After the great battle of Mortirolo, the Giro allowed itself a break, encroaching on Switzerland in nearby Lugano, which recalls Fauto Coppi and his world championship flight on Crespera in the 1953 World Championship. Luckily, no crashes, all in a group, no adjustments to the standings , Contador spent the most serene of his many days in the pink jersey.
A well-deserved respite from everyone waiting for the great mountains that the race will return to face from tomorrow, peaks that Mikel Landa watches – the big surprise of this year's Giro, ruler of the two stages in the Dolomites that launched him to second place in standings overtaking Aru, its captain – to launch the latest attack on Contador's leadership. Four minutes is a long time to gnaw for a champion like the Pistolero, but it's worth trying. And the Giro, to be alive, is still waiting for sparks.
Meanwhile, yesterday was one of the last two opportunities offered by the course to the sprinters. And Sacha Modolo, well supported in the sprint by his two team mates from Lampre-Merida, Richeze and Ferrari, did an encore in Jesolo in the crowded sprint of the group, preceding Giacomo Nizzolo, a season-ticket holder of the Giro in second place, who however consoled himself by snatching the red leader's jersey of the points classification to Elia Viviani, winner in Genoa.
Modolo is to this day the only rider with the Basque Landa to have won two stages. And after four Tours in which he had never won anything, Modolo now dreams of being able to win the trio in the last stage, all flat, from Turin to Milan. The Venetian sprinter from Lampre, who will turn 28 on 19 June next, is proving to be the strongest of the Italian patrol of Cipollini's heirs, which has never been favored as in this Giro by the absences or defaillances of the feared big foreigners.
Already low in numbers at the start of San Lorenzo al Mare due to the defections of big names such as Cavendish, Kristoff, Degenkolb, Kittel and Bouhanni, along the roads of the Giro those few who had registered lowered the white flag: in the 13th stage the the Australian Simon Gerrans, first pink jersey in Sanremo; the following day, that of the Valdobbiadene time trial, they abandoned André Greipel, winner in Castiglione della Pescaia, and Michael Matthews, pink jersey in the second stage.
His Excellency, Tom Boonen, king of the classic-monument of the North, who raced his first Giro at the age of 34 in complete anonymity, also left with them. Only Luka Mezgec remains in the running, with good qualities, the Slovenian author of good placings so far, the last of which was yesterday's third place in Lugano.
