Giro d'Italia 2021

mr spuckler

The Giro starts on Saturday with a lesser spotted prologue in Torino. Lots of points of interest in this year's race with the return of both Evenepoel & Groenewegen (who have been long term absent for slightly different reasons), Simon Yates looking really strong and talking a good game, Bernal sounding far less certain despite being favourite and Dan Martin going in as clear leader of ISN although not fancied by the bookies.
Then can Joao Almeida repeat last year's breakthrough performance? No spinter for DQS this year, showing how serious they are about Almeida and possibly Evenopoel. We'll also see whether Ganna can return to his incredible form of 2020

GCN preview here

Odds from PP:
Egan Bernal 9/4
Simon Yates 7/2
Remco Evenepoel 7/2
Emanuel Buchmann 10/1
Alexander Vlasov 13/1
Mikel Landa 14/1
Hugh Carthy 16/1
Pavel Sivakov 18/1
Joao Almeida 22/1
.
.
Dan Martin 50/1

retalivity

Evanepoel 3rd favourite at 7/2 is crazy odds.

Last years runner-up Hindley not even listed, team DSM actually have a very strong team with Bardet as backup.
2 dark horses.

Odd race for Evenepoel's comeback after 8 months out after that crash.

Israel will have a new Jersey for the race and I quite like it, EF will also have a new one but can't see them beating last years one.

mr spuckler

Deleted User wrote: »

Israel will have a new Jersey for the race and I quite like it, EF will also have a new one but can't see them beating last years one.

That ISN one is pretty nice tbf.

EF certainly have a lot to live up to and they're pushing the marketing around it too - "EF Education-Nippo set to unveil new kit that will 'give everyone a warm fuzzy feeling'"

Team manager Jonathan Vaughters was unwilling to give too much away when talking to Cyclingnews late on Tuesday but the former rider did disclose that the trademark EF pink would be replaced by an even more colourful design.

odyssey06

retalivity wrote: »

Evanepoel 3rd favourite at 7/2 is crazy odds.
Last years runner-up Hindley not even listed, team DSM actually have a very strong team with Bardet as backup.
2 dark horses.

Nico Roche is down to ride support for DSM, am hoping we'll get a tour diary.

Brian?

Is there a Velogames league? If not I'll create one.

mewso

Brian? wrote: »

Is there a Velogames league? If not I'll create one.

A velogames league would be good. If you have a couple of hours free then the Lanterne Rouge preview is pretty good:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXwfvBWkdCM

They also have a velogames league going with some cycling gear going as a prize. As to the Giro if Bernal is not up to it then it looks pretty wide open. Yates seems to be the form man, Almdeida probably doesn't have the climbing chops for some of the more difficult climbs, Remco has never done 3 weeks. All in all looking forward to finding out who it will be. Could be a surprise. Love to see Nico grab a stage.

mr spuckler

EF jersey has been launched, it's certainly toned down a bit from last year!

Not embedding because picture is huge!
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ef-education-nippo-goes-kaleidoscopic-with-giro-ditalia-switch-out-kit/

breezy1985

Those 2 kits are way more interesting than anything that has been seen in the peleton so far this year

Paddigol

Did I see Dunbar listed in the Ineos squad? Or am I making that up?

Hopefully circumstances allow Nico (and especially Dunbar if he's in) to have a crack at a stage or two.

mr spuckler

Paddigol wrote: »

Did I see Dunbar listed in the Ineos squad? Or am I making that up?

Hopefully circumstances allow Nico (and especially Dunbar if he's in) to have a crack at a stage or two.

Making it up unfortunately. He was on the long list but didn't make the final squad.

Brian?

League created

League Name: 2021 Jambalaya Ethusiasts
League Code: 432125525

Daroxtar

Nice one. I'm in

breezy1985

Im in but new to this so not sure how good my team is

It's hard for GC putting a team together here. Bernal has been better this year but is he over those back issues? He's looked decent enough so far this year but I'm not sure if he's got a Giro win in him just yet, and if not him then it's a bit of a crystal ball call.

I'm not sure George Bennet is in his best shape for JV either.

velo.2010

If the Giro was two weeks long, I think Evenepoel would be a comfortable winner even if he was only 90% fit. I just don't know how he'll get on in week three after nine months without racing and it being his first grand tour.

This lad is going to frighten people with his ability over the next few years.

The problem for Evenpoel is he's with quickstep is what I'd normally say in dismissing his hopes of a grand tour win but if he was coming in here with racing in his legs and the team they have starting I'd have actually given him a reasonable chance at it.

Masnada is a problem for me based on what I saw of him last year, very slow to help Almeida at times and worried more about his own GC position I thought and I loved seeing Masnada do well in 2019 but I don't think he's the support they need him to be.

mewso

Worth keeping an eye on your velogames team. I had picked Will Barta but he is not a starter apparently. I assume he was at some point since he was available to pick but definitely not now.

mr spuckler

Things might get even spicier for Groenewegen in the peloton after these comments from Jakobsen.

