Pro-cycling thread

We're in unusual times. I get that. But:

1. The teams and the riders have known the parcours for some time now. No complaints or objections until today.
   
2. I'm assuming even World Tour riders know that Star Trek teleport machines don't exist, so they must have appreciated that there would be long transfers. Again, no objections or complaints until this morning.
   
3. The effect of the last-minute no-show was that they all got to stand around in the rain for an hour or so while the team buses got diverted. Hardly seems like a sensible choice.
   
   

Most of all, I feel sorry for the towns and villages in the first 120km who had no doubt been looking forward to the Giro passing through for months, and if my experience of Italy during the Giro is anything to go by, would have spent a long time preparing for it by spraying everything that didn't run away at the sight of a spray can bright pink. Then they got told (maybe) on the day that actually there'll just be some big buses driving through.

I can't see why, if the peloton was united in thinking the stage was too long and too hard, the patrons in the peloton couldn't have decided that they'd ride the first 100/120/140km at an easy pace, have a stop for a wee and to get the arm and leg warmers off, and then give it the beans. The pace they rode today's stage seems to me rather inconsistent with the claim that they'll all shattered and don't have the energy to ride.