Cittadella—Monte Zoncolan, 205km
The Giro was in the wilds of Northeast Italy this day—towards the Austrian border. Remote, wooded, green from all the snow and rain of the winter. But what fans there were, were incredibly electrified and pumped the Giro was riding by. Yes, yes, the Italians of these remote Northern villages love it when the Giro comes to highlight the beauty and ruggedness of their landscapes. And when the Giro comes, it is not a sign Summer is arriving; the locals finally hope just Spring will come into full swing. There was a hard fight to get into in the break, they had an 8-minute lead for most of the day there after. The break’s lead was chopped down to 5 minutes on and over the top of a Category2 climb with around 50km to go. It was not the Ineos Grenadiers setting the pace in service of their Giro-leading and Pink Jersey-wearing teammate, Egan Bernal. No, it was the Astana-Premier Tech team in the service of their team leader second on GC and wearing the White Jersey, Aleksandr Vlasov. Yes, Astana was pushing the pace on the descents as well, as they are prone to do at good times and at bad times. Egan Bernal in Pink was onto their every move perfectly positioned, but the other GC contenders: Hugh Carthy (EF) and Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quickstep) had to expend teammates chasing back to the opportunistic Astana. But the peloton settled down after this; the breakaway’s lead extended back out to 6:20. And with that they came to what was always billed to decide this day and perhaps the Giro itself.
O! O! As soon as the route was announced, all hearts leapt at the news: on the Saturday of the penultimate weekend, the Giro would have a summit finish on the mighty Monte Zoncolan. The Zoncolan is one of those supremely difficult climbs in cycling that was only discovered or first used around the turn of the 21st Century. At the turn of that century, many riders had taken up a few unsavory habits that seemed to increase their fitness. Thus, the organizers sought out and installed even harder climbs into the Grand Tour routes like this Zoncolan. It is one of those climbs that you see the peloton grind and grovel through, and it strikes all of us: “What is the point of the existence for this steep road?” The practical answer in this case is a ski resort. But the right answer is much more eternal: For the Giro. Now, what is often forgotten—including, admittedly, by me—there are two sides to the Zoncolan climb. The Ovaro side has become much more famous: it is universally accepted to be tougher, and it has the iconic amphitheater arena finish at the very top. It was on that Ovaro side in 2018, in the greatest Grand Tour of the decade Chris Froome (now of Israel Start-Up Nation) went about resurrecting his General Classifcation (GC) chances when he won ahead of Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) who is in the race once more here today. Ah! ah! Ole! Ole! Do yourself a favor and track down a reply of that amazing stage, surely it was well above a 10/10. But there is another side to the Zoncolan starting from Sutrio. They approached from Sutrio in 2003, the first time the Giro ever raced the Zoncolan, and now only for the second time they have come back to it. For this Sutrio side, the Zoncolan climb is 14km long, averages 8.5%, and has a maximum gradient of 27%; in fact the last 3-or-4km average 13%. I know, you are scratching your head at how this could possibly be the “easier” side. Though we have been able to tell on this Giro that Italy is putting COVID behind them, still there were fan restrictions at the very top. All had to get there by ski lift. Only 1,000 tickets were sold at 10 Euros a piece…they sold out in 12 minutes. Did I not say these fans were excited for this Giro? Hardy tifosi were all the Italians up there today. For the final highest kilometers of this climb the road was clear, but there was a solid blanket of snow everywhere else. And though it was not pouring rain, it was incredibly misty and foggy. Fear not! Counterintuitively, low visibility does not diminish the viewing experience, it unequivocally amplifies it. Thus with the landscape laid out, let us draw out the drama.
Even with a six-minute advantage the 11-man breakaway would probably have been doomed on the Ovaro side, but from this Sutrio side there they had a good chance. Into the base of the climb Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) and Jacopo Mosca (Trek-Segafredo) emptied the tank for their respective team leaders, George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), and the rest of the breakaway. Within minutes, the cream of the crop rose to the top of this breakaway. With 12km still to ride, the breakaway was reduced down to the Slovenian Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Victorius), the Champion of New Zealand George Bennett, the Dutchman Bauke Mollema, Movistar’s Portuguese rider Nelson Oliviera, Eolo’s Italian Lorenzo Fortunato, UAE’s Italian Alessandro Covi who heartbreakingly lost the stage win sprint into Montalcino after all the gravel, and Androni Giocattoli’s Andrii Ponomar—a Ukranian only 18 years of age, the youngest rider of the Giro since World War II. After just a few rotations and teasing-increases of pace, Jan Tratnik the Slovenian was already away. He quickly built up a 12-second gap to the others. Besides the obvious motivation of winning on one of the mightiest climbs in cycling, perhaps Tratnik was psyched for tomorrow the Giro forays into his native Slovenia. Perhaps he wanted to enter the home country as an already mighty champion. Who among the breakaway would respond to this early attack or were the rest saving their energy for the steeper slopes? Young Ponomar was the first to attempt to bridge, Bennett followed with the Eolo rider Lorenzo Fortunato, with Mollema slowly bridging up to them with Covi as well. But just as these chasers were coming back together with Tratnik’s lead up the road lengthening, the least known among them Lorenzo Fortunato attacked to attempt the bridge. The others increased the pace, but they could not dare to climb with Fortunato. Off this 25-year-old Italian Fortunato went after Tratnik for his smaller wildcard-invite team Eolo-Kometa. The Eolo-Kometa team is run by the famous Alberto Contador and just slightly less-famous Ivan Basso; in fact, in 2010 it was Basso who won up this mighty Zoncolan from the Ovaro side. Could this Lorenzo Fortunato follow in the footsteps of Basso his boss? He had a chance, for with 8km to go, Lorenzo Fortunato did successfully bridge to the Slovenian Jan Tratnik.
