Richard Carapaz, Isaac del Toro, Juan Ayuso and Egan Bernal (VRNL) fight for the pink jersey in the Italian Alps.
Photo: Imago/Fabio Ferrari
The two weeks so far have been a kind of prelude. It was sorted out. Some men with ambitions have long been at home. Giulio Ciccone, Italy’s classification hope, already left after falling injury. Primož Roglič is also threatened. The Slovenian fell several times. The injuries of two falls hinder him. “So far we have been able to hide it well,” said his sporting director Christian Pömer on Sunday. But at the latest the stage to Asiago gave information that the Slovenian is not in the best condition.
Roglič lost a minute and a half to the competition because he could not follow an attack by Colombian Egan Bernal. On Saturday, in Slovenia at home, he was stopped by a mass crash and lost 48 seconds to the overall leading Isaac del Toro. The mostly explosive former ski jumper was remarkable at the sprints for bonus customers. »Primož is in pain. He is a big fighter. But now the doctors have to decide how to proceed, «said Pömer.
The week of the saw tooth profiles
The anticipation of the Slovenia on the mountains is at least cloudy. This Tuesday is five peaks on the program, the highest with 1196 meters is the San Valentino. On Wednesday it goes just below the 2000-meter border with a tonal pass and the legendary Mortirolo. On Thursday, a short recovery is waiting with a sprint stage before a saw tooth profile with five climbs on Friday and on Saturday the excursion over the Colle Delle Finestre to Sestriere. This year’s Giro is decided in the Alps.
Two South Americans are particularly looking forward to the stages with the many meters of altitude. Richard Carapaz and Egan Bernal have already won the Giro in the past, the Colombian 2021, the Ecuadorian 2019. Both unite their great resistance. This is exactly why Bernal launched his previous attacks almost 100 kilometers before the finish. »Egan’s strength is the recovery and resistance to fatigue. Therefore, we have to make the races difficult, ”said his sporting director Zak Dempster to» ND «very rational reasons for the surprising procedure.
With the competition, respect triggered. Isaac del Toro, the overall leader, was still easy. His team -mate Juan Ayuso, currently in third place, had some problems. Carapaz, on the other hand, used the confusion that Bernal’s attack triggered on the eleventh stage used for the day’s victory. That could be the pattern for the third week.
Uae Emirates with the double chance of victory
Because for del Toro (21 years young) and Ayuso (22), the fight for victory on a large tour is still new territory. Both already have Grand Tour experience. But for Ayuso it is the first time that he starts as a captain with winning ambitions. And he promptly has del Toro, who should only gain experience, in front of him. This will be a clitzy game at UAE Emirates. Inappropriate that now that good communication is important, the tactic fox in the racing team, Matxin Fernandez, fails the voice because of a virus infection. “Not much changes for us. We want to win the Giro as a team. Which driver is in the end is irrelevant for us, ”he croaked, barely understandable, too.
For the two drivers themselves, it should be less irrelevant who wins. How the racing team deals with this situation will be exciting. At Jumbo-Visma, this constellation once led to the triple victory at Vuelta 2023. But shortly afterwards Primož Roglič, the actual captain, who had to let the American Sepp Kuss go ahead to the Bora Hansgrohe. The Dutch racing team never reached the dominance of that year.
After all, Visma now has a new trump card its sleeves. Newcomer Simon Yates has so far drove to second place, but also extremely inconspicuously. “His plus is the great experience of the still young UAE team,” his sporting director Marc Reef hope. Yates, a good decade older than the two UAE drivers, can still say from their own experience how it is to collapse at the Colle delle Finestre. After almost two weeks in the pink jersey, a certain Chris Froome drove him out of the pedals in 2018. It was the final chord of a historical giro. Let’s see if this issue can withstand it.