Rate the 2024 Giro d'Italia

[Roku]

Anyways, I would give it a 7.

Plus:
Of course, Pogacar.
Pellizari, Alaphilippe.

Cons:
I didn't particuarly like the race design. It lacked at least another proper multi-mountain stage and another or a couple of real mid mountain / hilly stages (Naples was good, but needed more of those)

 

[perico]

I give it a 7. It was better than recent Giros although not as tight because Pogacar is so much fun to watch. The other GC riders were about what I expected. Martinez was good, but he was like the chief Ewok to Teddy’s rancor beast. Thomas showed his age, and it makes me wonder just how good Roglic really was last year- whether Thomas was on a different level or he made Roglic look better than he really was.

I wish guys like Carapaz, Mas, and Hindley had ridden.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Are we comparing Pogačar to Johann Tschopp now? I don‘t think Pogačar will be most remembered for his Livigno solo unlike Tschopp.

Tschopp is more likeable than Nairo

 

[zlev11]

Me neither.

Torino 2022 automatically makes that race better. 2023 just had a lethargic middle section instead of being decided on day 2

this race had an absolutely awful middle section. there was no GC action that wasn't a time trial from stage 9 through stage 14, an entire week of nothing.

 

[zlev11]

Middle section I mean 10 until 15 or whichever was Bergamo.

Capuccini delivered and the 2 ITTs in week 1 delivered more GC suspense than the entire GC battle of 2024

if that Bergamo stage happened in this race everyone would be saying what a great breakaway stage it was.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

5/10

First week was actually really good, like 8/10 but second and third week were shite. Can't even blame Pogacar, if he weren't here it would've been a repeat of last year with a 20 stages long stare off between Thomas and Martinez (can't really blame Martinez who had to work without a team but Ineos, urgh). At least this year plenty of teams were commited to breakaways or didn't chain their support riders to subpar GC guys so we got some decent Narvaez, Alaphilippe, Paret-Peintre stuff which did paper a bit over the cracks for me.

As for its placing amongst previous Giros it's pretty easy for me:
2021 > 2022 > 2024 > 2023.

2023 was a genuine disgrace. Anyone who is putting this year behind 2023 probably just checked the results or is a Roglic fanatic. Like seriously, 2023 was like watching the first 5 hours of Milan-San Remo it was THAT uneventful before the final ITT. Terrible.

2021 was clearly the best Giro in recent memories, we actually had GC action every week: Smaller MTTs in the first week that had tiny gaps, a great Montalcino stage, Zoncolan and big gaps on the Cortina D'ampezzo stage in the second week and a third week where the big mountain stages actually had quite a bit of action. There was good Remco drama in the first 1,5 weeks, Bernal racing agressively but also showing weakness and good breakaway stuff.

2022 was meh but slightly better than this year because it actually had a significant GC battle, a fantastic stage 12 and a semi-saving grace finish.

 

[Red Rick]

if that Bergamo stage happened in this race everyone would be saying what a great breakaway stage it was.

That's the sort of *** that gets selectively forgotten depending on whether you like the winner or not or some other superficial reason.

I think it has a lot to do with the start of the race, you get in the mood for the race and then you just decide this Giro is epic and see everything through rose tinted glasses as a result. Happened with the 2023 Tour as well.

Meanwhile people had stupid expectations of Lago Laceno and Gran Sasso then Evnepoel went out with COVID and people already decided the Giro was the worst thing that happened to humanity since Justin Bieber no matter what happened.

 

[Red Rick]

Lol

Given that you give no counterargument I'm gonna assume you agree with me.

 

[tobydawq]

Given that you give no counterargument I'm gonna assume you agree with me.

Given that I already wrote my assessment, I obviously don't.

I did write that I understand that non-Pogacar fans would not have enjoyed the race but somehow you always manage to go the extra mile and call it worse than 2023....

 

[Sciatic]

I don't think it can be said with certainty whether Pogacar did or didn't increase the enjoyability of the battle behind, because taking him out creates a totally different racing dynamic with no UAE controlling and no mutant following. We can only go off our suspicions. If the riders in 2nd to say 7th got an idea in their heads that they could win the race by being more aggressive, I think at least a few of them have a crack.

I think we might have seen more attacks from them. . . but only in the final km of hilltop or mtn finishes.

