After that for a week the selection of the species was made above all by falls putting one of the great favorites like Rodriguez out of contention, the Giro finally finds on the roads of Pantani, climbing the Cippo di Carpegna and at the finish line in Montecopiolo, the first indications probative of the competing values not altered by the goddess fortune or bad luck. It's too early to say who will win it, but it's already time to know who has already lost it. On the day of the confirmation of Diego Ulissi, who repeats the success of Viggiano as the most brilliant Italian rider of the moment, and of the return to the pink jersey of Cadel Evans after the fleeting wearings in 2002 and 2010, there is a verdict of “ game over” for Michele Scarponi – physically battered enough to lose about ten minutes. Giro finished also for the Belgian Thomas De Gendt, the dominator of the Stelvio in 2012, who was already delayed due to physical problems and yesterday accused another almost 15 minutes of delay. Ivan Basso, however, resists, another glory of the tricolor pedal attacked by the evils of age, who relies on pride more than on his legs to stay afloat if not in the race: even yesterday, despite giving up in the final, he limited the delay to just 24" arriving together with Pierre Rolland, winner of the 2012 Tour on Alpe d'Huez, protagonist of a courageous attack canceled only in the last two km of the race. In the general classification, which since yesterday Evans precedes Uran by 57" and Maika by 1'10", the winner of two Tours from Varese is 11th at 2'01" ahead of Rolland himself by about fifty seconds, who some still indicate among the possible winners of the Giro. Ryder Hesjedal, tenth yesterday in Montecopioli, is recovering but 4 and a half minutes behind it, difficult to remedy. He still pays dearly for the unfortunate team time trial in Belfast with half of the Garmin Sharp rolled on the ground. It is not surprising - because his exit from the upper quarters of the standings was expected - the collapse of Michael Matthews, pink jersey from the second stage in Belfast, who after giving his best by even winning the fraction of Montecassino, that of the hecatomb in the middle Giro understood yesterday that the time had come to return to being among the most efficient long-distance cyclists around by giving up useless efforts on Carpegna, a mountain that looks like a shark's tooth with rugged slopes where even Eddy Merck was beaten by the Spanish Fuente in the Giro of 1974. Matthews thus arrived at the 180th finish line on a cycling tour, more than 34 minutes behind Ulissi.
On the eve of the ninth stage that will take the tadpoles from Lugo to Sestola, the mountain of Tomba, with a final ascent of 16km at an average gradient of 5%, a fraction that could give another small shuffle to the standings, if it's enough easy to say who has already lost the Giro. it is more difficult to say who will win it given that the top ten in the standings are enclosed in less than two minutes. Cadel Evans, who turned 37 last February 14 – the very same day of Pantani's death in 2004 – is among the most popular names of the eve, the one who has been most busy fighting every day even for time bonuses. The Australian of the Bmc was able to cynically take advantage of the general fall at the fatal roundabout 11 km from Montecassino, to the point of being accused of lack of fair play, to organize a coup against Uran, Quintana and of the other pretenders to the final victory. But it will be on the great mountains that the Giro will face in the last week that Evans will have to prove that he is truly back as the one who won the 2011 Tour. The slopes of the Zoncolan, the roughness of the Gavia, the unnerving length of the hairpin bends of the Stelvio seem to favor Quintana – who has practically not been seen so far and who only took two seconds away from Evans (sixth) by finishing fourth – or Uran himself. But in the battle between an Australian and the two Colombians other less expected actors could join in such as the Pole Rafal Maika without forgetting some of ours: more than Ulissi who is sixth in the general classification and who is doing an extraordinary Giro, are Pozzovivo and Aru, the two names on which Italian hopes are pointing. Aru, with the lights off but always vigilant in the crucial moments of the race, climbed up to fifth place in the general standings at 1'39 from Evans. Pozzovivo closes the current top ten with a delay of 1'50" from Evans but just 5 seconds from Nairo Quintana, the Colombian eaglet who lives and trains in the Andes in his hometown of Tunja at an altitude of 2.800 metres, plus or less like living on the Stelvio, the Cima Coppi that the Giro will face in the 16th stage from Ponte di Legno to Val Martello, re-proposing the identical route with also the Gavia of the stage canceled last year due to snow.
