The other day he had been sitting in the "hot seat" for hours, only to be ousted by the last rider to take off in the opening time trial in Jerusalem: so for two seconds Rohan Dennis had seen Tom Dumoulin blow his victory and pink jersey away. But the Australian of Bmc, after a moment of strong disappointment, saw the possibility of taking revenge quickly to take back the symbol of the primacy that had escaped him in extremis. In the second stage flat as a billiards was the flying finish of Miztpe Ramon who offered, if he won, enough bonus to make him leapfrog Dumoulin in the standings. And here are his Bmc teammates getting in front of the group and shooting at full speed to prepare him for the sprint in view of the intermediate finish line. Mission accomplished: Dennis, preceding Elia Viviani, pocketed three precious seconds and for a second snatched the pink jersey from Tom Dumoulin, who obviously having more ambitious goals than the Australian in this Giro did nothing to counter the plan concocted by the Bmc, nor much less did he want to risk in the final sprint to take the bonuses reserved for the first three. Sprint on the arrival avenue in Tel Aviv which saw the success of Elia Viviani, after a formidable comeback in the last meters on Jacub Mareczo. Third was Irishman Sam Bennett.
Dennis' coup and Viviani's spectacular final rush are the two facts that encapsulate the entire chronicle of a stage that served Chris Froome above all to restore morale and soothe the pain in his knees from the blow he received during the reconnaissance morning before Friday's time trial. Even today, the third and final stage in Israel, from Beer Sheva to Eilat crossing the Negev desert, shouldn't create turmoil among the big names, leaving the sprinters the chance to fight for victory with another final sprint. An opportunity not to be missed for Viviani to do an encore and for Mareczo, Modolo and Bonifazio, beaten yesterday, to take revenge. Last year the Italians had to wait for the Stelvio for the first and only Italian victory with Vincenzo Nibali. But this year, given the massive absence of the strongest foreign sprinters, who dominated all the group arrivals in the last few editions with the various Kittel, Gaviria and Greipel and Bouhanni, it is a more unique than rare occasion for our fast wheels to make a nice haul of stages with the final prize of the cyclamen jersey of the points classification which is today on Viviani's shoulders.
