It was not an easy Roman Sunday for Di Maio and the pentastellato party: inside the halls of the Quirinale Mattarella did not take a step back from the request of the lawyer Conte to make Savona minister of the Treasury, a tug of war that caused an abortion the yellow-green government, opening a constitutional showdown never seen before in republican history between Colle and the two parties that won the elections. In the same hours outside, on the square in front of the presidential palace, the Giro d'Italia passed for the final runway but which after just the first lap of the 10 scheduled was in danger of ending prematurely due to the protest of the riders: too many holes, too many uneven cobblestones, an asphalt worn and patched as best as possible to shame those who should have fixed it, knowing for over six months that the pink race was coming.
It's true that in the end it was a great popular celebration, as the mayor Raggi underlined, but Rome, which, seen from the top of the Rai helicopters, appeared in all its grandeur as a caput mundi city, would have done well to avoid this embarrassment which will certainly a long queue of controversies. Someone immediately wondered what horrendous fate the feet of Abebe Bikila, the Ethiopian who won the Olympic marathon running barefoot in 1960. Others would like to be able to ask Carlo Galletti, winner of the first Giro concluded in Rome in 1911, if even then the streets were so run down.
Irony and curses abound on the web. Those of today's runners were remedied, avoiding an embarrassing stop to the race, after an on the road negotiation between the organizers by car and Froome and Viviani by bike, with the most appropriate decision, that of immediately neutralizing the times of the stage . In the archives of the Giro the 21st stage of the 101 edition will be remembered only for the order of arrival without taking the times: a non-stage which however served Sam Bennett to bring his tally of successes in the Giro to three, preceding Elia Viviani at the Imperial Forums on a pavé worthy of Roubaix.
They are the two big names in the sprints in a Giro without other big fast wheels, so much so that they total seven victories together, with the Italian in the cyclamen jersey at 4, also first in the points standings. Once the stage no longer counted for the classification, peace returned to the group, with Froome in the pink jersey and the other men in the classification at a cycling pace committed to enjoying the unique beauties of the capital, before the final parade of the pink jersey together with the his Team Sky mates. It is the first success of a Briton in the Giro, for Froome a triumph that he needed to truly enter the "hall of fame" of the greatest of all eras.
Here are the report cards of the Giro: passed, postponed and rejected in one of the most beautiful and exciting editions of recent years, with the epic of legendary solitary rides and the explosion of devastating crushes like in the old days of Coppi and Bartali.
Chris Froome: 10 and praise. He had started the Giro on the sly. More falls than shakes, he also finished outside the top ten. So much so that one wondered if he still wanted to continue a race where he had already made two unsuccessful appearances in 2009 and 2010, when he was even expelled for being caught towing a motorcycle on the Mortirolo. The Briton who raged in the first two weeks was not him, but Simon Yates. But from Zoncolan onwards, the third week was that of his return, a giant who broke the bank in the stage of Colle delle Finestre by writing one of the most beautiful pages of cycling of all time.
Tom Dumoulin: 9. In a Giro where the gaps once again returned, he was the only one to narrow the gap from the pink jersey to under one minute. He is not a climber but even on the hardest slopes, he is a formidable time trialler on the pass, he never collapses. Last year he conquered his Giro beating Quintana in the final time trial in Milan. This year he tried on the last ascent of Cervinia but he didn't make it, recognizing Froome's superiority with great sportsmanship and settling for a second place that was still prestigious.
Miguel Angel Lopez: 8. In the end, also taking advantage of Pinot's misfortunes, he manages to get on the podium as third, with his white youth leader jersey. A more than comforting result for the Colombian who is among the strongest around uphill, even if in this Giro he has never given the impression of being able to detach everyone by achieving that feat which he has always lacked so far. But he is young and in a Colombia that fears the weakening of Nairo Quintana's vein, the "painter" - as Lopez was nicknamed by Riccardo Magrini in his reports on Eurosport - could become the most valid alternative to the Condor, above all if he puts end to a few too many distractions..
Ricard Carapaz: 8. It's the new face of Ecuador on the pedals. An Andean and as such a climber, Carapaz was one of the pleasant revelations of this Giro, confirming that he didn't suffer too much from the three weeks of racing. Fourth just behind Lopez with whom he was competing for the white jersey, Carapaz also gave Ecuador its first victory in the pink race with the solitary feat in Montevergine.
Dominic Pozzo alive: 7 and a half. At 35, he took part in his 12th Giro as captain of Bahrain-Merida in the absence of Vincenzo Nibali. He's not worth the Squale, but he honored the stripes he had from his team in the best possible way. Without the défaillance, however quite contained, in the Jafferau stage, that of Froome's attack, the "Pozzo" would have been on the podium as third. He closes the Giro in fifth place, repeating his best finish of 2015 (quintana pink jersey). It's a pity that he never manages to score a stage win. By far, however, he was the best of the Italian riders. Without him, the Italian pedal would have to climb to tenth position in the standings to find another blue, Davide Formolo.
Simon yates: postponed (but with honors). Looking at his final standings, 21st over an hour and a quarter behind Froome, he deserves a good 4, but how can you fail without appeal this Briton who was the main protagonist of the race for the first two weeks of the Giro? Three stage victories, one more beautiful than the other, many placements, pink jersey up to the terrible crush accused in the third last stage of the Colle delle Finestre: for the exuberant leader of Mitchelton-Scott it was a Giro absolutely not to be thrown away, he just has to rework the bitter disappointment by putting this bitter experience to good use in the future to better manage the energies that have failed him 72 hours from the end of the Giro, at the decisive moment.
Stephen Chaves: 4. The Colombian who always smiles would deserve even a lower mark if he hadn't left the mark of his victory on Etna (also courtesy of Yates who conquered the pink jersey that day). Dropped from the standings due to the devastating crisis in the Gualdo Tadino stage the day after the rest after the Gran Sasso fraction, the Colombian – pink jersey for one day and second in the 2016 Giro won by Vincenzo Nibali – was thought to be at the service of Yates in the pink jersey, forming one of the most formidable duo in the Giro. Instead Chaves climbed the Boot always remaining in the rear of the race, accumulating a sidereal gap and ending up in total anonymity in a Giro which on the eve even saw him among the possible candidates for the final victory behind the two super-favourites, Froome and Dumoulin.
Thibaut Pinot: 4. Was third on the podium after giving his soul on the Jafferau. When he seemed to have achieved the objective (minimum or maximum) that he had set for himself, the Frenchman plunged into the blackest day of his career on the first ascents of the Susa-Cervinia, a stage that turned into a painful ordeal with his body in total dehydration so much that he was hospitalized in Aosta after arriving more than 45 minutes behind the winner Mikel Neive. A bitter retirement for a rider who, after making him the Tour of the Alpes, aimed his entire season at the Giro hoping to improve on the fourth place obtained last year when he also won a stage in Asiago.
Fabio Aru: 3. What happened to the Italian champion's body and mind is a mystery. The fact remains that the "Knight of the Four Moors" was the very pale photocopy of the Aru of the victorious Vuelta. Never in the race, always disconnected, his Giro dragged on from disappointment to disappointment with a sequence of increasingly heavy crashes from Zoncolan to Sappada up to the definitive one on Colle del Lys, when the Sardinian got off his bike saying goodbye to his Giro nightmarish. A runner that needs to be reset and made new again.
