Giro under the sign of bad weather and crashes, Giro more and more under the sign of Nibali: we expected an offensive from his opponents, instead it was he who attacked, in the pink jersey. He did it three kilometers from the finish, on the last tough but not impossible ramps of the Jafferau, amidst black clouds that blocked visibility, swollen with wind and freezing rain. As a precaution, the organisers, faced with the umpteenth conspiracy of the weather this May which likes to scourge the Giro and its heroes, had canceled the Sestrière passage, which risked being a Bondone-bis given the threat of snow. But the ascent to the peak overlooking Bardonecchia was enough to understand that this edition – however it is modified by events of force majeure – now has only one master: Nibali.
When he saw the increasingly petrified faces of Uran and Evans with cold and fatigue, the Shark jumped up on the pedals and made a vacuum. Only Mauro Santambrogio was able to resist him, then also offering him an important hand in giving depth to the action. Nibali thanked leaving the stage victory to his adventure partner. The pink jersey was satisfied with second place which was still worth a bonus of 12”. Then everyone looked at the stopwatch to measure how much he had gained on Uran (fifth at 30 ") and Evans (sixth at 33"). Nothing definitive, especially in a Giro where falls are also the order of the day (today Battaglin and Nizzolo paid the price for it by retiring), but on the eve of another stage conditioned by the unknown snow – that of the Galibier, a fraction that promises a cycling of other times – Nibali extends further by removing the Australian of Bmc in the standings at 1'26” and at 2'46” the Colombian climber who has just captained Team Sky after Wiggins' retirement.
The only one to whom Nibali allowed to gain something in the standings against him was Santambrogio thanks to the 20” time bonus due to the winner. And the Farnese Vini standard bearer is now fourth just one second behind Uran, right in the podium area. After Wiggins and Hesjedal came out battered, another possible challenger to Nibali, the Dutchman Robert Gesink, saw on the summit of Jafferau, any possibility of remaining in the top hierarchy of the Giro vanish. Even Scarponi made a half false step losing almost another minute and a half from NIbali. But if Gesink crashed 6'40” from the record, Scarponi is still fifth even if at 3'53”.