Behind Astana were still willing to take this all on, they led the peloton onto the mighty Zoncolan. By the time Tratnik reached the 10km to go mark, Astana had brought the peloton with 5:32. But lurking behind Astana all day were the formidable Ineos Grenadiers. When Astana were down to only one or two domestiques left, the Grenadiers decided it was time to stamp their authority. First on the front of the Grenadiers’ great train was Gianni Moscon, then came Jhonaton Narvaez, Johnathon Castroviejo next, Egan Bernal in Pink, and Dani Martinez functioned as the team’s sweeper in the very back. Behind Bernal to give a bit of separation on his rivals and in just case to instantly see if Bernal had any sort of issue. Moscon set a good pace and continued piling on the pressure to the peloton and inching back the breakaway’s gap. But when Moscon swung off, Narvaez put the hurt on everyone. Under Narvaez’s tempo, the breakaway’s lead tumbled and tumbled by leaps and bounds. Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) the Shark of Messina had to say goodbye for the night. Narvaez slashed up two minutes of the breakaway’s lead himself until he finally swung off job well-done. Castroviejo then continued a similarly relentless pace. Yes, yes, so quickly up the mountain were they flying, the breakaway’s chances of staying away were now in doubt.
Ahead Jan Tratnik and Lorenzo Fortunato rode on together with a steady gap of 45 seconds to the other chasers behind. By this point, the raging mists were kicking up and the temperatures were dropping though the sleeveless riders were so exerting themselves they did not notice. Yes, the snowline was approaching now too. Ah! I tell you this rugged wilderness of steep climbing, with wooded green all around but shrouded in mists and plunging temperatures, it reminded me of the lower approaches to those mythical Misty Mountains. Yes, yes, truly this Monte Zoncolan would fit right in amongst the mountain-chain Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, and their stouthearted companions struggled to cross. Ah! ah! The Misty Mountains were crawling with goblins, surely none of the riders would doubt such evil creatures must live beneath this formidable Zoncolan as well. By this point too, it was getting very dark, all the vehicles had their headlights on, like a mysterious caravan journeying by lamplight in the dead of night. With 3.6km to go, Fortunato and Tratnik approached a weather-beaten hotel that formed an arch over the road, after this hotel is when the gradients would really kick up to average 13% to the finish. To see these misty conditions, to think of goblins below the surface, and to see this gateway of pain ahead: it made me think of our man celebrated yesterday, Dante Alighieri. In the Inferno, there was a great Gate at the entrance of Hell, atop its crossbeam was an inscription that ended with this line: “ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL YOU WHO ENTER.” Truly, truly, across this Zoncolan hotel should such a line be inscribed as well, for these last kilometers are that horrible. Yet into the abyss of mists these two brave leaders raced. Ah! ah! Tackling such gradients is difficult to describe. There is a sense of taming or overcoming a brutish beast. And there is an unending sense of keeping one’s head above water. Thus Tratnik and Fortunato wrestled with the first steep ramps like horsemen trying to ford a 15-foot-deep river. And that was not all there was to it: 200km of riding were already in their legs today alone in addition to 13 other stages. Every muscle in not only their legs, but their core, and even their arms was on fire or already numb. They were in their very lowest of gears, and still they were churning so few revolutions of the pedals. On such steep grades, every pedal stroke is like pushing down a 300lb weight that is trying to thrust upwards like a volcanic Hawaiian island. Your mental facilities are extremely warped. Every muscle in your body is telling you to stop, dismount from your bike, and curl up into the fetal position on the side of the road and cry. The only thing that can bargain with every muscle screaming in agony is the tunnel vision that in X-amount of meters it will all be over; it is that lone desire deep in their heart that pushes these riders further than they have ever gone before. It was harnessing that tunnel vision that allowed Lorenzo Fortunato to stamp his pedals down just a bit harder every stroke to find some gap to Jan Tratnik on a steep 16% ramp. The road eased back to “only” 10% and Fortunato pushed with all of his momentum to find some real separation to Tratnik who just did not have it to keep up with him. Then, then the road pitched up once more and Fortunato was swimming against the 20% grade to keep his head above water once more. But he still has two interminable kilometers to go.
