After raiding stages, no less than five, at the Vuelta last September, John Degenkolb, born in 1989, a sprinter of the German Greipel school full of power and physicality, has also put his signature in the Giro by winning in Matera, the city of the famous stones, a completely flat fraction except for the ascent – not at all easy – of Montescaglioso: a climb not long but more than enough to cut off the legs of thoroughbred sprinters like Cavendish and Goss, which could have spoiled the party for the big German from Argos Shimano.
With the group practically regrouped, Degenkolb was also lucky because the usual daily crash took place in the final tussle, triggered by the Slovenian Mezgec (companion of the German), who practically put Modolo out of the running, the only sprinter left in contention for the sprint. In the tangle of bikes and legs in the air, a young man with an unknown name seems to have the upper hand, Marco Canola from Vicenza who presses hard on the pedals glimpsing the finish line which is ever closer: but as happened in a much more important race, in the of Gap in 1972, Canola ends up like Bitossi: everyone remembers how then "Cuore matto", exhausted after burning the last watt of energy, saw himself overtaken on the finish line by Marino Basso. A mock world championship, a sports drama that entered the history of cycling.
In Matera to blow the victory a Canola Degenkolb is found, like a lorry launched in neutral, who by arrogance made the stage his own. Canola collapsed with a crash. Second was the Spaniard Angel Arcos Vicioso, third was the Belgian Paul Martens. Time neutralized for all those involved in the fall, the classification does not change by a iota. So Luca Paolini can extend his pink fairy tale of a debutant out of time by another day.
