After twenty-one years old a Frenchman returns a win the Tour of Lombardy. To break the fast was a great Thibaut Pinot, who like Laurent Jalabert in 1997 triumphed in the classic-monument of dead leaves after winning a few days away even the Milan-Turin. Two victories for detachment which fully relaunch the transalpine rider after his dramatic withdrawal in the penultimate stage of the Giro in Cervinia, dehydrated and destroyed so much that he was hospitalized and raised fears for the continuation of his career. In this glimpse of early autumn, Pinot flourished again by winning and running wherever as a protagonist, from the two stages brought back to the Vuelta to the apotheosis on the roads of Italy. In the Milan-Turin, on the top of Superga, he put Lopez and Valverde behind him, yesterday in Lombardia Pinot beat an indomitable and moving Vincenzo Nibali, with the extraordinary French protagonist of the very classic closing. It was the two of them who broke the bank by going on the attack on the suffocating slopes of the Muro di Sormano chasing and overcoming primoz Roglic: a key moment of the race he has crashed the victory plans of Alejandro Valverde, who with his brand new rainbow jersey was one of the super favorites of the eve.
The Spaniard was no longer able to get back into the lead of the race where Nibali and Pinot led the dances, diving swooping in the technical and insidious descent verso the lake of How. Alone Roglic e Bernal managed to hook up with the Italian-French lead train, but as soon as the road returned to climb the hard slopes of Civiglio towards Brunate, Pinot e Nibali they still made the vacuum separating the two flight companions. By now Lombardy was an exciting match between the Shark and the youngest French rival, who is just one km from the brow he launched the decisive lunge to which the Italian was unable to respond. “I missed my legs”, he will say at the finish line Nibali. For Pinot the first success in a classic-monument was looming cha for years he dreamed of making his own. For Nibali an end of the race began, which despite denying him the goal of a sensational trio in Lombardy, will remain in the archives of the race and in the memory of the fans of those who love great cycling. Pinot was now uncatchable and on the interminable arrival avenue on the lakefront in the center of Como had plenty of time to savor the joy of an unforgettable triumph. Nibali instead at the end of the descent of Monte Olympian si saw now hung up by the immediate pursuers pulled by Rigoberto uranium, Daniel Martin and Dylan Teuns. But when risked even the podium vanish for him, the Shark set off dry again conquering a deserved second place 32” behind Pinot. A masterpiece in the defeat that disappointed Nibali but not the audience that was everything to him, for him as if he had won, just like that early spring day after the victorious dive from the Poggio on Sanremo. Third, in the sprint of the losers, was the Belgian Teuns.
