Rate the 2021 Giro d'Italia

[The Hegelian]

4.

The last week was decent. Bernal was a deserving winner. I liked how Yates and Caruso had a good crack. But frankly, it just never really captured my imagination.

 

[jaylew]

6.5 for me which seems to be close to the consensus.

 

[OlavEH]

6.

Up one point thanks to the Montalcino stage. Otherwise it was pretty mediocre, especially the mountain stages. The race suffered from the lack of better competitors to Bernal (Pinot's injury and Landa's and Buchmann's crashes) and better designed mountain stages.

 

[Forever The Best]

5 because stage 16's non coverage was awful. Probably would have been a 6 otherwise.

 

[Cookster15]

I liked the winner and I like that I was kept interested for the entire three weeks. 7 out of 10.

 

[Marmot]

I gave it an 8. I would have given it a 9 if there was any tension in the fight for the points jersey.

I usually watch the stages in the evening after my kids are in bed. I watch the break form, and then fast forward to the point of the stage where I expect things to start getting more interesting (e.g. the last 30, 40 or 50km, depending on the profile).

The breaks provided some nice racing, especially the stages won by Van der Hoorn (with special mention to Ponomar clawing his way across at the beginning), Vendrame, Campenaerts (who instigated the break... twice) and Bettiol. Fortunato's win (and Tratnik's solid second place, beating some established climbers in the break) was also a highlight. Contador's reaction was priceless.

Stage 11 was exciting, and showcased Bernal's (and his team's) versatility.

I was also really happy for both Nizzolo and Caruso.

I know Evenepoel was a disappointment for some, but I reckon it was amazing he made it as far as he did.

 

[hayneplane]

5/10
Worthy winner in Bernal though it would have got really interesting had Martinez not been so strong

GC looked locked in from Montalcino onwards which knocked 2 marks off a perfect score for me.

Another mark off for too many stages going to very soft breaks though at least the stage winners themselves had feel good stories.

Final mark off for the abysmal weather that often inhibited attacks.

The biggest criticism is for the inept organisation and shambolic neutering of the Queen stage which seemed to be at least in part due to the inability of the host broadcaster to provide reliable coverage.

I voted 6 in the poll but the more I think about it with so many sprinters departing early and Sagan riding defensively the Ciclamino jersey battle was barely a skirmish and the KOM fight suffered for many riders crashing out like Dombrowski, Mader and Ciccone.

 

[jaylew]

However You can always admire cycling without being attached to nationalities like many here do.

Agree with this. I understand it and it makes sense I guess, but I still find the preference for riders from your country slightly irritating at times.

 

[Gerrard Slipped haha]

The good: Some really cool stories like Taco, Fortunato, and obviously Caruso. Even Dan Martin winning the 17th stage was cool af, and that was an amazing performance by him as well. The montalcino stage very much delivered, and the final week was really decent, with there still being some chances that Bernal might crack.

The bad: well, one could say that the winner was known very very early into the race, as it was pretty sure that Bernal is just the strongest in the field, with definitely the strongest team. The only question was, whether he would crack, or moreso even whether those back problems would appear. Final week saved the day as far as GC battle goes, but it was still very underwhelming.
The Zoncolan stage was a major disappointment to me, same obviously for the queen stage, just in general it was very disappointing to see that not only were Fedaia and Pordoi cancelled, but also that f*cking TV coverage man.
The battle for the points jersey was like, the least exciting I can remember on a Grand Tour.
And also Landa crashing, not saying he would challenge Bernal for the MR because we will never know that, but he would definitely make this race more exciting.


I always love me some Giro, so since I am biased I will give this one a 6. But I really hoped this one will be a race to remember, and it surely was not. At the end of the day it was fine at best. Better than 2020 and 2019, definitely worse than like all 4 editions before that.

 

[Escarabajo]

I see a lot of posts with 5 and 6 votes but the majority has 7. So it seems that those people don't like to post!

