2024 Giro D'Italia

[eth-dog]

Hasn't looked like getting close in any of the races I've seen this year. Isn't he still recovering from some injury?

Not sure, but he never starts the year well either tbf

 

[Orange Agent]

Bardet looks in good form but it's just a case of how much time he loses in the TT's, which is likely to be a lot. Uijtdebroeks is the same, his complaints about Bora and their TT gear has been unfounded as his TT's at Jumbo have been horrible. Did not expect Mezgec to be racing here, can read a lot of things into it. Either the team wants stage wins and won't risk somebody like Plapp being in a sprint train, which is good. If he rides well at Romadie he should be going for GC at Giro. And I think Benno can podium here, his TT is good enough and the Paret-Pientre brothers are in super form this year.

 

[yaco55]

Plapp will be nowhere near the sprint train for Jayco - The sprint train will be Ewan, Stewart, Walscheid with some help from De Marchi.

 

[eth-dog]

Bardet looks in good form but it's just a case of how much time he loses in the TT's, which is likely to be a lot. Uijtdebroeks is the same, his complaints about Bora and their TT gear has been unfounded as his TT's at Jumbo have been horrible. Did not expect Mezgec to be racing here, can read a lot of things into it. Either the team wants stage wins and won't risk somebody like Plapp being in a sprint train, which is good. If he rides well at Romadie he should be going for GC at Giro. And I think Benno can podium here, his TT is good enough and the Paret-Pientre brothers are in super form this year.

It's a bizarre team. Walscheid, Stewart and Mezgec.as a lead out train when Mezgec and Ewan don't work well together, Stewart is better suited to being the final lead out rider and Walscheid better as second last. No genuine workhorses on the flat like Hepburn, Durbridge, Craddock, CJJ, AGJ, Maas etc and then three sort of GC riders (Zana and Dunbar not in form for GC, with Plapp as the likely leader with only one 3 week race ever) and an opportunist who doesn't really fit either side of the equation.

They'd be better off dropping Mezgec for Grondahl Jansen, and maybe De Marchi for Kell O'Brien

 

[Orange Agent]

Good timed attack from Plapp last night.

 

[Orange Agent]

Entertaing stage 1, bit like last years TDF stage with the Yates brothers. Bardet and Plapp getting dropped so early was a real shock, especially when a guy like Ganna could make it over. UAE burnt their domestiques early but looking at the upcoming stages, even if they get Pink tonight, they won't have to control many stages for over a week, the sprint teams will be doing it, so it was the right choice.

 

[Vader]

Entertaing stage 1, bit like last years TDF stage with the Yates brothers. Bardet and Plapp getting dropped so early was a real shock, especially when a guy like Ganna could make it over. UAE burnt their domestiques early but looking at the upcoming stages, even if they get Pink tonight, they won't have to control many stages for over a week, the sprint teams will be doing it, so it was the right choice.

I hate to break it to you, but Bardet getting dropped wasn't a shock. His performance in LBL was the real shock.

Arensman losing 2+ minutes was a much bigger shock, robbing the Skybots of one of their attacking prongs in the process.

 

[eth-dog]

Probably the best possible result for UAE. Puts a bit of time into his main rivals and forces a team with his main challenger in pink.

 

[Vader]

Probably the best possible result for UAE. Puts a bit of time into his main rivals and forces a team with his main challenger in pink.

Yes, but it's likely to be very short-lived. Tonight's stage finishes on top of a Cat 1 climb. Highly unlikely that Narvaez remains in pink for more than a single day.

 

[eth-dog]

Yes, but it's likely to be very short-lived. Tonight's stage finishes on top of a Cat 1 climb. Highly unlikely that Narvaez remains in pink for more than a single day.

Maybe. But I expect tonight to be a break night anyway.

 

[Vader]

Matt Keenan & Dave McKenzie are into the Champagne Comedy tonight.

Dave McKenzie, discussing why AG2R are riding at the front of the peloton, just behind Ben Swift (Skybot). His suggestion - they're doing it out of "force of habit". When was the last time anyone, ever, saw AG2R riding at the front of the peloton? How can it possibly be "force of habit", if it's a habit they've NEVER had?

Then there's the suggestion that the Skybots should just let the break go, disrespecting the Giro. Two obvious problems with this... Firstly, Thomas still has ambitions of winning (even if Pog is the raging favourite), so letting the break go be sabotaging their own rider as much as it would Pog. Secondly, Skybotting on the front of the peloton is the only thing they've been programmed to do - they're not going to break their own programming. They wouldn't know how, or what to do, if they weren't riding at (or close to) the front of the race.

