Today the Giro climbs the Blockhaus, the mountain of brigands, which according to Davide Cassani, the national team coach, is the toughest climb of the many planned. After the little or nothing of Etna, with the big names blocked in controlling each other, everyone is ready to bet that the peak that revealed the first Merckx in the 1967 Giro will interrupt the truce declared between the favourites, Quintana and Nibali above all, who it also lasted yesterday in the Peschici stage. For the record, Team Sky timidly tried to move the stagnant waters of the Giro a bit with a sprint from Mikal Landa in the finale on the spectacular ups and downs of the Gargano. The Basque, officially Geraint Thomas' lieutenant, but with some freedom (and a great desire) to play his chances as a climber, was even for a short virtual pink jersey. Glimpses of battle but in a Giro in which the top 12 in the standings, after more than 1500 km travelled, are still all collected in just 10 seconds, even Landa's move – like Nibali's unrealistic sprint on Etna – deserves to be reported. If the classification does not change with Jungels always the leader, followed by Thomas second at 6”, the Peschici stage was – if it was needed – finally beautiful and hard-fought, in a beautiful nature, among olive trees and the sea of beaches and cliffs del Gargano, characterized by an initial escape of 15 which then gradually reduced to four in the eventful finale when Peschici appeared on the horizon with its white houses and the road began to climb in the last 1500 meters with curves and counter-curves .
A handful of riders of character and also of class, of those who want to win if they go on the break: two Spaniards Gorko Izaguirre, Quintana's companion, and Luis Leon Sanchez, Olympic gold medalist in Beijing, and two Italians, Giovanni Visconti, from Nibali's Bahrain-Merida, and Valerio Conti, who has been a virtual pink jersey for a long time. When the two tonic and tough Italians finally seem able to break the fast of Azzurri victories, fate played against them with Conti sliding to the ground in one of the first corners in the town of Peschici. Bad luck would have it that even Visconti, immediately behind him, was forced to brake and lose the pedal stroke. Izaguirre took advantage of this to fly away and win his first stage in the Giro (“so – the Basque will say – I equalized my brother Jon who had won in Falses in 2012”). Visconti is good at reaching and overtaking Sanchez, finishing second at 5”. Conti is sucked into the group of the best regulated by Battaglin 12” from Izaguirre. If the placements can be a sign of good condition for Nibali who is often among the first places: sixth yesterday too while Quintana, a sphinx on the pedals waiting to show the wings of the condor, finished with the same time but only sixteenth. The fasting of Italian victories is getting longer, Jungels' days in the pink jersey are getting longer. We are at five but today the Luxembourgian is expected to face the fire test of the Blokhaus who will face him with an annoying hole in his knee, the result of a crash in yesterday's stage. “He Si goes fast on narrow and dangerous roads. He's crazy stuff!” Jungels complained who, showing his knee, also added with a smile: “If tomorrow (that is today) I lose my shirt, I have at least one excuse ”.