 

[mountainroad]

Solid 7. The winner was great, there were some great stage wins, and the scenery was nice. I don't understand the expectations of a lot of cycling fans. Since I became a big fan of the sport, I've followed 35 Grand Tours and people have complained about every one.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

Since I became a big fan of the sport, I've followed 35 Grand Tours and people have complained about every one.

Lol so true. Cycling fans are grumpy old b*stards.

 

[Leinster]

It was the worst points jersey battle I've evern seen tbh, with Sagan fighting to let breakaways go as soon as he had the jersey and no sprint being contested after like 12 days.

The points jersey battle was awful, but that was a product of the final week being designed for a gc battle, and the sprinters all, as a direct result, hitting the showers early. If there had been more sprint stages in the final week, the loss of Fedaia would have been even more damaging.

I thought the gc battle was great, we had some worthy stage winners, all of the podium got well deserved stage wins, and the overall winner was the strongest rider with the strongest team, who was willing to attack early and often on all types of terrain. And even when Bernal had a big lead, his top 10 rivals were all willing and able to attack him, isolate him, and put time into him, just not, ultimately, enough.

I wish a few of the contenders hadn’t crashed out, but we see that sort of thing in every GT. I gave the race a 7.5 and rounded up. I see a lot of people rounded down. I could have gone either way.

 

[BlueRoads]

Solid 7. The winner was great, there were some great stage wins, and the scenery was nice. I don't understand the expectations of a lot of cycling fans. Since I became a big fan of the sport, I've followed 35 Grand Tours and people have complained about every one.

Partly I share your sentiment. People are expecting too much from GTs and therefor they are complaining afterwards. On the other hand you can't blame anyone complaining about a GT where the winner was pretty much clear after the first stages, with a chance that he wouldn't win due to health reasons. There was no battle for green at all, a muted battle for KOM, many break-aways that were just let go because there was nobody with a name or form in it at all and then nobody cared to rule them back in again. The queen stage was cut (for questionable reasons and nobody really spoke out about not wanting to ride it), what was left we hardly saw, and there were many crashes taking out main contenders early.
So really, thinking about it, if you look at the ratings given they are pretty generous.

 

[Netserk]

The cancellation of Fedaia and Pordoi and the bad coverage are real drawbacks. Even with that though, it was still a better edition than 2012, 2013, & 2014. Maybe also 2019.

 

[Sciatic]

Being on the road for a few stages made it a very entertaining Giro for me, but objectively I don't think this deserves more than a 6. Montalcino was excellent, there was some very good breakaway action and Bernal honored the maglia rosa with some great attacks.

On the other hand, butchering the queen stage and not being able to broadcast it was unforgivable, so I can't give it a better vote.


Unsung heroes of the Giro in my opinion:

- Davide Formolo: probably the most cheerful rider of the peloton. Even when he lost like half on hour on Sega di Ala he would laugh and joke with the fans while pushing his monster gear.

- Michael Storer and Chris Hamilton: always smiling at the fans while climbing some hard mountains. They really enjoyed their time here.

- Koen Bouwman: has been towing Foss around for every freaking climb since the Giau. They were so inseparable that I though he would wait for Foss today and finish the ITT together.

- Vadim Pronskiy: incredible last week. He often climbed with the top riders.

Love hearing your roadside perspective of the things we can’t see on broadcasts!

 

[wheresmybrakes]

I gave it a 7

Minus point for the lack of competition in the points jersey
Minus point for the coverage/shortage of the queen stage
Minus point for lack of another top class (in form) GC rider to give Bernal a game

Thought it was a good race. Chuffed for Caruso getting on the podium. Yates and Bernal was expected to podium. I never expected Remco to get near the top (maybe top 10). Shame he had to leave due to injury but hopefully he and his team can use a bit of common sense before throwing him into races without proper prep. I also thought it was great seeing Fortunato get the stage win his team deserved. By the way, has Contador made it to Milan yet?

