Almeida shows off his ambition before the time trial

• Classification: this is how the Giro d'Italia goes

The

ends today and begins tomorrow.

The paradox proceeds because until, after two long weeks full of health difficulties, hardly a selection of favorites has been made, always for reasons that have nothing to do with the forces in the race.

disappeared slowly from the race

.

The others, with more or less time lost with respect to the leader Almeida, are still there, as there has hardly been any terrain for them to suffer: in

, just

.

Starting this Saturday, the film, sandwiched by two time trials, will change.

After the

,

will arrive

, another full of small ascents that will hurt those who go stiff and one for the sprinters who still survive then.

And to top it off, the 15.7-kilometer time trial on the last day in Milan.

Everyone, in fact, is content with the Giro being alive until then.

The latest stimulus, at least, is positive: the rapid tests carried out on Thursday were all negative.

What remains, remains written, is of great interest, and perhaps because of this (and because of the route itself) we are witnessing a

, in which the favorites are content for the moment to keep their options intact.

It is not worth risking yet, almost everyone thinks, while the most ambitious, paradoxically, seems

, who pushes whenever he can to expand his advantage based on bonuses and who puts an

admirable

to work for it

in this Giro from day one, on a task, that of protecting a career leader, which was never his.

There is no better example of the Portuguese's ambition than this Friday's stage, with a flat course punctuated by two very tough fourth category studs in the final 35 kilometers.

Until the first of them, the stage followed the planned script, with a third-row escape condemned to absorption sooner or later and with

lining up the main group on the

ramps

to take Démare out of the wheel and multiply his chances of victory at the Monselice goal.

The French champion, four stages already in the bag, suffered but reengaged on the flat ground between one level and another.

But when the second started,

(2 km. At 9.9%) everything

.

He passed

to the head, hoping her sprinter

could survive the selection of the group (he did not) and then the

, which eliminated the pure sprinters saw clearly the option that

achieved his second stage in this Giro ( did).

The fact is that those two tacks tore the group to shreds, limited to 20 units in the final kilometers.

All those called to do it were there, including the 13 best of the general.

I mean, it didn't seem worth going down because there was no one to leave behind.

However, the Deceuninck smelled the blood.

Not for the general, but to score the stage victory, and put a very strong pace that prevented Sagan and Swift from connecting from behind.

Ulissi won because he was the fastest, but

, thus extending his lead over the other favorites by six seconds and increasing his days as the unexpected leader of the race to 11.

His task, far from easy, will be to arrive as the leader to Sunday's stage with a finish in

.

(2nd to 40 seconds) and

(3rd to 49) are his biggest threats, both because of their position in the general classification and because of their skill with the 'goat'.

Without forgetting, of course, that the leader already surprised the world by being second in the opening time trial in Palermo.

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