Nobody attempted anything at any point in the race, despite the several well positioned difficulties. Not a single attack. Just a medium team acceleration somewhere like 250 m from the summit of the 4th cat. climb by UAE; Pedersen immediately lost 60 places in the bunch. Each time there is a climb for climbers and someone pushes a tiny bit, he starts dropping (and that’s normal, that’s not his thing). But UAE only did it 250 m from the top (and the others didn’t do it at all), of course he could stay in the bunch and be taken back to the front after recovering.
That’s now 3 stages where the organiser did propose a terrain suitable for attacks and no one does anything. They all just wait to lose to Pedersen in the end. All sort of teams, big and small and medium; all sorts of riders, first-rate punchers, second-rate climbers ; they don’t try to do anything.
Where do they expect to win? Out of 21 stages, we have gone through 5 already. In the 16 remaining one, there is:
1 time-trial stage (#10)
1 parade/sprint stage (the last one)
3 other pure sprint stages (#6, #12, probably #18)
2 Pedersen-stages (#13 perhaps, and especially #14)
4 stages with finishes on summits (#7, #16, #19 (sort of), #20)
That leaves 5 stages, and all are not suitable for all types of riders, so for a given type of rider, the choice is more reduced (admittedly, a few of the mountain stages may get back in the list for some of those riders). So let’s say that depending on the type of rider, they have between 3 and 7 stages left. They wasted 3 already, so up to 50% of their chances.
We knew that it was likely that there would not be any fight for GC until late in the Tour, given the way this Giro is designed, and the type of GC riders engaged (personified in Roglitch). But we could imagine it would be replaced by a fight for stages, furthermore made easy because GC riders would not mess with it.
In the breakaway, the Arkéa rider took all the points and money from the 3 sprints, and then abandoned the other 2 who expected his collaboration in exchange… 😐
Yes, unless you’re a Pedersen fan it’s been a pretty boring giro so far. I am a Pedersen fan, of course, but I still recognized that. I guess Vacek is too strong for anyone to attack and get away?
Yes, unless you’re a Pedersen fan it’s been a pretty boring giro so far. I am a Pedersen fan, of course, but I still recognized that.
I haven’t always had favourite riders, but in the last few years I have two, and they are Pedersen for lads and Kopecky for gals. I don’t mind him winning, I do mind that others do not put up any fight, do not try to derail even just a little bit the course of Trek strategy, do not use what the organiser provided.
Ah, there is one thing at which I take offense, which makes me wish he loses time. He really looks like a little pig with this pink tracksuit and his chubby cheeks. 🤣 If he doesn’t want to lose time, please tell him to keep the jersey, but put on a different bib! 🐷 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐷 🐖
I guess Vacek is too strong for anyone to attack and get away?
No one even tried, so we cannot tell. But it is always better to go away in a small group (because there would have been splits if they tried), even carrying Vacek (or Ciccone) as a dead weight, than do nothing and arrive with Pedersen on perfect last miles for him (icing on the cake, after having dropped basically all other sprinters).
I agree that the others should put up a fight, but I guess they’re cooked? If not then they would surely try?
I like Pedersen, not only because he is Danish like me, but because he is such a fun character with his determination and hard man attitude, without being a macho man.
And he is very down to earth, a few years ago I was at a small critérium in Hammel and he was there. Bossed everyone (criteria in Denmark are actual competitions), then afterwards we saw him on the parking lot loading his bike into the back of his dad’s Skoda Octavia. I love that cycling is not more complicated than that, you know?
I agree that the others should put up a fight, but I guess they’re cooked?
In my mind, it is impossible that they are cooked. If we take today:
yesterday was a completely flat stage, with no fight; the day before was rest (oh, BTW, in this edition the max series of racing days is 6, not 10 days, as, because of the start abroad, there is an extra resting day);
peloton stopped riding at km 1, not a single counter-attack in the beginning of the race;
there were only 3 ‘small’ riders in the breakaway, which no one (including themselves) trusted to reach the finish, so no active pursuit;
wind was in riders back, if I heard correctly;
the stage is short, only 150 km;
the stage average speed is 43.6 km/h; to give a comparison point, Amstel Gold Race was ran at a slightly higher average speed, despite being 100 km longer and having twice the elevation gain!
the peloton is complete (or almost) when it reaches the first real climb, no one has made any effort since the start, and you probably still have 80 or more riders after it; so only sprinters and small or weakened riders have been dropped in the steep climb;
when there is a small acceleration, then it stops and everyone can regroup because they weren’t really dropped; in the end, there are still 60 riders in the same time; as they cannot have the same level of power/form it means that many of them could have done more;
it wasn’t at all like on the first day, when Lidl-Trek applied a strong and increasing pace all along the last climb (and kept on pushing on the downhill and then the flat) that put everyone behind in a single line, and thus ended up causing splits; it was rather compact most of the time today, except a little while when UAE pulled.
It absolutely can be as you say, especially if no strong puncher goes full steam ahead in the ‘main’ climb.
So far, a breakaway of 3 men who started at km 0. No reaction from any other rider in the peloton.
