Giro d’Italia Stage Profiles

62 thoughts on “Giro d’Italia Stage Profiles”

1. Why doesn’t stage 20 count as a summit finish? Is the climb not steep enough? I see it categorized as 3rd category climb on the profile.

   • Because it’s flat across to the finish, the profile doesn’t quite show it but it’s a main road, gentle gradient most of the way.

2. I think the Giro will always be closer to my heart than any other stage races, mostly because of the nostalgia of it having been the first cycling spectacle that pulled me in many years ago. Does anyone else remember the catchy jingle that they started every stage of the ’96 race with: “la bici l’o voluta io/adesso pedala”?

   • They used to have an official song every year but it’s become unloved and then seems to have been dropped. In 2013 the song was “Mezza estate” (midsummer) and all about sunshine and warm weather only it seemed to rain every day at the race (most days) and it was cruel to play over the sound system at the start each day with a downpour.

   • Enjoyed reading this comment and agree.

3. Hope for some surprises along the way, feels like you never quite know what you get with the Giro.

   Read Stage 20 could be changed because of snow, that would be a bad surprise.

   • You know the Giro is coming soon because there are news articles “revealing” the Alps have had snow over the winter 😉

     The threat for the Giro is rarely the lingering snow which has four weeks to melt and be cleared by workers, and more the prospect of a cold front arriving in the Alps at the same time as the race bringing snow/sleet on the day. Hopefully the Finestre is ok.

4. Looks like a fun course design. As to be expected with grand tours, there will inevitably be some anonymous stages with a few Italian pro conti guys dangling off the front all day, but the course design seems well suited to keep the competition close well into the last week. I wouldn’t mind another uphill finish or two, especially earlier in the race, but there is a lot of potential for drama on the long run-ins. Most importantly, no Pogi or Ving, so it’s unlikely to be done and dusted with a week to go. If the weather is ok in the last week, could be an epic edition.

   • The now chronical Giro-route disease… feeble 2nd week. Barring that, good ideas, although a broader variety of themes would have been welcome.

5. Re: st. 17, any news on the “direttissima” / Recta Contador? I think that the original published route didn’t have it in, as it needed some road works, so general opinion was it was going to be confirmed as soon as the latter also were… which apparently are being carried out *but* the course on the official website still doesn’t have the “Recta Contador” (last time I checked a few days ago). Is the variant now included in the Garibaldi, which is apparently late, too, when compared to previous years’ publishing dates?

   RCS is doing terrible communication-wise this year. Dunno what it happened, external issues maybe, but even managing that sort of things can be done better or worse, and they’ve provided more than one deception, especially when granting in-time info is concerned, not least to build up some proper hype.

   • Just the local newspaper chronicling the works for this, it seems to be part of of the climb or that’s the plan. But the Garibali which has come out today hasn’t mentioned it; but it doesn’t have to as it’s a major turn etc.

     • No direttissima -> https://www.quibicisport.it/2025/04/29/giro-ditalia-il-mortirolo-si-scalera-dalla-strada-tradizionale-niente-recta-contador/
       even after re pavement works-> https://www.gazzettadellevalli.it/valle-camonica/monno-iniziati-i-lavori-di-manutenzione-della–recta-contador-489329
       From a safety POV, it’s for the better, this “road” is barely 2m wide

       • Thanks, that settles it. Not that the peloton would be big here either 😉

         • Well Tonale is not difficult (at all, especially that side) and the harder part of this Mortirolo side, without the “direttissimia”, is only at the top (last switchbacks). No big selection on this point. On some websites, this stage has even been classified as “hilly” and not “high mountain”.
           And it would have been a big logistic complication, as cars would not decently pass here with people on 2 sides of the road so for just ~3Km they would have to switch to just motorbikes for assistance. For once, Giro made a good choice to skip this.

       • According to the article you posted, 90% of the road is being made +80 cm to +150 cm wider, which surely makes it less extreme in terms of safety. People might be admitted to watch, if at all, only on the border, outside of the road itself, as it has happened before in other places, although of course this would need some enforcement or infrastructure.
         It might have been worth the effort in order to have something in the Giro besides Finestre which doesn’t leave completely to athletes (and DSs) the full initiative about how, where and if any selection has to be made.
         And the stage would have been very probably of great interest *thanks to* the following terrain, very subject to strategy and tactics. As it is, well, one more breakaway stage and a possible menace only for whomever’s got a bad day.
         A hilly day, indeed, which isn’t normally a bad thing – I missed them at the Giro in more than one recent edition – but *precisely this year* we had already some 9 of them, it’s not like the 10th was going to be sorely missed, whereas some more true mountain with “Giro gradients” would have better balanced the mix.
         As I also noted above, a trend of sort in recent seasons is having GTs, and especially Giro and Vuelta, with an obsessive leit motiv as far as course design is concerned, instead of exploring *combinations* of different concepts, as the TDF is doing a bit more.
         I’d say that results are rewarding the latter, although of course this goes much beyond course design…
         However, I still appreciate the attempt of having a different course for different racing, even if I’m afraid we’ll have an indigestion of mornin’ breakaways.

