what a Stage. Pretty amazing Giro so far. Bummer for all the crashes, but so far every stage had a winner that has never won a GT stage before (except Ganna). Pretty awesome.
Also plenty of action in the GC already. This is gonna be amazing, once we hit the big mountains.
So the lingering questions are:
Is Bernal past his back issues? He was clearly the strongest guy in the group of GC riders. No one could / would help him and couldn’t come around him in the sprint.
is Yates off-form? Two days losing a handful of seconds. In a race this long, not necessarily a big deal (especially given the final week). If he was planning on peaking later in the race, he’ll be just fine.
can Evenepoel keep it going?
If memory serves well, he has never dealt all that well with cold weather, so I think (hope) he´s gonna crank it up soon.
Indeed pretty impressive by Bernal so far. And he tends to be even better in the high mountains.
Has anyone else been reading derailleur? Some of the best sports writing in any sport, super poetic and amazing story telling. I paid the $6/month to have access to the Giro recaps throughout. Highly recommend checking it out: find one of the articles that isn’t behind the paywall and see if it’s as striking to you as it is to me. Like this one:
Really enjoyed the stage today. Has to be said again but Ganna is a beast. Just seen he did 320w average over the 160km…that’s over 4hrs!
My predictions for the top 3 don’t seem to be panning out just yet!
This Giro is for Egan to lose, if Remco takes it, that kid will become the GOAT. H
I don’t think I’ve heard Romain Bardet’s name mentioned the entire race.
We still have 16 stages to go…let’s not get ahead of ourselves. He looks good for now, but there is a LONG way to go.
He was in the break or the chase group for awhile today.
He is not going to be the GOAT but it will be a legit GT win.
It is very early to tell who wins. Remember 2018? Also, the final stage is a 30km ITT. That gives a huge huge advantage to gifted time trialists like Remco. Kudos to the race organizers for not ending the race with a ceremonial sprint stage!
Having said that Remco is riding excellent. I love it. What I mean by that is he looks strong and fluid on the bike (just like 2019 TdF Egan). That physical strength gives him to ride tactically smart. He is not burning unnecessary matches with dumb attacks. I frankly waited and waited and waited for him to attack today but he didn’t. Smart!
To me the most critical moment of the race came 0.5km to the finish. When he failed to drop Remco Egan turns back and flicks his elbow twice. too bad I can’t post vids here so attached the photo of the moment.
Remco, with ice in his veins, doesn’t even make eye contact forcing Egan to pull himself, Dan Martin, and Ciccone all the way to the finish. I think that was a big tactical mistake for Egan and puts himself in a more defensive position. Now Egan’s attack did not look thermonuclear. Maybe Egan doesn’t have the legs for those kinds of attacks but it felt like he really wanted to drop Remco but he couldn’t.
I very much looking forward to Stage 9 where these two continue to play chess on the bike.
Or Remco was on the limit and couldn’t come around?
I was thinking that he was going to out sprint Bernal at the line but Bernal put in an effort and took it.
My understanding is that Bernal is good at being strong and consistent for 3 weeks.
Im glad that someone else is not blinded by the European hype behind the wonder kid. Cheers.
Remco is young and sexy, so it should be a good matchup with him and that grizzled old vet of…checks notes…24 year old Egan Bernal.
If Bernal’s back is in good shape, given the form he showed earlier this season including a monster performance at Strade Bianchi, why would we think that he hasn’t progressed even further from his form as a 22 year old winning the TdF?
As I noted, Bernal put in a massive pull and no one could / would come around him. The fact that he was then able to pull the whole way to the line and take the “sprint” into a headwind, with time bonuses on the line, IMO shows he was the strongest guy today, not that he made a tactical mistake. If I’m the other GC guys, I’m thinking “crap…he takes a huge pull and I I still couldn’t come around him? Hiw the hell am I going to drop him in the even higher mountains?”
I am NOT saying Bernal will win, but he is absolutely the strongest guy in the race…for today at least.
Well, it certainly helps to make him look good when he seems to have the strongest, deepest team at the giro as well…
Didnt seem like Bernal went for any full gas attacks either, he was pulling hard, but he didnt do any massive jumps/attacks. I was waiting for someone to really hit it to the line but never really came. Still early days, lots of stages to go
Yes. Let´s also not forget that he put in time on the second group behind, containing the rest of the GC contenders.
So far Bernal looks a lot like Simon Yates in 2018. Using any opportunity to get some seconds to ¨save up¨ for the final TT. Let´s hope for him, it doesn´t end like Yates´ 2018 effort.
Was nice to see Bahrain get a win after losing Landa yesterday. I hate when crashes cheat us from letting the road decide the winner
Agree with others - Bernal is the strongest climber in the first week, but I’m very interested in how things go on the harder steeper climbs in the late second and entire third weeks. I’m hoping to see a few other guys come good and make a contest out of it - but as of now he is definitely the favorite (assuming his back doesn’t fail him of course)
Taking a step back from the Giro - I’d love to see Bernal resolve his back issues and Remco finish somewhere in the top 5. Having three guys in the peloton under 25 (those two + pogacar) at that level should hopefully give us some pretty epics battles in the coming years. This Giro has a (relatively) weak GC field, so GC days are more about the future and the top 5/10 than the podium for me
As for yesterday, if the others could have come around Bernal at the line, they would have, as there were bonus seconds available on the line. Let’s not forget in 2018, Yates was attacking from like 30k out on nearly every stage, so I’m not convinced we have reached that level of aggression yet.
That was my thought as well… but this is not following wheels rather than attacking in 2018, might be very different… not sure atm. Not sure its a sign of lesson learned or poor form. |t seems a bit weird, was in great form, maybe it is the long game?
So it looks like McCarthy has been reinstated, is that confirmed?
Would be sad if he wasn’t. Loosing 3min plus to a Saddle issue 2km to go (should have rode it in as dast as possible though.)
