Juanpe López makes history and dresses in pink on Etna

• Miguel Ángel López abandons the Giro due to a hip injury

• Giro This is how the classifications are

On the ramps of endless Etna, between mountains of black lava,

dreamed alone.

A victory in the volcano, a

, a Spanish triumph in the Giro so much later.

A young and slight climber, a pearl of Lebrija forged by

-precisely the last one, seven years ago-, before the first great opportunity of his life.

In the end, he made history.

In the last corner, heavy braking caused him to give in to

.

But the rage from hitting his handlebars soon turned to tears of joy, pink like his new jersey.

[Narration and rankings]

It is the prize of a cycling life and a door to hope for national cycling, which three years later won a stage in the Giro (then

).

A 24-year-old talent, Juanpe was the bravest.

"I've tried it in the hardest part, because that's where I could make a difference," he confessed later with eyes reddened with emotion.

Although his role in the Trek Segafredo, for which he signed up as a 'scholar' or

two years ago after standing out at the Contador Foundation, is to help

, he was one of the members of the getaway that was going to succeed in the first mountain stage of the Giro.

There were 14 adventurers traveling there, who, given the passivity of the platoon, soon learned that one of them was going to raise his arms at the finish line of the Sapienza refuge, at almost 1,900 meters of altitude.

It didn't take long for the selection to be made on the first slopes of the volcano, where

had left ahead.

Juanpe hunted him with 10 kilometers to go, twisting on the hard part, at 14% of unevenness.

As Kamna

in pursuit.

He caught it without remission with three kilometers remaining.

They talked and understood each other.

The German, pure class, seemed unfathomable for the Sevillian.

But soon the pink prize was drawn on the horizon of his suffering and effort.

They reached the end together, where a mistake in the curve, perhaps the nerves of someone who was never there, made López lose the stage: he was about to go to the ground after touching Kamna's wheel.

The one from Bora is second overall, 39 seconds behind the Spaniard.

"I don't know how long it will last, but I'm going to enjoy it day by day," announced Juanpe, who has

, the first favorite, at 1:42.

The day he got off the bike -again in Sicily-,

, behind, the favorites led by

arrived at 2:37, without fireworks, without

.

But with

and Pello Bilbao, other Spaniards who want to regain glory.

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