         • I’ve done it, 2x also in a hillclimb ITT event. Perfect for that, not for groups even if splitted. There’s a small limit between circus and sport. That would have been a circus UNLESS it was closed to the public, which would have been not so popular.

         • @Rob
           Never been there, but a 2-mts-broad “mulattiera”, which actually makes little sense for a group, +80 to 150 cm of width changes a lot, I’d say. It’s not a small difference. And that’s precisely why it couldn’t be considered before the roadworks were approved.
           Or do you refer to the gradient?
           On a wholly uphill road the fight for positions towards a specific section is a very different matter when compared to say cobbled walls. Raising speeds to get on the front before the narrow section starts already create selection and the first 200 metres on the wall can have the riders one by one.
           No drama in Bola del Mundo, but not even in Les Praeres or Mirador de Ézaro despite no hard climbs before and coming from a flat road.

           It’s different when you go downhill, of course, I think that I can recall some crazy descent at Dauphiné.

           However, no big issue while everybody knows in advance this stage as presented is the course to ride, so anyone willing to make the race selective on a hard climb from far will just choose a different option among the so many available! It’s not at all like when you change the whole course balance “adapting” a stage the day before or even on the same day.

6. Liking the INEOS line-up, although this year they looked short on luck, not on valour.

   • If both Bernal and Arensman are at their current best, we don’t need to hope for the old Bernal and they would still be interesting. Throw in Tarling to try to conquer all the non-climbing days (obviously the TT’s), plus a strong supporting cast, and at the very least they should continue to entertain.

     • Yeah – this entire Giro feels like it could be excellent if both Ayuso and Roglic are just a level below their possible/probable best as you suddenly have around five or so riders who might spring a Spring Surprise – Bernal, Storer, Gee, Ciccone, Yates… even Landa has been incredibly consistent in recent years despite being a few tiers below the best.

       It’s hard to know whether Ayuso will graduate to the top table in the near future or whether Roglic is a fading force since it became abundantly clear he was not at Pog nor Vin’s level. You’d expect Ayuso to be able to walk this one if he’s of the talent we previously thought but recent results, plus the Giro always throwing up the unexpected, make it very hard to call and the cautious side of me now favours Roglic.

       Bernal winning would be special though, as would Ciccone being Italian, as would Yates (so he and his twin could end their careers with a Grand Tour apiece), but then Storer or Gee suddenly coming of age would also be exciting even if I’d fear both would then top out in a similar way to Jai Hindley & Tao G-H, excellent riders but maybe not about to ascend to the true pinnacle.

       I’ve been a Storer fan for a while so will be rooting for him but I expect his team would prefer a late surge rather than holding the jersey for too long…

       Tiny bit of a shame to see so few comments here, not that I’m about starting to keep a tally, but hard to ignore the clear lack of excitement for this Giro between here and other cycling communities – I’m deeply suspicious that for everyone complaining about Pog ruining ‘real racing’, many of them are not then tuning into races without him to see the racing they apparently crave?

       • Good points all of ’em. I’m afraid that as I said above RCS is currently struggling big time with their media management. I’m not aware anymore since long about who’s actually on charge and if any change has been made in recent years, but, hey, late announcements, lack of hype, no decent marketing idea… maybe it’s just the cost-cutting approach which is so Cairo’s, but it hurts the race, even more so in a moment where it seriously need to connect more with the people, locals to start with.

         Turning mass into niche doesn’t convince me at all in cycling’s case. And playing it double, like, let’s try to stay mass in Italy and sell that mere idea to some niche abroad, while letting go the real watching figures we had in Spain, France etc. just to cash in, dunno…

         Add to that the fact which I have been hinting at for some time, i.e, current GT athletes not actually being a historical top of sort, unlike what we see in Classics.

         Almeida, Ayuso, C. Rodríguez, Jorgenson and I’d even dare to say Remco (in GTs, and with a caveat about his terrible accidents) might have looked like “same as Pogi”, but they need more maturation in GTs. Perhaps even Pogi wasn’t actually exent from that, his level just being hugely above the rest.
         Many youngsters rised to early prominence because the competition was a lost generation of sort. In fact, we can see how older athletes or some who aren’t even clear GC specialists find their space in the TDF top-10 itself.

         The huge importance of teams nowadays adds to that effect.

