It was to be expected that after the rest day, on the eve of tomorrow's big stage in the Dolomites, the pretenders to the final success in this Giro would use today's fraction from Limone sul Garda to Falzes to make an agile trip, also enticed by a newfound spring after the cold and rain of the past few days. So the standings didn't move by a second with Joaquin Rodriguez still in the squad. To win the stage was another Spaniard, Jon Izaguirre Insausti, almost unknown but with a name that let us foresee that on the only climb foreseen by today's route it would have been him, the cyclist from Esp-Euskaltel, to fly away by detaching the other nine companions of the escape that began after about sixty kilometers from the start. They tried to keep behind him Alessandro De Marchi (already third in Cervinia and second today) and the Dutch Stef Clement but there was nothing they could do. Among those who were surprised by Izaguirre's series of shots was also Manuele Boaro, who had come to light in Herning's time trial-prologue and who, among the young Italians, lets us glimpse interesting margins for improvement, even if this Giro sees him 142nd in the standings, almost two and a half hours behind Rodriguez. The group in the pink jersey with Basso and the other big names was settled in the sprint, almost 9 minutes away, by another Spaniard, Juan Flecha, Cavendish's teammate in Team Sky.
Tomorrow 17th stage, Falzes-Cortina d'Ampezzo, km 186, with four legendary passes. In total there are 48,4 km of ascent. The first ascent is that of Valparola (14 km, average gradient 5,5%, peaks 13%), then Duran (12,2 km, average gradient 8,1%, peaks 14%), then Forcella Staulanza (12,3, 6,9 km, average 11%, peaks 9,9%) and finally the Giau, the hardest pass (9,3 km, average 14% and peaks 18%) just under 1962 kilometers from the finish line in Cortina. Eyes on Basso who, after two weeks racing without wasting too much effort, will sooner or later have to show his cards unless he aims to win the Giro like Franco Balmamion did in XNUMX, never winning a stage, never attempting an isolated shot , with a regularity that has never failed to exploit the defaillances of others. Defaillance however that have not been seen so far in this Giro. The crowded and short classification with which the pink race is about to face the last decisive stages tells us so. And tomorrow's one has five stars, the maximum, for difficulty. “It will be tough – says Rodriguez. Anything and everything could happen. I hope I'm fine, someone will try." Without specifying who that someone could be. Bass? Boots? Kreuziger? Or again Cunego, the daredevil? There's nothing but waiting for tomorrow.
