minutes to Zülle in the first two weeks, just to give himself a challenge in the final mountain stages. Now it remains to be seen who will be there to provide spectacle next year. It all depends on the riders willing to take risks and play all or nothing. One thing I don't want to see is a slow procession with a time trialist in pink and the others riding for a place of honour. However this course is tough enough to make that unlikely.
 
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Like already posted in the other tread I would rate it with a 7


quite nice route, although 1 or 2 flat stages to many.

Some minor changes would have upgraded the route from a decent 7 to a 8 or 9 in mine opinion:

-maybe strangely enough I would make stage 15 to Piancavollo just a unipuerto stage. Ok, it makes the stage harder, but any GC action before Piancavallo is unlikely anyway. The extra difficulties could be added to
-stage 6 (the last one on Sicily) could have used 1 or 2 climbs to the end of the stage (and there are possibilities there)
-stage 9 to Vieste is really a bit underwhelming. The 2nd Sunday of the race should have been some nice hilly/mid mountain stage. Unlikely to see any GC action there.
-chance Durone for Daone in stage 17 to madonna di campiglio
-add around 5-10 kilometers of extra time trail kilometers in stage 21
 
7.5/10.

The new Etna route looks more promising. And Stage 18 and 20 looks epic! The Madonna di Campiglio has potential as well. Imagine a muddy MTF if there is rain.

The Stelvio Pass is the crown of the Giro. I like that it will play a major role as penultimate climb instead of being an early "warm up" climb.

I dislike the idea of having a Groenewegen stage between two high mountain stages. I'd rather have Fuente Dé type of medium mountain stage where riders who have lost the GC battle can come back.
 
I think it worth an 8, endurance and proper mountain stages never disappoints with the Giro and the fact they ditched again the horrible final parade earns an extra vote. As I've already said ITT are too short and Appennines are still underused compared to their potential and hard hilly/medium mountain stages lack a bit but I disagree with who say is backloaded, there are two flat stages with grand depart as usual and the stages in Sicily are influenced by the transfer but you still have the harder MTF of the race in stage 5 and stage 7 is harder than the hardest Tour stage, obviously the proper mountain stages comes in the third week but IMHO should always be so in GTs to have a crescendo.
 
Apparently this new route up the Etna has a steep final 3 km, so probably we will see a brief but important first confrontation between the GC riders there.

In 2019 the toughest climbs were too far from the finish. That looks better in 2020. Especially the Stelvio at 37 km from the finish looks inviting for big action.
 

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