         Yet, most athletes still need to go through a process of improvement and learning which touches many aspects different from mere wattage – it takes years, and can produce very different trajectories. Without it… well, they climb and TT fast but the public, often without even knowing why, feels that the spectacle is lacking.
         Take Pogačar and a few other away, and it’s very noticeable.
         Just check the last 2-3 editions especially of the Giro, where knowing how to race is more relevant over wattage… (but you can see it at the Vuelta, too – we notice less at the TDF because the camera and our attention is on the first 2-3 only).

         All that said, it’s even normal that when the TDF is on a peak of attention and has good racing, too, not to speak of the Classics, less is left for the rest.

       • This is a course overview and not a race preview. If you are not familiar with the roads it is almost impossible to comment.
         Among all the statistics that are kept is one of them the average gradient of the climbs?

       • oldDAVE,

         Well at least for me the Giro will be a breath of fresh air. I’m getting more and more annoyed with UAE/Gianetti and – fair or not – with the saccharine Slovenian, even though he is probably as likeable as any in the field.

         So even as a Spaniard I’m not going to root for Ayuso. I’m all in for Landa. A long shot maybe, but this is probably the last realistic chance he will have for a GT.

         • I like Landa but there is no way he will win. SQS hasn’t a team to support him.

         • I think the biggest fear for a lot of fans is that UAE will do to this Giro what they have done to a number of other stage races in the past year. That is, dominating so completely that the normal patterns of GT’s are disrupted and we have the same predictable results over and over. What made the Vuelta so interesting in 2024 was Bora not being able to do that, which put the onus on Roglic to show his true quality, which he was able to do in emphatic fashion. What (in my opinion) hurt the Giro and TdF in 2024 was that when the UAE handed the race to Pogi on a silver platter, he took it and rode up the road like it was nothing. If Ayuso can’t do the same, then I don’t think we’ll have boring, old school racing because there are so many riders (I’m also very intrigued by Storer) for whom a “2024 Vuelta” type of race would be the ideal scenario to steal a big result.

         • @The Other Craig

           UAE the past year? Far from a stage race killing machine, save for PCS.
           Separate two factors: “sheer athletical performance, i.e. sum of figures, so to say” (I may agree with you on that… and beyond 😉 ) *plus* “Pogi as such”.
           As a team, they produced a lot of mess – which we all enjoyed. And they were far from perfect as a Pogi support at Catalunya, Giro and even the TDF, despite a number of über-favourable conditions (barring one, of course, i.e. being the outright favourites). The 2024 Giro, especially but not limited to its first half, doesn’t correspond to your description at all. Was more about individual superiority (and a good deal of plans which had to be corrected on the run or went wrong).

           Visma won the two main short stage races in Ti-Ad & Pa-Ni, INEOS got Romandie and Rogla had Dauphiné. Pogi easily won Catalunya although a lack of support was manifest e.g. in st. 1 but also occasionally on st. 5 among others. Yates & Almeida actually dominated Suisse, but Itzulia was a great race, Skjelmose looked bound to get it but the Spanish duo of Carlos R. & Ayuso “le dio la vuelta a la tortilla” on the last stage with a daring collaborative attack.

         • gabriele

           UAE will likely not control the race but I do agree with T.O.C. that they are – for some reason – so strong they have the potential to do it.

           Ayuso, Vine, del Toro seem to be in stellar form – better or at least as good as ever. Same for Almeida and Morgado (though none of them are scheduled to do the Giro), so somehow Gianetti has done a “Hirschi” several times over with a sizeable part of his team.

           They may f.. up the race itself, due to lack of tactics, but thats likely our last best hope…

         • @MediumMig, if you read closely what I tried to say, my point is precisely that we’ve already had ahem ” many physically strong athletes ” at UAE last year (call it *generalised good prep*, aka…….. – unlike previous seasons), but it *didn’t actually* make the huge majority of stage races worse or predictable… unless Pogi was there.
           Yeah, it’s mainly because they fail to race perfectly as individuals or team, and luckily so, but we may trust ’em to go on a bit like that (although… young riders will gradually mature sooner or later).

         • Maybe I was just so scarred by the 2024 TdF that I extended it to other races in my memory, but there is one thing that we’ve all seen multiple times: a team so strong that tactics are an afterthought. Luckily, they have mucked up some races and Ayuso and Almeida haven’t had the ability to finish the way Pogi does (yet). But when you see someone like Jan Christen coming through the ranks it’s hard not to think “here we go again,” same with Morgado, Del Toro, and on and on. But the way J-V bossed the 2023 GT’s looked pretty discouraging, and look where they are now, so who knows. Somehow, however, I don’t see UAE going that way any time soon.

         • gabriele,

           I think you know what I mean. The *generalised good prep* is at a level at UAE that suddenly pushed Hirschi 2-3 steps forward for some months last year, but we just see it for 4-5-6 UAE riders now.

           Gianetti is clever. Really clever.