 

[movingtarget]

Give it a 4. Points race was a non event, more mountain stage changes. Without Caruso's performance the GC battle would have been really dull. For me it didn't get close to the no name battle from last year. A few really good stages : Martin, Yates and Caruso wins and one or two of the early breakaway wins. Considering how many good riders Jumbo and Ineos held back for the Tour if the Tour isn't the best GT of the season something is wrong. Pogacar v the two super teams should be fun to watch. As it turned out the Ineos Giro team that didn't look that strong on paper was more than enough to get Bernal over the line and there was no real opposition in the mountains consistently from other teams apart from a few solo attacks that were controlled by Ineos and the Bardet/Caruso attack was good viewing but was never going to claw back enough time to threaten Bernal.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

I see a lot of posts with 5 and 6 votes but the majority has 7. So it seems that those people don't like to post!

There is an arrogance behind the "I have high standards that were not met" kind of responses. I was compelled the entire time, but can recognize that the final narrative itself as it ended was not that exciting.

Rated 8 before I read any of the comments. Agree with most of the sentiment, and I would have been swayed by the very same "I have high standards that were not met" tone and given it a 6 if I had read the comments first.

Glad I didn't, even if there is a lot of truth to those cynical replies.

Résumé:

This was the Giro that was shaped by the helper's stories.
Starting with the first time trial won by one of the most valuable helpers in the peloton. Continuing with the Evenepoel-Almeida soap story, ehm, saga. Then Caruso rose from domestique to podium contender, culminating in him getting runner-up, while Martínez showed his worth as Bernal's second hand and motivation coach. In the background Foss overtook his leader Bennett despite working for him in the beginning.
It also was the Giro of the riders you often don't recognize or don't rate highly, with stage wins from, among others, van der Hoorn, Dombrowski, Lafay, Mauro Schmid, Vendrame and Lorenzo Fortunato.
It was quite an Italian Giro, with seven Italian stage wins and a second place in GC for an Italian.
It was a Giro where the sprinters dropped out as if this race was a perforated vessel, very unromantic in that regard with Ewan getting the two stage wins he wanted, Merlier starting another race before the Giro finished and Sagan collecting the ciclamino in the most succinct, but apparently not totally unpassionate way.
It was a Giro of bad broadcasting, bad weather, backloading and Ineos dominance, so, nothing extra.ordinary, but there were some nice twists. Remember the little details, like the gravel finish, and a tunnel just before that gravel finish, or the traffic jam in the time trial today.
There was sterrato. 143 riders finished this race.
All in all it was a decent Giro which I'm rating 6.

I really like this take.

 

[Skalman]

I gave it a 4, too little real excitement for the top GC spot, too many potential exciting riders either crashed out or got injured. The route was ok, nothing more.
Ineos was to strong compared to the rest of the field.

 

[lemon cheese cake]

A 6 or a 7 out of 10. Sprint finishes were chaotic like they mostly are in the giro. The Montalcino stage was average looking back on it. In hindsight I think it's like the cobbled stages in the Tour in 2013 and 2018(?). They looked like absolutely crucial stages where massive gaps between everybody could take place, but in the end it was only a smattering of seconds separating the top guys and a couple of big GC riders loosing a larger amount of time. I wish Ciccone and Buchmann hadn't crashed as Ciccone definitely looked to be waiting in the wings during the first week, and Buchmann was looking stronger as the race went on. Same with Almeida. I wish his role was more free.

If I was rating it solely on the way my Velogames team rode, then a 3 or 4. 4 didn't finish, Bilbao wasn't showing like he did last year and wasnt even in the similar position to Caruso, Cavagna wasn't as present as I was expecting for some reason (only in the tts) and Ulissi was quiet until the final week.

 

[Netserk]

I'd rank it somewhere along the lines of:

2015
2018
2016
2020
2017
2021 <--
2019
2013
2014
2012

So a 5.

 

[Luthor]

4 for me, it was quite disappointing.
The good parts were some of the stage wins like Taco, Caruso, Martin and Fortunato.
The bad parts are the crashes of so many GC contenders and the dull GC battle, Bernal was never really threatened and even then he had the best team. The points classifications for sprints/mountains also really uneventful. Cutting the queen stage and the horrible tv broadcast are also big negatives.