The platoon leaves the Adriatic and crosses the Rubicon slowly and jokingly and launches itself across the Padana plain in Emilia, flattened by the weight of the mountains that surround them, like a group of hiking friends who enjoy it so much that they sigh for it to never end. the way. Its road crosses marked regions, bordering Fellini’s Rimini, Pantani’s Cesenatico, San Marino in which Tiberi, Latin from Lazio and favorite for the white jersey, the new Nibali, killed a neighboring minister’s cat; the Imola of the Ferraris and Alaphilippe, the Ferrara of the other Ferrari, Michele, the Medical Myth; the Faenza of Cassani and the Lugo, province of Ravenna, where Giancarlo Ferretti lives, Ferron, the iron sergeant of the Ariostea. They know that in the end, after the nerves, the scares, the crazy speed of the last kilometers until the sprint in the beautiful Cento, between Lucio Dalla’s Bologna and the arcades and Ferrara, a transfer awaits them, 150 kilometers to the northwest , where, Tadej Pogacar ominously warns them, in pink and maroon in skinsuit (monkey), the clothing that most likes on windy days and splendid mood, the real, real Giro, as if it were Coca Cola, begins. He warns him at the exit: “Let’s go for an easy day (let’s have a calm day) because tomorrow the real Giro begins, the Ganna time trial in Garda, 32 very flat kilometers, and the brutal monster stage Sunday in Livigno and Mortirolo…”
Dissatisfied, those of Ineos, Calvinist Anglo-Saxons, there is no rest is their mottowhoever does not work, who does not suffer, does not love God, breaks the drowsiness of easy goingsoft of the peloton past Conselice, where the wind blows from the south, 30 kilometers per hour, with a sudden acceleration 62 kilometers from the finish line, which makes Pogacar thank his boy for the whim of dressing skinsuit in Bologna and who catches Johnny Milan unexpectedly – “we were in the ditch, urinating,” explained Simone Consonni, his partner at Lidl and in the Italian pursuit quartet – who is cut off from the clumsy platoon . The scare lasts 20 minutes and linking costs the best sprinter in the Giro and his Lidl a flush, but it doesn’t stop the irrepressible king of the volatasso dislocated and stubborn, with incredible Hulk gestures, launched by Consonni, he jumped onto Gaviria’s wheel in the last straight, overtook him and achieved his third victory and in Italy the laudatory chronicles that describe Milan, a Friulian like Ottavio, continue to spread Bottecchia, Cipollini again, so tall, with so much grace and muscle fills the cyclamen maglia, a color that seems made for him.
When the final danger arrives, Pogacar locks himself in what he calls his bubble, a one-meter safety area in a circle around him, and mentally distances himself from a platoon so transformed and flattened by his superiority that he does not even seem to recognize the irony. in the purposes of the arrived Slovenian, they say, from another point of view. The real, real Giro really started on the second day, arrival in Oropa, victory for Pogacar, monkey rosagranate for the first time, and it’s been 12 days. Pogacar then won another mountain stage and the toughest time trial, and is now 2m 40s behind the second overall, the Colombian Daniel Felipe Martínez, 2m 56s behind the third, the Welshman Geraint Thomas, and 4m 27s behind the desired Tiberi.
The rest of the race has served for the old men of the Ferretti school – the director who told Manolo Saiz that he was helping Indurain defend himself from Jalabert’s attack in Mende because his Banesto was distributing play, and since he was only concerned about the general He let the teams that were looking for stages breathe, and not like him and his ONCE, who didn’t leave even crumbs behind – they regret the change of scenery and that Pogacar and his UAE want to win everything. Those were times when an agreement of respect and mutual help was established without words. “But these are the times that have brought new phenomena, the big six[Van Aert, Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Pogacar, Vingegaard, Roglic], who instead of competing against the rest seem to challenge each other to see who achieves the most epic victory, the longest solo escape, the greatest feat,” says Iván Velasco, young director of Movistar. “There is no longer room for the scenario that Ferretti spoke of. It is now impossible to allow leaks of 10, 15 minutes, because it would be impossible to close them. There is so much competitiveness, and Pogacar is so strong…”
Perhaps the strength of Pogacar, its magnificent engine, is not impregnable when measured against the clock in the 31 kilometers of the time trial next to Lake Garda, large straights filled with slopes of variable length, but around 400 meters, the territory of the greats. displacements and enormous masses, like those owned by Filippo Ganna, for whom Ineos has built the best machine with his Pinarello. Pogacar, surprisingly, concedes that the favorite is Ganna and that, despite his aerodynamic advances, on such a flat terrain he will not even have much of an advantage over those who follow him on the podium, Thomas and Martínez, who are not bad at the exercise. , nor is Tiberi, who was already junior world champion five years ago. The organization foresees an average of 54 per hour, which the best will be able to reach thanks to their watts, their legs, the transmitters on their chest protecting their sternum and killing bad turbulence, wide helmets, skier type, and transmissions with a a single 60 or 64 tooth chainring that avoids excessive twisting and friction of the chain, without the need on this occasion for a rear axle with a reduction gear, like the one used by Ineos in the first time trial to be able to overcome a 15% climb. And, of course, a skinsuit very close to the bodysuit, marking well all the curves of muscles hard as steel, and so beautiful. And for one day, the light climbers suffer, little birds in the wind.
You can follow Morning Express Deportes inFacebook andxor sign up here to receiveour weekly newsletter.
