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- NO WAY UAE told anything to Del Toro about Simon Yates. Carapaz was the main focus and I'm confident UAE told Del Toro to stay calm and focus on his main rival only. This was the result.
- 1- Simon Yates redemption (very emotional).
2- The young, fresh, nice Del Toro in pink.
3- Mads Pedersen wearing/winning the most beautiful t-shirt of the cycling: la maglia ciclamino.
- 1. What happened on Finestre is almost entirely the fault of the team directors for UAE and EF. Yes, the riders have a say, but both teams allowed their riders to get locked into a lunatic stare down while the race went up the road. Both team cars should have seen what was happening and *ordered* their riders to snap out of it.
2. As for Wout, I think you underestimate the threat he represented. If Yates had gone over the top with almost any gap at all, once he got on Wout's wheel that lead was in peril. We've seen him do that very thing before, notably stage 5 2022 TDF, when he pulled nearly a minute back on Pog after Jonas had the bike fiasco. Again, that is why what happened is on the DS for UAE and EF. Their job is to see the situation for what it is, and they both should have known better than to let Wout get 10 minutes in the first place.
- There is no universe in which taking all three podium spots at a Grand Tour is a "debacle." It is one of the great triumphs of modern cycling. I'm not sure it even hastened the end of Rog's time at TJV. He wasn't happy with the way things went at that Vuelta, but that's not why he left. He left because Jonas was the two-time defending TDF champion, and there was no way he was getting top billing any more.
What UAE did was a debacle, and their response to it - basically throwing Del Toro under the bus - is worse. Just a stunning misplay on Finestre, and an even more stunning misplay in the media since then.
- Anybody paying attention can see that Ayuso is primadonna.
Let him be some other team's joy.
- Bloody hell, that's rubbish. Something fishy about it all 🐟 Did the Shiek bet Del Toro to lose against the odds?? Something from above happened in our race 🤔💩
- Third, fourth, and fifth place finishes in any bicycle race (amateur or pro) are not "scraped" by any rider. Pidcock brings star attraction. It seems doubtful wildcards are "given" away.
- It was just the most bizarre'ist thing I've ever seen, thought the Visma Vuelta debacle was something but this will stand for a good time...
- I thought with a team change we would see a different Pidcock. It started well early season, but this interview sounds like the same old same old. I had hoped for more - but no. He might yet surprise us , but I wouldn't bet on it.
- It was the penultimate stage. Everyone was tired, all 3 of them. There was no way Yates could have been that much stronger than either Del Toro or Carapaz, and that was obvious from the previous stage. To top it off, Del Toro had a lead of a minute and 20 on Yates. It was a long climb, but Yates would have had to be superman to overcome even just a one minute lead on such a climb. Even with Van Aert helping Yates on the descent, there was virtually little chance that Del Toro could have lost his commanding lead. The only way that things would have turned out the way it did is if Del Toro gave up fighting before he had lost the maglia rosa, either because he had nothing more to give or convinced he had lost.. It was wrong for him to think that he had already lost the maglia rosa, and was just doing his best not to lose 2nd place. The UAE DS should have insisted that he go after Yates as best he could when it became apparent that Carapaz can not drop him, even with Carapaz on his tail. He should have shifted his focus from Carapaz to Yates at that point, and pushed as hard as he can the way he did on a previous stage where he was dropped but eventually kept the maglia rosa by a slim margin. He should have won, but hindsight is always 20/20, and all of this is water under the bridge. Outstanding Giro drama, and all 3 deserve huge congratulations.
maria2024202403-06-2025
leedorney03-06-2025