The Giro will be played for seconds and the pink is already only a matter of two. The Three Peaks of Lavaredo, a mythical port, extremely hard, steep, over 2,300 meters high, did not change the idiosyncrasies of the favourites. Few attacks, little risk, little epic and a lot of equality. Neither Thomas, nor Roglic nor Almeida are pure climbers. They are not change-of-pace cyclists, they are not the type to lift the fan off the couch, they are not light fliers. On the contrary. So they prefer to sign a draw for one more day and play it all on the penultimate day, in the time trial of Monte Lussari this Saturday. They stretched the emotion to the limit, trying to cloud the rival’s mind and thus block their legs.
But before, the three favorites remained in two. The trio separates, reduces. It is in the final part of the great dolomitic stage, with five climbs. Within the last two km, Primoz Roglic launches the expected attack from him. As on the slope of I Capuccini or Monte Coi, he looks for a controlled adventure, a cerebral offensive, perfectly calculated. Neither far nor near, thinking about cutting but not winning. And like the day before, he can’t get away from the leader. Geraint Thomas, in the pink jersey, responds, a thousand wonders. As throughout the Giro, he has been the most regular, without mistakes and without showing off, rock without cracks.
However, as on the eve, João Almeida fails. The Portuguese chokes on the final wall. And this time he doesn’t have Vine to pace him and must chase it alone. Even to stay he is mathematical, almost symmetrical. He lost 21 seconds in Val di Zoldo and lost another 20 seconds in Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Balanced and proportional losses. He has not burst but he is one minute away from pink, an exaggerated distance for him within the equality that has presided over the Giro since Evenepoel left, infected.
Neither Thomas, 37, nor Roglic, who will turn 34 in October, are Merckx, total cyclist, voracious runner, fierce champion, nor do they pretend to be one. They do not act, nor do they impose. They are what they are. They are veterans who manage the seconds like gold. Not like the Belgian, who in 1968, at the age of 22, a young man hungry for legend and success, in the same port was able to recover 9 minutes from the breakaway and take six minutes from Gimondi, to seal his first Giro, his first great one.
The Welshman, who has been in pink for eight days, with the Armirail parenthesis, already has won a Tour like this, with the Ineos train, formerly Sky, controlling. The Slovenian of the three Vueltas, lost a Tour being eleven days in the yellow jersey in a similar time trial, in La Planche de Belles Filles in 2020. But in 2018, the year of Thomas, he also missed third place on the podium in the time trial of the penultimate day.
In Cortina d’Ampezzo, Roglic anticipates what he has in mind for this Saturday’s time trial on Monte Lussari. The Slovenian stops on the sidewalk and waits for his car, which lowers him a special bicycle to go up Tre Croci and Tre Cime di Lavaredo. The new mount is a single-plate front and a 40-tooth sprocket has been installed at the rear. It is his weapon for the big ramps that await him. And surely thanks to this development he also takes three seconds from Thomas at the finish line and it’s not four more because Cort Nielsen, escaped like Buitrago, the Colombian winner, fights until the end. For both Thomas and Roglic, separated by 26s, all lost on Monte Bondone on their bad day, seconds are gold.