         • I think it’s completely fine to be tired of Pog, I’m just expressing my converse opinion. And I get the opposite even if I’m doubtful that all who get vexed practise what they preach.

           When it gets onto doping I’m struggling a bit… and any situation when someone has to be ‘really, really clever’ usually means we’ve got a little too much time to let our imaginations run because no one is that clever or at least clairvoyant…

           Obviously doping has been and may always be a thing in cycling – but unless we’re inside the teams with in real depth knowledge, my personal take is it’s worth downing our Sherlock caps and enjoying what we have till either we know more or the relevant authorities can do their job.

           We can say Gianetti is really, really clever – or we can say, he nearly killed himself likely doping in the mid90s and UAE currently have a lot of money to buy the best riders who are performing to their expected capabilities alongside the best coaching – as has generally happened with most eras up until *(possibly) the EPO era.

           If we talk about *money* being true dope then I’m all here for that!! And will glad sign up to multiple methods to alleviate this tension in cycling.

         • oldDAVE

           I fully respect that you (and several more here on the blog and in the world), like to see Pog demolish races with 60+ km breaks and I’m certainly not implying that there is “right” or “wrong” way to follow pro cycling. It’s a purely a matter of personal taste.

           Do I follow races less where Pog is riding? Absolutely! As mentioned quite a few times, I have nothing against Pog as a person (his saccharine smile and “the-team-did-really-well” platitudes are probably exactly what 70% of the other riders would offer in similar positions) and he seems to be a well-liked guy. I just find those victory margins boring AND I dislike AND distrust UAE/Gianetti more and more. Do I think their methods are illigit? I have no idea.

           Do I then follow non-Pog races more? Well, I’m actually not sure. Before your question I would have answered firmly “yes”, but re-looking at my time and the comments I’ve written on various cycling forums I’m more inclined to say “no”. I think UAE has – to some extend – put me off cycling. I’ll follow the Giro this year but will probably turn down cycling after that for some time.

         • This is an interesting answer MediumMig.
           Thank you.

           I was mostly hooked by your doping suggestions and the brutal truth is I generally write anyone off who goes too hard on the doping question these days not because I’m not suspicious myself more because it doesn’t go anywhere till we know more.

           But you then looked at your recent watch/comment history was a bit of self-reflection I wasn’t expecting so thank you for that.

           I guess my question would be why UAE? Why not Jumbo, Sky, Postal, Banesto etc etc? As it seems fairly regular that the most successful rider of any given moment is also backed by the strongest team. Admittedly though, those uber-teams have now gotten richer and richer so seemingly compete on more fronts than previously, so maybe again we’re back to money.

           To me it just feels fairly early in the UAE domination story (given Jumbo won all three GT’s only just over one season ago) so I’m surprised you’re already at the point of UAE being the problem, for me it’s going to take another few seasons of this to blame the team not just Pog himself.

         • The top rider has always attracted the most money and the strongest domestiques. This is actually the nature of cycling as a sport. Of course, it is unusual that the top rider competes all year, doing both cobbled classics and GTs. But this also happened when Merckx was around. And the audience in that era got mighty sick of Eddy and his team winning most of the races.

           For me, I like watching Pogi at the cobbled classics and San Remo. But Lombardia and Liege are somewhat boring since there is no real sense he can be beaten.

       • I’m one of those with a “lack of excitement”. I’ll not be surprised if the Giro will end up with a *massive* UAE dominance and even though neither Ayuso, Vine, Macnulty has (yet) shown the insane performance outliers as Pog, I distrust UAE enough to focus elsewhere.

       • Sorry to say but neither Storer or Gee will be in the mix for pink.

         There. I’ve put it out there (and now I’m praying I don’t have egg all over my face).

7. “Precedent in recent years says the preference is to wait for as long as possible and hope others fall away but the answer partly depends on the rider…” Yes, with Pogacar or Vingegard, we are sure that something would have happen. I’m afraid that with the Giro rider we might have a problem on this : it’s the first time that Ayuso is a clear favorite to win a GT, and I’m not sure he will dare to attempt from far, except if he has some time to recover. Roglic usually wait for the last km in GT. Bernal could do it, but after the last years he has some confidence to regain… The only one that could do something is Carapaz, but he’s not been very reliable for some years… With the aliens, we complain that the result is decided too soon, but without, we risk to have some old school cycling where everyone waits until someone cracks, which is not exciting racing. Hopefully I’m wrong and we will have a grande Giro ! Maybe the best would be that a rider like Carthy, Meintjes, Plapp or Bardet gains 8 minutes from a big break and everybody has to recover this.

   • @Cascarinho I appreciate this! “With the aliens, we complain that the result is decided too soon, but without, we risk to have some old school cycling where everyone waits until someone cracks, which is not exciting racing.”

