Giro Spoiler - VeloNation - Cycling Forums, Bicycle Forums, Community Forums

Posts:3180

05/06/2023 04:24 PM
Remco! For fun, I picked two times out of my head after the first two or three TT finishes. I thought that if someone was completely on fire, maybe 21:10 was possible. But much more likely, the winning time would be closer to 21:30. Remco - 21:18. Next best - 21:40. As the finishes came in, I started to settle into the idea that 21:10 was a dream; that no one was going to break 21:30. Evenepoel today was something else. CK, does Remco's profile fit your idea of fast? (I don't see any room for improvement!)

Posts:3180

05/10/2023 10:53 AM
Today was a day for CX bikes and grippy 32c tires. Remco down twice. (Well, first was caused by a dog, those tires might not have made a difference.) I wonder if all the Di2 units behaved. (One breakaway rider was seen having difficulty shifting.) Brings back memories - of the 1976 Maine International, my first "real" race, where it rained steadily from 10pm the night before until two hours after we finished. A "you can't get any wetter" ride. Where riders learned the importance of those holes in soles of cycling shoes (and listened to the woes of those without after the finish). Gotta get back and see if Remco suffered real damage today. Guessing tomorrow won't be fun.

Posts:4499

05/10/2023 11:16 AM
About those DI2 units (yesterday), edit well actually this was SRAM: https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/high-stakes-high-speed-battery-swap-for-sepp-kuss-on-giro-ditalia-descent-video/

Posts:4499

05/10/2023 12:17 PM
Remco's second crash was definitely a case of unnecessarily being too close to sprint action and may turn out to be costly. Maybe they were trying to distance Roglic after he crashed earlier?

Posts:4499

05/10/2023 12:47 PM
That's one way to finish 5th. Scroll down for finish line photo of Cav crossing line horizontally. https://nos.nl/artikel/2474590-hond-en-valpartij-tergen-topfavoriet-evenepoel-in-giro-groves-wint-vijfde-rit

Posts:2881

05/10/2023 01:44 PM
3rd. The jackass who took him down was relegated. He got off easy.

Posts:2881

05/10/2023 01:49 PM
That stage was sh*t

Posts:4499

05/10/2023 04:17 PM
Gotta give it to Cav. Could be happily retired with a great career but still willing to risk life and limb.

Posts:3180

05/10/2023 09:10 PM
and it's a new Cav. New attitude. Now? That's sprinting. He got a call from the guy who took him out and now it's all good.

Posts:3180

05/11/2023 11:03 AM
Heartbreak for De Marchi and Clarke today. Cav takes another spill. But Remco was seen with a (real) football before the start, showing off his skills. A good sign.

Posts:4499

05/11/2023 03:18 PM
Tomorrow should be interesting with long finish climb. Maybe not so much for Remco who seems to be doing fine but certainly for his team who were completely absent on previous much shorter hilly finish.

Posts:3180

05/12/2023 12:42 PM
The breakaway! Bais joined it hoping for more mountain points. Nice bonus, his first win. The late well foreseen headwind put a real damper on the rest of the race so way less exciting than the billing. Fun photo: Link https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wVU56xZudhpFc5hGGZk6YE.jpg Looks like a classic sepia black and white print until you see the two little patches of blue sky.

Posts:4499

05/12/2023 04:26 PM
Strong headwind was definitely a factor. Strategically it may also not have been smart to attack Remco in hot form. Maybe better to save that energy until later in race. Anyway, the next stage I have marked down as possibly worth watching is next week Friday but maybe we will be pleasantly surprised in the interim.

Posts:824

05/13/2023 11:39 AM
Fun stage!

Posts:4499

05/13/2023 05:18 PM
Yeah interesting I had not checked this one off and have been on my bike all day. Just saw the outcome.

Posts:2881

05/13/2023 05:19 PM
Another chink in Remco's armor - all alone in the mountains. Weak team. He may kick ass tomorrow, but that last week will be a challenge Ineos just lost Ganna to Covid. Primoz smiles.

