Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Giro d’Italia - A review


So 3 days ago on Sunday, the first, hardest and most beautiful of the Grand Tours came to an exhilarating conclusion. First of all, before the analysis begins, congratulations to Ryder Hesjedal for winning the Giro. He was the strongest rider throughout and deserved the win. It is a great win for Hesjedal, Canada (there first GT win and podium), Garmin and clean cycling. In addition commiserations to Joaquim Rodriguez, who rode a very strong race and would have been a deserving winner and Mark Cavendish who missed out on the points Jersey by 1 point. 

There are a number of points to discuss about this Giro and to review. 

Things we learnt

One of the first big points to discuss was the very strong performance of Hesjedal the winner and the inability of the big boys to crack him. Throughout the Giro we were waiting for the big attack/s from Basso and Scarponi, however these never came. I think it is fair to conclude that Basso pined all his hopes on grinding Hesjedal of his wheel. Alas for Basso, Hesjedal was too strong. In all fairness it could be that Basso wasn’t as strong as he used to be, for it was a tactic that worked in 2010 against strong rivals such as Cadel Evans (winner of TDF in 2011). Basso is now 34 and will turn 35 in December this year, just before the start of the next season, so it perhaps is fair to say his best days might be behind him. In addition, his preparation this year was hampered by pre Giro illnesses and crashes. Scarponi also pined all his hopes on Hesjedal cracking, and when that failed his attacks were not enough to drop Hesjedal. Given his lack of acceleration and weakness in the time trial the inability to crack Hesjedal always meant that winning would be difficult. Liqiugas’s tactics also saw to it that Scarponi was worn down and therefore his ability to attack hard was stunted.   

Another key point is that riders like Hesjedal should never be underestimated. There were probably a couple of opportunities in the first and second weeks to take time out of Hesjedal, but these were not taken as the other favourites were more worried about Basso. This proved crucial in the end as Hesjedal won by only 16 seconds. In addition Hesjedal’s team, Garmin-Barracuda were given an easy time throughout, due to that fact that Liqiugas assumed responsibility for the favourites and expended a huge amount of effort trying to control the race and hunt down attacks by riders such as Cunego. This meant that there were exhausted in the key final week of the race and that Garmin were fresh. In addition the strong pace set by Liqiugas throughout the mountain stages helped weaken Hesjedal’s rivals, meaning that riders such as Rodriguez who depended on attacking hard numerous times were hampered in their efforts. Many have questioned the tactic of Liqiugas, but I think that they were partly justifiable in that they were the best tactics for Basso to win and that they were riding positively for a Basso win. When it came to the crunch Basso didn’t have the firepower to drop the other favourites. Where I think Liqiugas went wrong was that they didn’t adapt to the changing facts quick enough. After Cervinia or at the latest Pian dei Resinelli, it should have been realised that Hesjedal was a very serious threat and the work should have been left to Garmin.
All this said this Giro showed that Liqiugas are a very strong team, with a good number of talent riders who can perform on flat and mountainous terrain. 
 
It is clear from his performance that Hesjedal is a very good rider, has capability to podium/win tour. He had shown previously in his career that he had the necessarily attributes to do well, with good climbing and time trailing. However having these attributes doesn’t mean that you can podium/win in Grand Tours, with the added pressure and stamina needed to achieve this, to not have a bad day and always be present in the crucial selections. Hesjedal passed this test with flying colours and looked comfortable throughout, even when out under severe pressure by de Gendt. It is fair to say that Hesjedal’s job and Garmin’s job was made a bit easier by Liqiugas, but I think given his ability he would have won even if that hadn’t been the case. 

Now onto Thomas de Gendt; who rode onto the podium with one of the greatest Grand Tour performances that I can remember (so since 1993). Thomas de Gendt was an interesting rider coming into this season and indeed this Giro. I had him down as a decent rider in my 2012 team preview, but I hadn’t anticipated his improvement in Grand Tour’s and I didn’t have him down in my Favourites for the Giro. In hindsight I should have as he has always been a good time trialist and has had decent performances in Mountain stages before (Alpe d'Huez 2011 TDF). He came in with the aim of developing his skill in GT’s and achieved this throughout with a top 10 placing going into the critical final 3 days, this alone would have marked him out as a rider to watch for the future. However, his performance in the stage to the Passo dello Stelvio was stunning. It was a brave move as it came from ~ 50 km out, he had a good place in the general classification. He took advantage of the hesitation in the leading group to build a good lead on the valley road leading to the final climb of the Stelvio, using his strong TT skills and a team mate to good effect. He then put in a massive effort to keep a high pace on the climb, measuring his effort well to build and maintain a strong gap until the last 2 or so km, after which he lost a small amount of time. To be able to pull of this sort of performance shows great talent, with strong climbing ability and good self awareness. Once in this position his strong time trialling saw that he gained a podium place. 