     • If we get a big break with 2nd tier GC guys, we will also have rants about poor tactics. I guess in any circumstance, you can find something to complain about. I should know, I’m married.

       • This made me laugh a lot!
         Thanks Ziga. Full agreement.

8. Any predictions for tonight’s time trial? Vine seems to have too much time to make up on Martinez and not enough advantage over Evenopoel.

   • Well Almeida has to be a lockin at 4 seconds. Vine will need a good day and Almeida to struggle. Remco seems too far out of it. I am baffled in the days of AI that they can’t produce a website with results that one can understand!

     • Your right … I glanced at the standings too quickly.
       Wikipedia is good for the stage results and standings and you don’t get bombarded with advertisements.

   • Well, at the end of the day UAE had a couple of men on the podium but – barring Evenepoel, whose issues look personal rather than the result of a direct defeat of sort – I’m struggling to find in that final GC many names who I’d have expected to beat Almeida, and even an in-form Vine, on such a course.
     Lots of promising youngsters, but Van Eetvelt, Lecerf, Onley, Rondel, even Carlos Rodríguez (!) were all born after the year 2000 and it’s a really tough call to think they can really beat an equally talented but more developed rider as the Portoguese. Same for the young Norwegian.
     And Lenny Martinez actually had a great race and you see him up there.
     Fortunato, Juanpe López, or Cristian Rodríguez are more than known forces and they can give us a reasonable estimate on the actual level of the race.
     Vlasov, Gaudu and maybe, just maybe, Dunbar were probably the only athletes who you could expect more from in terms of GC, but as in Remco’s case it looked more about them than any sort of UAE turbo-boost.
     Same sensation when you watched the whole race, didn’t look like superpowers were at work.
     All that said, of course a long stint of collective form is always worth… “being noticed”.
     But the difference in impact between Pogi and the rest of his team is huge, and it’s not like they’re working for him all the time.

     • I agree. Almeida was the clear pre-race favourite, and he did not disappoint. He has really gown the last couple of years and is only a few months older than Pogi. Pleny of time and space to mature futher.

       Given Remco’s problems and how fragile Vingo looked in P-N I wouldn’t rule out a UAE 1-2 in Paris and – if Vine can maintain his form – the same in Rome….

       • Ryan

         Paris yes (Almeida is just getting stronger and stronger..), but not Rome. Vine’s racing is suited to stage-hunting and shorter stage races. Not the GT type. I would be surprised if he end up in top-10.

       • I’m unconvinced by the idea of Almeida ever winning a GT, and I think he’s unlikely to finish on the podium in this year’s TdF; extremely unlikely if Vin, Pog, Eve finish.
         Reliable top-5 GT placing is one thing, as is winning stage races against not-the-best opposition, as he has this year. But he’s never looked close in a GT.
         If he wanted to win a GT, he should be in this Giro. And if UAE really wanted to win it, they’d have him and Ayuso to work on Roglic together. But I’m unconvinced that Almeida could beat either of the other two, unless Roglic really is past it.
         I haven’t seen Almeida race this season, so perhaps I shouldn’t be commenting (but I’ve no skin in this game), but I doubt he’s had too massive an improvement: he’s the diesel’s diesel going uphill.

         • Although Pogi and Vengegaard are pretty much unbeatable, there will be plenty of GTs without them. While I agree that Almeida doesn’t convince as a GT winner, there has to be someone winning them. And there are a surprisingly large number of 2nd tier GC riders who have ended up winning a Grand Tour: most GT winners only win one of them. If Roglic falters (and at his age we don’t know when he his performance will drop off, and it often happens suddenly) then a 2nd tier rider will win the Giro.

9. Little OT and mixed blabbering due to lack of racing and flat stages at the Vuelta ^___^

   Even if I found Remco’s LBL victories both exciting, for different reasons, I can’t say the same for Pogi’s, despite being equally a fan of sort of the athlete and although these wins came in a very similar fashion; and that stays true even if at least I had found quite interesting what was happening behind Pogi last year, a bit less so this time around (not that it was tragic, but… meh).
   OTOH, it was undoubtedly Pogi’s presence which made Sanremo and Roubaix great, and to me RVV, too, although it turned out to be more predictable (but the quantity and quality of action was quite notable).

   The above is to say that I feel that in cycling it often happens that a given set of riders does make for more or less interesting races or types of races. Some may rise in interest, others might fall down. Valverde’s presence generally improved the Giro and Vuelta he was in (not all the Vueltas, ask Evans, ahem), but it made at least one TDF a bit worse, not to speak of the LBL he was so good at. I could produce similar examples for Cancellara or Boonen. Generally being great, among the greatest I’d even say, yet they didn’t necessarily produce good racing on their way to victory or attempted victory, be it for themselves or their teammate.