Posts:3180

05/13/2023 07:37 PM
Posted By Frederick Jones on 05/13/2023 05:19 PM Another chink in Remco's armor - all alone in the mountains. Weak team. He may kick ass tomorrow, but that last week will be a challenge Ineos just lost Ganna to Covid. Primoz smiles. And the big question - who else is Ineos going to lose? The peloton?

Posts:824

05/14/2023 09:56 AM
Kudos to Kung for the most modest and least hideous aero helmet.

Posts:3180

05/14/2023 11:42 AM
OK, Remco did what he had to do but did he acquire enough time to survive the mountains? He is going to have to keep his head firmly on his shoulders while riding above anything he has ever done in the high country. I'm still rooting for him. If he pulls this off, it goes down as a great win (assuming it isn't because of a rival or two screwing up - bad days or crashes).

Posts:824

05/14/2023 01:11 PM
I love how this race is shaping up - hopefully going to be a real competition through the next two weeks.

Dale

Posts:1767

05/14/2023 03:44 PM
Looks like the spoiler is COVID-19 Time to reset the race favorite

Posts:824

05/14/2023 04:57 PM
But America said it was over! As a quarter of my immediate neighbors have tested positive in the last three weeks…

Posts:4499

05/14/2023 05:30 PM
Everyone said it was over, including Canada and Europe. Which is true as far as hospital and other crisis management goes even though it will continue to noticeably hang around a few years more. Interesting turn of events for Giro. Any winner will have to deal with the inevitable Yeah, but Remco…

Posts:2881

05/14/2023 05:50 PM
I'll say it again: Why not give them Paxlovid and let them race. Remco for the TdF?

Posts:4499

05/14/2023 06:23 PM
Would the Paxlovid help against risks of long COVID? It’s one thing to use it and go about low intensity daily business but racing? Just wondering not knowing anything about it.

Posts:2881

05/14/2023 08:35 PM
Long covid: Yes. No f'in brainer. (That's a medical term). Good point that elite endurance athletes are in a different situation than joe shmo, and I don't have all the info, but the UCI if it had a brain and a heart ( fail x 2) they could get this info quick. Paxlovid is two drugs, one that blocks renal excretion of the other half, the half that stops Covid in its tracks. So maybe adjust that first half for heat, stage length, dehydration issues. This isn't rocket science. If Remco rides the Tour and does well, his star will be established. But his team sucks for GTs so never mind.

Posts:3180

05/14/2023 09:21 PM
So the teams are testing as they see fit and for the most part, only after symptoms appear. So those who get sick have just spent a couple of days with teammates at their most contagious. 8 days in, riders are getting sick across scattered teams. Like the US February 2020. My prediction - we'll see about 4X as many next weekend. Final week is going to be a mess. Panic before the Tour. I'd love to be wrong.

Posts:4499

05/15/2023 01:23 PM
Sven Erik Bystrøm is your guy LSD; confirmed Corona but he's been staying in race. There's no role for UCI in playing doctor. Remco's team would have send him home regardless but to Ben's point Intermarche is playing things much more loose. Its up to the Giro to protect their race (masks are now back in style). UCI's limited role was to ensure their races remain compliant with respective host countries COVID rules but those countries have proclaimed COVID to be over so UCIs role is gone too. Things will be fine again by the Tour, these things are pretty episodic and relatively shortlived. The Giro just happens to be in worst time of year.

Posts:2881

05/15/2023 09:09 PM
Good review of the current situation. Remco flaming out could indeed have been due to a new viral infection. Or an excuse, but I cheer for the more positive option. Also good points regarding the role of the UCI. A bit interesting to see a Euro (ex Euro, Canadian, whatever!) for state's rights.

Posts:4499

05/16/2023 09:26 AM
Haha. Intermarche paid in hard coin for their approach and sent three home today including Sven who suddenly started feeling it.

Posts:3180

05/16/2023 10:31 AM
Terrible Tuesday. Vaslov out. Sounds like the disease. Gaviria could probably call today his worst day ever on a bike. Vine losing what, 8 minutes? One rider said most of the peloton was sick. And how many crashes today? Sounds like most of those riders finished. And never mind COVID. How many are going to get sick simply because they got so cold and wet today? Today might rank pretty high in a list of Giro worst days ever. And that's without snow, ice or very high altitudes.

Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

05/17/2023 09:26 AM
The carnage continues....Tao out after a crash in Stage 11. Brutal. Last man standing wins, I think.

Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!

Posts:4499

05/17/2023 09:30 AM
This Giro is more like dominos or bowling

Posts:3180

05/17/2023 10:59 AM
QS is down to three. I was reading folk in another forum saying that Remco's COVID is a coverup for doping. Giro is now down 34 riders. My projection - we lose 4 riders a day to COVID, 1 a day other health issues and 1 a day to crashes. 12 more days. 72 riders gone? 132 now so 60 at the finish? Grim. I might be over-estimating simply because the available COVID pool is getting smaller. Still I'll guess under 80 at the finish. Everyone wants to say COVID is done and we can go back to life as normal. It may not be killing very many now but it is far, far from done. I hope the Tour and races up to it tighten things up a lot.

Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

05/17/2023 12:14 PM
I was reading folk in another forum saying that Remco's COVID is a coverup for doping Did they actually see the images of him after he finished the TT?

Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!

Posts:2881

05/17/2023 07:12 PM
Do the "folk in another forum" also believe that Elvis lives, bigfoot is real, and Trump won?

Posts:3180

05/19/2023 11:14 AM
Odd start today but a good race. Everyone made it down the sketchy descent and the riders were spared the nasty weather. I was rooting for Pinot but he had to have been into his second book of matches. (Good to see him at least beat Cepada who kept missing turns. And he gets the blue jersey so not all lost.) I like that CPA is looking more coherent and actually stepping up and not getting walked over. I wouldn't call today's compromise perfect and the false start then 5 minutes later board the buses - odd! But hey, this is the Giro! And CPA got - rider safety and a decent race. Riders not having to ride in very sketchy weather after and with so much sickness already.

Posts:4499

05/19/2023 01:30 PM
The only potential excitement today would have been Pinot and Cepeda getting physical. Thomas correctly observed that Roglic just seems to be biding his time, letting him ride in pink a few days longer until the final push. Most boring Giro in a really long time. The conditions and Covid are obviously a huge factor but the course choices this past week seem uncharacteristic (more like typical boring mid-section of LeTour) and have not helped.

Posts:824

05/21/2023 04:30 PM
I loved today's stage! Maybe I'm easily entertained. McNulty, Healy and Frigo were f#cking entertaining and inspirational. Great stuff! Also, this is the first time in years I haven't had to watch with commercials or listen to Bob Roll and his insistence that he say Christian's g@ddamn name every 45 seconds. So there's that ; )

Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

05/22/2023 03:39 PM
this is the first time in years I haven't had to watch with commercials or listen to Bob Roll How many years have I been telling you guys to get GCN?!?!? Welcome to the happy side of watching cycling. 😎

Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!

Posts:2881

05/22/2023 04:37 PM
Yes, the trifecta of GCN+, flobikes and peacock seems to cover all the big races.

Dale

Posts:1767

05/22/2023 09:31 PM
I've got my calendar noted to drop Flobike and Peacock just before they are set to renew and get GCN.

Posts:3180

05/23/2023 12:56 PM
So it's down to three riders barring unforeseen circumstances (and that never happens in the Giro! Yeah, right.) I'm rooting for Almeida. Ineos (the new Sky) just doesn't excite me and I"ll always wonder just how clean they are. Jumbo is kinda like the NY Yankees (though Sepp Kuss has a solid place in my heart; he earned that with the dominant ride of the Tour of Utah a few years back). A real GC race today. Finally. Almost twice the climbing I've ever done in a day.

Posts:4499

05/23/2023 01:17 PM
5200 m vertical? I've done that once (5,400 m in fact) on a 240 km day of which 150 km was gravel. Also it was a furnace (40C) and forest fire smoke. We were a little slower than these guys, haha. I like Thomas and the new Ineos is a lot more exciting than the old Sky. Did Denis pace cook his own leader? Ah well, one has to try. Almeida is looking good and with Vine he will have reliable support to match Kuss.

