2021 Giro Stage 5: Hangovers and Heartbreaks (Written)

Modena—Cattolica, 177km

As I warned, today the Giro d’Italia was back in the Po Valley. Hence the incredibly flat profile that almost cannot be believed. After the brutality of the past two days, ideally this would be one for everyone to lick their wounds and regroup. The stage was basically in a diagonal straight line from Modena going through town after town until the race hit the great Adriatic Coast. In the flat expanse, traveling in the same direction all day, should the wind pick up at all this could be another deadly day of damage. As a true fan of course I would have loved to see the crosswinds. As I tuned in for the replay without knowing the results I digitally skipped ahead in 15-minute increments to make sure I started watching if crosswind action were to heat up early. (An Author’s Note: Living in America, very rarely do I watch these races live). But it was fated to be that the crosswinds would not materialize. Yes, yes, the riders and those covering the race were allowed a day to come down from the highs of the past two stages. Were any metaphorically hungover this morning, today’s Stage 5 let up and offered them recovery. Personally, as much as I love the crosswinds, I felt for and like the riders. I was prepared to cover the carnage of a crosswinds stage, just as most of the peloton were ready to do battle; but at the same time a nice recovery stage to get rid of the hangover would be more preferable. Especially from the perspective of what is to come. Tomorrow on Stage 6 will be another hard day, regardless of whether the win comes from the breakaway or no. The first major climb of the day is a 10.4km Category2 climb averaging 7.4% and it comes halfway through the day: the race will be “ON” all the way to the finish from there with a 15km-long summit finishing climb. Stage 7 should be a sprint stage along the Adriatic coast, but the finish looks very technical and tricky, and who knows if winds will blow off the Sea to shatter the peloton. Stage 8 has a similar feel to Stage 6 with a mighty mountain mid-stage and a decisive finishing climb. Stage 9—functioning as the Queen Stage of the Apennines—will be a nailed on General Classification (GC) battle as a Sunday showcase. And that Monday will not be the Rest Day, but instead Stage 10—the 10th day of racing in a row—which will be a short but O! so tricky transition stage. Yes, all of this is to say we are all a long way away from a proper Rest. And for the sake of the riders who must animate the race, potentially it was good they had this flat recovery day after the hard fought battles of the past two Stages.

After the groggy roll-out, there really was very little to report all day. Only a couple of riders from Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec and Bardiani-CSF-Faizane wanted to be out in the early day breakaway. And even they basically took shifts. One man from each was out there for the first half of the stage, but then they were brought back into the fold or folded themselves. This folding, only for another man from each to. jump out front again for the stage’s finale. Do you see what I mean about that hungover recovery feeling? The race hit the Adriatic Coast with around 25km to go, and that felt like a landmark event at least for the day. For my Midwestern self, the plains of Nebraska finally receded from my mind. Yes to come in contact or cross any significant body of water in that land is a noteworthy accomplishment. Thus for the first time this year the Giro had reached the Sea. Once they hit the Coast, the speeds ramped up immediately for many crucial turns and pinch-points were quickly popping up in the coastal towns.

Yes, crucial turns and pinch-points in the run-in to a technical finale. Alas! Experienced cycling fans know where this story is going. Alas! it was almost inevitable in this cruel sport. Despite the significant blows to the GC campaigns of George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) and Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep), remarkably yesterday no one took any mentionable spills in the slippery soaked conditions. But here on the sunny and quiet lower-key recovery stage, of course a few did on the technical run-in. The first major casualty was Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) when he forced over to the far left side of the road. He seemed to have clipped the curb or even tangled in the manicured boulevard tree branches on the roadside. Crashing heavily, he rolled over onto his back. He managed to remount and ride on, but Ineos announced after the stage that he had sustained too great of injuries to his shoulder, and he would be withdrawing from the race. O! He had high hopes for this Giro, and many others for him as well. He was nominally the co-leader of the Grenadiers with Egan Bernal. He had lost a few seconds yesterday, but surely at the very least he would have been expected to be Bernal’s top lieutenant for this whole Giro. Yes, now, Egan Bernal shall have to ride this Giro without his righthand man.