   Athletes which improve most races they’re in are even less common than “just” great athletes, I’d say for example that Bettini, Gilbert, Contador, Nibali, Vinokourov, in a way even Sagan belonged to the category.
   Ahem, looks a bit like those who I am a fan of…? Perhaps, but I also rooted for Purito who clearly didn’t belong to the category – he could produce great victories, in the sense of great athletical actions, but rarely “general great racing”, same for Freire. And I already named Boonen above regarding “mixed effects”.
   It’s not just about “fireworks racing”, either – I always felt that when Evans was starring the racing tended to be very good, although it wasn’t like, dunno, he himself attacking all the time. Rather a general attitude.

   However. Cycling’s diversity naturally produces a lot of ebb and flow *within* the sport. Fifteen, ten, even six years ago I was screaming around how exciting the Giro was, now barring some exception we’re in a different trend. Exactly the other way around at the TDF. People criticising last TDF because it ended up having as its main source of interest the fight for 2nd and 3rd are just underestimating how good is it to have some 14-15 exciting stages at the French race to start with, even if than the last week might let you down.

   More generally, sometimes GTs are at very finest, sometimes Classics are. Sometimes some of them shine more, less so other times. It goes in short cycles, even. Lombardia struggled 2011-2014, LBL 2012-2016, Sanremo 2013-2016, Roubaix 2013-2017, and the Ronde had its up and down, between 2014 and 2019, too… at the same time you had great Giros for that whole decade and some good TDF in 2013-2015, plus 2019. And the 2012-2016 Vueltas tended to be extremely good, too. You could add Worlds or shorter stage races to this little game.

   So, even assuming that Pogi makes some races worse (which is clearly false on some occasions, and debatable in other ones) I wonder what age of cycling have current spectators lived when everything was just pure gold.
   Even if one should consider (as I personally don’t) that Pogacar made the TDF 2021 and 2024 “worse”, it’s still he himself who clearly made the 2020, 2022 and 2023 editions infinitely better – not alone, of course, but with the Visma rivals. Yet, take him away, and… uff…
   Last Giro, things as they are, was much more interesting from many sporting POVs for having him in rather just not having him and having a “close battle” of sort like the three previous, and frankly quite terrible (GC-wise) editions.

   I’d ask without any “polemica”… people who feel they’re gradually pulling themselves away from cycling, what was the moment this century (and feel free to include the 90s if you please) when they followed the sport feeling totally content and at ease? Both in purely sporting terms, call it “spectacle”, and as for “doping suspicions”. When no big race was spoilt by this sort of “sensations”? Maybe… that single year 2019? A short 2008-2010 stint, “forgiving” some specific exceptions?

   • @gabriele

     Good questions – and difficult to answer.. 😉

     I’m not sure there is (is in my world) a true “golden age” of pro cycling. It has always been a combination of good and bad and boring races, even in good years. I’ve followed the Tour for the last 15 years and most have been “so-so” to “good”, with a few stellar ones inbetween (’19 and ’22). The only truly awful version was (IMHO) last year where it was obvious fairly early that Pogi would run away with it and where he put in some outlandush outliers that defied any reasonable explanation. Its the first time I didn’t follow the Tour (or any GT) to the end.

     And its not (only) dominating performce that is the key – ’21 wasn’t that bad (I know some hate it) as even though Pogi stole the show, he still had this “green” approach and – almost – out of knowwhere Vingo popped up and showed he could, as his best, match Pogi on the climbs and – more surprising – also even on flat TTs. That made for an interesting race.

     But overall I’m looking for races where the result isn’t given (or given within a 95% certainty), and that rules out quite a few of the UAE-controlled races for now. Mainly of course the Pogi-ones, but also because I don’t really trust or like UAE. So I will wait out most of the race calender for now and focus on my next-most-loved sport – Tennis. This is in one of those transitions where we haven’t a truly dominating player or players so the unpredictabilty and dynamics make good entertainment. 🙂

   • I’ll take a slightly different approach to this question. I took a deep dive on PCS into the 2013 TdF, and there are a number of interesting comparisons to make. First of all, the GC battle, if you can even call it that, was awful. The only real question was whether Froome would fall off his bike. Interestingly, I don’t remember what was being said at the time, but there are some eyebrow-raising questions about what Sky was doing behind the scenes at the time, with the least questionable being the TUEs they employed. There always seem to be questions…
     Outside the GC race, the main sprinters included Greipel, Cavendish, Kittel and Sagan – pretty exciting stuff, even if 95% of their big race days could be snoozed through. I don’t recall if the green jersey was just a walk for Sagan that year, but I recall that it often was.
     The biggest difference that I really missed in 2024 was that in 2013 Sky generally didn’t care about the days they didn’t care about. If a breakaway wasn’t a threat to Froome, we got those wonderful “two-races-in-one” days with a race for the stage win followed by a GC battle at some later time. And with Froome’s big lead established pretty early, he really didn’t need to be at the front that much.
     I know that at the time some of this stuff was more boring than I recall, and compared to 2019 or 2022 it was hardly a classic. But my experience of the 2024 Tour was that the second half was basically the UAE/Pogi show. I know that it was still “undecided” for longer than that, but it really came down to just a couple of moments that would decide if the excitement would ramp up again. Once Ving couldn’t follow on Stage 14, that was it. There were minor highlights with Girmay, Carapaz, and Campanaerts, but it felt kind of like consolation prizes.
     I guess the point is that cycling often doesn’t have drama, but I would prefer as much diversity as possible within races and across races, and there seems to be less at this moment in cycling due to a few superstar athletes and one superteam. Funny you mention Purito, who seems like something from the past (same for Voeckler). I hope they still have a place in the future.