As well as showing us the talent of de Gendt, his performance also highlights a number of other facts. Along with Andy Schleck’s performance in stage  18 of last year’s TDF, it shows that bravery is rewarded in Grand Tours and that long attack’s can be very effective and could win races. It also shows that having a full skill set more important than ever, with the ability to descend well and go strong on the flat valley roads can be the difference between a top 10 and a win/podium. The other very important conclusion is that teams are not as important as they used to be. In previous times the other riders would have had more support in chasing down such an attack, rendering such attacks as futile and energy wasting. However, when Hesjedal was relying on his team mates Christian Vande Velde and Peter Stetina the gap wasn’t closing, in fact towards the end it started getting bigger. In the end it was left upto to Hesjedal himself to deal with the de Gendt problem. 

A final conclusion is that the Giro is still an awesome race. It is in some ways a more “pure” cycling race than the Tour de France, with a great skill set needed, more diverse terrain and more exciting racing. This year’s course was great and lead to a lot of great racing.  A few words of praise have to be said for Michele Acquarone and RCS, the organisers of the race. They have run a very good and exciting race, in addition they have done a lot of good work in making the race more accessible with good promotion and an innovative openness, with a regular blog explaining decisions made by them and giving an insight into the running and organisation of a bike race. The organisers have made a very appreciate effort to listen and respect the fans, giving them an input into the course of the penultimate stage to the Passo dello Stelvio.

Riders for the Future 

The Giro and Vuelta are often where promising young riders are blooded into Grand Tours, giving the viewers the chance to see the winners of the future first show there potential. This year was no different with a number of riders showing strong talent. I will go through a few now, this is not a comprehensive list. 

Sergio Henao

Sergio Henao put in a very decent first GT’s performance to finish 9th. This is a good sign that this talked about, talented Colombian will live up to the hype. He still will be a rider to consider in every GT he rides from now and at the age of 24, there will be a few. He has shown very strong climbing ability and a good time trailing ability. 

Rigoberto Uran

Henao’s compatriot and team mate on the Sky team also put in a strong performance with very strong climbing ability and a good time trailing ability. His consistency was good, with only a couple of bad days’ were he lost a couple of minutes. The more he rides the strong he will get and the better his consistency will be. He will very probably be a future GT winner.
Diego Ulissi
I have talked about Ulissi a number of times on this blog. This Giro only reinforces my opinion that he will be a GT/hilly classics rider for the future. He is still very young in cycling terms, 22, but he gained a respectable 21st place (4th in the young riders classification), all the more impressive given that he was a domestique for Scarponi/Cunego and he went into a number of mountain breakaways, expending a good deal of energy in the process.  

Matteo Rabottini

Rabottini’s performance in stage 15, that yielded him the stage win was nothing short of epic. He showed great climbing talent in being able to ride solo over difficult terrain for 150 km and great tactical ability in marking Rodriguez when he was caught, latching onto his wheel and timing his effort perfectly to out sprint one of the strongest uphill riders in cycling. This stage win formed the basis of his King of the Mountains competition success, and he rode well and bravely to win that competition and it was a well deserved win. He is only 24, and with the climbing and tactical ability he showed during this race he has the potential to do great things. 

Damiano Caruso

Another 24 year old who rode very strongly this year with 5th in the young riders classification. On the face of it, his performance might not look that strong gaining only 24th, however this has to be put into context. He did a huge amount of work for Basso, destroying the peloton and narrowing it down to a select group. In addition he was often present, working for Basso when the key 5-10 men group of favourites had been formed. Had he not had to do all of this work, he would have had a much stronger result. He has strong climbing ability and decent time trialling. With Nibali possible moving teams next season, he migh have the chance to shine.

Andrea Guardini

Andrea Guardini has been much talked about by the Italian press for a couple of years now as the sprinter for the future. With his stage win in Vedelago, impressively beating Cavendish in a fair sprint showed why. On his day he is very quick. However as the earlier stages of the Giro showed, he has work to do on his positioning for sprints and his general stamina, both of which need to improve if he is to fulfil his full potential. However at the age of 22 there is plenty of time to do this. 

Tom-Jelte Slagter

Was the rider who provided any sort of success for Rabobank in this Giro. Althoug he didn’t podium on any stages, he showed strong ability into the stage finish in Assisi, which suggests he is a man of the future for the hilly classics. He rode very strongly and if he had more experience and tactical knowledge, he would have timed his effort more effectively and could well have won the stage,

Taylor Phinney

Showed his talent by a very strong performance in the prologue, winning convincingly. He is still only 21 so has time to develop and a GT this early in his career will help him in that. He may well have won the final time trial if it wasn’t for a guiding police motorbike who took a wrong turn. He is a very strong and powerful rider. Is too early to tell his full potential. 

Gianluca Brambilla 

Only 24 years of age, Brambilla put in a strong performance this year finishing 13th. He has strong climbing ability and therefore could be a future GT winner. 

The Course

The way that the World Tour system works in cycling has been a problem for the Giro in previous years with teams send poor squads. This wasn’t the case this year, with the teams respecting the Giro. Almost all the teams had good Giro’s with aggressive riding, stage wins, classification jersey’s etc. This was good to see.

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