Behind, still like a freight train the peloton stormed under the hotel’s Hopeless Gate. Egan Bernal had only one lieutenant left on the front, Lieutant Dan-i Martinez. Bernal, the captain in Pink was behind, followed by Bora’s Emanuel Buchmann, BikeExcahnge’s Simon Yates, Astana’s Aleksandr Vlasov, and Bahrain’s Damiano Caruso. And behind already gaps were opening to the young Remco Evenepoel. Ah! ah! Before we could hold our breath to see if the young Belgian upstart could claw back onto the group, Simon Yates attacked! Finally, finally, it was his first attack all Giro. We have been waiting and waiting to see what he could do…Yates has been waiting for the steepest slopes of the mightiest mountain. Yes, yes, it was he on the last occasion at the Zoncalan that was confidently reeling back in Chris Froome to within 10-seconds until he ran out of road. Here was Simon Yates finally striking out for glory on his beloved Giro. Only one man could follow him. Instantly on Yates was Egan Bernal the Colombian wearing the Pink Jersey as the leader of the Giro d’Italia. Yates attacked with level-headed calm, not showing the agony of the gradients on his face at all, and Bernal was securely nestled and latched on to his wheel. Behind all others were instantly in damage-control, there was no thought to go with those two attackers, their only hopes were to ride a steady pace to the finish to limit their losses. Yates and Bernal were eating up the road and passing the fallen-away chasers in the breakaway as if they were defeated lapped runners in an athletics track race. Yes, yes, through the mists and around the snow, the rest of their competition faded from view.
Up ahead, now in the last 500m, Eolo-Kometa’s Lorenzo Fortunato’s was displaying the agony the climb was causing much better than the attacking Yates and Bernal behind. Yes, yes, every muscle in his face was scrunched together, he looked to be crying; it did not seem like he could see the light at the ended of the tunnel. In fact, he could not due to the curving road and the impenetrable mist. Yet still, still he was passing the signs “500m,” “400m,” “350m,” “300m.” He knew he was closer even if he could not see his prize. He continued to forcefully chug up on the mountain and wrestle with the steep gradients. Tratnik behind was not coming back, and he had enough time in hand on Yates and Bernal so long as he kept forward motion and did not kneel over. Ah! In the last few hundred meters surely it was more than just the primordial tunnel-vision pushing him on. He was daring to dream that the greatest day of his sporting-life was taking place. Surely, we all viewing were wondering if this was the unveiling of a new great Italian hope. Lorenzo Fortunato emerged from the mists with 80m to ride, but the climb did not ease off until the line. Every pedal stroke was still grueling, but then he knew he had. He had just enough energy to post-up at the finish to show off his sponsor. It is by far the biggest result the Eolo-Kometa team has ever achieved to date. Lorenzo Fortunato his established a legacy; today was the day he conquered the Monte Zoncolan.
As Fortunato was crossing the line, behind another was adding another trademark day to his own legacy. Wearing the Pink Jersey, Egan Bernal the Grenadier attacked Simon Yates in a bid to take even more time on all his rivals. Now it was Yates’ turn to not even react to Bernal’s attack. Yates was already doing his utmost pace, he could not even dream of attempting to go with Bernal. Egan Bernal went flying away up the climb hawking down all the breakaway riders still left in his path. He has already won many races in this same fashion. From the first day he set foot in Europe, he has had the weight of Colombia on his shoulders for all knew he was destined for greatness. He won the 2019 Tour de France and on spot became the greatest Colombian cyclist to date. But in 2020, his progression stalled out, he was bested and trounced by two Slovenians. Since then, it has been questioned if he is even the greatest Grenadier or shall come back from back problems continue to hinder his career. But now, whereas Fortunato groaned and grinded up this climb like a wayworn traveler, Bernal darted like an arrow with bright smoldering ferocity. Against the white snow and grey mists, the Pink Jersey glowed like an arriving ship’s lantern on the night sea. This Giro, Egan Bernal has stormed away from the competition, he has emerged from the mists of Zoncolan in a class above the rest. Only Simon Yates was within a long-stone’s throw of him. The Giro d’Italia is now officially Egan’s to lose. Should he go on to win it, it is likely we shall say: “On the Zoncolan, Egan sealed victory of the 104th Giro d’Italia.”
Cycling Odysseys 