Pogacar’s dominance over the 2024 Giro is draconian, Merckxian.
On Saturday evening, after having almost achieved an encore in the time trial and a few hours away from yet another feat, Tadej Pogacar had fun on Instagram. This is nothing new: the Slovenian, in fact, repeatedly publishes posts, reels and stories on several occasions. He first shared an image from the hotel on the shores of Lake Garda that hosted him and his teammates; then he showed himself in the pink jersey just as he faced the time trial arriving in Desenzano del Garda in which he was only beaten by an extraordinary Filippo Ganna. More than that shot – by now we are practically used to seeing him with the symbolic jersey of the Giro – it is the accompanying song that brought a smile to his face. Tadej, to be seen with the symbol of leadership of the most important cycling race in our country, used a song that time has made equal to the song that is sung from Bolzano to Trapani with the hand on the chest: he selected The Italian by Toto Cutugno, almost as if to pay homage to a people who are dreaming and flying thanks to their amazing exploits. Almost as if to demonstrate that what he is producing on the streets in recent weeks is not accidental, on the contrary, but the result of a firm desire to conquer Italy and Italians. How to become “one of us”. The mission is practically accomplished: because what he did a few hours after that post, on a Sunday of glory for world cycling which closed the second week of the Giro d’Italia and definitively wrote (now there really is no doubt) the name of the winner of the 2024 edition, is able to conquer even the least passionate of athletes.
Pogacar’s dominance over the 2024 Giro is draconian, Merckxian. As if the three stage successes already obtained in the first days were not enough (Oropa, the Perugia time trial, Prati di Tivo), the Slovenian phenomenon has decided to leave his mark again, taking the queen stage of the 2024 edition, the one with the Mortirolo (from the “less noble” side of Monno), Foscagno and the arrival among the snow and clouds of Mottolino, on a road created in the middle of the ski slopes. He conquered the stage in his own way, putting on a show and exposing all the (many) limitations of his adversaries who in no way managed to counter him: he took off just over 12 kilometers from the finish line, taking advantage of a brief acceleration of the comrade Rafal Majka. A few pedals and he made a gap: he was the only one of the big group who attempted to follow him Daniel Martinez, increasingly convincing and increasingly second in the general classification. The Colombian, however, after less than two hundred meters had to give up in order to avoid exploding and suffering the same consequences as Ben O’Connor, the Australian who tried to follow the UAE captain up the Oropa ramps before imploding on his bicycle. A fantastic ride: along the road and the grim slopes before Foscagno and then Mottolino, Handsome he recaptured all the fugitives. With disarming ease: he overtook them at double speed, embarrassing some athletes who also have the qualities to best defend themselves uphill. Like Attila Valter: the Hungarian from Visma was the only one to try to follow in his wake. Nothing to do, a few pedals and the athlete in the tricolor jersey saw the pink jersey disappear among the cheering crowd. Valter then joked about it, even a few years ago (it was the 2021 Giro) he had worn the jersey of the leader of the general classification for a few days: in fact, again on Instagram, he published the image of the crazy attempt to follow Pogacar . «I’m gone, I’m dead», the ironic message accompanying the shot which took up the words spoken by himself Handsome – who responded laughing in the comments – after the heavy knockout suffered on the Col de Loze in last year’s Tour, when he raised the white flag in the presence of a fantastic Jonas Vingegaard. He reassembled them all until the last one, until that Nairo Quintana who in the Alps, with the rarefied air and the slopes that reminded him of his Colombia, found himself again, showing that he had such great talent that he risked a big shot despite a year of inactivity. Someone hoped that Nairoman could do it, everyone else was convinced that Pogacar – despite being three minutes behind – would be capable of triumphing. To give Italy the most awaited triumph which also allowed them to close the overall rankings with a double blow. The rivals for the pink jersey could do nothing. It’s true, perhaps the average level isn’t that high after all. But, probably, even with all the big names at the start there would have been little to do against the Pogacar seen on Mottolino: the first of the men in the ranking was the courageous Romain Bardet who clocked up just under three minutes, followed a few seconds by Martinez and the very solid Geraint Thomas. Pogacar’s action made them disperse, destroyed all resistance. He knows something about it, for example, Antonio Tiberi: the greatest hope for Italian stage races had to deal with the strength of his opponent and the fatigue of a very expensive race every day. He reached the finish line with four minutes, saving himself from the shipwreck also thanks to the assistance of a commendable Damiano Caruso. The boy will be made: these crises will also serve to gain experience in a future that could be rosy. And that, in the meantime, in this last week of the Giro he will be able to become white, like the jersey of the best youngster that he will have to defend from the return of Thymen Arensman, the vice-captain of Ineos who is finding himself in increasingly better condition.
