Geraint Thomas and INEOS test Pogacar in Giro's crosswinds: "We thought we’d try and see what happened"
CyclingSaturday, 18 May 2024 at 10:46
Stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia on the results sheet looks to have been a regular flat stage with a regular sprint, but it was far from it. The winds played a role on the day and briefly, INEOS Grenadiers put pressure on all their GC rivals in the strong crosswinds that were felt.
This happened with 62 kilometers to go. Thomas was very much keen on testing out his rivals outside of the climbs: “We talked on the radio, and we said ‘let's just do it.’ It was good to get stuck in and have a go," Thomas said in a post-race interview. "There was a bit of wind and some open sections going into the corners, so we thought we’d try and see what happened."
The race split, with stage winner being among those who were caught out in the split. A few minor GC contenders were caught out but eventually the damage was not too much. INEOS put in resources to keep it going, but the move was ultimately not worth continuing after around 25 kilometers to go even with the support of a few other teams.
“It did split, and there was a small group, but it wasn’t quite in the right direction," he described. "And all the main GC guys were there, too. If the road changed direction again if we half-roaded it, and if there were a few more corners, it could have split again if someone got complacent, but it eventually settled down.”
At the end of the day, Thomas was once again present at the head of the peloton into the final kilometers, avoiding crashes, and crossed the finish line alongside the peloton with the same time on the clock.
Tomorrow's time-trial will be an important day for the Welshman; specially taking into consideration that he struggled last week on a day where he was expected to make the difference to his main rivals: “Hopefully, it’s a bit better than the last one. The TT is a big day. We’ll do our pacing strategy; try to stick to that as much as we can see where we end up.”
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santiagobenites04-05-2025 - He's one of the nicest and most humble guys at the top of the sport. Perhaps should have won another stage race already this year but for questionable UAE tactics when Buitrago got away and stole GC.Renz04-05-2025
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I like it. It's called racing. If it had worked, they would have been applauded.
If it takes anything out of Thomas or Pogacar in the TT that will be more of the story.
From the other articles, the attention Pogacar gets off the bike is more wearing than the time on the bike. I wish him well and hope that he learns to pace every aspect of this as the summer goes on.
The problem for Pog is that he turned into a star well before leading the Giro so he’d have been inundated with fans regardless of being in front or chasing in 2nd where interviews would have been just as tiresome asking about strategy to close the gap.
Ok, he’d have a few less commitments but that’s not what he’s “complaining” about.
Mhm... I don't get Giraint at all sometimes. Sometimes he said, this. Then, he said something else. Pretty unpredictable guy imo
So now the strategy is trial and error until you find something that works?
I’d stop complaining about other teams’ strategies until you come up with better.
it's better to try and fail than to not try at all.
Fine, but then don’t criticise others who try their way.
Agreed there!
What strategies would you suggest for INEOS, Bora and the like?
Strategies are to be taken with a pinch of salt, you can come up with the perfect one and have to bin it as soon as the race starts because some other team does something unexpected and your strategy becomes worthless so the most important aspect in racing is being able to adapt to real-time race situations, unless your strategy is to dominate right from the start and catch others by surprise.
The way things stand, the only thing that will change anything is being totally ready to react quickly to a weak Pog moment and giving it everything teamwise, unless, and this might be controversial, the main rivals team up together* to wear him down but we’ve seen very little harmonious collaboration of late except when JA won and that was a heterogeneous duo.
Other than that, something crazy or unexpected if there’s little else left, it often helps in chess against stronger opponents.
It’s not always strategy that matters. When Pog beat Rogliç at the last-minute time trial, there was no successful strategy before, he was just stronger and often that’s more than enough.
Maybe some teams are too stressed about finding and sticking to strategies and it’s blocking their racing instincts?
And imagine the ultimate, one team sacrifices themselves for another, but, we’re not that far in cycling yet as far as I know, unlike in football where teams belonging to the same ultimate owner may face each other.
I agree with your second papagraph about being totally ready to react and I suppose that is what INEOS were trying to do in the cross winds, even though it did not work. Like you I cannot see rival teams acting together which is in UAE's favour as anything except a combined effort is unlikley to work. Bora, Bahrain and INEOS look to have stronger all round teams than UAE but I suspect they will be watching each other more and more as we go deeper into the race. I am not that botherd about who wins but it would be nice for it to be in doubt up to the fianl day.
Agreed, when you come to think of it, modern cycling has actually made it less attractive for riders and teams to go for the win. You get pretty well “paid” for minor placings and consistency these days.
Not for or against it, just an observation to help better understand this apparent lack of enthusiasm of so many to go for broke these days.