Of course people can remember, but there's no need to act as if it "had some profound impact". Why would a random race result from 10+ years ago have had a profound impact?
My point was the people dying - or getting seriously injured - is something that needs to be done a lot of to make sure doesn't happen. Races getting slightly altered, really isn't such big deal.
Precedent.
The 2016 Formigal stage was incredibly memorable both for good and bad reasons. It was decisive for that Vuelta, we saw Contador and Quintana - in the race leader's jersey - get in the break of the day, the previously unbeatable Sky train disintegrate in seconds... and we also saw 90 riders including GT top 10s, GT KOMs and mountain stage winners of that very edition finish 50 minutes back in a 3 hour stage, and people like Larry Warbasse announcing confidently that fans should like it because the riders had organised and agreed that if they were enough in number they couldn't be thrown out the race.
The 2020 Giro stage was far from memorable. In fact the only thing that was memorable was the riders' protest, and Adam Hansen announcing confidently to the crowd that the riders would do everything in their power to put on a show in the shortened stage... and then absolutely nothing happened.
These two stages demonstrated the weakness of race organisers to stand up to the riders. Yes, the race organisers need the riders as without them there is no show... but actually the bigger necessity is the other way around. The race organisers can always invite somebody else, especially races with in-built prestige over the course of a century, there will be enough teams willing to ride it if the top pros won't. Just like the Indycar/Champ Car split, where Champ Car had all the best cars, drivers, and most of the fans... but Indycar had the Indy 500, which was key to sponsorships, and they just invited other drivers and cars. The quality of the event went down for a few years, but its importance was such that it was the TV epicentre of that calendar and eventually all those teams and drivers ended up going back. Without races to do, the riders are worthless.
Very few will have a problem with a rider protest where it is actually merited. The 2009 Milan stage where parked cars were on the course, for example, or them refusing to take the start in the Giro della Toscana when it became clear they couldn't secure sections of the circuit from traffic. But that's a safety concern. It being a bit rainy and the stage being long, like in the 2020 Giro, is not. That's the kind of thing where organisers should say, well, you're free to climb into the team car or not take the start. Stage 2 of this race did not need to be neutralised, and in fact the neutralisation increased the danger compared to finishing the race as normal on the circuit as, you know, water flows downhill and all that so there was no standing water on the hills. That was just an act of revenge by the péloton after stage 1.
But this is two Sundays in a row - peak viewing day - where the fans have got to watch an arbitrary line not even painted on the road, just made up ad hoc, settle GC time, and then watched the biggest names in the sport chat to each other like they're me and my friends out for a spin, while the breakaway guys actually contesting the stage demonstrate that there was zero reason why the stage should have been shortened at all. It's legitimately turning it into a rally raid, with certain sections just covered for the sake of miles in the legs, and certain sections timed - which is antithetical to the way the sport has been run since its inception.
It's kind of funny, that the sport likes to lionise and romanticise the past. Fiorenzo Magni chowing down on the inner tube wrapped round his handlebars to distract from the pain from his broken collarbone; Jesús Loroño being wrestled off his bike because he was trying to ride a neutralised stage in the snow to prove a point; Andy Hampsten and the 1988 Gavia stage; Hinault at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1980. These are all parts of cycling history that are revered, praised, seen as great and admirable feats. Now we're supposed to admire the riders that look at the weather those champions of the past fought through and their first thought is not "how will I get through this?" but "will the organisers give us a complimentary mug of cocoa when we ask them to call it off?"