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The second week of the 2024 Giro also said something else. Much else. The wonder of Pogacar in the queen stage managed to overcome another beautiful stage, also destined to remain in the memory of this cycling season. The arrival of Fano at the end of the tour within the walls of the Marche marked the return to the big stage of Julian Alaphilippe. LouLou he finally managed to become great again, to show again that enormous talent that had led him to win – among others – two world championships and to include him in the small circle – with him, Pogacar and Vingegaard also Van Aert, Van der Poel, Roglic and Evenepoel – of the elite of this sport, of the athletes who in recent seasons have (re)brought cycling to such a level that (almost) every race in which they participate becomes extraordinary. Alaphilippe triumphed by showing the courage of the attacker: he started 120 kilometers from the finish line, while anarchy reigned behind him to start the good breakaway. He went away with a somewhat crazy attempt, finding a splendid sparring partner at his side, Mirco Masters. With the Polti-Kometa athlete he wrote a beautiful page of sport and fair play: the blue, inevitably, seemed doomed in the presence of the French champion. But he didn’t hold back, he almost gave everything to facilitate that escape attempt with one of his idols before seeing him go away on the last rough patch of the day, Mount Giovo. AND LouLou, as a great champion that he is, recognized this commitment: immediately after the finish line, after letting off steam about the newfound success that put aside some controversy about his life as an athlete (last winter, in fact, Patrick Lefevere , the “master father” of his Soudal-Quick Step, had accused him of being too attentive to parties and not paying attention to training, opening a never-ending controversy), waited for Maestri to hug him and thank him, before giving him a shirt autographed and the pizza box with his face used by the Belgian team to present the athletes at the start of the Giro. A feast for the eyes, the triumph of Alaphilippe, one of the few Frenchmen capable of warming the hearts of Italians too.
A France that is exciting at the Giro: this success, the courage of Bardet but also the victory that opened the second week, that of Valentin Paret-Painter who on the Bocca della Selva climb managed to imitate his brother Aurelien who twelve months earlier, again in Campania, won at the finish line in Lago Laceno. A victory which, however, recalled another triumph on the walls of the Marche region of a few Giros ago, that of Peter Sagan in Tortoreto in 2021. That victory, for the Slovakian, represented the swan song: since then, in fact, it has never been managed to establish himself among the greats, until his retirement. And even the manner of Alaphilippe’s success made one think of a very similar situation: the two-time world champion, to win, had to unleash a real madness. If he had remained with his escape companions, he was probably doomed to defeat. Now it will be up to him, in the next few months, to demonstrate that he can still remain among the elite of this sport.
The second week of the 2024 Giro did not smile on Italy in terms of the general classification (having said of Tiberi’s difficulties, no one else managed to get back into a ranking that sees the constant Filippo Zana in the top ten and, just outside, a Lorenzo Fortunato penalized by the time trials and perhaps a slightly declining condition) but he gave three successes of stage. Filippo Ganna, finally, managed to dispel what seemed to have become a taboo, collecting the first success of the season on the road in the Desenzano sul Garda time trial: the Olympic champion was practically perfect on a route which – particularly in the second part – seemed designed on measure for its characteristics, thus managing to keep the unleashed Pogacar at bay. But the second week of the Giro, in Italy, was above all that of the consecration of Jonathan Milan. Now there are no longer any doubts: at home we have the strongest sprinter in the world, something not seen since the days of Alessandro Petacchi and – before that – Mario Cipollini. At the moment, at his level, there is only Jasper Philipsen, the winner of the last Sanremo who, however, it is reductive to define as just a sprinter. The “Jonathan seagull” quickly learned from his mistakes in the approach to the sprints and managed to achieve the hat trick in just a few days: after the success of Andora (and the two places of honor arrived between Fossano and Naples), the giant of Lidl-Trek also imposed itself on the finishing lines of Francavilla al Mare and Cento, dominating the sprints with its extraordinary power. And also thanks to the sumptuous contribution of his teammates: it is not yet a real “train” like those that accompanied Cipollini in his triumphs in the Saeco jersey, but the contribution of Daan Hoole, Jasper Stuyven and above all Simone Consonni is proving to be fundamental. The latter deserves a mention as he also shares with Milan the triumphs of the Italian track quartet called for confirmation next summer at the Paris Olympics: Consonni has become the strongest trailblazer in the world, in the wake of an all-Italian tradition ( from Giovanni Lombardi to Fabio Sabatini) which had led many good sprinters, starting from the early nineties, to transform themselves into wingmen specialized in launching their sprinter companions to finish all the work.
2024-05-20 16:00:00
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