diphthong

pretty sure remco has already developed into a premier gc rider between this giro's efforts and that little vuelta escapade last year. besides pogacar, vingegaard and roglic, who(m) ya got?
almeida? foss? kämna? caruso? gthomas? tgh? the yates bros? bilbao? would be more worried about ayuso vs the rest of these listed guys.

surak

He brought Soudal on as a long-term sponsor with a multi-year vision of turning QuickStep into a GC team built around Remco. I don't think there's as much pressure now, the goal is to win the Tour in 1-3 years. But with Remco's Giro ending so abruptly, I suppose he could be tempted to just throw him into the ring for the heck of it, or if Remco decides that he really wants to go.

surak

A premier GC contender is one who's a legit favorite to win the Tour, and whose absence from a grand tour would have people mentally put an asterisk on the victor's palmares. As of today only Pogacar and Vinegaard are in that tier, with Roglic maybe aging out and not fully reaching that standard but with many thinking he was for a while. Bernal would've been there if not for his crash.

Remco was far from a premier GC rider before and even during his Vuelta win, with plenty of skeptics who wonder if he would've won had Roglic not crashed himself out, the latter trending stronger and Remco looking mortal. That said, almost everyone believes he has the potential to get in that tier if he develops. His perceived weaknesses: long climbs, steep ramps, conserving energy physically and mentally when things don't go his way, all over three weeks.

OBoile

Agreed. I really can't believe people are trying to make this into something more, or are suggesting he should keep going. As the doctor in the article you posted says, withdrawing was the incredibly obvious choice.

GrainBrain

What an absolute brutal bit of luck for Tao. Hopefully he can look to G's similar hip misfortune and have some solace in knowing recovery and top performance are achievable afterwards.

Beautiful sprint from Ackerman and Milan was outstanding! Cav too is looking to get things going.

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diphthong

seems pretty harsh...so a "premier gc contender" both regards and disregards the giro and vuelta and goes all in with the tour de france...got it. so the 3 consecutive vuelta gc victories by roglic and his being on the podium in both the tdf and giro are inconsequential in "fully reaching that standard." makes sense.
totally confident roglic didn't keep any opposing gc teams up late at night devising defensive/offensive strategies during any of the tdf's that roglic has raced. roglic gets dissed as aging out but then is also upheld as the reason remco is lacking? bernal wins one tdf and gets a free pass
for how long? what if neither tadej or jonas duplicate their july gt success but nab a giro and/or vuelta? if there is no defined eddy or bernault or he who shall not be named riding le tour, then is it worth racing? for gt's featuring plenty of tt km's or not enough, how does that fit into your "premier gc contender" ideal and the gc riders that participate-or don't? team strength? how does a lemond victory with the "z" team equate to a merckx molteni win? it's one thing when you've got a 40+ yo chris horner winning a vuelta or an ancient pou-pou finishing 2nd in the tdf...it's quite another when you've got someone that qualifies in the best young rider's category taking the overall gc in a gt. there is more to cycling than le tour. and yah, remco
has his shortcomings (as does every rider) but he appears to have more strengths in potentially winning a gt than a vast majority of the peleton. as much as i love old age and treachery, i'll stick with the youth and (so far) results and potential. remco was leading this giro before his departure. whomever wins it
will have an asterisk on their palmares. my "premier gc contender(s)" are not as exacting, i suppose.

slcbob

That's very rarefied air. So you have to be a strong favorite, to the point of being THE favorite(s) for Le Tour, to be a "premier contender" for any GT?

I could see how coming into this Giro, one might not put G in the ring as one of the premier contenders. But Roglic and Evenepoel? And an asterisk on the winner because Pogacar is training for July? Tough crowd.

Whatever the term, I'd put all of them and a few others on a short list of folks that it wouldn't be hard to believe win, and no other GC competitor in their right mind would take them lightly.

GrainBrain

Ooo wee just trying not to make cheeky comments on this one ... but a standard I think of in regards to GT royalty is will they let them in the break? No one's talking about Rigo, but no one's letting him in a break either. In my opinion (which I almost capitalized on in fantasy land) was that G is a real threat for the top of the standings. Primoz was ill but he's going the full three weeks, though his illness was probably present in the early first week so he's improving.

Milan has been a revelation in my opinion, surprised he isn't getting a lot more air time. I hope he does the Vuelta. Just glanced at the break today and it's 30 riders strong? With Matthews and Pedersen ... Trek featuring 4 riders!? Ooooo that's going a ways maybe ... and oh, Einer Rubio snuck in at 17 minutes down on GC ... I have faith he can chip away to a top ten ... Eolo snuck Fortunato in but darn no Albanese.

surak

Lefevere has a long term plan that Remco has publicly bought into to get him to be a serious contender for the TdF, not finish 5 minutes down on the clear favorites. There's no denying that Remco has the potential, but reality check of where he is right now: won 1 Vuelta against arguably only one other legit competitor in Roglic who DNFed, before which he DNFed after imploding in spectacular fashion at the Giro, and now DNFed again after racing for the first time in his pro career for nine stages in a row. Now getting sick doesn't indicate a flaw, but it does mean he's missed another opportunity to gain experience and get stronger.

