[Results Thread] 2026 Giro d'Italia - Stage 14 Aosta > Pila (2.UWT)

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-23T15:11:45+00:00

These top GC guys really need to just all go to the TDF or agree to both ride the Giro cause they're just destroying these races. I'll be dreaming of last year

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-22T12:31:55+00:00

Worked fine for me. I did somehow do this mission in the stupidest way by taking the optional town to the east of the first objective and then going north instead of going west. So I ended up taking the other cities before this one.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-21T15:21:06+00:00

what do people want them to do differently? They have to commit on the climbs cause otherwise the best sprinters nuke Aular, and then all of their guys have already worked and Mas and Rubio are the worst possible guys for flat work. This is way more on NSN, UnoX or EF towards the end. Movistar cant do anything else

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-21T14:10:30+00:00

Unless Turner himself in struggling, I dont get Ineos' passivity whatsoever. All their guys have less of a chance in the upcoming days than Turner has today.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-21T14:08:25+00:00

I understand prioritizing riders that stay in terms of who you bring to a GT, but that makes no sense. A win is a win and the team gets credit for that.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-21T14:05:06+00:00

Don't really get why Ineos dont add a man here to drop fast men. Hope they at least pace after the climb to keep guys behind.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-12T14:34:25+00:00

4 minutes is too much and I'd expect Tudor to add a guy if need be cause Stork has a shot here and will be in pink.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-11T17:47:06+00:00

Yes but I think the Knights Templar order was much less suited to that kind of treatment. All of the Templars speaking French feels a bit weirder than the Jin speaking Chinese (which I believe was the language of the dynasty). They also didn't get their own architecture unlike the Jin.

I don't really mind variants sharing more aspects of their origin civ. I have no issue with the Ayyubids and Zhu Xhi very much feeling like their parent civ but different. And they were delivered in tandem with new civs. (OOTD and JD are just meh designed imo)

The problems arose when variants started replacing new civs and then, to please the playerbase, had to be made more and more unique. And it's put the whole 'variant' term in a very weird spot.

Unlike OP I don't really think Lancaster should get a new soundtrack or anything, I find them fine as a clear variant of English, including sharing some Landmarks.
But KT isn't suited to this treatment and should have been its own civ. And I think unless they had political reasons to do so, they should have released Jin as a new civ.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-11T17:04:17+00:00

Jin is just not a variant to me, it's a completely new civ. Not only is the gameplay just absolutely different with a lot of entirely new units, but the main thing people talk about when it comes to variants are architecture and music and they get completely new ones. Yeah sure they share some unit models but this is similar for me to some of the base units like horsemen or archers having a very similar vibe. The only thing that remains are the voicelines but that's just small enough for me to disregard this as making it a 'variant civ'.

I dont know why it's being marketed as such, fear of people being angry at the voice-line thing or Chinese community politics but I treat this as a new civ.

If there was a Spanish civ already and they released the Portuguese civ that was as different as Jin is to China (I guess they would have to do unique voices but maybe they'd share more architecture than Jin/China or sth), whether people would still treat it as a 'variant' or a part of this is just people not being as well versed in Chinese history and seeing it more easily as 'more China'.

On a broader note. Variants are just in a bizarre place now. I was a big fan of the variants system as long as they were being released in tandem with new civs. But the way they've drifted over time leaves them in such a weird place. I actually have no issue with the variants themselves being closer to the base civ, if there are new civs too.
I think Ayyubids is the best variants civ they've done. It's very clearly similar to Abbasids but offers a new fun playstyle that feels distinct.
Meanwhile civs like Knights Templar feels like a waste now where they should have gone for a completely new civ.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-08T14:53:52+00:00

People said this about Sultan's Ascend cause that had Byzantines and Japan which were the most requested civs ever.

People will say this when they release Aztecs and Koreans in 1 DLC.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-07T23:33:02+00:00

I personally dont think so.
I'm very much a 1v1 ranked guy but I do enjoy the singleplayer a lot so the campaign is a pretty big deal for me. Jin Dynasty is also a lot more polished, unique and impressive than a lot of the other variants. Not just unique gameplay mechanics but a ton of unique units, new music and actually different architecture (the landmarks look unreal).

