Uijtdebroeks abandons and Pogacar is running out of rivals: “Only Tiberi gives him balls”

Much respect, little fun. Too much calm, too much predictability in the Giro for Tadej Pogacar, who sometimes seems to miss one of his associates, having a cyclist who overshadows him, or at least tries to. In Sanremo and Liege he had Van der Poel to share the headlines but the triple fall of Itzulia has left him a bit orphaned of rivalries, at least until the Tour de France where he is scheduled to coincide with Vingegaard, Evenepoel and Roglic .

As if he were bored and needed something to do, the Slovenian, who has already been in trouble for ten days, is looking for strong emotions in his own way. On Sunday, in Naples, he threw his teammate Molano in the sprint. And yesterday, in Francavilla al Mare, he once again got involved in the preparation for the mass finish – Jonathan Milan (Lidl) won, as in Andora – to the point that he narrowly escaped Jakobsen’s fall in the last stretch at the finish line.

But if his dominance were not enough (he is 2m40s ahead of the second, the Colombian Dani Martínez, from Bora), his rivals are also abandoning him, such as Cian Uijtdebroeks, the strong man of Visma, who was fifth overall until yesterday he could not take sick leave.

Without great immediate danger, Pogacar found himself involved in controversy for criticizing the tactics of some favorites, as they disfigured his ambition. “Antonio Tiberi is the only cyclist who has given him a bit of trouble,” he said on Tuesday after the finish in Bocca della Selva, a high finish with little battle. “He is in good shape and wanted to go on the attack. I think we will see more of him in the next few days when the roads get steeper. I must say that I admire him, that he has shown courage and I wish him to have good legs in the rest of the Giro.” Wanting to praise the Italian from Bahrain, he a little angered the rest of the men in the general standings.