For better and for worse, after Italy is spinning The time has come to review and evaluate the performances of runners, teams and even the organization itself in one of the editions of ‘Pink Corsa’ that it was decided by one of the shortest margins in its history, 14 seconds, and it was marked by all kinds of incidents.
9
COUSIN ROGLIC, BRILLIANT CHAMPION
He said in the run-up to the decisive time trial on the penultimate day that he saw himself capable of cutting the 26” margin Geraint Thomas had on him overall, and he delivered. He broke the time trial, especially in the almost eight kilometer time trial, with suspense when he had to land when his bike chain jumped and with the help of God a former fellow ski jumper came down from a curve to help him at full speed. In the Giro Roglic came heads on the coin and for this reason many were happy with his victory when luck often eluded him, especially in the Tour de France. ‘Rogla’ made history for Slovenian cycling at the Giro and with his victory rounded off a great list of winners.
8
GERAINT THOMAS KNOWS LOST
He was the rider who wore the ‘pink jersey’ on the most stages, eight, until he lost it on the penultimate day to Roglic in a fatal time trial that choked him and in which he did not know how to regulate his effort. This old cycling rocker may not have the charm of other younger cyclists, but at the Giro he knows how to throw the leadership of his team on his back after the retirement of Tao Geoghegan Hart and accept defeat in class, which is never easy . Additionally, he showed what a great teammate he is when he worked his way through the streets of Rome so that his former Ineos team-mate Mark Cavendish would aim to win the Giro’s final sprint. You don’t always win and he added his second runner-up in a grand tour in Italy, after the 2019 Tour de France.
7
JONATHAN MILAN, THE MOST REGULAR
This Giro d’Italia has been the great presentation card of this huge (1.93 m.) and young (22) Italian. Jonathan Milan wore the regular jersey for 20 of the 21 stages of the race and finished second in four stages, winning the stage on the second day of the race, his first World Tour win. He honed his style on the track and has his favorite Paris-Roubaix race, cobblestone soul.
7
DEREK GEE, THE BIG REVELATION
Without a doubt, this young Canadian (25) has been the great revelation of the Giro d’Itañia. He may not appear in any of the final photos because he did not achieve victory in any of the award-winning categories, but he won the hearts of fans for his fight, which is especially appreciated in a Giro where among the great favorites. there is not much fighting. He is the cyclist who has entered the leaks the most times, with the most kilometers in breakaways, was 2nd in 4 stages and finished 2nd in the mountains and regularity classification. We need to follow him carefully.
6
THIBAUT PINOT, THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN
The Frenchman may have lost his temper at some stages, especially on the day of Crans Montana where the Colombian Einer Rubio was victorious, but not knowing how to lose should not exempt us from applauding the performance of Pinot himself in his last Giro, because he has announced that this year will retire. The man from Lure was second in two stages, he was always visible when the road looked, and he wore the mountain jersey for the whole eight days. A joy for a rider who has had so many ups and downs in his professional career, especially in the Tour de France.
5
EVENEPOEL FOLLOWED WHILE HE COULD
The Giro was soon orphaned in the withdrawal after Remco Evenepoel, the great favorite and who could be said to have designed the route, tested positive for the coronavirus. Until his farewell, there was no fault in him. He got off the bike after reclaiming the ‘pink jersey’ at the second time trial and after winning two stages and leading for four days. He has a pending account with Giro that he manages to remember himself.
4
A TWIST WITH TOO MANY SHADOWS
It is true that there are aspects that cannot be attributed to the organization, but few editions of the Giro d’Italia are remembered as an event like this one, where everything and more happened, starting with bad weather, in the form of snow , cold and rain, which strained the runners’ muscles and performance. The organization miscalculated the plague that Covid could cause in the peloton and they reacted late, and they also designed a very explosive route at the end that conditioned the performance of the favorites. It was a risk to concentrate too many mountains at the end and set the difficult time trial on the last day, and in the end, although it was not his will, the overall spectacle was reduced.
4
MOVISTAR, FREE PERFORMANCE
You always have to ask for the maximum from a World Tour team and the performance of the MovistarTeam was not as desired at the Giro d’Italia. It is true that they won a stage with the Colombian Einer Rubio in Crans Montana, that Carlos Verona from Madrid was in more than one break that he could not round off later and that Fernando Gaviria, also from coffee , competed in a sprint with options. for partial success, but we must be more ambitious and not be satisfied with such a poor harvest. Like my friend Eduardo Chozas, I expected more.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
