At the beginning of the Giro, few knew him. His palmarès as a former biker was among the meager. It was not even known exactly whether his surname began with "H" or simply with "E". Three weeks later, today we are here to celebrate him, the first Canadian to win the pink race: Ryder Hesjedal, making use of his best predisposition for races against the clock, overturned the final classification in his favor in the last ten kilometers of the Giro, relegating Joaquin Rodriguez to second place, leader until the penultimate stage.
“I wrote a page of history,” said the winner wearing the pink jersey of triumph. The cut in mileage was not enough for Rodriguez, which had suddenly been reduced from 30 to 28,2 km due to traffic reasons. The final verdict that neither the Giau nor the Stelvio, in the imposing scenery of the Alps and the Dolomites, had been able to issue, came on the straight flats of viale Scarampo and corso Sempione. At Porta Venezia the fate of the Spaniard in the pink jersey was sealed: at the finish line in Piazza Duomo the stopwatch condemned him with a delay of 47" on his handsome rival, the Canadian who winters in Hawaii: by 16" the Spaniard lost a poor Giro champions that has always seen him as the protagonist, once again condemned to the wire by that, cursed for him, time trial placed by the organizers in the last stage as it was at the 2010 Vuelta with Vincenzo Nibali who stole the final success from him.
Third place for Thomas De Gendt, the Belgian who, after the triumphal ride on the Stelvio, had entered the fight for the supremacy: excellent time trial, De Gendt, fifth at the finish, gnawed at other seconds from both Hesjedal and Rodriguez but was unable to perform the miracle. The gallop through the streets of Milan served him to grab the podium by ousting Michele Scarponi, who went better than Herning but who always suffers in the time trials. A podium conquered in extremis that De Gendt and his Vacansoleil team never thought they could achieve, so much so that the Belgian was the only man in the standings to reach Milan by minibus instead of the faster helicopter as they did Hesjedal and Rodriguez.
It was since 1995 that the Giro hadn't seen an Italian in the first three places. An absence that certifies the sunset of Ivan Basso and the limitations of Michele Scarponi, a man of classification who lacks the sharp edge of a ruler. Perhaps Lampre, if they had placed more faith in Cunego – who, feeling second in the hierarchy of the team led by Beppe Saronni, launched into daring attacks like an authentic kamikaze – would have collected more than what Scarponi gave them. Pozzovivo, who deceived many with his pirate-like shot at Lake Laceno, comes out of this Giro with dignity but also confirming the well-known difficulties in withstanding the fatigue of a stage race like the Giro and the Tour. What blue thing does this Giro leave us then? ? Certainly Matteo Rabottini's jersey as best climber, who won one of the most beautiful stages of this year, that of Piani dei Resinelli. And a sugary final consolation, Marco Pinotti's victory in the last Milanese time trial run at an average of 51,117 km per hour. The engineer rider put behind specialists such as the British Thomas Geraint (second at 39”), the New Zealander Jesse Sergent (third at 53”) and the Danish Alex Rasmussen (fourth at 1'). It is surprising that Taylor Phinney is not among the first: but the American once again has combined one of his own, going the wrong way. But even if the American is missing, given that he was the favorite in the time trial, the order of arrival of the stage and the Canadian victory in the general of the Giro speak clearly of a geography of cycling that is increasingly extended to all continents. But globalization unfortunately rhymes less and less with champion.