Fabio Jakobsen: Dylan Groenewegen has not offered a personal apology since Pologne crash
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fabio-jakobsen-dylan-groenewegen-has-not-offered-a-personal-apology/

Interview with Dan Martin https://www.rte.ie/sport/cycling/2021/0506/1214111-seven-years-older-wiser-relaxed-martin-set-for-giro/

downwiththatsor

Does anyone know if there is a hardcopy Official Guide for this on the shelves this year? The Garibaldi Road book is freely available online but I like the hard copy each year also. Can't see it online but it may be in magazine section in larger bokkshops etc.
Looking forward to some great racing, my favourite Grand Tour

eeeee

mr spuckler wrote: »

EF jersey has been launched, it's certainly toned down a bit from last year!

Not embedding because picture is huge!
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ef-education-nippo-goes-kaleidoscopic-with-giro-ditalia-switch-out-kit/

Well that's some of the nicest kit ever.
Less black and its it'd be a winner!

ednwireland

hour long highlights on quest on fta satellite daily at 7pm

If memory serves Quest can be accessed via the dplay app or what ever it's called these days and on their site without geo restriction.

retalivity

Think I'll be booking Monday May 24th off work - 3 climbs over 2000m right before a rest day

Brian?

Brian? wrote: »

League created

League Name: 2021 Jambalaya Ethusiasts
League Code: 432125525

Just giving this a bump to remind folks to get their team in before entry closes.

breezy1985

Is there any day to day management to be done in velogames ?

breezy1985

breezy1985 wrote: »

Is there any day to day management to be done in velogames ?

No none.

Trekky77

Not very exciting predictions!

GC - Yates
Outsider - Almeida

Mountains - Formolo

Sprint Classification - Sagan
Outsider- Merlier

Young rider - Almeida

odyssey06

Nico tour diary is up... its behind the Indo premium paywall but you can signup to read 3 free articles a month

He will be riding support for Bardet and Hindley with DSM. Should have fair chance of a podium.

https://m.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/nicholas-roches-giro-ditalia-diary-a-couple-of-years-ago-i-would-have-been-panicking-now-40400080.html

Coneygree

It will be incredible if Remco even podiums to be quite honest. Looking forward to the Giro as a whole, nice lineup of likeable GC contenders.

Brian?

Coneygree wrote: »

It will be incredible if Remco even podiums to be quite honest. Looking forward to the Giro as a whole, nice lineup of likeable GC contenders.

It will. But not unbelievable

Coneygree

Brian? wrote: »

It will. But not unbelievable

Absolutely.

Pre race build up on now on the apps.

mewso

Kelly is back!

bazermc

I really don’t like individual time trial stages

Team time trials seem to have gone out of fashion, couple of years since I've seen one.

breezy1985

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Team time trials seem to have gone out of fashion, couple of years since I've seen one.

Because teams like Ineos can just blitz them. If Nibali was on a team with a top TTT crew I bet they would be in every Giro

retalivity

Did not expect a good TT from Vlasov...

califano

Who is the support commentator on Eurosport, British accent?.

CantGetNoSleep

Deleted User wrote: »

Team time trials seem to have gone out of fashion, couple of years since I've seen one.

Stage 2 of TdF 2019. Went to watch it - you can't see a thing with a team going past you at close to 60kmh. Jumbo Visma beat Ineos to win it

retalivity

I had heard little about Foss but have honestly never heard of Affini before, some ride

Dcully

califano wrote: »

Who is the support commentator on Eurosport, British accent?.

Dan Bigham or something, I believe tech and aero expert consultant to some teams.

retalivity

Dan finishes 47s down
Bernal 26s, Yates 28s so not bad but not great.

Wow that Pinerello Ganna is on is something.

griffin100

Ganna is giving it everything. His numbers (and the size of his big chain ring) are frightening.

retalivity

Smashed it

Dodge

Weepsie wrote: »

There's no stage thread today, but in future can ye keep the days results to stage threads and use spoiler tags if in this thread

I’ll risk a ban here but is there why oh why would someone look into a giro thread if they wanted to avoid the result. What else are people going to be talking about?

I understand it for the likes of the Sam Bennett thread hut a race thread?

mewso

Dodge wrote: »

I’ll risk a ban here but is there why oh why would someone look into a giro thread if they wanted to avoid the result. What else are people going to be talking about?

I understand it for the likes of the Sam Bennett thread hut a race thread?

I'm not a mod here but always check the charter first. Item 2. That's the way it's been for quite some time and it works fine.

Brian?

Can we not just put a spoilers tag on the whole thread? Otherwise how can we discuss the race properly

Brian?

Brian? wrote: »

Can we not just put a spoilers tag on the whole thread? Otherwise how can we discuss the race properly

I normally works out well with a main thread for general chat and a stage specific thread each day for spoilers.

I shoulder some of the blame for today as I'd a thread set up and ready to go then forgot to click post it after getting distracted and going to play jigsaws with the kids