Ah! But the other major casualty made us even more sick to our stomachs. He always has so much bad luck. He looked so great yesterday after his team teed him up. He looked so beautiful climbing in that rain. Alas! In the final 5km of the stage, when the pace and nerves were at their highest because of the technical nature of the course, the peloton passed yet another traffic-controlling median. There was a human signaler alerting the peloton to the hazard, and the median was even padded for the race. Ah! But at such high speeds it was not enough. The signaler took a knock from one of the riders. Then one or two others hit the padding and like dominoes they took more down. Yesterday’s stage winner Joe Dombrowski (UAE) wearing the Blue King of the Mountains jersey was laid out on the deck, but there was an even bigger name down than this recent victor. Yes, it was the great climbing Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) laying on the ground in agony and clearly not get up anytime soon. Reports say it was an infamous broken collarbone. As I said, O! surely he has the most rotten luck. When was the last time he really had a clear run at one of these Grand Tours? Always, always there is something that holds him back. My heart goes out to all the riders in his bad luck category—your Richie Portes (Ineos Grenadiers), Thibaut Pinots (Groupama-FDJ), and clearly as shown once more today: your Mikel Landas. Truly, I don’t know what to say: so often bad luck has struck the man; the sheen has worn off. Alas! I am numb to his back luck. My heart goes out to him once more, but by this point for he and riders with this bad luck nature there is almost a scientific proscriptive detail-by-detail grieving process written up. 1. “O! What he could have achieved this race.” 2. “Well how soon can he be back training?” 3. “What objectives are left for the season?” 4. “Man, I think this moment will stoke a fire in his belly, and he’ll finally win it next year.” 5. “And I will be rooting for him all the way.” But let us face the stark reality, it is a big “if” that the riders in this Worst Luck Possie will ever achieve one giant redemptive result for all their bad luck pain and suffering. Grenadier Geraint Thomas’ Tour victory is the summit of these redemptive hopes, and they certainly do not happen for everyone. Yes, yes, once again misfortune hampers Mikel Landa. We pause to dwell on it. It stirs sorrow in our hearts. But ultimately the Giro moves on—especially in the chaotic technical last 5km of a sprint stage.

Somehow the organizers managed to design a stage that contained 5 tight turns in the final 4-or-3km alone, and listen to the order of these turns: Right, right, right, right, left without crisscrossing itself. Use your abstract spatial minds to envision that…and then scratch your heads in confusion. It was a confusing and tight finish. And unlike Stage 2 with its narrow roads that actually helped safety by insurmountably stringing out many, here the roads were wide and all had trains and lead-out men fighting for the front. Luckily, the sprint itself was clean. Viviani and his Cofidis leadout men had the positioning right again. He was the first to launch, and he looked good…others were just better. Viviani took third. My pick of the day came flying from the far left, starting so far back and sucking up so much wind and benefitted from no draft in that finale. O! if only this European Champion Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos) were better placed to launch his sprint, perhaps he did in fact have the power and speed to win. Instead the from behind Viviani came the perfectly-placed Caleb Ewan the Pocket-Rocket (Lotto Soudal). He had all the draft and all the speed. He sailed by Nizzolo who had opted for the longer sustained brutal sprint, but it was not enough to foil Ewan. Alas! It was another minor heartbreak for me on the day. Nizzolo has been knocking on many sprint-win doors all season. Throughout his career at the Giro he has finished second on ten stages and never taken a win. It is a record, and that is a record none want to own. To make matters worse, once he did in fact cross the finish line of a Giro stage first, but he was relegated for an illegal sprinting maneuver. Yes, my mind had picked Ewan today, but my heart won me over to take this unlucky Nizzolo as my bold Official Pick of the Day. I did not hedge my bets, another right pick slips through my fingers, another bitter second for Nizzolo. A double minor heartbreak that acts like salt in the already fresh Landa and Sivakov wounds.