 

[largebus]

O'Connor blew a gasket trying to follow Pog

 

[Orange Agent]

The group took a few seconds back in the last couple of k's. Wasn't an entirely dominate performance but still good enough. Now just has stay upright till the first TT.

 

[Vader]

The group took a few seconds back in the last couple of k's. Wasn't an entirely dominate performance but still good enough. Now just has stay upright till the first TT.

Don't forget that he gave them a 30 second head start at the bottom of the climb. He was the fastest rider up that climb by about a minute.

What was really unusual, and refreshing to see, was that he attacked out of a relatively large peloton (roughly 40 riders). He didn't just burn his team dropping all the other riders, waiting until it was just the "heads of state".

On SM-X205 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[eth-dog]

Sprinters night tonight. I get the feeling that Alpecin, FDJ and Intermarche will try to make that last little rise with 5 km to go really hard to drop Ewan, Milan, Dainese etc.

 

[Orange Agent]

Sprinters night tonight. I get the feeling that Alpecin, FDJ and Intermarche will try to make that last little rise with 5 km to go really hard to drop Ewan, Milan, Dainese etc.

Ewan climbed well last night, looks in good shape. Interestingly Mezgec has said he was a very late inclusion into the team, he may not have been at altitude pre race like the rest did.

 

[eth-dog]

Ewan climbed well last night, looks in good shape. Interestingly Mezgec has said he was a very late inclusion into the team, he may not have been at altitude pre race like the rest did.

Stewart must have gotten injured in training. I think they just figured they'd put their best lead out man in with the nominal one out.

 

[eth-dog]

Well that was dumb by Bahrain. If there was an early break this wouldn't have happened

 

[eth-dog]

Merlier's form is top notch. Probably the second best sprinter in the world right now. Just sucks that he's also the second best sprinter in his own country haha

 

[99 Problems]

What a great first 3 days. Pogi determined to cause chaos. Poor G is too old to be dealing with him on days like this. Hopefully they are the odd couple that keeps the race interesting for 3 weeks.

I know people, including myself, can get sick of how predictable it gets when Pog wins at times but he always does his best to make the actual racing as exciting as he can. He certainly isn’t racing like someone who’s trying to conserve something for the tour next month.

 

[Orange Agent]

Unfortunately working tonight, was reading a live ticker and thought they must have stuffed up. Just watched the last 3k, unbelievable. He's like a fat bastard at Sizzler. Sees half a chance and thinks why not. If G had of rolled through a few times they could of won it. Worth every cent they are paying him to be here.

 

[eth-dog]

Is it me or are the sprint trains being really stupid this year? They brought this on themselves IMO.

Let a break go and establish itself. Let them have 4 minutes lead for the first 120-odd km and then slowly to get them in the last 15km without burning too many matches. Last night they didn't let a break get out of their sight and desperately tried to bring it back way too early so when Thomas and Valgren attacked they didn't have the firepower to reel them back in.

 

[Orange Agent]

Is it me or are the sprint trains being really stupid this year? They brought this on themselves IMO.

Let a break go and establish itself. Let them have 4 minutes lead for the first 120-odd km and then slowly to get them in the last 15km without burning too many matches. Last night they didn't let a break get out of their sight and desperately tried to bring it back way too early so when Thomas and Valgren attacked they didn't have the firepower to reel them back in.

I think the stage profiles of the finishes so far have helped the flyers get a good gap. The form of some riders in the first week has left me puzzled as well. Not sure what Jakobsen is doing at this race if his form is as bad as what he has shown thus far. Then there is some issues like Ewan shitting on his team mates yet again so some may be choosing not to commit for some brat who shows no respect.

 

[Vader]

I think the stage profiles of the finishes so far have helped the flyers get a good gap. The form of some riders in the first week has left me puzzled as well. Not sure what Jakobsen is doing at this race if his form is as bad as what he has shown thus far. Then there is some issues like Ewan shitting on his team mates yet again so some may be choosing not to commit for some brat who shows no respect.

I can't believe how much time the SBS commentary team spend talking about Ewan, who is pretty much completely irrelevant in every sprint. The constant updates on his positioning, when everyone knows he's not going to finish in the top-5, is frustrating.

 

[Orange Agent]

I can't believe how much time the SBS commentary team spend talking about Ewan, who is pretty much completely irrelevant in every sprint. The constant updates on his positioning, when everyone knows he's not going to finish in the top-5, is frustrating.

Agreed. The commentary around O'Connor/Plapp/Ewan has been absurd so far. I think Matt has gotten worse since Robbie left.