The Giro restarts today for La Spezia, a 150 km mid-mountain stage, with the terrible fall of Pozzovivo still in the eyes, who lifeless on the asphalt in the descent of Barbagelata, one of the many passes in the Ligurian hinterland, made everyone go back with the thought and anguish of what happened not far from there to Wouters Weylandt, number 108 on the backbone, who skidded out of the waist in a bend on the Bocco. Luckily, Pozzovivo only came out of the Giro, which already saw him late after the first two stages, but what a scare, battered with a head and facial trauma, which will force the Agr2-La Mondiale leader to another long stop.
The Giro is getting underway with Contador and his three most popular rivals – Aru, Uran and Porte – always divided by the handful of seconds fixed by the outcome of the Sanremo team time trial. Time trial that sent the Australians of Orica GreenEdge into orbit, with Michael Matthews repeating last year's exploits: in Genoa he wore the pink jersey by taking it off the shoulders of his teammate Simon Gerrans and didn't wait long to celebrate it with a victory of stage yesterday on the finish line in Sestri, burning Felline and Philippe Gilbert. Even a year ago, the Australian in pink was the first to cross the finish line of the sixth stage in Montecassino.
Sestri Levante, due to its geographical location close to the Apennines, has always been a stage venue of the Giro which rewards complete long distance cyclists like Matthews rather than pure sprinters who in the Albenga-Genoa had gotten married with an entirely flat route. Viviani, Greipel and the other sprinters broke away as soon as the road started to climb, finishing more than a quarter of an hour behind the leaders. Even a great classic-monument like Tom Boonen pedaled like a cycle tourist wisely avoiding risks and out of time.
It wasn't yesterday's, much less today's, a stage suitable for the Belgian champion, for the first time in the Giro with the aim of joining the club of winning cyclists in the three major stage races. It is no coincidence, given how things are going, that the bookmakers still see Michael Matthews as the favorite at the finish line in La Spezia. It would be a sensational encore for the pink jersey.
