Manchester United Red Devils fan, Simon Yates is increasingly the "pink devil" of the Giro after repelling Tom Dumoulin's assault in the Trentino time trial in Rovereto, a stage that the British rider from Mitchelton-Scott saw as a nightmare for his pink dreams. The Dutchman, for his part, was waiting for this fraction to understand whether or not he could repeat the final success in Rome. The Giro is not closed because in cycling everything is possible and nothing is taken for granted but, despite having reduced his gap in the standings to 56" from Yates - author of a better race than feared: 22nd at 1'37" from the winner, Rohan Dennis -, Dumoulin raced below his expectations and hopes. The pink jersey mission having failed, the Sunweb tulip, yesterday's super favorite for the stage success, also missed out on victory, being overtaken by 22" not only by Dennis, who took his revenge in Jerusalem, but also by the German Toni Martin , second at 14” from the Australian of Bmc.
With five stages to go, including the final catwalk in Rome, the Giro is tipping increasingly in Yates' favor. After today's one in Iseo without major difficulties, there are three other stages in the tough mountains and with arrivals on high ground in Bardonecchia-Jafferau and Cervinia, terrain in which he was the absolute ruler. We don't see where Dumoulin can recover from the British unless there is a sensational collapse of the pink jersey. Rather, the Dutchman will have to defend his second place from those following him in the standings, in particular from Pozzovivo – third at 3'11” – and above all from Chris Froome who climbed up to fourth place at 3'50” from Yates, thanks to a good time trial (fifth at 35” from Dennis).
The four-time winner of the yellow jersey, who had suffered in Sappada after the triumphant ascent on the Zoncolan, has not yet raised the white flag, on the contrary, he still harbors a small hope of being able to break the bank, even if Yates of this Giro is making him the Froome of the Tour. Aru hasn't had any hope of ranking for days, but his sixth place in the time trial, only 2” behind Froome, was the proud signal of a champion who soon wants to find himself climbing back from the abyss in which was about to be swallowed. Then in the evening, to ruin the Sardinian's morale again, the cold shower came from the jury who, after examination by the Var, imposed a 20" penalty for having exploited the slipstream of a car in tow, a decision that causes him to slip back in eighth place but that doesn't cancel the comforting performance of the Italian champion.
Among the big names to really disappoint in Rovereto, up to risking compromising the objective of the podium, was Thibaut Pinot who in 34 km caught Dennis 3'19” by setting the 66th time. Pozzovivo who is not a specialist defended himself much better by chewing almost a minute away from the Frenchman who also lost fourth place in the general classification overtaken by Froome, slipping 4'19” behind Yates. On the other hand, the classification of Dennis is on the rise, who passed the stages of Zoncolan and Sappada without collapsing, ran a time trial with an "impressive" average, according to someone who knows like Froome. Now the Aussie, who was also the hour record holder in 2015, has leapt to sixth place just over 5 minutes behind Yates.
