OPINION | Without Tadej Pogacar the Giro d'Italia 2024 would have been a disappointment

Sunday, 26 May 2024 at 16:46

Gone is a Giro d'Italia 2024 that has been completely conditioned by the investment of 2 million euros that the organization decided to spend to attract Tadej Pogacar. Without that investment, the race would have been a real disappointment, having seen the weeks that Daniel Martinez, Geraint Thomas, Ben O'Connor and company have given us.

And, mind you, I am not criticizing these riders for the results obtained by each one of them individually. I criticize them for the lack of spectacle offered during the 21 days of competition, completely embarrassed by the superiority of the Slovenian. Thus, we cannot fail to praise Dani Martinez's first podium in a grand tour, G's third place at 38 years of age or O'Connor's fourth place after his horrible last Tour de France. Nor the fifth place of Antonio Tiberi who, it must be said, was the only one who tried (not too much, but that's something).

Read also

The problem is that none of them offered any kind of show. None of them tried even once, even if it would have been to prove that they were better than their earthly rivals (we already know that Tadej was in another league). They offered us nothing and I'm afraid that without him we would have had a boring Giro like the one won in 2023 by Primoz Roglic.

It's worth continuing with the top 10 by talking about the sixth place of a very irregular Thymen Arensman in the mountains who should leave INEOS as soon as possible. Regarding Einer Rubio, Movistar got what they wanted: to put him in the top 10, but the Colombian leaves without having been in a photo of the race: not a single breakaway. He didn't finish higher because he was by far the worst of the favorites in the time trials. Nor did he break away like Bardet or Zana. So, good sensations for him, but no show or interest in winning a stage.

Read also

The top 10 was closed by Jan Hirt, a combative but weak Romain Bardet and a Michael Storer who gave what he could to give valuable points to Tudor. Filippo Zana and Lorenzo Fortunato were left out, who "played" for the overall and did not opt to try to win stages as in other years. So, we have reviewed the 11 strongest riders of the Giro after Tadej who have given us ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of spectacle during the whole race and that is worthy of note.

Once again, I said: thank you Tadej Pogacar for coming to the (millionaire) call of RCS. Thank you, without you the Giro d'Italia would have been unbearable; Article written by Juan Larra of Ciclismoaldia

Read also

claps 1visitors 1

"Confidence has grown” - Wout van Aert buoyed by encouraging showing at Tour of Norway with podium in final sprint

VIDEO: Geraint Thomas asks UAE Team Emirates to slow down during usually processional part of final stage at Giro d'Italia

5 Comments

Ben 29 May 2024 at 19:20+ 493

' ... a very irregular Thymen Arensman in the mountains who should leave INEOS as soon as possible.'

Agreed.

VinnySport 31 May 2024 at 20:22+ 100

Arguably would've been more exciting had Martinez, Thomas, O'Connor and Tiberi been fighting for overall victory instead of podium places on that final climb on stage 20

RidesHills 31 May 2024 at 20:22+ 708

Agreed. To watch a team like UAE at its prime is like seeing TJV last year or Sky back in the day (and remember that everyone said this wasn’t a strong enough team). There’s something to be said about dominance. But the others really barely tried to compete with each other and rarely made anything even resembling an attack. Geraint Thomas rarely ever has, Dani Martinez rescued a few seconds at the end of long climbs, but it never added up to much. But watching Pogacar, that’s just a time for me to watch beauty in biking and I still enjoy the sense of awe when it happens.

Ben 31 May 2024 at 20:22+ 493

Why? There was no real competition, just a half-assed fight for second best. In fact, I thought Pogacar just pedaling away was totally boring. Looking forward to the Criterium next week.

SteelFrame 31 May 2024 at 20:22+ 1148

Agreed. Last year's stalemate between Thomas and Roglic was a bit of a snooze fest.

Just in

van der poel pogacar tour flandes imago1060680340

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!

Apr 06, 15:11

Wout van Aert finally breaks the curse of this spring: "When Wout got on the bus, he was happy about winning the sprint for 4th"

Apr 23, 09:40

Lance Armstrong analyses rare show of Tadej Pogacar weakness at Amstel Gold Race: "No one outright said, ‘I hope they catch him,’ but we were all thinking it"

Apr 23, 09:40

American ex-pro counters heavy criticism of Wout van Aert's sprinting ability: "The same Wout that won on Champs-Élysées lost a sprint to Pidcock"

Apr 23, 09:39

OPINION | Without Tadej Pogacar the Giro d'Italia 2024 would have been a disappointment

Read also

Read also

Read also

Just in

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!

Wout van Aert finally breaks the curse of this spring: "When Wout got on the bus, he was happy about winning the sprint for 4th"

Lance Armstrong analyses rare show of Tadej Pogacar weakness at Amstel Gold Race: "No one outright said, ‘I hope they catch him,’ but we were all thinking it"

American ex-pro counters heavy criticism of Wout van Aert's sprinting ability: "The same Wout that won on Champs-Élysées lost a sprint to Pidcock"

Popular news

Lance Armstrong analyses rare show of Tadej Pogacar weakness at Amstel Gold Race: "No one outright said, ‘I hope they catch him,’ but we were all thinking it"

Wout van Aert finally breaks the curse of this spring: "When Wout got on the bus, he was happy about winning the sprint for 4th"

American ex-pro counters heavy criticism of Wout van Aert's sprinting ability: "The same Wout that won on Champs-Élysées lost a sprint to Pidcock"

"With Remco it's a bit more cocky" - Is Evenepoel vs Pogacar the best rivalry in cycling right now?

Latest comments