 

[Froome]

That's the sort of *** that gets selectively forgotten depending on whether you like the winner or not or some other superficial reason.

I think it has a lot to do with the start of the race, you get in the mood for the race and then you just decide this Giro is epic and see everything through rose tinted glasses as a result. Happened with the 2023 Tour as well.

Meanwhile people had stupid expectations of Lago Laceno and Gran Sasso then Evnepoel went out with COVID and people already decided the Giro was the worst thing that happened to humanity since Justin Bieber no matter what happened.

Remco evenepoel and Tao hart leaving the race, screwed the dynamics of the race and because of that, the race lost the perfect balance between ofensive riders and defensive riders who are not going to risk that much. We just stayed with 3 riders (roglic, thomas and almeida) who are a more defensive riders and that screwed the race until stage 20.

With Tao hart and Evenepoel, the race would be different, because they would force the other 3 to not be in they're comfort zone and change the dynamics of the race in the mountain stages.

Besides that, i agree. Some mountain stages were a absolutely joke like lago laceno and gran Sasso and that's something who has been happening every year in the Giro.

 

[Brullnux]

That's the sort of *** that gets selectively forgotten depending on whether you like the winner or not or some other superficial reason.

I think it has a lot to do with the start of the race, you get in the mood for the race and then you just decide this Giro is epic and see everything through rose tinted glasses as a result. Happened with the 2023 Tour as well.

Meanwhile people had stupid expectations of Lago Laceno and Gran Sasso then Evnepoel went out with COVID and people already decided the Giro was the worst thing that happened to humanity since Justin Bieber no matter what happened.

Nobody thinks the Giro is epic, and you've misread how other people like me have seen it. It's not about the start of the race being 'epic' but what you expect to get out of it. It was obvious from January that Pogacar would massacre the competition, and that 2-8th would race like 2023. So me, and others, expected it. I feel like you went into much more negatively/without accepting reality for what it was and enjoying the rest of the race, and that coloured your perspective. Maybe 2023, in turn, was my/our fault for hoping for a genuinely exciting GC battle and getting... nothing (likely bc of illness, but it was bad regardless of the reason why).

The individual stages were pretty much all good fun and only on three or four occasions did I feel I wasted my time and regret watching, which happened most days in 2023. That's how I think it makes sense to rate the race. A lot will be affected by perspective in terms of how you wake up and what you want to get out of the race. I just wanted fun fights for the stage and at least some fight for the podium; I got the former, I did not get the latter.

 

[zlev11]

2022 and 2023 both had the GC lead change on the last meaningful stage. this race was over after stage 2. how the hell is that better? look, 2023 had some really disappointing stages but this race didn't even have a stage worth being disappointed about. stages 3-14 were a complete bore other than breakaway antics, and then the next 3 mountain stages had such a terrible design that literally anything other than Pogacar dropping everyone in the last 3k was a bonus.

 

[Brullnux]

2022 and 2023 both had the GC lead change on the last meaningful stage. this race was over after stage 2. how the hell is that better? look, 2023 had some really disappointing stages but this race didn't even have a stage worth being disappointed about. stages 3-14 were a complete bore other than breakaway antics, and then the next 3 mountain stages had such a terrible design that literally anything other than Pogacar dropping everyone in the last 3k was a bonus.

This is just revisionism, stages 3-9 (without 8) were all good, and people thought this at the time. What do you want out of a first week of a GT? Just because the lead changes on the final day doesn't make it good – in fact, it seems as often as not it's a sign of a bad race...

If you wanted a GC battle when you have Pogacar/Vingegaard vs the rest you are
obviously going to be disappointed. But surely you should adjust your expectations/hopes once you see the startlist?

 

[Red Rick]

Nobody thinks the Giro is epic, and you've misread how other people like me have seen it. It's not about the start of the race being 'epic' but what you expect to get out of it. It was obvious from January that Pogacar would massacre the competition, and that 2-8th would race like 2023. So me, and others, expected it. I feel like you went into much more negatively/without accepting reality for what it was and enjoying the rest of the race, and that coloured your perspective. Maybe 2023, in turn, was my/our fault for hoping for a genuinely exciting GC battle and getting... nothing.

The individual stages were pretty much all good fun and only on three or four occasions did I feel I wasted my time and regret watching, which happened most days in 2023. That's how I think it makes sense to rate the race.

We're saying similar things about expectations.

