Men's Road Cycling UCI World Tour 2021 (Giro d'Italia)

[Totallympics 65]

Men's Road Cycling UCI World Tour 2021 (Giro d'Italia)

 

Various Cities (ITA) - 8 May 2021 - 30 May 2021

 

 

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[Federer91 2,805]

One day until the Giro starts and no topic or mentions. Guess too many Olympic qualifiers taking attention at the moment  

 

Simon Yates goes in the favorite but Ineos/Sky are with a giant team again. If Bernal shows in a half-decent form, he could have an easy path for victory. Cycling legend Vincenzo Nibali goes in with more GT podiums than all other riders combined, but sadly he won't be in contention for top 5, maybe even top 10, after his recent injury amid his already declining form in the last few years. And finally we have the much awaited return of Remco, and i'm expecting fireworks and him to go bananas. 

[Gianlu33 4,600]

Stage 1: Torino-Torino (ITT) 

 

Torino has been a frequent host and feature of the Giro d’Italia, with three ‘big starts’ and countless stage starts or finishes. This is the story of the finish of the second to last stage of the 1949 edition at the long-neglected and soon-to-be restored velodrome in Corso Casale.

 

The velodrome is located in the district called Madonna del Pilone, at the foot of Superga, the hill on top of which Victor Amadeus II had built the majestic basilica as a token of gratitude for defeating the besieging French army in 1706. It was 11 June 1949, just over a month after the air disaster that claimed the lives of Valentino Mazzola, Gabetto, Bacigalupo, Grezar, Ossola, Loik and others – the day when the name of the hill became synonymous with the accident that killed the entire Grande Torino football club. None of them survived. Among the 31 dead, alongside the squad, their coaches and their managers, were three journalists and four crew members.

 

The stage finishing in the velodrome was an individual time trial. The day before, Fausto Coppi had sealed the greatest achievement of his career: a 192-km breakaway across five mountain passes, from Cuneo to Pinerolo. He had finished 11’52” ahead of the runner-up, Gino Bartali, taking the leader’s jersey and securing his overall Giro win. Bartali, second behind him on the GC, was over 23’ adrift. The 65-km ITT from Pinerolo to Turin would be a mere formality. Victory went to Toni Bevilacqua ahead of Corrieri and De Santi; Coppi only settled for sixth place, but it was enough to further increase his overall lead by a handful of seconds.

 

Coppi was a football enthusiast and a supporter of the ‘Toro’. In the first post-war period, the squad was invincible, even more than Coppi himself. There are many pictures portraying him with the players of the team: Danilo Martelli, Valerio Bacigalupo, Mario Rigamonti… In one of these, he is seen holding up a racing bicycle as Valentino Mazzola is checking out the spokes and the tires. In another one, he is standing with Serse Coppi, the defensive midfielder Eusebio Castigliano, and Valentino’s young children, Sandrino and Ferruccio, behind the counter in the sporting goods store that Mazzola had opened in Turin. Above all, Coppi was particularly attached to the midfielder of the Grande Torino, Ezio Loik, to whom he dedicated his victory in Pinerolo.

[Federer91 2,805]

Ganna seemed he can't lose a ITT and now has lost 3 in-a-row. I'm here to see, if he will make it 4.   Going with Cavagna for today.

[heywoodu 15,172]

Eurosport is live, including Alberto Contador whose gig to kick in open doors has apparently been renewed.

[heywoodu 15,172]

On 07/05/2021 at 09:24, Federer91 said:

One day until the Giro starts and no topic or mentions. Guess too many Olympic qualifiers taking attention at the moment  

 

Simon Yates goes in the favorite but Ineos/Sky are with a giant team again. If Bernal shows in a half-decent form, he could have an easy path for victory. Cycling legend Vincenzo Nibali goes in with more GT podiums than all other riders combined, but sadly he won't be in contention for top 5, maybe even top 10, after his recent injury amid his already declining form in the last few years. And finally we have the much awaited return of Remco, and i'm expecting fireworks and him to go bananas. 

I have spent almost no time following Olympic qualifiers this week and some time reading about the Giro  Just didn't feel like opening a thread  

 

Yates' Tour of the Alps makes me doubt him here...he was incredible there, with a hard third Giro week I wouldn't be surprised if once again he got the timing wrong. Meanwhile, Belgium is expecting Evenepoel to win the ITT and then stay in pink for three weeks after crashing hard last year and then getting back to training too early, getting injured again and basically only training normal since last month  

[heywoodu 15,172]

As for predictions: I'm going for Cavagna for the ITT today. But wtf, these odds for Evenepoel winning the Giro (not the stage, but the GC)

 

 

Odds of 1.43 for Evenepoel NOT to finish on the podium of the GC, damn. That is some value.

[Grassmarket 3,439]

Big crowds in Cisalpine Gaul.

 

Victor Campenaerts making his bid to be the man who sits in a chair for 2 hours and 45 minutes only to have his win snatched away by the last rider.

[heywoodu 15,172]

Here we go, hypeeeee hypeeeeee

[heywoodu 15,172]

2 hours ago, Grassmarket said:

Big crowds in Cisalpine Gaul.

 

Victor Campenaerts making his bid to be the man who sits in a chair for 2 hours and 45 minutes only to have his win snatched away by the last rider.

I don't think Campenaerts would really be expected at the top and also I don't think Dries de Bondt would be the man to take the win away from him