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Giro d'Italia Discussion
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| tastasol |
Posted on 04-01-2025 16:02
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A lot of decent stuff in the Giro for us so far. A good amount of lower top 10 placings and some good breaks, but we haven't really got the results we had hoped for so far. Hopefully the race will open up even more the last week.
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 04-01-2025 18:05
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Formolo improving his GC in the last couple of stages. But I don't think there's room for him to get any higher so I'd rather see him go for the KoM classification to repeat last year feat from La Vuelta.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 04-01-2025 18:35
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I guess if the points have to go to other teams, it may as well be PCT teams. Congrats to Sony.
Another disappointing stage for us. Carthy is riding an anonymous race just staying in the GC group. That was fine coming in, but he destroyed his ability to fall back on that strategy when he blew up supporting Aranburu on stage 1. So he's just floating around outside the top 10. He's still the best climber in the KOM competition, and maybe if he's aggressive he has a shot at snagging it late, but I haven't seen any indications yet.
Also disappointed in the depth the last couple of days. Aranburu has really faded hard to the point where he's dropping before some of the pure puncheurs in the mountains. It'd be nice to keep him decently high on GC for that extra scoring, but I anticipate he'll tumble down the standings in the final week. Same with Skejlmose.
Thanks for the reports!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 04-01-2025 20:10
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That race for the podium spots behind Herklotz is well and truly on. I am glad to see our team taking some sort of control with chasing duties as long as it's rewarded which you could say it was with Choi 3rd on that stage. Surely some bigger gaps across the Top 10 in week 3 as it's very tight at the moment!
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 04-01-2025 21:53
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Not great to drop behind Olivier, but if the others don't agree to organize a proper chase, they deservedly lose that 1 vs. 11 battle. Congrats to Sony. Still don't like Olivier moving ahead of Stüssi, but as bbl wrote, if we can't get the points, they better go to PCT 
Stüssi still staying 3rd in GC is nice, though, and even though he finished last in the group, he looked pretty well over that last hill. He has accomplished his task in the first two weeks, not losing time against most other climbers in the hills, now it's just the proper mountains left. He is likely to lose quite some spots, but also has a TT advantage over most of the others. We'll see where he ends up - but tomorrow will hopefully be time for Szarka to get a bit closer to Herklotz et al in the Ciclamino standings again.
Thanks for the report.
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| ember |
Posted on 05-01-2025 07:30
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Another day in Maglia Verde  
What a Giro this has been for Laporte. Admittedly not strong enough to compete for these category 3 and 2 points. If he had, he might have had a chance to keep the jersey even longer. Now he will surely loose it on Zoncolan on stage 16, but having had it for almost the whole race up to that point, is brilliant.
Very cool to see Olivier succeed with his daring move, congratulations, Abhi! |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 06-01-2025 20:01
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 05-01-2025 11:03
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The sprinting AI in this game is absolutely comical to have a 77/77 rider winning GT stages with a 77 rider in 2nd but ah well. Got the 1 win with Thijssen earlier in the race. Attention now focussed on Choi and Conci for the GC! Thank you for the continued pace and quality of the reports!!
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| ember |
Posted on 05-01-2025 11:38
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Laporte surely must win the award for the most kilometers in the breakaway this Giro. Will definitely be difficult to beat for anyone else after another go on such a stage
Hamza with a perfectly timed sprint, congratulations, jandal! The points just keep coming for you |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 05-01-2025 13:14
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Damn, really though Walls had a podium there. Still better than what Rabobank have had to deal with with Van Poppel. Commiserations there.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| knockout |
Posted on 05-01-2025 13:45
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Really good sprint by Sureda, unfortunately the line was 100m too late.
Congrats jandal, incredible season for you!
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 05-01-2025 19:56
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Worst sprint of the race by Szarka, due to positioning. The road just wasn't wide enough here to find any room, pretty sure he'd have taken a higher spot than 8th otherwise. Don't like the puncheurs competing in bunch sprints, this was his chance to pass Yates again, but quite the opposite happened. Alas, he's had a great Giro anyway.
Congrats to Xero on the win, rather surprising but it's GT sprints after all
Now hoping that Stüssi can hold on for as long as possible - and longer than expected - on the Zoncolan and the other remaining mountain stages.
Thanks for the report.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 05-01-2025 23:50
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Woah! Obviously you always hope your 77-78 sprinter can take advantage of the open GT sprints later in the race but never expected this. Was a bit annoyed at the lack of breakaway today but obviously the team knew Hamza was cooking up something special - just a freak sprint from that far back combining with early launches and poorly positioned favourites! Always very special to win a GT stage with a fully home-grown rider - joining Higuita and Fouche in that club for us.
Excited for what Fouche can do in the final days. Wonder what the balance of GC vs stage hunting vs KOM will be in our breakaway strategy. Zoncolan will be tough but I see potential ahead.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT]  Xero Racing
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| ryant |
Posted on 06-01-2025 00:13
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Few decent results in recent days with the double podium - shame it means little else than to shore up 3rd in the points standings but surely theres points for that?
Hopefully Williams can continue with joining the breaks in the last week here as the mountains jersey could be up for grabs - that is if Herklotz is gracious enough to hand it away...
John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25
Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| redordead |
Posted on 06-01-2025 06:14
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That was an awful end to week two for TGH. Hopefully he has his best days saved up for the final week.
"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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| Nemolito |
Posted on 06-01-2025 08:49
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Sorry for not commenting a lot in the last weeks, but up to date now, and thank you a lot for the class reporting, kb! Also a congratulations to the stage winners in the last week, including a great PCT win by Sony in the mountains.
Eastman has been doing quite badly looking at his positioning and time lost both in the hills and the mountains. He really needs at least one good mountain stage to make sure to finish on the podium in the end. Normally that should be very doable, but the way he's been racing in the last stages definitely makes it seem like he's been caught in some bad form spiral. Hopefully he'll spiral back up in the last days 
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 06-01-2025 09:40
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Great win for Hamza!
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| Croatia14 |
Posted on 06-01-2025 16:20
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bad day for Tao 
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| SotD |
Posted on 06-01-2025 16:51
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What a ride from Foliforov here. He sure does know how to make the most of his talent every now and again...
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| ember |
Posted on 06-01-2025 19:22
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And our adventure in the KoM jersey is officially over. Well done, Laporte!
Had hoped to see AHJ in the breakaway on such a stage, now there is only two mountain stages left, and you'd expect the brekaway riders to only get stronger and stronger on those stages compared to this one.
What a stage result by Carthy! That's a sensational ride from him, really giving Herklotz a run for the money. The fight for 2nd place in the GC definitely looks fun, and also with the huge TT on the final day, it feels far too early to make any predictions
Thank you for another stellar report, kb! |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 06-01-2025 19:57
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Another strong stage from Choi to take 3rd and some gaps to those behind him to move up to 4th in the GC. An even tighter battle for the podium now. Tomorrows stage is about avoiding any silly gaps and then 2 big stages, the latter an absolute brute. Definitely on for a podium if he can keep this up and put in a big shift in the final TT.
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