“And finally to address the cringey cliché: if the Giro cannot be won on this day, on what day can it be won? Was the Giro won today is up for debate and to be determined, but it is undeniable that inroads to victory have been further carved out this day.”
Category Archives: Giro d’Italia
2021 Giro Stage 10: The Rest Day Is But Tomorrow
“I did not think the short 140km Stage 10 containing only one Category4 climb would be hard enough…but the Bora-Hansgrohe Band of Brothers did.”
2021 Giro Stag 9: The GC Men Go on a Great Hunt (Written)
‘All of the following quotes are of course fictional, but perhaps he said like an English lord on Boxing Day: “Alright, boys, I think we have given them enough of a head-start. Let us give chase. Let us go a’ hunting the breakaway for the remainder of this day. Saddle up your steeds. I have a mind to win my first Grand Tour stage on this fine Sunday and perhaps make a Pink wardrobe change—but tell that not to the other teams who I wish to join us on this hunt, for we shall try to enlist their help on the chase first.”’
2021 Giro Stage 8: A Saturday Breakaway Showcase (Written)
“Thus, what interest did Groupama-FDJ have in keeping the breakaway in check? Groupama wanted a breakaway of non-GC threats to go up the road and stay away and mop up the bonus seconds at the finish in order to protect Attila’s Pink Jersey. Then Attila would only need to finish the stage together with Remco and Bernal to retain the maglia rosa for another day. And this is how the stage played out.”
2021 Giro Stage 7: You Are Not Here Just to be Entertained
“Why was such an inevitably quiet stage designed in the first place? How does this pass for sport? How does such a stage get wire-to-wire converge?”
2021 Giro Stage 6: Double Redemption for Bahrain Victorious (Written)
“It was another day with Biblical Weather on the Giro d’Italia. It was another stage to show your friends and family that wonder why you watch so much cycling. O! And surely if you ever questioned cyclists’ fortitude this day dispelled those doubts.”
2021 Giro Stage 5: Hangovers and Heartbreaks (Written)
“I was prepared to cover the carnage of a crosswinds stage, just as most of the peloton were ready to do battle; but at the same time a nice recovery stage to get rid of the hangover would be more preferable. Especially from the perspective of what is to come.”
2021 Giro Stage 4: “A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this” (Written)
“Pious Aeneas, what does he say to raise his comrades’ spirits? Those enduring and endearing words: Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit. Yes, surely you all remember it now! But to use my beloved Robert Fagles’ rendering: “A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this.” Ah! Ain’t that the truth—Virgil you master.”
2021 Giro Stage 3: Trouble for the Band of Brothers (Written)
“It is the Monday grind, this is when the “real life” 9-to-5 attempts to drag us away from the drama in Italy. O! But leave it to the Giro to make such a prospect so absolutely laughable. Ah! Yes, yes, the Giro has always had a knack for throwing-up the most unbridled of unbridled transition stages—no sleepy and quiet Mondays here at the Giro d’Italia! It was one of those stages all hoped would be exciting…and then their greatest hopes and expectations were unanimously exceeded.”
2021 Giro: Alpecin-Fenix Wastes No Time (Written)
“With the likes of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma), Fernando Gaviria (UAE), Elia Viviani (Cofidis), and Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos), it would be a tall order for Alpecin-Fenix’s Tim Merlier to pull off a stage win this Giro—but that was the team’s goal nonetheless.”
Cycling Odysseys 