Thrills, acrobatics, power on the finish paving amidst the unique scenery of the trulli of Alberobello: the Giro, after the umpteenth stage of transfer from Calabria to Puglia, canceled by the group the Italian-Russian breakaway of Giuseppe Fonzi and Dimitrij Kozontchuck , offers everything and the best of the show only in the last five hundred meters of the race, ingrained by two tight curves that further enhance the courage of the big names in the sprint. This time the little Australian with Asian traits, Caleb Ewan, has the upper hand, whose wheel for nothing advances that of Fernando Gaviria and the Irishman Sam Bennett. Fourth behind Greipel, fifth Stuyven. Gathered in the first five places the best the Giro can offer in terms of sprints, an arrival at the photo finish that makes Ewan happy, in his first success in the Giro, and which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of Gaviria, author of an amazing comeback that he saw slipping through traffic until he came within a whisker of his third success.
The festival of foreign sprinters continues, the lack of victories for the Italians still dry after seven stages is getting longer. The squad's statistics say that Paolo Tiralongo's first Italian victory came in the seventh fraction in 2012, beating Michele Scarponi at Rocca di Cambio.
For a longer fast this year – not taking into account Ivan Basso's Liquigas victory in the Cuneo team time trial – we have to go back to 2010 when we had to wait for the 12th stage won by Filippo Pozzato in Porto Recanati. In any case, it was a Giro that in the end spoke all Italian with Basso as the winner and with Nibali who wore his first pink jersey for three days. In the meantime, the Luxembourgian Bob Jungels has arrived on the fourth day of the squad, leader of an unchanged classification. Today, the eve of the arrival at the Blockhaus on the Maiella, the Giro will go up Puglia up to Peschici, pearl of the Gargano. Very demanding and articulated final with an increasingly steep climb in the last 1500 meters, with peaks of 12% and with several hairpin bends. A goal that in the past has seen the successes of Danilo De Luca (2000), Franco Pellizzotti (2006) and Matteo Priamo (2008). Three riders from different careers, all united by the stain of having ended up, for various reasons, in the anti-doping network: only one of them is still in the saddle and runs this Giro, Pellizzotti, 39 years old, follower of Nibali, who in his palmarés can boast a victory over the Blockhaus in 2009.
