On the spectacular ramps of San Luca Primoz Roglich he took that pink jersey that he had missed in 2016 in the Dutch prologue time trial in Apeldoom, mocked by Tom Dumoulin for a few hundredths of a second. It was a surprise then being almost a stranger. He had come to cycling late after dedicating the best years of his youth to ski jumping before crashing at the end of an unfortunate flight to the point of fearing for his life. Today, almost 30 years old, Roglic, after his success in the Tirreno-Adriatico and in the Tour de Romadie, is here at the Giro to win it and he started to do so by breaking away from everyone in the 8km time trial of San Luca.
A superiority that admits no doubts, a show of power, the Slovenian captain of Jumbo-Visma was the only one to set a time under 13 minutes. But to certify his triumph, Roglic had to wait hours until the arrival of Simon Yates, who, unlike the other captains, had chosen to leave last. The Briton, while giving his best in a specialty that is not his favourite, set the second fastest time, yielding to the Slovenian 19" but overtaking an excellent Vincenzo Nibali by 4" and Tom Dumoulin and Miguel Angel Lopez by 9". taken first in the race against time.
Roglic, who started after Dumoulin – another super favorite on a par with the Slovenian to win the stage (and also the Giro) – has always been ahead of his Dutch rival right from the start, increasing his advantage meter by meter until it was fixed at 28”: given the brevity of the route, an impressive gap. Dumoulin – fifth at the same time with Miguel Angel Lopez – is in fact the big disappointment in the first round of the Giro which took place in a spectacular setting amidst a jubilation of the crowd crowded on the famous arcaded street that goes up to the sanctuary.
Vincenzo Nibali went better than Dumoulin, who, surprising everyone and perhaps even himself, conquered a brilliant third place 23” behind the winner. It was understood that the Shark was close to the right shape at the recent Tour of the Alps, always on the attack, perky as ever: at the top of San Luca, the Italian champion confirmed that he was there. Roglic or anyone – see Yates and Dumoulin – who aspires to the final pink jersey in Verona – will certainly have to deal with him, who is here to look for the trio after the successes in 2013 and 2016. Among the other possible protagonists of the Giro, the time trial di San Luca promoted Rafa Majka (sixth at 33"), while Bob Jungels (13th) paid 46". Mikel Landa and Ilnur Zakarin did worse, who reached respectively 1'07” and 1'20” from the Slovenian.
This Sunday the Giro goes to Fucecchio, the finish site of the second stage with a 200 km route up and down the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines but without major difficulties. There will be no Japanese Hiroki Nishimura who ran out of time at the San Luca. This is the second time something like this has happened at the end of the first stage of a major stage race.
