How to distinguish the champion from the others in cycling? This Giro d'Italia has the answer ready: to win as Simon Yates is doing, attacking in the pink jersey, thrilling the people who await the sprint and victory, breaking away from rivals as soon as there is an uphill finish, whether it is the Gran Sasso or the wall of Osimo. He is the rider who holds the Giro every day even if he hasn't won it yet.
His final outburst, in the last 1500 metres, on the paved slope in the heart of the splendid town in the Marche region, is a spot for the sport of cycling at the end of a stage that recalled the Liège-Bastogne-Liege due to its altitude. It is no coincidence that Moreno Argentin also won in Osimo 24 years ago, making an extraordinary four-of-a-kind in the Ardennes monument-classic.
Yates' goal, who has a precious ally in Chaves who has dropped out of the standings, is to gain as many seconds as possible to distance what appears to be his most difficult rival, Tom Dumoulin. The Dutchman has the advantage of the Trento time trial on his side and yesterday too, despite not being able to engage the wheels of the unleashed British, he gave him only 6” (between a gap of 2” and the bonus game). In the standings Dumoulin, always second, is now at 47”: a delay that can't leave even the stratospheric Yates of these days calm, who has always been beaten by the winner of last year's Giro in races against the clock to date.
In the tussle ahead of the finish, which also involved two guys who love to win like Tim Wellens and Zdenek Stybar, among the men in the standings, in addition to Dumoulin, Pinot and Pozzovivo also saved themselves, narrowing the gap from Yates at 8”. For the others in the top ten they had to submit to an almost daily tribute, more onerous for the benefit of the pink jersey.
Disappointing again, among the big names was once again Froome who lost another 50” from Yates, unable to handle the accelerations in the finale, he who wrote pages of Tour history with his deadly smoothies. The Briton slipped to 12th place in the standings at 3'20”, also overtaken by the pale Aru of this half-Giro, tenth at 3'10”, and by Miguel Angel Lopez 11th at 3'17.
