diphthong

this is the thread for the 2022 giro'd'italia. please keep the slobbering fantasy bizarro chit-chat out of this thread. there is a separate and interpol-monitored thread for the fantasy dufii. have at it!

diphthong

sleeper mode for the pink jersey...tobias foss...

MinnMan

Looking forward to see whether Cav has any juice. He's got Morkov working for him, so no excuses.

GrainBrain

I wonder if MvdP can win the first uphill stage in Hungary, carry the pink jersey for awhile. Would be neat to do that in all three GTs - he's got the tour done and dusted already. Can't wait to see stage one finish.

I'm bullish on Romain Bardet.

I'm loving a wide open Giro with what looks to be a ton of stage hunters. I'm hoping to see some great stage hunting for world tour points.

diphthong

so what's the over/under number of stages mvdp rides? barring crash(es)/dq, going with eight.

slcbob

Hey now! Fantasy stuff in the other thread!!

It'll be interesting to see if Cav keeps living the dream. A lot of weird things need to happen for him to wind up in Le Tour or even the end of the Giro, but I don't think the curve balls are done being thrown.

HeyItsSara

Fingers crossed for CAV!!!!!!!!

diphthong

was never a cav fan but def was not happy when he won the oscar for his dq of sagan in the tdf a few years back when he insisted on inserting himself into a space that was physically impossible in that time, space and dimension.

sincos

I'll go with Almeida to take the next step, despite the shortage of TT km. He should be on the steep part of the improvement curve, and he'll have full team backing this time.

There are several storylines I'm curious about.
EF. Do or die after a horrendous Spring, and the Giro has the most points available for a stage race team like this (unless something bad happens to Pog and Rog). Not seeing Carthy to win it all, or even to make the podium, but top 10 should be doable. Stage win for Powless.
Intermarche: Hirt for top 10, not expecting Girmay to go the full distance but a stage win or podium would be great.
Astana: Haven't been able to find their way out of a paper bag, though that's not on the riders. One last hurrah and top 10 for Nibali.
DH-Androni: Curious about this Tesfatsion guy. Did well in Coppi&Bartali and was quite respectable in Tirreno-Adriatico and Tour of the Alps, now he gets thrown in the deep end.
Lotto: If Intermarche have been punching well above their weight, Lotto have been punching well below. Can somebody, anybody, get this squad back on track?
Alpecin-Fenix: can MVdP finish the race? That's an unrelenting last week for a big guy like him.

diphthong

like almeida's podium chances.

ef's carthy could podium or finish top ten or have a stage win or two...didn't see powless listed among the starters but perhaps my speed-reading failed me.

good call on hirt. def possible.

astana has historically brought a stronger team...not seeing it this year.

thinking lotto might surprise with a multiple stage winner or super-dark horse gc contender.

mvdp...thinking he doesn't get past stage eight. we'll see. it would be nice to see him finish the race but not seeing that as any kind of priority for him/the team.

DonkeyShow

Anyway to watch this(na) without paying for yet another streaming service?

Kai Winters

I watched the team presentation on GCN+ yesterday. It was a good show. First time I've ever seen a team presentation event. The crowd was big and cheering loud. There was some entertainment and it was interesting, pretty good overall.
Looking forward to watching the Giro.

MinnMan

Maybe Ewan can give Lotto a little glory. He has overwhelming power when he's on form, but it's kinda been a while since he has really shined.

sincos

I don't either! Don't know where that came from ...

GrainBrain

Lotto and Israel need some points bad. I'm excited to see how stage one plays out, I wonder if Demare will surprise? If Cort will be in the mix?

slcbob

I think Demare and Nizzolo will pick up some minor placings in the first few sprints but wind up duking it out for the ciclimina jersey in the end. If I'm wrong about that, it'll probably be Bauhaus' fault.

This relegation thing is wacky. In a good way. There are a lot of points out there in the Grand Tours and their prequels like Dauphine and Suisse. It'll be interesting to see if that puts someone else at the bottom, or it just puts those two further behind.

Does anyone know if there's a promotion system going in to the lower leagues, like you see in the Premier League? All I've seen this first year is that it's about trimming the World Tour from 19 to 18. Not about any ongoing churn.

MinnMan

Not sure. There is this thing that the top 2 Pro teams (currently Alpecin-Fenix and Arkea Samsic) get automatic invitations anyway, so if that remains in 2023, it will be 18 +2, I think? Also, Alpecin-Fenix and Arkea Samsic are easily in the top 18 in points now, but I'm not sure that they will apply to become World Tour teams b/c they may or may not fulfill the other criteria. Clearly, they are both rich enough to meet the financial requirements, but do they want to field teams in all those events?

It's not simply the top 18 teams in points, but rather the top 18 teams that APPLY for World Tour licenses....

Lanterne Rouge discusses some of these points here
https://lanternerouge.com.au/2022/02...ion-explained/

GrainBrain

Going to be an exciting Giro.

Already a heartbreaking Giro. When you're so far into the red zone the slightest brush will ruin you. Can you lick your wounds and give it another go?

AlgarveCycling

Interesting start!

I've got my fingers crossed for Almeida - but then so has the rest of Portugal here!

Ken Brown

I'm watching on GCN+ and I can't get it to go full screen. Am I missing something? I got full screen for the other races.

MinnMan

That hope didn't last long. Anybody know his situation for the coming stages?

MinnMan

So what happened with that strange intervention with the mods the other day. Are we supposed to keep all the substance out of this thread b/c the OP didn't mark the title with "spoiler alert"?

If that's the case, we're gonna need a different thread.

sincos

Arkea clearly want it, AF are being a bit coy. But ISTM if AF don't apply they run the risk of MVdP signing for someone else two years down the line or having having his back go, since unlike European football, relegation/promotion is on a 3 year time frame. And while Philipsen and Merlier are useful (assuming they stick around) right now MVdP is AF.


But if Astana don't get their act together it's possible Astana get the boot, so 19th might be safe.


It's only 1 stage in, but in the team standings Israel and Lotto are 19th and 20th (only DH Androni are below them), which is where they are in the UCI rankings. Neither team is built for GTs so it's hard to see that changing much. Ewan might get them a few stages (stage wins are worth 100 pts) if he can stop crashing, which is looking like a bigger ask than it ought to be. The guy is seriously quick but seems to have bike control problems in traffic -- this time he just ran into Girmay, who was keeping his line. At least he didn't take out anybody this time, like he did when he ran into Merlier in the Tour.

MinnMan

I don't know if AF wants to be a world tour team or not. They are hella strong at the top (the three biggies you mentioned), but I don't think they have the deep and wide squad they'd need to represent at all the required events. I think they are in the perfect spot where they are - strong enough to get an invitation to any race they want to contest, and small enough so that they can concentrate their payroll on just a few stars. MvdP isn't having any trouble at all getting the exposure he needs with them. I think he'll stay as long as they keep paying him what he's worth.

There are other pro teams (Total Gas. - oh, I mean, Total Energies) that want to be in the sweet spot that AF occupies, but AF has it locked down if they keep that big trio and the points they bring.

As to Ewan, yeah, sheesh. He's got a real problem. Part of Cav's good fortune at the Tour last year was that Ewan crashed out at the beginning. That may be happening again.

MinnMan

And it was indeed nice to see Girmay on the podium. How old is he again?