     • Have to admit I always enjoy your comment Other Craig but think you’re dramatically off with comparing 2013 to 2024…

       Yes Froome walked away with that, as was expected coming into the race.

       But you did not have, firstly, a 3/4 year pre-amble where Froome had the rivalry that Pog and Vin have built up. That was not the third chapter in a riveting all time ding dong. You also did not have the slow burn opening week and a half where we genuinely didn’t know which way it was going, especially with Pog’s bonk on the stage Vin out-sprinted him – each Pog attack had you thinking he might overstretch himself as previously. And what’s more – you did not have the sense you were watching the coming of age of possibly the greatest cyclist ever who was in the midsts of what we might look back on as his defining season?

       I realise and have sympathy with all Sky haters, Froome detractors and more recently Pog rejectors, even if I disagree – but 2024 was a FAR superior Tour to 2013, and I really think it’s important to temper all boredom with Pog so we remember how rare it is to get a rider like him and a rivalry like his and Ving’s – stages like last years Stage 11 are exceptionally rare and we can’t ignore that getting lost in our frustrations with Pog? It was mesmerising to watch and I read your take where hindsight feels like it’s taking over from what it was like watching up until Pog’s dominance was clear.

       I actually heard a ‘historic rivalries’ chat on the Cycling Podcast a few months ago and PASSIONATELY disagreed with them – comparisons were made between Pog/Vin and firstly Contador and Schleck and then Contador and Froome… they said ‘cycling fans look back fondly on Cont/Schle’ which seemed absolute rubbish to me as what I remember during the time is how intensely frustrating it was that we never truly saw them lock horns in the TDF as Schleck was either too young or had a mechanical meaning the best ‘fight’ we ever got was the two riding through the mist together after a few failed surges from Schleck. Contador and Froome I find a stretch to even call ‘Tour de France rivalry’ as fitness, injuries, team strength along with Froome’s own talent meant he crushed Contador when their paths crossed in July and their best races together were reserved for early season warm ups or the Vuelta. These non-existent or even unrealised rivalries go back the entire way through cycling, where we rarely saw Armstrong, Indurain and others truly meet their match – unlike Pog and Vin who’ve blessed us with an epic four year run which still might deliver the fabled Tour of a fight till the finish that came with ’11, ’88 and a few others.

       I just think we gotta be careful not to ignore the buffet of greatness this generation has served up even if last year’s Giro and some other races have us reaching for the remote.

       • oldDAVE,

         To be fair, the first half of the 2024 Tour was fantastic, and I admit that not being a fan of Pog/UAE definitely biases my memory. Also, as an American I can’t say I loved seeing Jorgenson get tracked down on stage 19!
         I guess what I miss from the time around 2013 is the “other stuff,” like the sprint battles and breakaways, which I do think were better then. Also, when we talk about “witnessing greatness” we sometimes forget Sagan in his prime, which was another spectacle that was a privilege to watch.
         Obviously, what we bring to the Pog debate in our own minds (thoughts about the team, Gianetti etc.) color how we feel about watching him trounce the competition, but I absolutely understand how someone watching the same thing could see it very differently from me.

         • I really like Jorgenson.

           Totally understand what you mean about breakaway’s sprints and knew that’s what you meant – I just think we had that last year with Cav, Valquelin, Campenaerts and others PLUS a GC battle for half the race.

           I just remember the general reaction to 2013 was overwhelmingly negative here, which I actually think was harsh and agree with you it was enjoyable – 2017 was the low point of that era for me – despite this, obviously we’re all allowed out points of view but I am just struggling not to think or see how 2024 could be anything other than an excellent Tour in comparison.

   • Most GC battles in the Tour have been one-sided and “boring”, pretty much from the earliest days, certainly since 1947. Genuine GC battles to the last few stages have been very rare historically. People might remember particular stages (Poulidor and Anquetil up the Puy-de-Dome; Merckx getting dropped in 1971), but the actual racing even then was nearly always pretty one-sided. With blanket TV coverage (and the loss of the innocence of youth), it is much more obvious nowadays: short 30 mins highlights in the early 1980s made the racing seem more exciting than perhaps was warranted. That era, for instance, had endless sprint stages for most of the first 10 days and usually only a couple of mountain top finishes.

