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Giro d'Italia Discussion
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| cio93 |
Posted on 21-01-2022 08:53
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World Champion
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I agree that this was not a bunch sprint stage, and yet I have to be happy about another stage podium!
Stüssi in 8th adds another domestique top 10, one can only imagine what could've been if that had been Cavagna in his position.
Putting Kemboi out of reach is massive, but this development brought Yates much closer to the ciclamino again.
I can only hope the pure flat nature of the final stage disincentivizes his full effort there, although that would mean having to rely on bad game mechanics to get an advantage over a similarly deserving rider.
Or, alternatively, we get another result on stage 20!
By far the most important goal is to bring the maglia rosa home though.
No need to experiment or be overly aggressive or cautious, let's just do our thing again and make it work one last time!
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| roturn |
Posted on 21-01-2022 10:00
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Team Manager
Posts: 22246
Joined: 24-11-2007
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Ths was a great attack by Carboni for the KoM lead!
Still not sure he can keep it as Herklotz on the final huge mountain stage is a big threat and would need Carboni to go into the breakaway, while obviously there are some others, who could grab it as well from the break then.
Let`s see how he does. So far 1st and 3rd on one stage plus KoM lead with a good chance to podium that as well with a top20 GC. Can`t say, his first ever GT as maxed leader was any bad.  |
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| Mresuperstar |
Posted on 21-01-2022 13:59
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8059
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Nice work by the team to keep what should have been a clear cut breakaway win in check, much to the dismay of others.  Yates picking up his third win is icing on the cake. Herklotz looks a little too far out of reach in the points competition, but we shall see.
Thanks for the reports so far!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 21-01-2022 14:57
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
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Definitely expected a breakaway to win there, so quite surprising for it do go to the peloton. A rare opportunity for Guldhammer to flex his mildly strong sprinting ability, and it worked out great, as he gets a second place! These kinds of random late race placings always do feels a little cheaper and less important, but a second place here is just as good as a second place at any point in the race. Plus he grabs a few more seconds for tomorrow without much energy expenditure.
Congrats to Mre! Yates starting here was very smart.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 21-01-2022 19:26
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2889
Joined: 11-09-2010
PCM$: 200.00
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Good effort by Nesset to get in the break, but just not strong enough. That's fair! Still quite happy with a top 20 from him and top 30 from Sosa. Not the stage results we had hoped for, but I think that's mainly down to a game/AI that's not that suited for breaks as previously.
Looks all set for Silvio, but I'll save my congratulations a few more hours
On paper I thought the last stage could be a good one for Trondsen, but the sprinters have seemingly survived the mountains very well. Can't think of a single rider abandoning/OTL tbh. Might be something else that differs this game from previous ones.
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 25-11-2024 13:22
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| cio93 |
Posted on 21-01-2022 21:02
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World Champion
Posts: 10845
Joined: 29-10-2007
PCM$: 500.00
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One more day to make history!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 21-01-2022 21:20
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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Not Guldhammer's best day, but he fought hard enough to hold off Eastman for 5th, and that's what matter. Great work by Warbasse as well to keep it close together after Eastman's attack.
Exciting stage in the breakaway, congrats to MOL on a stage win to help a disappointing race for Preidler. And congrats to Herklotz for making history.
One more day for the sprinters. AKA has survived this long. Might as well make it worthwhile. A 3rd stage win perhaps? 
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| redordead |
Posted on 22-01-2022 08:48
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4882
Joined: 18-10-2017
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That's it for this year's Giro. I hope the race was at least somewhat enjoyable and that you could bear through some of my reporting blunders
Thanks to everyone who have been following and commenting on the race throughout 
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| cunego59 |
Posted on 22-01-2022 09:12
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Team Manager
Posts: 6508
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I really enjoyed following the race as a neutral observer, thank you red!
Congrats to cio, Herklotz does what you designed him in the lab to do 2mbrowski also where he belongs I'm very happy that Eislers gets that victory in the end after a tricky race. Last but not least, three African riders in the Top 10, including one on the podium, is really neat.
Spoiler jandal, just imagine how good it would feel for Areruya to achieve that or even more with a team from his home country ... 
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 22-01-2022 09:15
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 9099
Joined: 13-03-2013
PCM$: 2100.00
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Thank you for consistently great coverage redordead. You've been an awesome reporter.
Congrats to cio to a dominant win and MANY points, well planned. Also finally the win for Evonik which is also well deserved.
Happy with our race, especially the 2nd week. In the 3rd week we fell off a cliff with neither proper attacking nor proper sprinting, but I guess the feeding was done with a couple of polka-dot days and the stage win. Would've loved if Roman tried to win polka-dots after loosing the shirt, but I guess either he was badly positioned at the start of the stage or he just ran out of gas. Anyway, a good Giro by Roman and a decent one by Scully make it a decent race pointswise and a good race achievementwise.