I had actually expected UAE to strangle the race far less than they ended up doing, so I had expected more from breakaways in the mountain stages. But I probably overestimated the stage hunter field because those guys just ended up going for top 10 in GC.

I will admit 3 weeks of commentators, pundits and analysts telling me how special, amazing and spectacular it all was didn't have a great effect on my review.

 

[zlev11]

This is just revisionism, stages 3-9 (without 8) were all good, and people thought this at the time. What do you want out of a first week of a GT? Just because the lead changes on the final day doesn't make it good – in fact, it seems as often as not it's a sign of a bad race...

stages 3-9 happen in every GT ever. sprints and breakaway stages. there was nothing remarkable about any of them. the same kinds of stages happened in 2022 and 2023.

 

[tobydawq]

2022 and 2023 both had the GC lead change on the last meaningful stage. this race was over after stage 2. how the hell is that better? look, 2023 had some really disappointing stages but this race didn't even have a stage worth being disappointed about. stages 3-14 were a complete bore other than breakaway antics, and then the next 3 mountain stages had such a terrible design that literally anything other than Pogacar dropping everyone in the last 3k was a bonus.

If you can't comprehend how 2024 was better than 2023 where NOTHING EVER HAPPENED then you just know nothing about cycling.

 

[Brullnux]

stages 3-9 happen in every GT ever. sprints and breakaway stages. there was nothing remarkable about any of them. the same kinds of stages happened in 2022 and 2023.

The sprint stages had breaks of some kind caught in the final kilometre (or not) on Stage 3, 4, 5, and 9, and between 5km and 30km of tension. That does not happen very often.

Stage 3: Pogacar and Thomas
Stage 4: Ganna
Stage 5: (Benjamin) Thomas' group, after Groves and Alpecin committed seppuku.
Stage 9: Narvaez

 

[Froome]

Honestly, the best Giros in the last 10 years were the Giro 2015 and the Giro 2018. Since 2018, the Giro didn't delivered that much, except for maybe 2021 and some stages of the Giro 2020.

 

[zlev11]

If you can't comprehend how 2024 was better than 2023 where NOTHING EVER HAPPENED then you just know nothing about cycling.

nothing ever happened? maybe it's you who knows nothing about cycling. at least 2023 had stage 8 and the Bondone stage, two real GC battles. this race just had Pogacar flying away from a pathetic GC field.

 

[Red Rick]

Honestly, the best Giros in the last 10 years were the Giro 2015 and the Giro 2018. Since 2018, the Giro didn't delivered that much, except for maybe 2021 and some stages of the Giro 2020.

'15 through '18 were a near unbeatable stretch

 

[tobydawq]

That's the sort of *** that gets selectively forgotten depending on whether you like the winner or not or some other superficial reason.

I think it has a lot to do with the start of the race, you get in the mood for the race and then you just decide this Giro is epic and see everything through rose tinted glasses as a result. Happened with the 2023 Tour as well.

Whut? Now the 2023 Tour is bad too? Stage 5 and 6 were not good? Neither was the entire battle between Vingegaard and Pog until stage 16 and the crack the following day?

What do you even want from a Grand Tour, honestly?

 

[zlev11]

The sprint stages had breaks of some kind caught in the final kilometre (or not) on Stage 3, 4, 5, and 9, and between 5km and 30km of tension. That does not happen very often.

Stage 3: Pogacar and Thomas
Stage 4: Ganna
Stage 5: (Benjamin) Thomas' group, after Groves and Alpecin committed seppuku.
Stage 9: Narvaez

yeah these are all fine but do they make up for a non-existent GC battle? not for me. 7 minutes of action before a bunch sprint doesn't do much for me.

 

[Brullnux]

'15 through '18 were a near unbeatable stretch

'16 was affected by one of the most epic final weeks imaginable, but first two weeks weren't good. '17 had two very good final weeks, but first eight stages were not good. 2015 and 2018 probably the most consistent.

 

[tobydawq]

nothing ever happened? maybe it's you who knows nothing about cycling. at least 2023 had stage 8 and the Bondone stage, two real GC battles. this race just had Pogacar flying away from a pathetic GC field.

Pffff, if Fossombrone and the two minute stomp there is sufficient for two weeks then we have different ideas of great GC action.

Bondone was okay but relative to a normal GT nothing really to write home about. It just felt like much more because it was such an oasis in the desert.