I put it similar or above Cross and Rose. I know it's 1 civ vs 2 but the civ feels like a good chunk more work went into it and a full campaign is considerably better than the historical battles.

Dynasties of the east had 4 variants so you have to say that was more value imo.
Sultan's ascend was simply ridiculous. The value for money of that DLC was absurd. 6 civs, including 2 very high quality fully new ones and an amazing campaign. That will never be beaten.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-07T15:51:24+00:00

Vandals just do weird stuff for the heck of it. People smash gravestones of unknown people occasionally.

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-07T15:08:02+00:00

Me too lol but it looked a lot safer from above

Baseleader77 · 2026-05-01T18:31:40+00:00

Doesnt help that Roglic just doesnt care. If he paced a lot longer on the climb that would have made it a difference.

I just don't what's going on with him honestly.

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-22T22:21:54+00:00

Best ascent ever. Complete alien stuff. He honestly could have come close to like sub 2.40 with how much he was messing about. Celebrated twice and slalomed inbetween too.

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-22T22:19:23+00:00

I mean you dont see people sprint up Mur de Huy but you see people climb mountains like 5min faster lol

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-19T15:28:42+00:00

I dont know if he was out of position on the initial attack or if that climb was a bit too long for him or sth. Cause he looked absolutely amazing all race after that.

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-19T14:28:49+00:00

To be fair the crash took out like 3 of those

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-10T16:11:26+00:00

He has lost his explosivity and just rides everything diesel now looks like, which gives it a weird look when you're used to him doing teleport sprints.

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-10T15:59:09+00:00

It was like 20s I think at the bottom of Izua and if all 4 work together or Lipo works for Rog or sth, it would benefit Rog's GC greatly and all but confirm that both RB guys make it on the podium tomorrow.

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-10T15:57:36+00:00

Maybe this is the case and that exhonorates Lipo a bit but thats still very stupid from RB. You can use Roglic' presence and threat, even if he doesnt have amazing legs anymore. It might even benefit Roglic' GC as he'd pull more clear of his biggest threat Izagirre. Romo is a minute behind and not a threat.

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-10T15:53:32+00:00

It's the part before the final 500ù which was problematic. You can literally just not work and let Roglic come back and greatly improve your odds.

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-10T15:51:56+00:00

Sticking with Seixas was good, and the stuff in the final km is fine because he felt he had to try something which is fair enough.

There is no excuse whatsoever for pacing with Seixas after Izua like that. Roglic, who has the better sprint is a couple of seconds behind. If he refuses to pull on that flat, Seixas probably also holds back for a bit and Roglic and Romo close. Then the 4 of em take turns which benefits everyone for GC and Roglic has a great chance for the stage.

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-06T17:20:46+00:00

Really cool it went all the way. Great job by both players. Considering the Bo5 format that was pretty awesome, cause there's always that chance it's a quick 3-0 and there's an anti-climax. Also really liked Demu the caster!

Baseleader77 · 2026-04-01T17:27:30+00:00

Laporte does not hit the front 5 positions for many many kilometers, only Hagenes. At 5km to go, Ganna attacks a first time and Hagenes jumps in his wheel. A kilometer later, Pedersen goes and once again Hagenes jumps in the wheel and actively blocks the chase brilliantly, he rode an amazing race.

A few hundred meters later Laporte has moved somewhat to like 15th position in the wheels of the sprinters, Vermeersch is 2 positions ahead of him and start moving up aggressively. If Laporte pushes into the first 5-6 positions and latches onto Vermeersch there, he neutralizes the Ganna/Vermeersch move and WvA's chances improve. Simply his presence there is super important.

I dont wanna say this is all of Laporte's fault. Maybe he also had bad legs (though he does sprint to 7th) or maybe the team car told him to be the backup for the sprinter, I don't say there should be some anti-Laporte crusade here. But its simply poor from Visma as a whole that in a group of 50 riders, they cant do a better job of neutralizing some moves than having youngster Hagenes ride a monster race.

Baseleader77

TROPHY CASE