Crippled, in a wheelchair, plastered on: this is the dominant scenario of the Giro which is repatriated to Verona from the Danish three-day event. The Gazzetta thanks and pays tribute to the people of Herning and Horsens who flocked to see the pink race on the flat windswept roads of Jutland. But it is to be believed that if, at the moment of the presentation of the Giro, the disqualification of Alberto Contador had been known, with the annulment of his victory in the 2011 Giro, the organizers would have chosen other starting points. Also because the interest of Saxo Bank, the largest Danish bank, in wanting the Giro to be held at home, in Jutland, to celebrate Contador and the cycling triumphs of his homonymous team led by Bjarne Riis, would have greatly diminished. Spanish ace was unrivaled in the world.
The Saxo Bank party cancelled, in Denmark the sprinters had to celebrate, in two flat fractions where on a horseback youa little more, a fourth-category mountain grand prix was invented to assign (to an Italian named Balloni) the (starting this year) blue jersey as best climber. Festival of sprinters it was said, but at what risk given that in both stages the drama came close to with frightening carambola in the last meters of the race. Narrow roads and hairpin bends placed in sight of the finish line in fractions that it is known at the start will end up with the whole group (198 riders) flying over. They are a dangerous pitfall for everyone's safety like going full throttle from Gavia. Mark Cavendish paid the price, furious with the pirated Ferrari swerve, and the pink jersey Taylor Phinney.
Both battered, the first in the shoulder, the second in the foot, they still intend to continue. The rest day is used to recompose body and mind. Even if for Phinney, who arrived in a wheelchair at the Verona hospital, there was an unscheduled wait, like other mortals, in the emergency room for damage assessments. So much so that at one point his entourage, impatient, decided to accompany the youngest pink jersey in the Giro to the hospital in Soave to get x-rays. Tests that fortunately confirmed the first diagnosis: no fractures.
Free from the Danish tangles all the candidates for the final victory landed in Verona, from Ivan Basso to Michele Scarponi, from Damiano Cunego to Joaquin Rodriguez and Roman Kreuziger. All gathered in a handkerchief of seconds, they are preparing to battle it out starting tomorrow in the 33,2 km team time trial in Verona: a route on which averages of over 50 km are expected. The Australian GreenEdge of Matthew Goss, the BMC of Phinney and Hushvod and the Garmin of Rasmussen and Tyler Farrar seem to be the three favorite teams. For the first climbs we have to wait for Friday's stage, from Urbino to Porto Sant'Elpidio which will bring the tadpoles to the Apennines.