     Nowadays the GT stages are at least won on mountain duals rather than by time-trials (ITT used to be well over 100km: Anquetil, Hinault, Indurain all won through the Tour by dominating TTs). And there are, as always, the battles for individual stages to enjoy: I even enjoyed the stage in which Pogi rode down Jorgenson in the last Tour. In any case, I like seeing the countryside and the small towns through which the race passes. My boredom is actually with LBL and Lombardia since I really can’t see how Pogi will get beaten, and nor it seems do his competitors.

     • I have to agree enthusiastically on two of your points:

       1. When Pogi’s competitors immediately start riding for second (even though they almost certainly should), I lose interest.

       2. I will sit and watch stages almost purely for the scenery at times, especially in the Alps.

   • gabriele,

     For me 2018-2020 was the best years since, well I don’t really know…. Roglic on top of his game but still – being Roglic – with all the human ups and downs. Bernal at his best, the last song from Dumolin, lots of pure talent popping up – Pog, Almeida, Remco, MVPD, Van Aert, the first pale quips from Vingo, Fuglsangs golden swan song, Buchmann suddenly doing what he never managed to repeat, Hindley and TGH battling for the Giro, Nibali’s last hurrah, Carapaz, Mads P winning the Worlds, … Alaphilippe, Schachmann,…

     Yes you can probably make a similar list now, but in those years it also gave us a huge range of different race dynamics and a long list of results that wasn’t exactly as expected.

10. Sadly it is a weak field. One of the big four GC guys and two of the big six.

    I want to get excited about Rog vs Ayuso but I don’t warm to either rider so who do I cheer for??

    As a Brit I support the Yates Bruhs but doesn’t look like they’re on form.

    Will be happy for WVA if he finds some form.

    Of course will still be wasting hours and hours of my life following it 😉

    • So GTs with Pogi are “boring”, unless he’s losing.
      A GT without Pogi or the fish slinger are also “boring”, cause the top riders aren’t there?
      What exactly has to happen that people are not bored? Pogi vanishing from the earth and fish slinger get’s cloned?
      I would really look for another sport if I would be that bored about current athletes.

      • Enzo

        I am unsure what others may think or take away from a race, but for me, the moment a sport becomes monolithic and predictable, it loses its appeal. Furthermore, its undeniably my perspective that Pog is riding under direction of the most odious individual as DS on the most objectionable team in professional cycling, bound by an extraordinarily long contract. It is entirely acceptable to me that others—likely the majority here on the blog—are captivated by it. and swoon when Pog racks up another 4-minute-margin win, but I can hardly believe that even the most die-hard Pog fan won’t find watching it a bit tedious. Just once in a while.

        But nevermind. As I’ve said many times I don’t “hate” Pog. Whatever he is, he is at least smiling, respectful and polite and obviously respected. Cycling could do a lot worse than him. It just doesn’t change the dynamics. And it certainly doesn’t make races exciting for lack of a better word….

        • I get your point, but I think your perspective is skewed even from that POV: as I said above, Pogi actually made a lot of racing less monolithic and predictable, obviously including the TDF in 2020, 2022, 2023 but probably even 2024, too. Of course there are as many races which his presence made predictable, more notably LBL and a couple of Lombardias – but some of them only in hindsight, e.g. the Worlds or the two Lombardia arriving in Bergamo. Then some race became more “monolithical” and predictable in terms of final result but much less in terms of racing, e.g. the Giro. However, we could perhaps prepare some compelling Excel archive summing up all the combinations in order to see which prevails… or just acknowledge that, as I wrote before, even if some race “got worse”, at least for some, other became way way better for the mere fact of having Pogi in, and I mean “better” just …well… under any reasonable set of criteria. Including – which is crazy enough – a sort of “I hate Pogi” parametre (not your case) because his attitude makes it possible to see him losing, as in Sanremo, Roubaix or Amstel just this season (plus the already named TDFs, or the Emilia, or the Glasgow Worlds etc.). Imagine you’re a Vingo hater in 2023… or even in 2024 (!!!)… much less options to feel satisfied ’cause your hatred rider loses out 😉

          Jokes and paradoxes apart, I don’t like Gianetti or UAE either, but I didn’t like Riis, either (I actually liked him even less), and I didn’t like Skyneos, but sometimes I add to endure the sad situation of athletes which I appreciated a lot racing for those teams. It was easier with Nibali because although Vino was the prototype of a doper for most, I actually had always appreciated him himself a lot as a cyclist, too
          ^___^

          • *I add to endure > I had to endure

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