Rate the 2023 Giro d'Italia

[QueenStagiaire]

If I had missed five stages, I would have given it 0.8 for of each of those stages. I just like the number 4 ok. That said, I try to never expect a whole lot from a race, because you can easily get disappointed otherwise.

4 is a bland and boring number, something like 7 as a prime meanwhile has an air of mystery to it. I used 2 tbf, though and I just demanded an 8-8 ranking system. Sad there‘s no 17 option, such a lovely number. But what if people agree, is the number still special then? It‘s such conundrums that you start to think about when the racing is lacking.

 

[Alien Performance]

I think all the pre-race Remco vs Roglic hype ultimately killed my enjoyment of much of the race. I was all set for a real battle between the two and when crashes and illness lead to a battle, we never got to see the race never recovered.

+ points for Gee, Pinot, and Healy
- points for Adam Blythe's dress sense and Rob Hatch's stupid burger line

Remco will definitely want to see Roglic's trophy cabinet now.

3.5/10

 

[Libertine Seguros]

When Hesjedal stood there, holding up the Senza Fine I thought I had seen it all. Things can never get worse than this, surely? Boy, how wrong was I. The worst of the worst. No excitement, no heroics. 2022 was bad, but I didn't expect better. 2002 was a mess, but Hamilton did the most crazy thing I had ever seen. 2012 was godawful, but it gave a nice meme. 2023, surely it'll never get worse than this?

Actually I think Hesjedal holding the trophy at the end of the 2012 Giro is one of the main things that elevates it above the 2023 Giro, because the thing is, just seeing Ryder Hesjedal in the list of GT winners is destined to be a historical curio, like, people will know in advance that there must have been something odd about the race for this name that barely has any other GT results to speak of to appear in the winner's list, whereas seeing Roglič there and knowing that he won three Vueltas before this and almost won the Tour in 2020, when time has healed the wound people will not really see their attention drawn to the 2023 Giro and it might not get the long-term reputation as an absolutely horrible race that it deserves as a result.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

This wasn't really hard to rate sadly. I gave it a 2, just because of the final TT drama.

It was by far the worst GT I can remember watching, be it the single stages or the GC action. There were some nice things, like Gee or Pinot having a nice last Giro. But overall these were small stories, and Gee being a star of the Giro without actually winning anything tells you something about the race I guess. But: good for him, he got to shine all the more in comparison.

And on top of the horrible racing there was covid and crashes and weather that wore the riders down, so the chances for anything better got deminished.

That there are rational explanations for a lot of this does not take anything away from it being a horrible Giro. It rather demonstrates that some rationalities are in conflict with good or spirited racing.

 

[triley36]

The natural beauty of Italy makes a rating of “1” impossible, but the backloaded route really worked against any entertainment. The advantage the Giro has when compared to the tour is that no team is invincible. The tour is so controlled because 180 riders show up in impeccable form. That makes racing very predictable. Giro teams are not that. If the course allows for it, you can have three weeks of unpredictable and exciting racing, but when there is nothing in the first two weeks, and a fun time trial at the end where you can gain or lose big time, then everyone waits for that.

Also, at this point we know high altitude stages are never a guarantee in the Giro, so let’s not pin our hopes on them. While not a geography expert, I am very confident low altitude highly selective terrain exists in Italy. There needs to be a concerted effort to include one of these stages each week.

In the end, the riders do make the race, but the course can force their hand when thinking of the calculus involved in when to attack and when to stay in the wheels.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

I voted a '9', but I gotta be honest and add that I've only watched 5 stages of which only 1 from start to finish.
Reading first couple of posts here tells me that I'm not really missing that much by not catching op on my remains....

 

[SHAD0W93]

Was the edition so bad this is taking place of the poll? I read every stage and saw the highlights from Eurosport.
I’d give it a 4/10 with a point each for;
Roglic getting his revenge on the final MTT and dominating it despite the mechanical,
Cav finally getting the stage win, being the final stage showing he was able to get through the hard stages, and dominating the stage,
Pinot getting 5th with the KoM,
Almeida winning a stage and being on the podium while showing he is progressing and could fight for the win.

I didn’t like Evenepoel and Hart having to withdraw, all of the crashes and withdraws for illness or Covid, the stages being watered down, Pinot not winning a stage, and Cav only getting one stage.


The Giro seems to be getting worse and worse so hopefully they can correct it next year.

Keeping it a 4/10 still

 

[Savant12]

4/10

Ultimately forgettable. Highest impact was all the DNFs due to covid/colds/crashes.

1 point for a somewhat GC battle
3 points for (Derek) Gee having 3 letters.

 

[Escarabajo]

I have it the other way around. I think the riders raced the course the way it was set up, an elimination race all the way down to the last time trial. Why expend energy trying to ride the competition off your wheel in a bunch of mountain top finishes when you have a final climbing race where everyone is on their own? If they have a stage like that it should come at the end of the first week. Desperate attacks to regain time > trying to not lose time before the final decisive day. The GC battle (?) may have been gridlocked for most of the race but looked at as a series of one day races it had a lot of entertainment value. I give the daily racing an 8, the GC race a 3, and the course a 1. For a 4 average.

You are probably right. What I was showing is not my vote but the vote of the forum. Which is why I concluded the blame is on the riders. The weather can be blamed a little bit but that doesn't tell the whole story.

