Rate the 2024 Giro d'Italia

[Brullnux]

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.

But they weren't what you see every GT (unless you only focus on outcome, which doesn't make much sense). It was a fun first week.

 

[Red Rick]

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?

I've very consistently said the 2023 Tour wasn't as good as most people make it out to be.

I think it's about when the great stages happen.

 

[zlev11]

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.

cmon, Bondone was excellent drama. the top 3 GC guys creating gaps, Roglic getting dropped and then saved by Kuss. it was definitely better than anything in this race.

 

[tobydawq]

I've very consistently said the 2023 Tour wasn't as good as most people make it out to be.

I think it's about when the great stages happen.

Or because you, who accuse others of seeing things through rose-tinted glasses, don't particularly care for either of the two protagonists and just dream yourself back to the days of Nibali, Contador and Dumoulin, then judge others for enjoying the show.

 

[Brullnux]

I've very consistently said the 2023 Tour wasn't as good as most people make it out to be.

I think it's about when the great stages happen.

I think this is fair. The final week of the 2016 Giro is basically been unmatched in recent cycling history, but it would have been less fun had it happened only in week one.

 

[tobydawq]

cmon, Bondone was excellent drama. the top 3 GC guys creating gaps, Roglic getting dropped and then saved by Kuss. it was definitely better than anything in this race.

It was more suspenseful than anything in this race, yes. But was it maybe 10 minutes?

I think Pogi was on the attack a little more than that this year, which I do count as action and which you do not.

 

[Mayomaniac]

2023 has the worst Tre Cime stage ever, so I have to rate it above that one.
2022 had Blockhaus, the Torino stage and Fedaia, so it's not worse than this year. Maybe on a similar level.

 

[Froome]

I've very consistently said the 2023 Tour wasn't as good as most people make it out to be.

I think it's about when the great stages happen.

2023 Tour was great, just like 2022 Tour. The only thing that was a shame last year, was Pogacar fading on col de la loze, because it would be a nice final battle on that climb(not that i think the winner would be different, but it would be a last good battle).

There was a lot of great stages last year.

 

[zlev11]

It was more suspenseful than anything in this race, yes. But was it maybe 10 minutes?

I think Pogi was on the attack a little more than that this year, which I do count as action and which you do not.

i count it as action, but it's not a "good race". the point of a race in the first place is for the suspense of who will win it. so yeah i guess if you just like watching Pogacar ride a bike by himself with zero risk of anything bad happening to him then this race absolutely kicked ass.

 

[tobydawq]

i count it as action, but it's not a "good race". the point of a race in the first place is for the suspense of who will win it. so yeah i guess if you just like watching Pogacar ride a bike by himself with zero risk of anything bad happening to him then this race absolutely kicked ass.

Exactly.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

I've very consistently said the 2023 Tour wasn't as good as most people make it out to be.

I think it's about when the great stages happen.

I think in your crusade to convince people that a good start doesn't make a Grand Tour great you kinda miss that a great start and a *** end is still better than a *** start and a *** end.
Giro 2023 was terrible in every moment of the race. I agree that Tour 2023 or even Giro this year had a pretty meh second and third week from a racing development perspective but overall still clearly ahead of a race where outside 20 minutes on Bondone and 5 minutes glory on Lussari nothing happened.

 

[kingjr]

Gave it a 4. Red Rick of a few years ago would find a way to give it lower, I'm going soft in my old age.

It's the single worst GC battle I've ever seen bar none, and if that wasn't enough, Pogacar playing farming simiulator also completely strangled any life out of the battle for the rest of the podium/top5 and top 10., Sprints are sprints, and they were way too damn many. Ciclamino was decided from the 1st sprint basically. Gravel stage did nothing as expected. Adam Hansen reared his ugly head. Yadayada. 0 KoM fight Pogacar ate that too, and I'm not sure he even noticed.

The ITTs were 2 of the highlights, which in itself speaks volumes. Other highlights for me were Alaphilippe winning that stage and Pellizari's exploits.

