Tightened by the highly anticipated Champions League final at Wembley tonight and the billionaire worldliness of tomorrow's Monaco Grand Prix, the Giro crippled and shaken by bad weather and Di Luca's doping risked a quiet end that its winner Vincenzo Nibali did not deserved at all. It was Nibali who saved him, writing one of the most beautiful pages of cycling in these troubled years. As if he felt the obligation to do another feat, more intense and exciting than the spectacular Polsa time trial, he conquered the Tre Cime di Lavaredo with an action that created a vacuum less than three kilometers from the finish line, winning by gap as the snowflakes thickened in a deep winter landscape.
A place of memory of great cycling, the Tre Cime di Lavaredo gave way to the legend of Merckx, who in 68 won the first of his five Giros in the rainbow jersey. In 74 and 89 climbers like the Spaniard Fuentes won here – beating Merckx himself who even won the Giro by a handful of seconds over Baronchelli – and Lucho Herrera, the progenitor of the Colombian riders who even today in three with Duarte , Uran and Betancur arrived behind the winner. However, no one had ever won in the pink jersey: Nibali also took away this satisfaction, a masterpiece that puts the most prestigious seal on a Giro that has always seen him as the master.
A victory so overwhelming as to make one forget all the cuts that the bad weather has imposed on the organizers: the Sestrière was skipped in the Galibier stage, which was in turn shortened by about 4 km; the fraction of Val Martello which included Stelvio and Gavia was even canceled yesterday; today the route has been redesigned saving only the arrival at the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and the Cento Croci but avoiding historical passes such as the Costalunga, the San Pellegrino and the deadly Giau. In practice, the difference in height to climb has been greatly reduced, but in front of the Nibali seen in this Giro there was little to do. Indeed, he probably would have detached his rivals even more, tenacious and courageous, but never able to put him in difficulty throughout the Giro. With a jersey master of the race, it was inevitable that the last (and also the only) stage in the Dolomites, albeit softened along the way, would serve to define the minor objectives of the others. Starting from the fight for the podium behind Nibali which saw the Colombian Uran Uran, third at the finish line at 18”, overtaking Cadel Evans, who, despite resisting to the limit of his strength, gave way in the final part. The Australian, generous as always, lost second place but managed to defend the podium also because Michele Scarponi, despite preceding him, was no longer so brilliant in tackling the final hairpin bends at an 18% gradient.
Another Colombian, Carlos Betancur, fourth at the finish at 21" after having risked a big puncture on the descent towards Cortina, took back the white jersey by snatching it from the Pole Maika, who fought with determination, but in the end was late of 1'04”. In a stage like today's, with the finish so high up, there shouldn't be room in the news for a sprinter like Mark Cavendish: but to defend his red jersey as leader of the points standings, Cannonball also worked hard agony to collect points at the flying finish lines of Dobbiaco and Cortina. It wasn't enough for him to defend the symbol of the past supremacy, even that, to Nibali thanks to the 25 points forfeited for the victory. But Cavendish has just enough time to regain the red jersey tomorrow in the Brescia stage, the final parade of the Giro which usually ends with a general sprint.
To honor the blue jersey of best climber up to the end, Pirazzi too, despite having by now the certainty that no one could have reached him, sprinted in sight of Passo di Tre Croci until his strength supported him. Then he let himself be sucked into the rear. Same end also for Ermeti of Androni Toys, who however with the entry into the initial break together with Hansen, Popovych and Brutt, allowed his team to beat the curious record of kilometers accumulated overall by riders of the same team with 1500 km. Crumbs, often known more for color than anything else, on the day that will be remembered in the sign of Nibali who will put his name among the winners of the Giro tomorrow in Brescia for the first time. After conquering the Vuelta in 2010, the only thing missing for the Shark is the Tour, where last year he already finished third on the podium after the English pairing Wiggins-Froome.
Everyone pushes him to great enterprise, to a possible double that would launch him into the empyrean of the greats. He still doesn't say yes, but he doesn't close the door to a dream, which, given the magical moment, could even come true. Despite the fact that guys like Contador and Froome await him in France, and even that Wiggins who on the eve of this Giro was to make havoc.
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