The Giro faces the first arrival in the mountains and Vincenzo Nibali is the first to hit the batten. Everything happens in the last three kilometers from the finish line in Roccaraso-Aramogna when suddenly the Shark sprints from the group of the best and immediately takes a hundred metres. Astana's tactic, to give the first ring in this Giro, seems perfect. For a few kilometers the blues of the Kazakh team have taken over the direction of the race by sending one of them forward, the Danish Jacob Fuglsang, an ideal point of support.
NIbali's goal is not the stage – which is now in the hands of Tim Wellens of Lotto Soudal, a young Belgian of sure lineage, the only survivor of the escape that characterized the stage – but rather to give a signal of strength to the whole caravan, he who is the great favorite of the pink race and who loves to win, leaving his mark on the enterprise. But the shot, as sudden as authoritative, which immediately triggers the enthusiasm of his fans, goes out in the blink of an eye.
Worse, Nibali doesn't have time to be picked up by Valverde and Landa who start off on the counterattack, as if he were competing in a sprint, precisely the pink jersey of Tom Dumoulin followed by the Russian Ilnur Zakarin, a client to follow carefully, and by Pozzovivo . It happens that Fuglsang, who was waiting for the arrival of his captain and who for a few kilometers had also been in the virtual pink jersey, instead finds himself at the heels of Dumoulin's fury who wants to live his days in the pink to the fullest, almost as if he wanted to exorcise the memory of that crush that cost him last year's Vuelta which he was dominating, then won by Fabio Aru.
Astana's plan goes up in smoke even if Fuglsang finishes second at 1'47” from Wellens and Dumoulin, also preceded by Zakharin, remains without time bonuses. Meanwhile, behind in the final tussle, which he unleashed, Nibali seems to be confused. He loses precious seconds to all his rivals with the exception of Landa who reaches the finish line with his own time. Apart from the joy of Wellens who hits his first stage in the Giro after having also won the last stage of the Paris-Nice this year by burning Contador, the winner of the day in terms of Giro is above all Dumoulin who gains 14” on Valverde (10th ) and 21” on Landa (13th) and Nibali (14th).
In the standings now Nibali, also overtaken by Valverde, is ninth at 47" from Dumoulin. A bad day, like the weather with cold and rain, which does not compromise anything but which leaves a little perplexed and some controversial aftermath in the Astana house because Nibali, after the race, didn't mince his words putting the accused on the bench tactic desired by the flagship driven by Giuseppe Martinelli. The favorite is always him, the Shark, but the explosive vitality of Dumoulin is shuffling the cards of the Giro which at the beginning seemed at best a three-way match, with the old Valverde, making his debut in the pink race, and the young Landa , grimpeur among the best, the two least unlikely anti-Nibali.
Di Dumoulin's stability on the Dolomite and Alpine plateaus remains to be verified, but he has the Chianti time trial on his side that could give him new and copious margins of advantage over all the others. Comparisons are difficult but Dumoulin to this day is somewhat reminiscent of the Swiss Alex Zulle, the one who in 1998 seemed to be able to win the Giro after dominating the Lacco Laceno climb and the two time trials of Nice and Trieste. But when the great mountains came, the Swiss, unbeatable in the pink jersey up until then, gave up, ridiculed by Pantani.
