Then a full half of the stage race would be dull, fall-off-your-seat-asleep boring. You might as well shorten the stage race to five very hard mountain stages and a TT and be done with it.

Bike racing is a rich sport because different riders are skilled and talented at different things. Some are climbers, some are TT'ers, some are sprinters. If there was nothing in it for the sprinters, then you'd see all the sprinters (and their teams) skip the race entirely. Besides, there is something in it for the sprinters who can make it to the finish: the points jersey. But because there are few "sprinters" stages in this year's Giro, the points jersey is going to a climber, so there really is no motivation for a sprinter to stay in the game. I can tell you from personal experience how de-motivating it is to be in a race that you have absolutely no chance of winning and getting dropped repeatedly and consistently.

And if you don't think that winning bunch sprints consistently isn't a pretty impressive trick, for both the sprinter and the team, then you have obviously never tried it.