Hindley didn't looked good on TA?! Even so, of course they didn’t looked in top shape until now, because they're main goals are not in May.
And yes, they would lose with half of the gap the others riders in this Giro had to Pogacar.
Yes, Hindley in top shape like in the Giro 2022 or Giro 2020 with Tao, could had won 4/5 stages without Pogacar on this race(of course the gaps would not be as high), against this competition. Grappa, Mottolino, prati di tivo, passo brocon.....if Bora worked to catch the breakaway and win the stages.
Don't forget about the gaps Tao and Hindley had in the mountains stages in 2020 like piancavallo, Stelvio or sestriere against the other competition like almeida, nibali or bilbao who are not worse than Tiberi and Rubio.
Just 4/5 stages now? What will next week be 3/4?
How has Hindley looked since while everyone else that finished top 10 have done well in races after TA baring Vingegaard due to his crash.
Pogacar was well ahead of Hindley last year at the Tour before Hindley’s crash. Hindley has dropped off since TA and Kuss has been nonexistent this year with Pogacar already embarrassing him.
Pogacar could have won 8-12 stages if he went all out and UAE went for everything. The only one that could say the same is Vingegaard.
Hindley and TGH rocked the others on 1 stage, during a Covid season when the Giro was in a weird spot. Almeida was not the rider he is today in 2020, Nibali was on his last legs, and Bilbao wasn’t who he is currently.
He was consistently better than them. After Javalambre he gained an additional 46 seconds on Ayuso (before sitting up in Madrid for the team photo), despite not needing to. Nothing barely about that.
Would Ayuso and Landa be able to beat Martinez here? Plausibly, quite likely even. So would Kuss, if at his best.
It wasn’t originally being argued that Kuss would finish ahead of Martinez, it’s that he’s wouldn’t be destroyed as bad like everyone else if he was here. Then the second place came up and then was compared to Hindley who would look like Merckx if he was swapped with Pogacar and at the Giro.
I think Kuss could finish ahead if in his Vuelfs shape and the cards fall right, but it’s not certain nor is it certain he would be closer than the others to Pogacar. Kuss was on the strongest team with two better riders behind him that could kill any move from the other competitors to the point they gave up trying to overcome him and started fighting among themselves. And it’s even crazier to say imply he could win 5/6 stages especially when he’s looked bad so far this year. Plus there is the 2 TTs that don’t suit him. Do you think he gains enough time in the mountains to overcome his TT deficit in order to get second?
And that’s not even counting if Kuss was here Thomas and Martinez might have actually tried some attacks if Kuss was a little ahead.