• Cycling. Van Aert pays off his debts in a memorable Strade Bianche

There were 305 kilometers of summer torture, more than ever in the ' Classicissima ' due to the sanitary veto of the province of Savona to host the race. Many of them, therefore, without the Mediterranean breeze that alleviates the suffering of cyclists or at least beautifies it. It was ' La Primavera ' in the middle of August, because the cycling pandemic has led to these contradictions. It was, in short, a Milan-San Remo with a single winner, Wout Van Aert , which prevented Julian Alaphilippe from revalidating the victory achieved in 2019.

The Belgian raises his arm and claims himself as the fittest cyclist of the moment, with the permission of Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel , absent from the Italian event but also winners this Saturday. In terms of classics, a specialty of the house, none like him. He uncorked the World Tour calendar by winning alone at Strade Bianche , added third place in the pure 'sprint' that the Milan-Turin solved and now he has scored his first 'Monument'. It will not be the last, since this Saturday was the announced advent of this world star of cyclo-cross who two seasons ago decided to also set out to conquer the road.

"I can't believe it, everything that is happening is crazy," said Van Aert, the first winner of the 'Classicissima' born in Belgium since 1981, after his triumph, an inexplicable drought of four decades for the universal cradle of the classic us. What neither Vanderaerden , nor Boonen , nor Gilbert , nor Van Avermaet achieved has been achieved by the Jumbo Visma cyclist , who this Saturday recovered his spirits by a double game, with Roglic also winning in the Tour de l'Ain after the hard days after the terrible accident of Fabio Jakobsen caused by Dylan Groenewegen.

Despite all its differences, it was a classic Milan-San Remo in its development, similar, beyond the final nuances, to those seen in recent editions. The peloton arrived grouped at the foot of Poggio , 9 kilometers from the finish, after having neutralized the day's breakaway (with Héctor Carretero) and neutralized the skirmishes of men such as Lutsenko, Mosca, Ciccone, Oss, Brambilla and Aimé de Gendt . The movements of the Trek suggested that Nibali was in the mood for war. And he did, but his strength failed him.

Because the one who launched the attack was Alaphilippe . A wild start, a house brand, after long pretending that Deceuninck's trump card was Bennett , his sprinter. Nibali was precisely the first to respond, but immediately surrendered to the power of the French. From behind, however, came Van Aert. Alaphilippe managed to release him before crowning the Poggio, but the more powerful and heavier Belgian regained the race head on the descent.

There an unsuccessful pursuit of what little was left of the platoon was armed, with Izagirre, Pogacar, Moscon and company working for their leaders. An unsuccessful task, because Van Aert and Alaphilippe understood each other to relieve each other and reach the goal together. Well, it is fair to say that in the final kilometer, the Frenchman left the toast to the Belgian, a much better driver, overlapping his wheel to get him closer to the goal.

Alaphilippe was the one who launched the 'volata', dreaming of repeating the success of the past year and of being the first cyclist since Erik Zabel in 2001 to win two consecutive Milan-San Remo. And for many meters, it seemed like he was going to do, until Van Aert squeezed the last grams of strength he had left to raise his arms and say to himself that yes, all those predictions that he would be a great champion were true. And that no one will ever forget this victory because, without pretending too much, simply being the strongest in a career without equal, Van Aert has reinvented 'La Primavera'.

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