Yes, what started as hungover viewing from the past two days of highs ended only in heartbreak. But at least at the end of the day most are more energized than they were upon finishing in the shivering wet cold yesterday. And thus we can simply wrap it up here for the night. May Sivakov and Landa find redemption speedily. And may Giacomo Nizzolo holding such an un-coveted record soon get the stage monkey off his back as quick as possible. Let us take the tack that he has looked so consistent in the sprints that he is “due” for the win, and not that he has become consistently too good at only taking second place. Yes, to produce and end a recap so plain as this: now the experienced fans can tell. We are surely smack-dab in the middle of the first week; the Giro’s dogdays have begun.

2021 Giro Stage 4: “A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this” (Written)

Piacenza—Sestola, 187km

Well, it seems yesterday’s Taco Stage 3 was only the defibrillator to initially arise the pulse of this Giro, for today’s Stage 4 was a full guns-blazing battle—instead of the only hoped for teasing cagey GC skirmish. It was one of those chaotic days were all the scripts were thrown up in the air, all the storylines were totally chopped apart, there was no rhyme or reason to it at all, even for the most experienced viewers it was all too hard to fully follow. There is no way for one to coherently tell this tale. The only linking narrative element of it all was the brutal rainy conditions. It was one of those ideal days where all have accrued yet another war story to tell the grandkids by the fireplace decades from now. Truly, truly, I mean it when I say “ideal” for surely, surely these most brutal days are the ones most fondly remembered. What was that marvelous line from Virgil’s masterpiece the Aeneid? In the first book, when Aeneas and his exiled Trojans barely survive the greatest shipwreck in literature they turn up battered, bruised, sick, and starving on the shores of North Africa. Pious Aeneas, what does he say to raise his comrades’ spirits? Those enduring and endearing words: Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit. Yes, surely you all remember it now! But to use my beloved Robert Fagles’ rendering: “A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this.” Ah! Ain’t that the truth—Virgil you master. How ever applicable to every darkest hour, to every great toil and struggle in the cycling world, and our own lives as well. Truly, this is one of the greatest reasons we love such a sport, whether we know it or not. We love to see this line ring O! so true. Yes, today really was a day that many of the riders should retell to entertain the grandkids around the cozy fire after the winter day. And since I can find no way to thread all the plot points of the day together, let us one by one do the heavy-lifting story formulation now for the largest protagonists of the day.

Rein Taaramae (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux)

O! Truly despite all the events of the day, for Rein Taaramae: Yes, “A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this.” Fresh off teammate Taco’s stupendous victory from the day before, Intermarche went from strength to strength. From the large early breakaway of the day, two of their men: this Rein Taaramae and Quinten Hermans of cyclocross fame broke away even from that larger breakaway group with only Team BikeExchange’s Christopher Juul-Jensen. There the three men rode to an 8-minute advantage over the peloton containing Filipo “Top” Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) wearing the maglia rosa, the Pink Jersey as race leader of the Giro d’Italia. Ah! But Taaramae began the day only 57 seconds behind Ganna, thus with the 8-minute lead, Taaramae was well into the virtual lead of the race. Quinten Hermans who O! so consistently finishes in the Top 10 of the biggest cyclocross races all winter rode is heart out in service of his teammate. The day was extremely lumpy, there were many proper tough climbs, and countless uncategorized additional rises. And O! how the weather sapped whatever energy the hills did not. What image it was: the Intermarche-upstarts making the biggest splash at the Giro two days in a row. There was Rein Taaramae sporting a classy casquette beneath his helmet while totally soaked to the bone just like everyone else. At his service was the versatile Quinten Hermans—one of the great ones in another cycling discipline—working totally for his success. And behind Taaramae, outnumbered, doing none of the work was Chris Juul-Jensen the Joker of Orica-Greenedge Backstage fame. He was an adversary to Taaramae, but that does not mean he isn’t a really great guy. Only the Smiling Assassin Estaban Chaves (Team BikeExchange) consistently made me laugh harder than this Joker Chris Juul-Jensen in the days of yore. When Quinten Hermans pulled off, job done, tank emptied, then Juul-Jensen and Taaramae teamed up to stay away. The partnership looked good, surely Juul-Jensen could have the stage and Taaramae the Pink Jersey. They rode like brave pioneers summiting snowy peaks in the afternoon, and fighting off bears and wolves by the campfire at night. They battled hard, but the conditions never let up. And the rest of the early breakaway chasers always stayed just within distance of them. And the final climb of the day, the Colle Passerino was too brutal. The pair did not stay away, they were caught on that final climb of the day within 4km of the finish. It was heartbreaking, but they probably did not even have the energy to be depressed—O! so exhausted were they. Yes, Rein Taaramae, you did not take Pink, but surely in years to come “A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this” when for a few hours you were the virtual leader of the Giro d’Italia.

Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech)

Astana pegged high hopes on Aleksandr Vlasov this Giro, for he is their undisputed General Classification (GC) leader. Last year, he abandoned the Giro d’Italia on only the second stage—such a sad experience it must be to drop out of the beautiful race. Surely, the young Russian is motivated all the more to have a greater race, and it was today that got him off to that right GC start. All day the Ineos Grenadiers paced the peloton, and yet the breakaway got out to an 8-minute lead with only 21km left in the stage. But from there the pace was really ratcheted up on the final climbs of the day. Deceuninck-Quickstep sent riders to the front to aid the chase; and finally Bahrain Victorious as well. While Rein Taaramae and Chris Juul-Jensen were being caught by the other breakaway companions, Bahrain was shredding the peloton behind in service of their leader Mikel Landa. The breakaway’s lead absolutely tumbled, 6+ of the 8-minute lead would be slashed away in the course of the final 15km. And on that final climb, after all his teammates’ shelling, Mikel Landa when on the attack. He partnered up with Trek’s Guilio Ciccone to ride away and put time into all the GC rivals. But our Aleksandr Vlasov knew this was the moment, he knew he could not let them go without at least trying to bridge up them. Vlasov launched from the peloton, but one of Landa’s Bahrain teammates was on him and Vlasov could not find separation. And just as Vlasov was about to ease off, ZOOM! There flew by Egan Bernal the team leader of the Ineos Grenadiers, the 2019 Tour de France champion and prerace favorite for this Giro d’Italia. Egan Bernal was flying and feeling fine despite the horrid conditions, he on his way to easily bridging up with Landa and Ciccone ahead. Vlasov knew even more he must not let them go, he must get into that move. Whizzing by him next came Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) to also successfully bridge up to Bernal and Landa’s group. Still Vlasov fought on, scrapping and scraping his way to this elite group of GC riders flying away up the climb. He was not as elegant as Bernal or Carthy or Landa, but Vlasov successfully bridged up. Surely, it took everything he had. Surely, he was turning himself inside out. His legs screamed, his torso shivered, his arms ached, and his mind was fried. But there he was riding and keeping pace with three men who have finished on Grand Tour podiums before. Yes, yes, no matter how torturous that finale was: “A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this.” O! Yes, surely, Aleksandr Vlasov, you shall tell your grandchildren of the day your Giro GC campaign began with top marks. The day you kept pace with the great Colombian Egan Bernal on a mountain stage of the Giro when so many others could not.

Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates)

The American Joe Dombrowski did not ride on the front of the large early-day breakaway throughout much of the stage, whether he was just hanging in there or being as economical as possible with his energy cannot be determined. But while Quinten Hermans, Rein Taaramae, and Chris Juul-Jensen went up the road, Dombrowski always remained in the hunt in the next chasing group some 90-seconds behind, still well ahead of the peloton some 6 minutes behind them. This chasing group looked dead and beaten for much of that last 50km of the brutal stormy stage, no energy left amongst them. If there were any energy, surely they would have chased down these three leaders by now. Not only was a stage win up for grabs, but the maglia rosa itself was on the line for those who had done the best Stage 1 Time Trial and had not lost time since. It was under the combined impetus of Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) and this Dombrowski that inroads were finally made on Taaramae and Juul-Jensen on that final Colle Passerino climb. De Marchi did much of the early clawing back of the gap, while Dombrowski had to fight tooth-and-nail simply to stay with De Marchi. But with 6km to go, on this steepest climb of the day, the gap evaporated completely. De Marchi and Dombrowski caught Taaramae and Juul-Jensen with 4km still to race; and Dombrowski immediately capitalized on the situation. He dug deep, probably the deepest he has ever dug. O! So many times he has been in the Giro mountain stages breakaways before. So many times he has been in the top five on the day, but never number one. Never has he celebrated personal victory in Europe. O! Surely, surely these thoughts were flashing in his head when they caught the race leaders. Surely, exhausted as he was, at that moment he realized: “This is the best chance I’ll ever have to win the stage I have been chasing so long. I shall not waist an opportunity as I did before. Yes, yes, I have been so close so many times. Today I shall taste victory. O! None want this as badly as me!” O! The climb was steep! O! They were all so soaked from the storm! But now the tables were turned, it was Dombrowski setting the pace and slowly grinding up the climb; it was De Marchi scrapping and scraping to stay with him. And with 3km to go, Joseph Dombrowski the American had solidly distanced De Marchi finally for good. But he did not at all dare to slow up for still the climb rose. He needed to keep his momentum and rhythm, he was tunnel vision to the line. He was in the most pain he had ever been. For surely, it was not just this stage win that was motivating him, but it was the weight of all the missed ones as well. Finally, finally he would turn up a great result for all the work he had done not just today, but all the days. Were his Director Sportif in the car behind to have said into his ear-piece “A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this.” Surely, Dombrowski would have replied: “To Hell with ‘Perhaps!’ I AM going to win this Giro stage! Of course I’ll remember this day with joy! It shall be the greatest day of my sporting career.” With 2.5km, he finally crested the top of the brutal climb. It was a twisting and rolling run-in to the finish, but Dombrowski had enough time in hand to take care around the curves and celebrate the win in the final meters. As he crossed the finish line the stage winner, the American Joe Dombrowski sat up and swung his right arm high in the air for victory. In the forceful swing of that arm, we saw this victory was the reward of all the hard work he had done for Giro after Giro chasing this elusive stage win. Now he finally had it, and it finally came in the grandest of ways.

Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation)

