Classification This is the Giro
Opinion The difficult present of Italian cycling
Van der Hoorn's name is Taco, he puts the cue together and he doesn't believe it himself. Hand first to the mouth, then to the head, like someone who has played the Quiniela on automatic and when reviewing the ticket on Monday, out of pure commitment, reaches the plenary session at fifteen and realizes that he has hit a result of the Swedish league that from time to time sneaks around, without anyone knowing very well why. The squad chases him fiercely, but nothing can do to catch up with him, to devour him as they usually do, relentlessly, with the brave ones who have dared to stretch the escape beyond what is acceptable for the 'bosses' of the 'volatas'. [Narration and classifications]
They are all Van der Hoorn at the finish line, for that reason they all congratulate him effusively, above all his teammates, those of the
modest Intermarché
who this year joined the World Tour without too many rods to compete in the elite (it is his first victory of the course), but also those of the Jumbo, his home during the previous two years, in which his promising career did not end up emerging after a 2018 of great results on the Benelux roads. Everyone is happy for Taco, especially the modest ones, because they feel that the Dutch wheeler has won for all of them, the ones who run away with no hope other than to save themselves a scolding from the director for not doing so before the squad absorbs them hopelessly.
Haggling to that destination is a gigantic anomaly in a context like the current one, the first week of Giro, in a stage also in which
Bora decided to tighten the nuts
in the four heights of the final stretch to discard the pure sprinters and put the carpet on it. red to Peter Sagan at the Canale goal.
It was the planned and predictable script, while the eight escapees (they seemed too many for the usual canons ... and in the end they were) made their way with the illusion of reaching the impossible of signing a stage in a Grand Tour.
Heartache to the end
The work of the Bora worked from behind, as the
Ewan, Groenewegen, Nizzolo, Dekker,
also Merlier, who won the day on Sunday
, were falling like ripe fruit
. Others like Gaviria, Viviani and Cimolai resisted, but the effort was worth it after subtracting so many good sprinters from the fight for victory. The problem was that, focused on leaving people behind, they had neglected those who were ahead. If in Sunday's stage the break had rarely exceeded two minutes of advantage, in this Monday the distance was still four to a few kilometers for the final resolution.
And in these, only
Pellaud and Van der Hoorn
stayed ahead
.
And although the escapee's manual states that it is always better to be accompanied than alone, to distribute the effort, Taco ended up realizing that at Pellaud's rhythm they would neutralize him with total security, while his ... Maybe also, but nothing He was losing for trying, for consuming all his energy pounding the pedals without looking back.
With five or six kilometers to go, he still had a minute's rent, and that's when the
Bora, the UAE, the Cofidis and the Israel
, in short the teams of sprinters who survived in the group, got nervous. The problem was that, like many sprinters had stayed, so had the best pure wheelers in the Giro, those who are capable of reducing big differences in a breath. There was the best of all, Filippo Ganna, still the leader, but that was not his war. Provoking an alien scuffle, paradoxically, was going to be the condemnation of Peter Sagan and company.
There was only one kilometer left and the rent was only 15 seconds, while Van der Hoorn pedaled without more energy than that reported by the illusion.
If the finish line had been at the end of a long straight, he would have been run over by the great mass of runners who were chasing him.
But the curve was constant, and when he saw it, Taco began to smile.
He, lonely, was agile swinging the bike.
The peloton, on the other hand, was clumsier and slower than in the open field.
And then, the hand on the mouth, the hand on the head, the hugs of teammates and rivals.
He even had four seconds to spare.
The cue was armed.
Bravo for Taco.
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