But when the Giro gets outdone for drama by some fan hitting Novak Djokovic in the head with a bottle it's just been a poor ass Giro

I would say sprints are sprints and there are never enough. That kind of adrenaline boost I got from watching Milan chasing the field behind the back of his team car at ludicrous speed and then bulldoze his way through the pack, aided by an insane pull from Stuyven, is very hard to replicate in any kind of GC battle. That is a different kind of excitement, of which there was indeed practically none during this Giro. However, I do sometimes appreciate solo performances for their aesthetic value, and on that count Pogacar truly delivers. I don't know what number to put on it, but I had a good time watching pretty much every day.

 

[KZD]

I voted 6 out of 10

First week was really good, second and third week were a bit worse but at least we had the Pogačar solos where history was made and also Alaphillipe and stage 12. Much better than last year obviously.

 

[Red Rick]

I think in your crusade to convince people that a good start doesn't make a Grand Tour great you kinda miss that a great start and a *** end is still better than a *** start and a *** end.
Giro 2023 was terrible in every moment of the race. I agree that Tour 2023 or even Giro this year had a pretty meh second and third week from a racing development perspective but overall still clearly ahead of a race where outside 20 minutes on Bondone and 5 minutes glory on Lussari nothing happened.

Nah. What gets me about the 2023 Giro is the erasure of the cool things that did happen. The stage 1 and stage 9 ITTs were wild, and get completely ignored. Bondone absolutely delivered. Coi delivered pretty much as advertized.

But because of the bias everyone has against that race all the side plots get deliberately ignored.

Meanwhile for 2024 we're praising stages like stage 3 where an accidental 1 minute attack happens that goes nowhere and suddenly sprint stages are cool.

 

[zlev11]

Nah. What gets me about the 2023 Giro is the erasure of the cool things that did happen. The stage 1 and stage 9 ITTs were wild, and get completely ignored. Bondone absolutely delivered. Coi delivered pretty much as advertized.

But because of the bias everyone has against that race all the side plots get deliberately ignored.

Meanwhile for 2024 we're praising stages like stage 3 where an accidental 1 minute attack happens that goes nowhere and suddenly sprint stages are cool.

yeah it all goes back to expectations like you said earlier. people were expecting a Remco-Roglic battle and were robbed of it, so the race was ruined right there for them and then they're in a bad mood and there's no chance of enjoying all of the run of the mill breakaway stages.

 

[Salvarani]

Lmfao

 

[Red Rick]

2023 has the worst Tre Cime stage ever, so I have to rate it above that one.
2022 had Blockhaus, the Torino stage and Fedaia, so it's not worse than this year. Maybe on a similar level.

How can you forget the highlight of Tre Cime. Pinot vs Healy

 

[zlev11]

as far as the 2023 Tour goes, it was good but overrated. it could've been much better with a better route (stage 15 in particular).

 

[Anderis]

I should have voted 1 because not only was this the first GT in 15 years I didn't even bother to watch, but my decision to not watch was fully justified as there wasn't even a single stage when reading post stage results and comments I told to myself "damn, I wish I had seen that".

But since I wasn't watching, I don't vote.

 

[Red Rick]

I should have voted 1 because not only was this the first GT in 15 years I didn't even bother to watch, but my decision to not watch was fully justified as there wasn't even a single stage when reading post stage results and comments I told to myself "damn, I wish I had seen that".

But since I wasn't watching, I don't vote.

Sad times when the least propagandized people self-exclude from the democratic process

 

[Peyroteo94]

i count it as action, but it's not a "good race". the point of a race in the first place is for the suspense of who will win it. so yeah i guess if you just like watching Pogacar ride a bike by himself with zero risk of anything bad happening to him then this race absolutely kicked ass.

Tour 1999-2005 had zero suspense.

 

[zlev11]

Tour 1999-2005 had zero suspense.

yes, except for 2003

 

[Froome]

Tour 1999-2005 had zero suspense.

Those old routes of the Tour were also crap.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Tour 1999-2005 had zero suspense.

2003 was the best GT in my lifetime tbf

 

[tobydawq]

Nah. What gets me about the 2023 Giro is the erasure of the cool things that did happen. The stage 1 and stage 9 ITTs were wild, and get completely ignored. Bondone absolutely delivered. Coi delivered pretty much as advertized.

