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Giro d'Italia Discussion
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| knockout |
Posted on 06-01-2025 22:07
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Grand Tour Champion
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Wasnt the most likely break stage but im glad foss finally tried. Picking up a couple kom points along the way could be good iif he goes for it again. The resulting time loss hurts but worth the attempt.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 06-01-2025 23:04
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Wow, what a performance by Stüssi  5th on the Zoncolan is about 10 positions higher than I expected, and definitely one of his best mountain rides ever! Pretty puzzled by this outcome, looks like he had quite a heavy GC bonus here.
Still 3 uphill stages to go, though, so not even thinking yet about what might be possible - but a Top 10 has definitely become far more likely after this stage. I guess the likes of Eastman or Wellens will want to strike back, no clue why they were so bad today...
Congrats to cio again, Herklotz making almost the best out of this tailor-made route - lots of hills, no big multi-mountain stages (i.e. not much to gain for KoM hunters), and almost no serious competition in the mountains. Should be quite a good points haul 
Thanks for the report!
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 07-01-2025 03:43
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Tour de France Champion
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Well, at first blush, this was obviously a tremendous stage for the team. Carthy was insanely strong. Making the first move and then holding onto Herklotz for 5 km, only to lose just 20 seconds in the end. He gained a ton of time and looked super strong the whole way to the finish. Could have really been something if Herklotz wasn't here! Depth was good too. Carthy's move allowed Aranburu to surf wheels and maintain his GC position, and Eg and Skjelmose were much higher than previously too. Good stuff all around.
It's impossible not to think "what if" a million times though. Without stage one we're looking at second overall and a decent buffer on a lot of similar riders. Instead, we're fifth. And that's great in theory! A huge difference from yesterday and in line with what we hoped for. But at least half a dozen riders behind us are still well within distance to overtake Carthy on the final day given his horrible TT, so the reality is he's still in line to finish outside the top 10. Unless he can put in another performance or two like this, it probably would have been better for his AI to stay lower and end up in a Shikai type move, given that could still happen.
But, you have to let yourself be happy when a happy thing happens. This was a good stage. We need to continue performing like this for a few more days!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| redordead |
Posted on 07-01-2025 07:01
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redordead wrote:
That was an awful end to week two for TGH. Hopefully he has his best days saved up for the final week.
We're screwed 
"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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| DubbelDekker |
Posted on 07-01-2025 11:10
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Going in that breakaway was a big gamble from Carboni. This time it didn't work out and he damaged his GC. But it definitely could've gone the other way, so I'm ok with it.
Lutsenko breaking in the toughest mountain stages was no surprise. He's still having a great Giro. Nice solo finish, shame it was behind the first breakaway win.
GC wise, we're all in on depth scoring now. Plus the TC. We've recently lost some ground there, so let's fight to win it.
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 07-01-2025 11:13
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Team Leader
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Allowing Hirt back into the podium fight that easily is poor from our team. That being the first breakaway to survive when there's someone in the Top 10 GC is certainly weird. Anyway, back to work!
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 07-01-2025 11:45
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Luis Leon Sanchez wrote:
Allowing Hirt back into the podium fight that easily is poor from our team. That being the first breakaway to survive when there's someone in the Top 10 GC is certainly weird. Anyway, back to work!
Can only agree... We definitely have the team to catch this break (or at least to reduce the gap), and also had some decent stage contenders with Errazkin or Szarka. Letting a direct competitor for a Top 10 getting back in the race - and even more - is really awful strategy. And honestly, I don't understand why it happens on such an easy stage. If the race is uncontrollable in a mountain stage with plenty of tough climbs, I'm fine, but on a stage where we have almost a complete peloton at the end, I cannot see why this break should be successful.
Alas, I guess it was only the start of PCM's "final GT week GC reshuffle mode" and wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow's stage was a really, really wild one. I think everyone bar Herklotz cannot take anything for granted yet - and maybe not even him, given the relatively weak Puma uphill department...
For us, it's all about staying with the other climbers again and hoping that the break doesn't do too much damage. Sad to probably lose the "GC bonus" though by dropping to 4th, hopefully Stüssi still has enough left in the tank.
Congrats to Aker nonetheless, we'll see if AHJ gets another one tomorrow - wouldn't be overly surprised
Thanks for the report.
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| tastasol |
Posted on 07-01-2025 12:03
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Good to see a win for the break. Happy that we had a man there, though Vingegaard was probably not our best bet in a flat finish  Good results anyway. Congrats to ember on the win! Hopefully we'll continue going in the breaks in the last few stages.
