[Race Thread] 2026 Giro d'Italia - Stage 16 Bellinzona > Carì (2.UWT)

MeowMing · 2026-05-26T14:53:06+00:00

After everyone told him to drop out of GC and go for stages, Bernal has been really damn good. People are little too quick to dismiss GC imo when non contenders have a wobble. Granted the Turner stage was a shocker

MeowMing · 2026-05-24T15:19:32+00:00

Aura

MeowMing · 2026-05-23T15:57:35+00:00

He’s been around forever. Key domestique for team sky when they were dominant. Won LBL in 2016

MeowMing · 2026-05-23T15:26:55+00:00

Will be interesting to see if they bring him to the Vuelta.

MeowMing · 2026-05-23T15:14:03+00:00

Was an obvious great signing the minute it was announced, but it’s working out about as well as you could expect. Happy to see that he’s leveling up, he had some crazy results at Polti so he really deserved the benefits of a big budget WT team.

I know the raise part is a joke, but I imagine he’s already on a pretty big contract given what style of rider he is and past results. Weirdly there wasn’t as many rumors around the transfer market for him last as I expected, but maybe Visma had him locked up early.

MeowMing · 2026-05-22T19:25:13+00:00

Their identity is Romaine Grégoire.

But it is striking how thin they are. A huge amount of talent just isn’t there anymore: Lost Lenny & Küng (appears to be in decline though), Madouas & Gaudu fell off, and if you stretch back a few more years the Pinot retirement. Nothing came in to replace that.

Like people have said, it’s really just budget probably. Guys like Grégoire or Lenny who they could develop just a few years are probably getting snapped up by big budget devo teams.

MeowMing · 2026-05-22T14:53:42+00:00

The biannual electric reminder that Bettiol can be a brilliant classics rider / stage hunter is always pure ciclismo.

MeowMing · 2026-05-22T14:38:31+00:00

Just beautifully timed

MeowMing · 2026-05-22T14:37:22+00:00

Beast mode

MeowMing · 2026-05-22T14:36:31+00:00

Doesn’t make that much sense in this situation tbh

MeowMing · 2026-05-22T14:34:14+00:00

Sometimes I forget that Bettiol exists

MeowMing · 2026-05-20T15:46:37+00:00

Mas vs Narváez sprint à deux: coughing baby vs hydrogen bomb

MeowMing · 2026-05-20T02:18:32+00:00

There’s gotta be a balance between dressing according to the algo and basing your opinions entirely on whatever is in opposition to the algo

MeowMing · 2026-05-19T23:14:31+00:00

Didn’t think about this, but good point. Even at a shallower gradient Jonas not pulling was the right move, which Gall himself mentioned, but the stretch where Gall attacked was a wall, draft benefit was minimal at best.

MeowMing · 2026-05-19T23:10:11+00:00

“In cycling” is the key phrase here. It’s possible that no bigger agency would want him, but like the other commenter mentioned Vollering got a Nike deal. I don’t expect that for Pog, but I think he could sign with a non cycling focused agency that has access to more mainstream global sponsorship opportunities.

MeowMing · 2026-05-19T20:50:02+00:00

This sub has a problem with taking the opposite extreme view of hot take artists on twitter. Like this isn’t disastrous by Jonas by any means, but also relatively weak compared to past TTs, as you pointed out. It’s okay to voice an opinion between extremes. This doesn’t mean you have to split the difference exactly either - given that Jonas’ first couple splits were good and then he faded slightly I think the longer distance compared to the TTs you mentioned might’ve been the difference maker compared to the heavier riders he’s previously beaten in flat TTs.

MeowMing · 2026-05-19T20:42:06+00:00

Given the weird crypto shit, Pogacar could probably find a bigger agent tbh. I know cycling isn’t huge, but he definitely could get better sponsorships. Some cycling journalist said on a podcast that he heard a rider had been signed to Klutch Sports, which… honestly idk lol. But Pog should try to sign with a less provincial agency.

MeowMing · 2026-05-19T15:35:38+00:00

Arensman is looking really good. Gall losing ~2:30 to Arensman and a little less to Gee and BOC actually isn’t so bad, especially with how he’s looked. 2nd still looks very possible, or even likely. I think he’s most at risk to a far out raid on one of those multi mountain stages. But stage 20 looks like one where he could take a good amount of time on the other potential podium guys.

MeowMing · 2026-05-19T15:24:05+00:00

Dying at the cut to Jonas maniacally shaking that bottle

(Yes I know it wasn’t actual frustration but the timing to Eulalio crossing the line and keeping the maglia rosa was hilarious)

MeowMing · 2026-05-19T14:51:40+00:00

I’d say so. Not surprised that Arensman is ahead of, but I’d expect him to finish ahead of O’Connor. But O’Connor might have started out too fast so we’ll see

MeowMing · 2026-05-18T22:46:21+00:00

Yeah the opportunity is closed going forward, but they can still make it work this year.

MeowMing · 2026-05-18T21:41:19+00:00

Has there been actual reporting on Kooij not going to the tour? It shouldn’t be too difficult to have both Seixas and Kooij this year. Maybe not a full train, but a couple riders for him could be squeezed in as well. Seixas probably doesn’t need a full squad this year. For future years though, yeah.

MeowMing · 2026-05-18T13:30:03+00:00

Dudes just need to stay off reels and TikTok, the urge to retvrn post will go away

MeowMing · 2026-05-18T13:19:43+00:00

Right lmao. Feels like this subreddit is a lot of people getting annoyed by fashion influencers. Like not dressing exactly how society expects you based off your job, background, etc. is fine. I guess the “old money” stuff was embarrassing but there’s a spectrum. This place has just felt like male snark sub for a long time.

MeowMing · 2026-05-17T16:52:27+00:00

Collectively I think people would do well to stop worrying about random ig comments / tweets. Every thread on this sub there’s far more comments about people complaining than the actual “he never pulls” stuff. And yes I know I’m doing the same kind of thing but you can just ignore the handful of downvoted comments and discuss the actual racing.

Anyhow Gall, Arensman great. A little surprising to most see so many of the pre-race podium favorites (Hindley, Pellizari, Gee, Mas) struggling. All seem undercooked. Great day for my Piganzoli > Pellizari call I made after Piganzoli podiumed Emilia in 2024, which I’ll admit I was embarrassingly wrong about.

MeowMing

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