 

[Tonton]

4 is a bland and boring number, something like 7 as a prime meanwhile has an air of mystery to it. I used 2 tbf, though and I just demanded an 8-8 ranking system

I like the 8-8 ranking system: for a great GT, I give an 8, for a bad one like this one, I give an 8. I started using the 8-8 system in '17 or '18 to irritate Nertserk. Heck, I even stole his Rujano avatar and Cancellara quote for a while . Netserk can be grumpy, but he's good sport. Well, like JV: kind of...

I have to give this Giro an 8. and it hurts. Not to repeat my post in the other thread, but I was expecting so much more. It was a movie in which nothing happened until the final fifteen minutes. Did it work for TV ratings and is there more of that crap to come? I'm afraid that we'll have to put up with stupid, keep-it-close designs for a while.

As the Pinot fanboy, I got yet another roller coaster ride, happy ending and love on the final podium in Rome. His quest kept me awake, this meant so much to me. Healy and Gee gave me oxygen when I couldn't breathe.

8 it is: Primoz didn't exorcise the demon, Pogacar wasn't there. So let's stop the bullsh. Roglic is a good dude and with his fans roadside he delivered, nothing will ever top that for him. Geraint wasn't fast enough but like Henman or Murray, he demonstrated once again that the Brits are sportsmen, like Netserk. On that one I could be wrong .

 

[gunara]

After 40 votes:
Mean - 3.55
10% trimmed mean - 3.125
Median - 3

So far, comfortably the lowest this forum has rated a GT.

Is it really? Good. I'm tempted to check every rate this GT thread now.

I wish it was lower, much much lower near zero, but there are always winners' militant fans to inflate the score.

Oh, the war between fans of the favorites for this race.... I've never been as glad a race is over. Some "what ifs" will haunt it forever but not going to be as bad, hopefully.

 

[movingtarget]

One point for Pinot and the breaks. One point for the TTs. A generous 2. The TV coverage is the worst of the 3 grand tours and has been for a few years now. Some things were out of their control like the weather and stage disruptions. Shame that Remco and TGH went out of the race early. Worst Giro for a long time and worst grand tour for quite a while. On to the Tour !

 

[Tonton]

We usually get LS breakdown after a GT (I always love it) and it's not coming...it goes to show how bad it was. A one-week race.

 

[SHAD0W93]

We usually get LS breakdown after a GT (I always love it) and it's not coming...it goes to show how bad it was. A one-week race.

Three one week stage races back to back to back.
Evenepoel won the first week, Armirail second, and Roglic third and had the best average over the three.

 

[Nick2413]

3. Nice to see some real breakaway action, and the TTs were entertaining and awesome redemption by Roglic. The one benefit of the stale racing was keeping it suspenseful till the end. But still 3 out of 10.

 

[Escarabajo]

My vote is a weighed average:

GC action: 1/5
Finale: 1/1
Route: 2/3 (I voted in the route thread around seven so I have to stick with it, but I won't vote that high again for a route so much backloaded.
Other (breakaways, scenery, other): 1/1
Total: 5/10

I am too soft for the GT races. I craved them too much since I am a kid and now that I have a chance to watch them from beginning to end in high definition is lot for me.

Last year Giro was worse than this one IMO.

 

[JosefK]

Was this one for the dogs? Let's hope this one isn't headed to the TDF (still on the loose).

 

[gregrowlerson]

Always an 8 my friend, always an 8 .

Tonton, you would be a very successful cycling commentator or wedding celebrant.

 

[BR2]

I think some positives can definitely be found in this race, mostly some break away riders who really fought.

The extreme backloading, the extreme passiveness of most riders, the complaints and excuses about rain, cold, long stages, headwind, including an unnecessary cut of an important stage made the race overall unpleasant and uninteresting. The logical conclusion from all this would be to only watch the last (action) stage in a GT. So I can only hope people are not taking this as the new, satisfying normal but as a really bad race which shows things need to be done better in the future.

 

[hrotha]

I really don't understand awarding points for things like the scenery, the breakaways or the friends we made along the way

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

I really don't understand awarding points for things like the scenery, the breakaways or the friends we made along the way

The breakaways are part of racing, why not the breakaways?

 

[hrotha]

The breakaways are part of racing, why not the breakaways?

Because every GT has them, it's like granting a point for writing your name right in an exam

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Because every GT has them, it's like granting a point for writing your name right in an exam

I understand this, and I don't understand it. Breakaway is not breakaway. But I suppose you mean that breakaways happen (are sucessfull) in general is like spelling your name on an exam, not the breakaway action, like the actual racing it produces?

 

[hrotha]

No I do mean good breakaway action, of course there can be different degrees of quality in individual breakaway stages but I think it all tends to even out over a whole GT

 

[IndianCyclist]

2. Only the last TT and some of the breakaway action were good.

Actually, i wanted to give 5, but my finger ran into a headwind and it settled on the 2 button. Again, I lifted my finger but there was rain so i took shelter on the 2. Then the extreme keyboard weather protocol was activated which disabled my keyboard for a time. Once my keyboard was enabled, I looked and saw that there were 3 more keys left to the right and decided it was not worth the energy expenditure and finally settled on 2.