But because of the bias everyone has against that race all the side plots get deliberately ignored.

Meanwhile for 2024 we're praising stages like stage 3 where an accidental 1 minute attack happens that goes nowhere and suddenly sprint stages are cool.

I have a bias against the 2023 Giro because it was a crap race, not because it was the Giro of 2023... Why were the ITT's particularly wild there? More than this year?

Let's take it stage by stage from my memory, shall we? I promise I won't look anything up. Then you can assess my bias.

Stage 1: Dominant display by Remco, confirming top favourite status. Fine stage but it's an ITT, so it is what it is.
Stage 2: Sprint stage, Milan wins. No other exciting action that I recall, but that's probably my anti-Giro 2023-bias.
Stage 3: Puncheur sprint taken by Matthews which was nice as I like him but no real action.
Stage 4: Lago Laceno MTF. APP wins, Leknessund takes pink. Nothing happens in the GC group, no attacks. Sky train all the way.
Stage 5: Sprint stage in Salerno, Groves wins, points for crashing close to the finish yet managing to return. Cavendish crosses the line lying on the ground.
Stage 6: Pedersen wins in Napoli in the sprint after a nice lead-out from Gaviria. Clarke and De Marchi were close to making it, so a decent flat stage.
Stage 7: Gran Sasso. Big battle of the titans Petilli, Vacek and Davide Bais. Nothing happens in the peloton. Good luck finding the equivalent to this day in this year's race. I think this was the worst Grand Tour stage of the last decade.
Stage 8: Nice solo by Healy and a nice attack by Roglic. First time any GC rider tries their hand. TGH and G manage to catch him and they distance Remco.
Stage 9: ITT. Very close (was that what made it wild) which ended up making it almost irrelevant for GC but a nice spectacle.
Rest day: Remco abandons right after the stage while wearing pink and without waiting until Tuesday morning to assess the condition. By far the most relevant GC action as of yet.
Stage 10: Cort takes the win on a very wet day the peloton is still remembering as one of the worst days on their bikes. It costs Vlasov further participation, so again the kind of GC action you don't like to see. Things got even worse later with the Covi crash that took out TGH who looked like the race's biggest favourite and also damaged Roglic.
Stage 11: Sprint stage won by Ackermann. No notes.
Stage 12: Break stage won by Denz. Not memorable to me, I don't remember who he was up against. Probably Derek Gee.
Stage 13: A lot of bickering about weather and such sees a shortened stage with an MTF at Crans-Montana. A perfectly fine climb, very suitable to GC action. But nothing happens on GC. Pinot manages to lose the stage to Rubio because he had a hissy fit against Cepeda. This is the third MTF with no separation between the GC riders by the way, good luck finding that in other Grand Tours.
Stage 14: Another break won by Denz. I recall his win here as having been quite cool. But no GC action.
Stage 15: McNulty winning in Bergamo, GC riders maybe considering attacking on the climb up to the old city but deciding against it. It is the 2023 Giro after all.
Stage 16: Bondone. A good stage with GC action. There wasn't even a break to deprive us from a nice battle for the stage. Roglic is dropped and saved by Kuss. Almeida beats G in the sprint, G takes the jersey back from Armirail (I don't remember when he got it).
Stage 17: A flat stage with a Dainese sprint win.
Stage 18: Zana beating Pinot for the stage. Again, remarkably, no GC action even though we're getting close. Three guys believing they can take the win on Lussari was not a recipe for a good race.
Stage 19: Same thing happens. The final ramp on the Tre Cime di Lavaredo sees Roglic and G dropping Almeida by a few seconds, almost catching Magnus Cort who was third on an on paper epic mountain stage. Gee got his fourth second place behind Buitrago.
Stage 20: Lussari. Okay, that was a wild ITT (I only considered the first two in my previous comment, so I at least guess I know what you mean now). A great climax.
Stage 21: A very surprising Cavendish win in Rome - thus making sure that no sprinter won more than one stage.

In total I count six stages where the GC riders tried something, three of which were ITT's, one was a short attack on a two-kilometre climb, one was a less-than-a-kilometre-attack/punch-out on Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

So don't tell me how I'm biased against the 2023 Giro. IT WAS CRAP.