Direct, that's how we live the stage
This
autumn
Tour
has been dedicated to the memory of
Marco Pantani
.
He passed through
Rimini
, where the myth died, through
Cesenatico
, where he was born and lived, and this Wednesday he visited the place where Calvary started.
It was in
Madonna di Campiglio
where his decline began, in 1999. At the ski resort he was told that he had been expelled from the Giro due to excess hematocrit, an edition that he already had in his pocket after having won four stages, including the one that had ended there same one day before.
Nothing was ever the same.
The route proposes the tribute, the constant memory, but the cyclists avoid it.
Madonna di Campiglio does not serve to move the tree, for
Kelderman to
pursue the final victory, for the
Majka, Nibali or Pozzovivo to
try to find a place on the podium.
And
Almeida
smiles because he does not suffer, discounting one more day until Milan.
It is already 15 days of rose and in each formal coronation after the stages he strengthens his morale and tells himself that he has it there, that perhaps so much suffering for three weeks will obtain the greatest of rewards.
There are more than 5,000 meters of accumulated unevenness in the first of the three decisive alpine stages, but everything remains the same as when it started, with Almeida as the leader and the top ten of the general entering the finish line hand in hand.
And
Kelderman's Sunweb
regrets that it has only feigned, that it has not bitten.
The Dutchman follows at 17 seconds and retains all his options, but without being able to discover if the weaknesses of the leader in Piancavallo were a flower of a day or not.
It seemed that the tactics of the German team would be different, leading the group in the final port with Tusveld and
Oomen
, but they did not finish giving continuity to the movement.
Hindley
, gregarious to Kelderman but also third overall, picked up the pace, but quickly gave up.
Then he tried it with a not too determined attack so that seconds later Kelderman jumped, but there they stayed.
As if they had missed it from the car but the two riders did not see it clearly.
So the best ones regrouped and Almeida ordered Masnada to regain his position at the front of the group, setting the same comfortable pace as in the rest of the stage, which allowed him to make his way to the day's escape, in which
Ben O 'Connor
was the winner after finishing second on Tuesday's stage.
Movistar, combative, put four riders in the break, but none of them had the energy to fight for the stage victory.
Changes to the Queen Stage on Saturday
Everything remained, in short, the same as it was for the two remaining Alpine days and for the time trial on Sunday in Milan.
The decisive stage will be this Thursday, with the ascent to Stelvio and the arrival at Laghi di Cancano.
The one of Saturday, finally, will have to be modified.
The planned stage could not be carried out by the planned route
(
Agnello, Izoard, Montegenèvre and Sestriere
) after the veto of the French Briançon to authorize the passage of the Giro.
The solution has been to program a triple ascent to Sestriere, on two different slopes.
Not much less will be the same, but it is what it is.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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