The Blockhaus is the majestic amphitheater where the Giro finally stages a memorable performance by selecting its best actors: Nairo Quintana, the Condor who flies invincibly taming the grim slopes of the Abruzzo mountain until he conquers the stage and the pink jersey; Vincenzo Nibali, the Shark who generously rebuffs one, two, three shots from his rival before giving in with honor, containing the gap within a minute; Thibaut Pinot, the French paladin who on the day of Macron's inauguration chases the second-placed Condor at just 24”, a capital test that gives hope to the Exagone of being able to win back that Tour that has eluded the transalpines since 1985; with him third is the black tulip, Tom Dumoulin, a great time trial man who on good days also invents an exuberant climber; fourth at 41” just ahead of the Shark, Blauke Mollema, the brown tulip, a sort of diesel on the pedals; behind Nibali, here is Domenico Pozzovivo, the small Lucan eaglet who gives his soul to remain attached to the grown-ups; after more than 5 minutes, the wounded warrior, Geraint Thomas, also arrives to applause, with a torn shirt and lacerated back, due to a fall at the foot of the hill, able to get back on the saddle suffering the pains of hell to limit a delay, which in fact puts on the edges at the edges of the Giro.
The Blockhaus was expected to set fire to a Giro that had been armored up to now and the mountain of brigands did not disappoint expectations, giving the first terrible sifting of the classification now headed by Quintana, the super favorite of this Giro, with 28” over Pinot and exactly half a minute on Dumoulin. Mollema follows at 41” and Nibali at 1'10”. The Condor has tamed the Blockhaus as the great grimpeurs of the past did: an authentic show in the unique scenery of the Maiella. Halfway up, when the slopes became asphyxiating, he set off four sprints with the last decisive one to outdistance first Nibali and then also Pinot.
Nibali, given the impossibility of keeping up with the strongest grimpeur around today, preferred to go up with his pace, even being overtaken by Dumoulin, in great shape, and by the other Dutchman Mollema. The Blockhaus has confirmed that Quintana is the strongest man of the lot but the Giro, which up to Peschici hadn't practically started yet, didn't finish at the top of the Maiella. To win it Quintana will still have to do the uncatchable Condor: Milan is still a long way off and already tomorrow, after the second rest this Monday, the almost 40 km time trial will immediately offer the opportunity for a revenge for his rivals who are chasing him more from close, in particular for Dumoulin, a specialist in races against the clock, who could also win the pink jersey.
Nibali also seems to be recovering part of the gap suffered yesterday by Quintana. But the Blockhaus, if it hasn't sanctioned Quintana's final victory yet, has in any case stated clearly and perhaps definitively who has already lost this Giro like the former pink jersey Bob Jungels, who despite defending himself as well as possible, lost from Quintana three and a half minutes falling to 12th place in the general classification. Even Ilnur Zakarin and Steven Kruijswijck, while still remaining in the top ten, gave the impression of not being able to keep up with the podium pace.
A separate discussion for Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates and Mikal Landa, all involved in the fall caused by a policeman's motorcycle stopped on the side of the road which restricted the passage to the riders, ending up creating a general carambola in the middle of the group. It was at the beginning of the ascent of the Blockhaus: half of the Team Sky team paid the price with Thomas and Landa beaten and furious but also Adam Yates, the leader of Orica Scott. Landa was back on his bike before Thomas but pedaling around the Basque was an ordeal that led him to the finish line almost half an hour late. The Basque will probably abandon the Giro.
With low spirits, Thomas and Yates remain in the race but their gap in the standings - about 5 minutes - is such as to effectively put them out of the running in a Giro that saw them among the protagonists until yesterday. “Game over”, Thomas himself bitterly admitted upon arrival, bloody and furious. This is how the curse that haunts Team Sky at the Giro continues with a sequence of withdrawals that have followed one another for years, from Wiggins' flop in 2013 to Porte's in 2015, from Landa's abandonment in 2016 to yesterday's carambola, which also took place at the feet of a giant who is hard to climb while being well, let alone with bad bones like Thomas, Landa and Yates did.