Posts:2881

05/23/2023 07:30 PM
Less boring today for sure. But still . . . can I have my money back for giving a fig about this snoozefest of a race? And for sure the sheer vertical today was impressive, way more than I ever rode in a single day.

Posts:2881

05/24/2023 09:09 PM
Cyclingnews spilled a bit more about Tao Geoghegan Hart's hip injury: a fracture dislocation. This is easy to repair, but can be a catastrophic injury because healing is all about blood supply, and moving the femoral head (the ball in the hip joint ball and socket joint) can damage the blood supply to the femoral head, which can cause permanent damage, and eventually it falls apart. Not good. If TGH's femoral head dies, current hip replacement tech could bring him back in or close to top form. (or sooner with Jack Daniels per Floyd, who had an overlapping hip issue.) I wish him the best. Another bone that has a vulnerable blood supply is the fractured scaphoid in TP's wrist. Definitely an injury that must be respected and given time to heal.

Posts:2881

05/26/2023 03:42 PM
Yawn. Tomorrow might be interesting.

Posts:2881

05/27/2023 12:22 PM
That was fun to watch :-)

Posts:2881

05/27/2023 07:06 PM
Wow Primoz for once unfu*ks up and spectacularly undoes some past bad juju. I loved it. Any other thoughts???

Posts:3180

05/27/2023 08:44 PM
I was thinking you know what Thomas is going to do. Can Roglic not screw things up? (Really I was hoping Almeida would pull it out of the bag but knew that was somewhere between a very long shot and wishful thinking.) 22% Mt Washington's last pitch stuff. I made it up that pitch because I knew if I stopped, there was no chance I was getting to my toestrap in time.

Posts:3180

05/28/2023 11:24 AM
OK, tech question - what was Roglic's low gear and what was Thomas'. Sounds like Roglic under geared Thomas on that climb. (Perhaps shades of Heras winning on that super steep Vuelta climb on a triple in the days of not-to-be-mentioned rider.) The bigger piece for Roglic was that last ride had been the focus of his thoughts, dreams and life since January. He'd walked(?) up it in the dead of last winter. He also knew it from his former years of ski racing. (The fan who gave him a push start after his chain drop was a former ski teammate.) https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/twenty-seconds-of-panic-primoz-roglic-defies-mechanical-to-win-giro-ditalia/

Posts:4499

05/28/2023 11:41 AM
Definitely home crowd advantage for Roglic yesterday. Lucky wings. And Cav today! Perfect. And Thomas pacing him, brilliant. But first Giro in awhile that I watched zero live coverage.

Posts:824

05/28/2023 11:51 AM
First Giro I've watched in near entirety in a decade. I must be missing something, because I thought the race was incredibly engaging. And Cav's finish topped it off.

Posts:3180

05/28/2023 01:41 PM
Yeah. Cavendish! Only right way to end this Giro. (Well, either Healy or Gee going solo would have been fun.)

Posts:824

05/28/2023 02:59 PM
Gee... All guts. Great to watch, hard not to root for.

Posts:2881

05/28/2023 05:14 PM
Yes, great finish to the race. Cav's joy was shared by half the peloton - he has a lot of respect. Did anyone read or see anything about the crash at the finish? I watched the replay in slo mo a few times: looked like the cause was a big UAE rider who veered way way right - a stupid, dangerous move. He may have got his back wheel into Milan's front wheel, but Milan must be really strong to stay upright. He went down hard - his fault - but took out others. Jerk.

Posts:3180

05/28/2023 11:33 PM
Cav asked Thomas about a leadout. Thomas gave Cav his all. Cav then got on Gaviria. Game over. https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/what-a-way-to-end-my-giro-ditalia-mark-cavendish-strikes-in-rome/ I love that in the three week Tours you see far more than just hard nosed competition. You also see hearts extended to other riders, not just teammates.

Posts:4499

05/30/2023 03:11 PM
Posted By Frederick Jones on 05/27/2023 07:06 PM Wow Primoz for once unfu*ks up and spectacularly undoes some past bad juju. I loved it. Any other thoughts??? when that chain dropped and after he got it back on, the guy pushing him was a former ski jumping teammate. They shared a room for 4 years. What are the odds? As Roglic put it, everything happens for a reason.