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| redordead |
Posted on 07-01-2025 12:29
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Why bother 
"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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| knockout |
Posted on 07-01-2025 12:34
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Grand Tour Champion
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Happy to be in a succeeding break. Gotta say that break composition was kinda weird with mostly pure climbers in there. From our POV, Bellan was probably only the 6th best guy to send in there with Morne and possibly Foss being the other two i would not like more more in there (and in Foss' case only because he needed to save some energy for the next stages after already being in the previous break). Still, some points from a break at least and i cant blame Bellan for sucking in the sprint when that was always a glaring weakness of his. Would have loved to see someone like Gavars or Baroncini in there.
That split gave me a major headache in the final. Glad it didnt stick..
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 07-01-2025 13:10
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Crazy that they let Hirt go when he was that close on time and it wasn't even a mountain stage. Looks like we may be in for some final week shenanigans after all.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 08-01-2025 20:12
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| ember |
Posted on 07-01-2025 17:39
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That's a lovely win by AHJ! Wow, didn't see it coming at all on such a stage. Thought that one was much more for puncheurs regarding a breakaway. Got slightly excited when I saw him up the road, but also thought it was wasting energy seeing what is to come the next two days. But it paid off in all ways possible, and coming away from it with the stage win is absolutely huge. It was our very ambitious goal and hope for this Giro, and we have suddenly succeeded it
Thank you, Fabianski and tastasol!
As others, surprised to see Hirt in the breakaway on such a stage. It really should tell the GC riders that all options are still possible seeing how Puma didn't do much there, and they, at least on paper, doesn't look to be much stronger in the high mountains, if chasing duties get given to them. Very curious to see how the two mountain stages now play out. |
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| cio93 |
Posted on 07-01-2025 23:38
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So far, this Giro has been brilliant for us!
Whether it's the course discouraging the less punchy stage racers in anticipation of plenty of puncheurs contesting the medium difficulty stages, or the rather obvious fact that it was a tailor-made route for Herklotz and our team composition, the opposition at the start line here luckily didn't feature any of our longtime rivals.
I could make a fuss about the game allowing a flat stage to deny us the possibility of 21 days in pink (and subsequently boost Lutsenko's chances for the ciclamino), but I am just really really happy about how this race went so far.
Five stage wins by now is incredible considering the world-class opposition on hilly days and the comparative lack of true mountain stages, and being able to at least temporarily wear all three jerseys is a magnficient achievement.
However: Hirt attacking shows us that no gap is safe yet and we may still very well get Shikai'd if we do not remain vigilant, and particularly if this year's lottery winner can still rely on a good TT in Milan (which I fear may be a factor that won't be entered into the gap calculations on stage 20).
Yes, we don't have a strong climbing support roster, but both remaining mountain stages feature plenty of flat and false flat roads where we can keep gaps small enough to minimize the risk.
I hope we manage to do so, and alternatively I'm very happy to give away all remaining stages to less dangerous breakaways as we're well beyond being on track to achieve all of our in-race goals.
For now though, I'd like to focus on thanking everyone who addressed kind words to us after stage wins (particularly Fabianski for putting my exact off-season thought process into words at the top of this page), and most importantly Laurens for the exceptional preview and kandesbunzler for the stunning reports (as well as Abhi for the early-race logistics)!
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 08-01-2025 09:32
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Congratulations ember on the stage win! And thanks for two more great reports, kb!
A bad mountain stage by Eastman followed by a rather poro AI stage in general sees our leader drop to eighth already, definitely not what we had in mind and where he should have been by now. Hoping for some good final stages.
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| ember |
Posted on 08-01-2025 19:55
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Looking at the breakaway composition, that looked to have been a good chance for AHJ. Would have been great to have him up there and competing for the KoM points, but fair enough after yesterday's huge effort.
Must admit I was surprised to see the breakaway chased down, but well done to the chasers! What a Giro this has been for Herklotz! Winning everywhere he is given the opportunity. Also cool to see other riders able to stay with him, I must say, eventhough Herklotz' class even shows in the sprints.
Thank you again for the reports, kb! |
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| Luis Leon Sanchez |
Posted on 08-01-2025 20:06
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Hmmm not the best stage from Choi finishing alongside riders who aren't at his level in the Mountains but hopefully he's got energy in the tank for tomorrow which is a brutal looking final Mountains stage. Could set himself up well for a potential Top 5 GC. Conci also quietly in 15th has been impressive from him!
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