Il Line of Business n.102 arrived at the final time trial in Verona tired of waiting for the feat that didn't happen. The solo like Froome's last year was missing, which someone even compared to Coppi's legendary 1949 ride from Cuneo to Pinerolo. Nibali, despite having tried in several stages, has never been as overwhelming as in the last two mountain stages of the 2016 Giro. Verona can thus celebrate Richard Carapaz and his first Ecuadorian pink jersey.
Carapaz has shown himself to be the most continuous, the most solid, therefore the best of all. Even the defeated recognized this. But from today, once the celebrations for an historic success are over, the Movistar climber will begin another career that is certainly more important but also more difficult because he will no longer be able to enjoy the inattention of the big names, as was the case culpably in this Giro with Roglic marking Nibali and vice versa, while the Ecuadorian – who, moreover, had already won the Frascati stage, the one of the crash that forced Tom Dumoulin to retire – advanced with the lights off, accumulating a treasure trove of seconds which then became substantial minutes, entering first in the breakaway with Zakarin and Yates towards Lago Serrù and the following day with the solitary victory in Courmayeur.
At that point it was understood that Carapaz, well protected and escorted by Landa, was becoming the real threat for everyone, a runner who is increasingly convinced of his abilities especially uphill, emboldened by seeing a Roglic reduced by the great mountains and a Nibali who, even if he attacked, he could never finish the blow. Few other times the last week of the Giro has been experienced in an atmosphere of general resignation even if the gaps weren't abysmal. One got the impression that, having canceled the Gavia due to the danger of avalanches, the Giro suddenly smoothed out even if the Dolomites were still on the programme.
La Chrono of Verona, as far as winning the Giro is concerned, it was a pure formality. Too short to worry Carapaz, it only served to Roglic to regain the podium by overtaking Landa, who will have to improve his performance in this specialty if he wants to try to win a Grand Tour. The Basque, despite putting in his best efforts, finished 21st 59" behind the surprising winner, the American Chad Haga which took away the joy of victory a Victor Campenaerts, once again second at 4”. To regain third place for Roglic it was enough to finish tenth, 23” behind Haga.
In any case, the Slovenian said he was satisfied with his Giro but from San Marino on he never showed up again: completely disappointing. Winner at San Luca and on the Titano, Roglic was also preceded by 3” by Nibali, who thus secured second place by reducing the gap from 1'54” to 1'05” from Carapaz who finished 36th at 1'12”. It is the sixth podium at the Giro per lo Squalo, which remains the point of reference for Italian cycling in major stage races. The crowd cheered him everywhere but not having hit the trio in a Giro without Froome and with Dumoulin soon out of the game is a missed opportunity from the Shark who will certainly have some regrets for having granted Carapaz too much space for action.
He closes the Giro without regrets but with the blue jersey of leader of the climbers, Julius Ciccone, ruler of the Mortirolo stage. The cyclamen jersey of the standings ended up on the shoulders of the German Pascal Ackermann which preceded the French Arnaud Demare. White jersey for best young player won it Miguel Angel Lopez, but the Colombian from Astana had come to the Giro with higher ambitions. He was often unlucky and in the end he had to settle for seventh place 7'26” behind Carapaz.
Behind him is another big disappointment from the Giro, Simon yates: the Briton had left Bologna with the desire to finish last year's work when he finished 21st – the fault of the crush he had taken in the Colle delle Finestre stage – after dominating the Giro in the first 17 stages. Eighth place this year is not deceiving, it is a false step forward for a Yates who has never been in the game.