It was quite funny because they were 3 when they left, but the last one (a Movistar) slew down after only a couple hundreds yards, intending to get back into the bunch; yet he changed his mind (or the DS did), and then was struggling alone like a moron to catch up with the 2 Italians ahead (1 Polit, 1 Arkéa), until these 2 riders waited for him as the peloton was very slow.
One commenter’s theory was that he had the mission to jump in breakaways, but only take part in the ‘real ones’, those with enough riders to stand a chance of victory. So he half-dropped when he saw that there were only 2 small riders with him and no one seemed to join. I would add that he remained a bit ahead of the peloton, as if he wanted to incite other riders to get out of it and join him and then join the 2 other riders. Then we might guess that as it became clear that there would be no other volunteer and no chase, it was probably decided that he should join back the small breakaway, since this small breakaway would be the ‘right one’ and there wouldn’t have been anything better to do today.
I think this is another Pedersen-stage, depending on how it’s ridden of course. We’ll see!
Nobody attempted anything at any point in the race, despite the several well positioned difficulties. Not a single attack. Just a medium team acceleration somewhere like 250 m from the summit of the 4th cat. climb by UAE; Pedersen immediately lost 60 places in the bunch. Each time there is a climb for climbers and someone pushes a tiny bit, he starts dropping (and that’s normal, that’s not his thing). But UAE only did it 250 m from the top (and the others didn’t do it at all), of course he could stay in the bunch and be taken back to the front after recovering.
That’s now 3 stages where the organiser did propose a terrain suitable for attacks and no one does anything. They all just wait to lose to Pedersen in the end. All sort of teams, big and small and medium; all sorts of riders, first-rate punchers, second-rate climbers ; they don’t try to do anything.
Where do they expect to win? Out of 21 stages, we have gone through 5 already. In the 16 remaining one, there is:
That leaves 5 stages, and all are not suitable for all types of riders, so for a given type of rider, the choice is more reduced (admittedly, a few of the mountain stages may get back in the list for some of those riders). So let’s say that depending on the type of rider, they have between 3 and 7 stages left. They wasted 3 already, so up to 50% of their chances.
We knew that it was likely that there would not be any fight for GC until late in the Tour, given the way this Giro is designed, and the type of GC riders engaged (personified in Roglitch). But we could imagine it would be replaced by a fight for stages, furthermore made easy because GC riders would not mess with it.
In the breakaway, the Arkéa rider took all the points and money from the 3 sprints, and then abandoned the other 2 who expected his collaboration in exchange… 😐
Yes, unless you’re a Pedersen fan it’s been a pretty boring giro so far. I am a Pedersen fan, of course, but I still recognized that. I guess Vacek is too strong for anyone to attack and get away?
I haven’t always had favourite riders, but in the last few years I have two, and they are Pedersen for lads and Kopecky for gals. I don’t mind him winning, I do mind that others do not put up any fight, do not try to derail even just a little bit the course of Trek strategy, do not use what the organiser provided.
Ah, there is one thing at which I take offense, which makes me wish he loses time. He really looks like a little pig with this pink tracksuit and his chubby cheeks. 🤣 If he doesn’t want to lose time, please tell him to keep the jersey, but put on a different bib! 🐷 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐷 🐖
No one even tried, so we cannot tell. But it is always better to go away in a small group (because there would have been splits if they tried), even carrying Vacek (or Ciccone) as a dead weight, than do nothing and arrive with Pedersen on perfect last miles for him (icing on the cake, after having dropped basically all other sprinters).
I agree that the others should put up a fight, but I guess they’re cooked? If not then they would surely try?
I like Pedersen, not only because he is Danish like me, but because he is such a fun character with his determination and hard man attitude, without being a macho man.
And he is very down to earth, a few years ago I was at a small critérium in Hammel and he was there. Bossed everyone (criteria in Denmark are actual competitions), then afterwards we saw him on the parking lot loading his bike into the back of his dad’s Skoda Octavia. I love that cycling is not more complicated than that, you know?
In my mind, it is impossible that they are cooked. If we take today:
It absolutely can be as you say, especially if no strong puncher goes full steam ahead in the ‘main’ climb.
So far, a breakaway of 3 men who started at km 0. No reaction from any other rider in the peloton.
It was quite funny because they were 3 when they left, but the last one (a Movistar) slew down after only a couple hundreds yards, intending to get back into the bunch; yet he changed his mind (or the DS did), and then was struggling alone like a moron to catch up with the 2 Italians ahead (1 Polit, 1 Arkéa), until these 2 riders waited for him as the peloton was very slow.
Another Movistar tactical masterclass :D
One commenter’s theory was that he had the mission to jump in breakaways, but only take part in the ‘real ones’, those with enough riders to stand a chance of victory. So he half-dropped when he saw that there were only 2 small riders with him and no one seemed to join. I would add that he remained a bit ahead of the peloton, as if he wanted to incite other riders to get out of it and join him and then join the 2 other riders. Then we might guess that as it became clear that there would be no other volunteer and no chase, it was probably decided that he should join back the small breakaway, since this small breakaway would be the ‘right one’ and there wouldn’t have been anything better to do today.