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| roturn |
Posted on 22-01-2022 09:36
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Team Manager
Posts: 22246
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First of all, thanks for fantastic reports. It was a joy to read and follow. Obviously for my team in especially in the 2nd half, when it all changed from weird time loss and bad choices to an almost perfect race for a 2nd to 3rd tier squad.
Next congrats to cio for a dominant win, which tbh was expected in absence of Phinney/Lecuisinier.
Good to see Dombrowski and Kudus delivering as well though, in especially first, who was struggling a bit lately.
Congrats as well to knockout, finally Eislers delivering here, far from expectations but still getting something out of it.
Xero also with a solid race here, Areruya from the top10 riders clearly the most aggressive, who delivered nicely including the U25 ranking, a great rider to watch in future, while Zwift had the fantastic Yates. Two of the most thrilling riders here.
For my own team, can`t complain a lot really.
- Carboni to start with. It`s his first test here as maxed rider and after some weird 10-20 min time loss on easy stages, I almost gave up on him here. If you just compare the GC times, it would be the difference between 20th now and late top10 otherwise. But this is theory only as he couldn`t have raced like this otherwise. He perfectly turned his race in the 2nd week with nice breakaway choices resulting in a 3rd and 1st, which is awesome in any GT of course! Plus taking profit from Areruya as main competitior in the KoM ranking, who couldn`t attack as much due to his GC spot. Winning the KoM obviously is a career highlight already for him.
- Minali must be named next. Only as loanie unmaxed, expectations weren`t high. But as Italian sprinter, the GT here was obvious and he delivered nicely with iirc 3 top10 percormances including some very high placings. A lot more than I ever expected.
- Koep already the next, which is weird as always. 84th sounds a bit too low really as he was around 50-60th in other GTs but it`s yet another GT finish in his long run and best of the rest from the team!
- Zardini and Ciccone really a bit disappointing. Always missing the splits and losing tons of time and in first case never really used his sprint for group sprints and didn`t really go for top3-10 spots on perfectly suited cases. Both just making the top100 is a bit under expectations as in theory they should be around 40th to 60th really.
- Time Trialists. Hepburn was nice to go into the break as main guy. But their performance wasn`t that nice except for finishing the race in the end! The TTT was not as good as hoped but I guess this is due to Carboni being the GC leader for me.
In total a very good Giro with more scoring than I had expected. |
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| tastasol |
Posted on 22-01-2022 10:03
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 2889
Joined: 11-09-2010
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Congrats on finally getting a win, knockout. Well deserved.
Also huge congratulations to cio on a great race. Stunning race from Herklotz!
A nothing race for us, that will probably send us a good way down in the rankings. Only the one top 10 result in the stages, a 9th place, and a bunch of results between 11th and 15th. Points wise Nesset and Sosa gets a bit out of the GC and I've liked the way we have raced for most of the race, but just not the race we wanted.
Thanks for all the reports, redordead! Brilliant work
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| Laurens147 |
Posted on 22-01-2022 10:34
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Protected Rider
Posts: 1124
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Thanks for all the reports redordead! Congrats knockout for the last stage and cio for the overall win!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
[MG] New Manager of the Year - PCM.daily Awards 2022
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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 22-01-2022 11:13
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2633
Joined: 20-04-2008
PCM$: 200.00
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Great job redordead!
Overall, I'm pleased with our scoring in this Giro. Formolo didn't take enough advantage from the many hilly stages so in the end one bad day in the TT dropped him out of his pre race goal of a GC top 10. But this is made up for by the fact that Karnulin and Geoghegan Hart did a brilliant job finishing top 20 and the same for Peters and Vervaeke in top 30. The TC is a nice bonus as well.
Congrats on another very strong Herklotz performance.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 22-01-2022 11:39
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World Champion
Posts: 13915
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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First of all, thanks for the reports and congrats cio!
Stage 20 played out perfect for us with the breakaway taking the stage win and Dombrowski closely marking Kudus. A very small gap there, but it's great to be the one that comes out on top of such a battle 
Two stage wins and second in the GC is a very good Giro for Dombrowski. Slightly disappointed with Van Poppel's result, but you can't have it all.
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| Ulrich Ulriksen |
Posted on 22-01-2022 14:15
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Directeur Sportif
Posts: 3265
Joined: 02-11-2010
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Echo the thanks to Red for a great work on the reporting, very good to follow as a neutral.
Happy to see the American grab second, maybe a guy who will want to wind down his career at McCormick. Also glad to see Areruya just snatch a top ten, just so my prediction can be right, although he did it in a completely different way than I thought. Finally happy that Yates had a good race, and the game rewarded such a unique rider.
Congrats to all the winners, particularly to Puma for a perfectly executed grand tour.
