Until yesterday a sort of sphinx, Nairo Quintana he waited for the most terrible stage of the Giro to reveal himself as the eagle he is, taking victory and the pink jersey. A showdown that cannot be undermined by the even furious controversies that broke out on the road and after the race because the Colombian would not have obeyed Radio Corsa until at a certain point, before the passage on the Stelvio, wrapped in an icy blizzard of snow, he communicated that motorcycles with red flags would facilitate the descent of the various groups of riders to limit the risks.
For some teams like Omega (Uran), Trek (Kiserlowski) and Astana (Aru) the message was interpreted as a sort of neutralization, as happens when the safety car enters the track in Formula One races. A yellow – also complicated by a tweet from the organization that spoke of an error in communication denying any hypothesis of neutralization – which does not detract from the luster and legitimacy of Quintana's pink enterprise. Gavia, Stelvio and Valmartello, two legendary passes and an unprecedented final climb with the spiral of its final hairpin bends with forbidden slopes, have in all probability crowned the king of a Giro which until now seemed to enjoy mixing, day by day , cards.
Quintana was the heavy favorite going into Belfast, building on his reputation as the strongest grimpeur around. Purito Rodriguez left the scene ahead of time, the Colombian was waiting for the big mountains to explode. But Uran's exploits in the Barolo time trial, his opaque performance climbing Oropa and Plan di Montecampione, a precarious state of health due to a respiratory infection had ended up being transferred to others, first to Cadel Evans, then to his compatriot Uran. the favors of the predictions. Today, five days from the end of the Giro, Quintana forcefully put his hands on the pink jersey and we don't see who can take it off him.
First, because there are still many mountains and a thrilling arrival at the top of the Zoncolan, nothing better for the final apotheosis of a thoroughbred climber like the Colombian leader of Movistar. Second, because the opponents are taking turns showing the rope, in particular Uran who, having lost power uphill, appears increasingly at the mercy of the attacks of others: he masked his current limits by limiting the damage to Oropa and Montecampione but yesterday in front of Quintana , who beat him by 4'11”, it was practically a surrender.
It is true that the Omega Pharma standard bearer – since yesterday demoted to second place at 1'4” – can count on Friday's time trial but the slopes of Monte Grappa are not the pedalable slopes of Barolo, where Quintana suffered in the specialty. The others are now further away, separated by at least 3 minutes: Cadel Evans is a fierce fighter who never gives up but yesterday too, finishing tenth, he lost almost 5 minutes from Quintana and a handful of seconds from Uran himself. Pozzovivo and Aru are having an exciting Giro, beyond all expectations: even at the top of Valmartello they finished fifth and sixth at 3'40” behind another revelation of the race, the Dutch Kelderman. But the two Italians, the Belkin tulip and the Polish Rafal Maika, all splendid protagonists of this Giro without big names, do not seem capable of subverting Quintana's supremacy.
Going up to Valmartello the only ones who managed to keep up with the pace of the new pink jersey for longer were the Canadian Ryder Hesjedal – second just 8” – and the French Pierre Rolland – third at 1'13”. Rolland is proving in this Giro that his victory at Alpe d'Huez in the 2012 Tour was not the lucky shot of a day. If he had tactical sense equal to the audacity he shows every day, Rolland could concretely aspire sooner or later to win something important. For now, in this Giro, he has a good chance of hitting the podium being fourth at 3'26” from Quintana but only 5 seconds from third which is Evans.
Hesjedal's performance was moving and admirable: he was now spoken of as a meteor that appeared in the firmament of cycling and then immediately went out. After the victory in the 2012 Giro, caught in extremis in the Milan time trial against Joaquim Rodriguez, he had in fact disappeared, swallowed up in the rear of the races like a nobody. Yesterday the Canadian, who several times lost Quintana's wheels and then reconnected him in a suffocating duel that lasted until the Colombian's final stretch, legitimized his success in the Giro two years after. And if he hadn't lost more than three minutes in the Belfast team time trial, the Garmin Sharp giant who lives in Hawaii, he would be very close to the pink jersey today. However, he entered the top ten by right, ninth at 4'16”.
It was the first time that the Giro d'Italia had a stage in which Gavia and Stelvio had to be climbed together. Two passes to which unforgettable moments in the history of great cycling are linked. The first time on the Stelvio, in the 1953 Giro, saw the exciting solo by Coppi who won in Bormio by snatching the pink jersey from Koblet. At the top of the pass the 1975 edition was decided with the duel between Bertoglio and Galdos. The stage went to the Spaniard, but the Giro – Merckx was absent – was won by the Italian. The Gavia, once little more than a bumpy and exposed mule track, was discovered by Vincenzo Torriani in 1960, in the first Giro won by Jacques Anquetil. On the pass, the ascent of Irnerio Massignan was epic, detaching Charly Gaul who reached him only because the Venetian from Legnano was trapped on the descent by a puncture.
Famous names, certainly more than that of the Colombian Robinson Chalapud who passed yesterday first on the Gavia ahead of Arredondo, looking for points to defend his blue jersey as leader of the Gpm. The group climbed a little further back, already losing a few pieces like Basso, in the fog and rain that was snow at the top. Adverse weather but never like the infernal day experienced on the Gavia by the 1988 Giro, a climate of tragedy in which drama bordered: the tadpoles looked like an army in disarray, withdrawn, frozen and distorted, masks of ice. Even Van der Velde, who was flying towards a possible victory in the Giro, disappeared from the race, taking refuge who knows where. In Bormio first was the Dutchman Erik Breukin. According to the American Andrew Hampsten who conquered the pink jersey. He will be the first Yankee runner to win a Giro. Van der Velde reappeared shattered 47 minutes later.
On the Stelvio yesterday, Dario Cataldo was the first to cross Cima Coppi who up to the final climb of Valmartello will lead the race in solitude. The last ones will pass at the 2.758 meters of the pass almost half an hour after the Italian of Team Sky. The group of Uran and the other ranking men arrive grainy in single file. It's freezing cold. Many runners, soaked and shivering, stop to change into dry overalls. Others take the opportunity to eat something. Radio Corsa's communication on the introduction of safety-motorcycles with red flags was interpreted by each in his own way. In the confusion that had arisen, with visibility reduced by the sleet and the black clouds that enveloped the Stelvio, no one had noticed that Quintana, used to living at almost three thousand meters from Combita, a small town clinging to the Colombian Andes, had plunged downhill without too many preambles.
Thirty seconds, a minute, a minute and a half: Quintana, with his partner Izaguirre, Rolland and Hesjedal, was now an elusive hare. Curiously the strongest climber took flight downhill. Controversies ensued. The Omega guys were the most angry. Even on the Trek flagship they had a devil in their hair: they would have even stopped Kiserlowski to refresh him since the descent had been neutralized. At the start of the Valmartello ascent, Quintana was less than two minutes ahead of Uran. Plus that on top of the finish it more than doubled. Which would be enough to close the lawsuit. But today in a transfer stage from Sarnonico to Vittorio Veneto, in which the star of Ulissi which sank yesterday in the presence of the great peaks could re-emerge – penultimate of the race over 44 minutes from Quintana – it is to be expected that that strange safety-bike of the Stelvio descent still holds court with its poisonous tail of controversy.
