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Rate the 2021 Giro d'Italia

Page 2 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

Rate!

  • 10 (best)

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • 9

    Votes: 4 3.0%
  • 8

    Votes: 17 12.8%
  • 7

    Votes: 42 31.6%
  • 6

    Votes: 30 22.6%
  • 5

    Votes: 18 13.5%
  • 4

    Votes: 13 9.8%
  • 3

    Votes: 6 4.5%
  • 2

    Votes: 2 1.5%
  • 1 (worst)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    133
2019 was absolute horsesh#t until stage 13 (tbf mostly due to the route) then was amazing for the next 4 stages until we realized Carapaz is actually good and Nibali just fuc#ed up.
Still wonder how much Nibali and Roglic mindgames were just them being bad on Lago Serru. Feel like we ignore they lost 1'20 to Carapaz there. Based on Roglic not even sprinting for 3rd in Courmayeur I still think Nibali just overrated Roglic those 2 days.
 
I gave it a 5 and felt I was slightly generous. It's pretty much the definition of meh imo although I don't doubt the Tour will somehow be worse.

Good points - Taco, Caruso, Montalcino, the pro conti teams being willing to get in the break every day, Contadors reaction to Fortunato winning.

Bad points - no battle for any major jersey (biggest battle was probably Marengo Vs Pellaud for the Kms in the break), the absolutely abysmal TV coverage, queen stage being curtailed and then having no coverage, Landa crashing out, route resulting in some pretty crappy breakaways on the mountain stages.
 
Still wonder how much Nibali and Roglic mindgames were just them being bad on Lago Serru. Feel like we ignore they lost 1'20 to Carapaz there. Based on Roglic not even sprinting for 3rd in Courmayeur I still think Nibali just overrated Roglic those 2 days.
Yeah Roglic was toast. Nibali was probably weaker than Carapaz but not by much. There is this moment in the Courmayeur stage that still haunts me when some time after the Carapaz attack Nibali goes, Roglic can follow him, Nibali almost closes the entire gap to Carapz and when they are like 20 metres behind him Nibali looks back and wants Roglic to do the rest. Nibali 100% could have closed that gap right there and Carapaz never wins the Giro. But he overestimated Roglic and in the process threw away a Giro win.

Anyway, why are you doing this? I was over it. You didn't have to remind me. I'm supposed to be pissed about Thiem right now, not Nibali.
 
Still wonder how much Nibali and Roglic mindgames were just them being bad on Lago Serru. Feel like we ignore they lost 1'20 to Carapaz there. Based on Roglic not even sprinting for 3rd in Courmayeur I still think Nibali just overrated Roglic those 2 days.
On the Courmayeur stage Landa getting a free ride in the same group was probably also a factor, not to mention the fact that Caruso had nothing left in the tank after Colle San Carlo and was loosing time.
Maybe Nibali and the team also wanted to gap to grow a bit to force Roglic to help them to limit the gap, but that backfired.
 
I gave it a 5. On the plus side, Bernal's back was okay and he looked great throughout and was a very deserving winner--best overall clearly. Breakaways got a lot of wins, so good there. And Caruso was fabulous. On the down side, early crashes knocked out Landa and Siv, and Yates was subpar in the first week with illness. The Remco hype was unjustified and made for a letdown for fans that had unreasonably high hopes (myself included). And the queen stage had to be reconfigured and shortened, which took away some of the luster. With Ineos so dominant and Bernal in top form, any excitement for the top GC spot was pretty much killed off in the 2nd week. Wednesday's stage in week 3 provided a glimmer of hope for possible GC excitement, but Ineos was too strong the rest of the way. So I gave it a 5. It didn't suck but it was mid-level at best for GC thrills. But there were some good stories in this edition of the Giro. The country is beautiful, also.
 
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I (like a lot of others) gave it a 6. The good stages were very, very good, even the shortened Giau. Stage 11 was even better than I thought it would be, and 19 and 20 had me on the edge of my seat.

The flat and intermediate stages were incredibly boring, and while it was great to see a bunch of first time winners, I think Ineos's strength just dissuaded any GC action.

I know this is out of almost anyone's control, but injuries to Sivakov, Hindley, Landa, Dombrowski, Masnada, Remco, Mohoric, Mader, Ciccone and a couple of others really put a damper on what was shaping up to be a real battle.

Had most of those guys contested the race to the end, I think we'd have been looking at an 8. Landa and Bahrain would have taken the fight to Ineos, I'm sure, and that would have created some openings for earlier attacks from Yates, Vlasov and a few others, I think. As it was, Caruso/Bilbao did a pretty darn good job.
 
3.

Thought it was a better balanced route that was poorly ridden by the competitors for a variety of reasons - Poor weather stunted ambition, the points jersey lead to negative racing, racing is always boring when Ineos grabs the leaders jersey early in the race, which then leads to a feast for breakaways. Think 11 breaks won stages, although the ride by Martin and Van De Hoorn were outstanding.
 