Man Game: McCormick Pro Cycling |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 22-01-2022 16:50
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16429
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10438.70
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Thank you redordead for giving us a phenomenal couple of weeks of reports! Every single one was top notch, entertaining and informative. Your time and work are much appreciated.
I got everything I wanted out of this Giro and more. Our team's success on this stage as a wildcard, mostly on the backs of Danish riders, is something I could have only dreamed of a year and a half ago, when we relegated to CT and seemed to be losing our future and identity. Well worth the wildcard money, that's for sure!
Rasmus Guldhammer joined our team for these types of moments, and he delivered. He had a tremendous first mountain stage, and while he was never quite that strong again, he limited his bad days and picked his spots well. 5th at the Giro is a true testament to both him and our team. With the 84 mtn guys never in reach, he defeated all his competitors and proved that Carlsberg has a place among the best in the sport. This is the type of thing I hoped to see when I founded my team in 2014.
But our real MVP in this race might be Asbjorn Kragh Andersen. This season has been such a whirlwind of success for him, and he continued to deliver here. Getting our first PT win, let alone GT win, was really special. To have a homegrown talent make it and be a champion is one of the biggest races is special. Then, he followed it up with another win, many great placings, and 5th in the points classification. He has been a rock for us this year, which is the exact opposite of what I would have expected coming into the year.
The rest of the team was great too. 3rd in the team classification is a testament to our strength, although we had the luxury of depth as a PCT team without race day usage. Still, Warbasse came around well to finish 22nd, and the others had good days too. Olesen did great work in the first couple of weeks. And Sulvaran did wonders in that Curacao national jersey. Just being in the breakaway constantly, fighting for his country, his team, and his leaders. Phenomenal performance for a level 3 guy in his late 20's. Hopefully he inspired some teenagers in Curacao to follow their dreams!
Huge congrats to cio on a dominating win! Glad Kamna got to be a part of that. That was special!
Congrats to knockout as well. PCM hate trains most of the time, and it was tough to watch Eislers fall off during every sprint. But when it works right, it is a thing of beauty.
Thanks again redordead, and congrats to all who take something away from this race!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| knockout |
Posted on 22-01-2022 19:51
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7735
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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Thanks redordead! Fantastic reports throughout the race!
And congrats cio, such a dominance by Herklotz giving you great scoring once again.
From an Evonik POV, a super frustrating race. The whole lineup was set up in a way to maximize Eislers scoring. A single stage win on the very last day was far less than i would have hoped and not having a single day of top 3 bonus in the points classification is terrible. Seeing how the sprints went, i think we were mostly a victim of a super unfortunate startlist that assured we would have a train every day while also giving lots of sprinters only slightly weaker. Possibly could have avoided that a bit by purposely weakening the leadout train by sending a climber plus Neilands instead of Chavanne & Becis. But seeing the success of Kragh Andersen was good because it assures me that Eislers will still be very useful next season as Eislers with a decline is basically still far superior to Kragh Andersen in every way.
Thanks a lot to everyone who commented on Eislers throughout the race. Really made it easier to see the situation with humour. (Also ofc knowing before the season that sprints AI would likely be - to say it more positive than it really is: a desaster)
Spoiler I keep my opinion that weakening leadout trains is one of the worst pcm crimes.
Chiarello with a great race. Not a single bad day and getting this sort of GC result despite a ttt is outstanding. Unfortunately he doesnt make back enough scoring to counter the Eislers underperformance but again, helped
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| jph27 |
Posted on 22-01-2022 22:15
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Team Leader
Posts: 7339
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Thanks for the reports redordead, and congrats cio!
Despite the promising start for Kemboi, I can't say I particularly enjoyed this race from the perspective of my team - thankfully the great reports made it less painful. Meintjes was absolutely dreadful throughout, and showed absolutely no interest in attacking to make up time. 16th is far worse than even my worst case scenario for him looking at the startlist, and combined with a lack of stage results after the first week it means a really poor return for the use of most of his RDs.
Kemboi's stage wins and stint in pink were nice to see and for a while I thought he might have a chance at the points jersey. But then PCM went back to the same crap sprinting AI that ruined the race of others (particularly sorry for knockout here). Overall it made this race much like the rest of the season, and a large part of why I've taken a back seat - can't say I've really enjoyed it, particularly as there doesn't seem to be much logic to how the roulette wheel spins. |
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| SotD |
Posted on 23-01-2022 07:21
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World Champion
Posts: 12188
Joined: 29-11-2006
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Even with low expectations this was a horrible show. Mavrikakis in 21st is a good GC result, but we really didn’t show up at all. Gyang Gu Jang didn’t even manage to finish top 100 GC, Aidan Van Niekerk with 21 wasted racedays. Not good. Not good at all.
Congrats with the massive win from Herklotz to ensure he will again take something like 2500 points overall.
Thanks for some great reports, though!
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