After Bernal, Pogacar, and Vinegaard won their TdF(s), people wondered how many more they'd win. That's the new standard that Remco and his team want to get to, which takes a massive build-up as they just don't have the experience. Yes each of those recent winners hasn't been invincible but Bernal won a Giro with a bad back, Pog is on a trajectory to be a GOAT, Vinegaard yes has to show up again and not be a one-hit wonder but hasn't shown that he's off his form so far and JV undoubtedly has one of the two strongest GC support teams in the WT.

GrainBrain

GC Kuss!

GrainBrain

Wow Gaviria made that break over the climb ... might have to go back and see how he did that. Maybe nobody realized who he was with the rain jacket on? He's got Barta and Verona along with him ... seems nailed on for the win? Nah it's lumpy, should've maybe had Verona go with that four man move...

MinnMan

So much rain for Italy in May. A sopping mess.

GrainBrain

Kind of thought it fit in well with the second week ... first week for the sprinters, second week is all sloppy for the specialists ...


Great win and great tactics by McNulty! ... I thought for sure Frigo had them at 400 meters? Frigo came flying out of nowhere!

diphthong

nice win for brandon!

now about this rest day thingie…

may have missed it but any of the remaining stages have rerouted/cancelled portions due to snow/weather concerns?

MinnMan

McNulty made me unreasonably happy today. chapeau!

slcbob

Nothing unreasonable at all!

No snivels of joy, either. It was a good American hell yeah.

diphthong

two big mountain stages left + that little mountain climb tt on stage 20. out of the top three gc contenders, thinking roglic fares the best on the tt, followed by gthom, then almeida. plenty of fireworks before that tho.
can any of the gc semi-adjacent, mountain goats (kämna, dunbar or caruso) climb into a podium place and will one (or more) of the current gc podium guys fall off said podium? a bridge too far 2023.

MinnMan

From the activity here, it seems that we've mostly lost interest.

The last two mountain stages were good, though not super exciting. Thomas seems to be earning his win in classic Sky/Ineos style. Remco would have been attacking far more.

diphthong

things have been minimized. we'll see with the mountain tt. weather, conditions and regulations have been simply brutal. all hopes of a proper giro long gone geek...er...gonzo. sorry ph.

slcbob

Yes, the silence has been deafening.

Despite lots of yellow in the maglia rossa group toward the end, I'm reminded JV has their B team here. They seem present but not quite accounted for. Ineos isn't completely dominating a la Sky and the earlier blue train that shall not be named, but they sure are carrying the water home, shedding Roglic's help. De Plus and Arensman were tremendous yesterday.

I Have no predictions today. It would be a well earned win if Thomas holds on. A little karma for Roglic if he manages to change things in a final uphill TT. TBD.

If Thomas wins, he's got to be thinking Vuelta and a shot at the triple threat. I wonder how this year's course suits him, and who else Ineos has on that slate.

diphthong

going with roglic to emerge from the imbroglio for the gc mountain tt win. possible he could do tha dub dub in winning both the stage and the pink jerz. oui shall c.

Shadco 

Gee whiz has been the most entertaining rider in this year’s Geero.

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GrainBrain

I've been watching quite a bit, but we've had fantastic weather here along with everything else that comes with the start of summer! Gee has been amazing to watch, and the mountains jersey has had some interesting competition. GC wise it's a sleeper, but Almeida's win and subsequent performance has been good to see.

There's been plenty of breakaway wins, and the Lombardi-esque stage with McNulty winning was great to watch. Pascal Ackerman has been in fantastic form, climbing super well. It was fun to see Jens Voight be right in the mix of it as Ackerman finished the stage with both celebrating. Commentators on the motor bikes are finding their niche, I like it.

Quite the SRAM propaganda going on, don't they have to inform viewers when it's a paid promotion? SRAM does make a great 1x system, I'm surprised I haven't seen much to do about Campagnolo's Eckar system.

Bruno Armirail has had a dream Giro, that was great to see! Leknessund is doing great as well.

Kind of frustrating to see the big three GC teams with so much control over the break formation. A lot of chasing down interesting riders. I had hoped to see more fighting for the top ten.

Currently excited to see if Riccitello can stay in the hot seat, what a great ride!

rosefarts

Im not sure how I feel about a bike switch halfway through the TT. I understand why. I can only imagine type of shenanigans a single bike (aside from mechanical issues) would create. It would be super fun to see.

GrainBrain

ABSOLUTE CLASS ACT - You are a real champion G'!


Incredible! That mechanical!


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Brandon McNulty - Sepp Kuss - Will Barta - Matthew Riccitello - Larry Warbasse - Joe Dombrowski

Great showing by the Americans in this grand tour!