From the tears of Florence for a lost world championship to the smile of Lecco for a fantastic encore in the "Lombardy": Joaquin Rodriguez, in the classic of the dead leaves, defeated everyone for the second consecutive time, confirming himself as a champion who never betrays, ready to always give his best, in every race he participates in, from February to October. A great cyclist who once again chose the same point as last year, the last 500 meters of Villa Vergnano, when the slope becomes a wall, to shoot with that explosiveness that makes him unique in the group. And in the last eight kilometres, so far from the finish from the last col, Rodriguez ran without ever looking back.
The image of Rui Costa catching him on the home stretch of the world championship race is too fresh not to fear a new ambush: chasing him this time was not Rui Costa who slipped back in the last roughness of the day but that Alejandro Valverde, who in Florence he certainly didn't damn his soul to hinder the action of the Portuguese in pursuit of Purito. But Valverde, despite giving it his all, had to settle for second place, ahead of the Polish Maika: a result that fuels his reputation as a champion who is always placed but rarely a winner.
Lombardy has not betrayed expectations by confirming itself as one of the most grueling classic monuments of the calendar, with its many ascents, culminating with the famous Muro di Sormano. Race made especially to exalt the brave like Thomas Volckler who attempted the coup by fleeing - without too many calculations as is his custom - at the foot of the Madonna del Ghisallo, but the leader of Europcar, so loved by the French as to dedicate a road to him in his native Vendée , was reached on the ramps of Villa Vergnano. Before him, Nairo Quintana also stood out by being the first to pass on the Muro di Sormano to then form an all-Movistar head tandem with Valverde on the descent, too dangerous not to attract attention, triggering the prompt reaction of the group of the best.
Among which was - but with great difficulty - also a Contador, already suffering on the Wall, never a protagonist, interpreter of a discolored race like his entire season. A race, Lombardia 2013, made more difficult by the adverse weather conditions which this year has decided to target all the great races held in Italy, from the frost which tormented Sanremo to the snow in May which even canceled a stage of the Giro up to the downpour in Florence and the greyness amidst today's rain-swollen black clouds: an environmental situation that induced an already unconvinced Chris Froome to give a sudden forfeit in the morning and which multiplied crashes and withdrawals during the race also among the big names: Michele Scarponi's race ended on Colle di Brianza due to a physical illness, near Canzo that of Vincenzo Nibali, involved in a tumble in an insidious bottleneck on the track that acted as a funnel for the peloton. The winner of the Giro d'Italia immediately looked battered.
Sitting motionless on the asphalt for a long time, when he got up he was limping conspicuously so much that he could not stand up. Withdrawal was inevitable. At that point the blue pedal relied on the various Basso (always with the first up to Villa Vergnano), Ulissi (winner of the recent Milan-Turin), Santoromita. In the end, the best of ours will be Gasparotto fifth in Lecco. So the last Italian triumph in Lombardy goes back in time: we have to go back to 2008 to find the last success with Cunego who scored an amazing trio in the race that was still called the Giro di Lombardia.
For Nibali, after getting into the ambulance, his best season since he's been a professional ended here, on an asphalt slimy with rain in a tangle of bikes. Not so for the winner, Joaquim Rodriguez who, in order to secure the palm of first rider on the World Tour circuit for the second year in a row, is also planning to participate in the imminent Beijing Tour. Meanwhile, with the 100 points obtained with the victory in Lombardia Purito he overtook Froome by 20 points who, after a stratospheric Tour, practically pulled the oars in the boat.
Read Aldo Bernacchi's e-book “CYCLING & DOPING – Armstrong: so everyone fans”.