It was the 2011 Giro done poorly. You can still get good racing in a race without GC tension, but between the weaker route compared to that year, Ineos being too strong for the umpteenth time, no tension for the other jerseys either, too many breakaway wins in the first two weeks, and the queen stage getting doubly screwed over by the BS route change and the RAI being useless, it was once again underwhelming by Giro standards.

Having said that, we still had two stages that will likely be better than anything the Tour and the Vuelta are going to offer with the sterrato stage (despite the blot of a nondescript breakaway win) and the Alpe Motta stage. The final week was as enjoyable as it could have been given the racing situation, and made for a nice surprise after I'd almost given up on the race during the second week. Taco's win and the first two mountain stages were also quite enjoyable, it's really just the middle part (except for Montalcino of course) that underwhelmed.

All in all, it's a 5 by modern Giro standards, but a 6 by modern GT standards, and I think it's fairer to rate according to the latter. I think I've also said this for at least one of the previous two Giri, but this was still better than the vast majority of Tours I've seen and that does impact my rating.
 
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4/10 for me. Mountain stages were a bit meh, with the exception of yesterday. Field was weak, especially after Landa and Buchmann crashes, and sprinters all went home after Week 1. No contest for points jersey.

In its favour were some pleasing winners, including the Qhuebeka hat-trick, Dan Martin, Taco and Fortunato.
 
Gave it a 7. There were number of good to very good stages, but no really great ones. Too much bad weather, lightly taken decision to castrate the queen stage and lack of twists in GC fight, with an added lack of suspense in other jersey classifications are main downsides. Too many stages were just given to average breakaways, but Fortunato's win on Zoncolan was really nice. The melodrama with Almeida and Evenepoel will probably the most memorable story when looking back in five years time.

Overall a nice and largely enjoyable Giro, but lacked spice and had some considerable downsides.
 
I voted 3... although I've only watched through Stage 17 so far and I heard that Stage 20 is good. But so far, it's been dull and the most promising mountain stage was both shortened and untelevisable. Some OK stages for the break.
GC battle is worst since 2013. With the exception of Stage 11, nothing happens outside of the last climb. A good Stage 20 could push it to a 4.
 
8/10 because I am Colombian! :D


It was really bad that Stage 16 was curtailed and worse that we didn't get many pictures from the curtailed stage. That stage would have made a big difference. Sterrato was really good, but having two stages to review in years to come would have been very special. Nowadays I don't replay many stages because Epic-ness has been lost. Especially by the ASO organization.
Well, must admit I envy you are Colombian. My nation probably will never have such a rider.. :(.
 
7/10. I always enjoy cycling so probably a 5/10 would be the lowest i would rate any Grand Tour.

This edition had quite some exciting stuff for me. Always happy to see a few surprising riders like Caruso and Martinez. Was also happy that Ciccone was able to introduce himself as a GC contender. Some of the stage wins from breaksways were nice to watch. Was also positive about the Sterrato stage and the latter mountain stages were exciting. The complete collapse of the hyped up new Merckxmonster also added some extra spice.

Far from the most enjoyable Grand Tour ever, but amusing nonetheless.
 
Well, must admit I envy you are Colombian. My nation probably will never have such a rider.. :(.
I am not sure which one is your nation but look at Slovenia now. They don't have much cycling tradition and the country is relatively small and they have arguably the two best riders of the world. So I would not put my hopes down.

However You can always admire cycling without being attached to nationalities like many here do. :)
 
For me a 6, it lacked a real GC battle between equal favourites.

We saw a great Sterrato stage, a great Raid attempt by Caruso, some fun breakaway stage battles, Nizzolo winning an awesome sprint. But not really any kind of genuine tension or back and forth where there wasn't an obvious favourite to win.
 
6 is being generous.
There was one constant at the top and the rest were changing day by day. Usually the weather is supposed to change the dynamics but in this Giro the weather was too much. Every contender had a bad day/crash barring Caruso and he was not even a contender to begin with.
Bad - Weather
Good - Breakaways
 
I gave it an eight 'cos I thought it would be a bit mean to mark the riders' efforts lower.
The crashes and terrible weather did have a negative impact on the race, with big names departing and teams decimated.
Viewing it as 21 individual races resulted in some good moments: Bernal on the gravel; Taco holding off the peloton; solo climbs by Martin, Yates, Caruso and the Victor C win that was just exhausting to watch.
We got a worthy winner in the end. The best rider won and he also had a solo breakaway, which we missed most of due to torrential rain.
 
I gave it a 3. Positive: One happy moment Merlier winning (I'm Belgian). Nice try Yates dropping Bernal. Negative: Remco not winning, Merlier abandon, too much Filipo Gana in the front, too much money Ineos, no bit mountain attacks. If you're Colombian then you must be happy...Chapeau!!
 
6

Started as a 4 but:
+1 for Ganna's double while being a workhorse in between wins, Fortunato winning and making Alberto ride 1500km, Taco, Attila, and Joe Dombrowski wins.
+1 for Caruso! Not only did he do the ride of his life to finish second, he had Brass Ones to actually go from 50KM on the final mountain stage to try and take it all and did win the stage! I Love it when the worker bees get some Glory!
So a 6. Giro is usually my favorite race but this edition wasn't up to par IMO.
 

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