It has already been stated that it was the Italian Alessandro De Marchi that was the impetus to catch Rein Taaramae and Chris Juul-Jensen. Whereas Taaramae had started the stage 57 seconds down on Ganna in the GC, De Marchi had started only 33 seconds down to Ganna. Thus if he were to finish within 20 seconds of Taaramae, he would secure the maglia rosa, the Pink Jersey. Ah! It is every Italian cyclist’s fairytale dream to pull on that beautiful maglia rosa.  That was the man’s motivation on that final Colle Passerino: tunnel vision, “Rosa, rosa, rosa, pink, pink, pink.” Yes, yes, you know the images of the seemingly ordinary man filled with adrenaline who lifts up the car or boulder that is about to crush the child. It was with that unreal strength that De Marchi hawked down Taaramae in his quest for Pink. Yes, yes, a race’s leader’s jersey gives off psychological super strength not only when wearing it…but when chasing it, too. At 34-years-of-age, how many more chances would this De Marchi get in his career to pull on the maglia rosa? He had to grab his shot with both hands, and as stated he did. When he and Dombrowski caught Taaramae and Juul-Jensen, it was Dombrowski that started taking the lead. De Marchi tried to stay with him purely to keep and increase his gap to GC competitors. It is not that De Marchi did not want to win the stage, but he has won Grand Tour stages before. Something he has never done is wear the leader’s jersey at a Grand Tour, O! what a fairytale it would be to wear the leader’s jersey of his home Grand Tour. He would have no hopes of keeping the maglia rosa to Milan, but to wear it just once for a day or two would make his career. But there was his pacemaker Dombrowski going up the road, surely it must have been agony to depressingly attempt to claw him back inch by inch with little hope. It must have been the most difficult moment in his whole career thus far, but “A joy it will be one day, perhaps, to remember even this.” But once more, the “perhaps” can assuredly be deleted. De Marchi crested the climb, and rode in to the finish with the GC time in the bank to pull on the maglia rosa. Perhaps someday after some childish prompting, De Marchi will say: “Ok, kiddos take a seat. Finally, I shall tell you in full how I acquired that Pink Jersey framed on the wall. It is the same color jersey the leader wears today. It is the same color jersey Fausto Coppi and the other Italian champions and legends wore in victory. It is the maglia rosa, the Pink Jersey. It is worn by the leader of the Giro d’Italia.” Then he shall shed a tear as he continues. “Yes, your old grand-daddy once wore that jersey after going well beyond the physical limits he thought he had. It was the summit, the high point of my career. It was the day I led the Giro d’Italia.”

2021 Giro Stage 3: Trouble for the Band of Brothers (Written)

Biella – Canale, 190km

After the relatively subdued Opening Weekend, this year’s Giro d’Italia did in fact begin to roar into life in its third chapter. I speak of High Romance and the Giro d’Italia interchangeably: to simply point to unexpectedly thrilling stages such as these is why. It is the Monday grind, this is when the “real life” 9-to-5 attempts to drag us away from the drama in Italy. O! But leave it to the Giro to make such a prospect so absolutely laughable. Ah! Yes, yes, the Giro has always had a knack for throwing-up the most unbridled of unbridled transition stages—no sleepy and quiet Mondays here at the Giro d’Italia! It was one of those stages all hoped would be exciting…and then their greatest hopes and expectations were unanimously exceeded.

Perusing the profile of Stage 3, all saw a quiet and flat first half to the race, but there was hope for some action in the stage’s second half. Inside the last 70km of the stage was one Category3 and two Category4 climbs, with a last little additional uncategorized climb that did have a “sprint” point at the top of it containing 3, 2, and 1 Bonus Seconds for the first three riders across. Having gotten our first look and measure of the sprinters yesterday on Stage 2, the question for Stage 3 was if we would get a similar bunch sprint for a second day in a row. If the stage was ridden easy, then it was presumed most of the sprinters would be there for the tricky and technical finish. O! But anyone with an eye for action looked at that final 80km and saw there were some pivotal 15% ramps on the climbs and in the run-in. Yes, these rooting for carnage hoped for two things: brutal conditions and a ballsy team or two to pulverize the peloton on the climbs for that last 80km to put as much pressure on the pure sprinters as possible. To the first, rain threatened all day, but never seemed to significantly materialize. To the second, yes, yes, the man and the team we thought mostly likely to shatter the peloton set to work and did just that.

Just as they did time and time again throughout the 2020 Tour de France, once again the Bora-Hansgrohe Band of Brothers took up the pace-making duties halfway through the stage to shred the peloton for their team captain and leader the mighty Rockstar Peter Sagan. Yes, yes, this was the carnage we hoped for. Yesterday in the full-bunch sprint Sagan finished in 5th place. Yes, on paper Peter Sagan finished about where he should, at this point there are many who have more pure speed. Ah! But after a hard day of high-tempo racing, then who is faster than Sagan in a sprint? Which pure sprinters can even keep pace with Sagan over the smaller catqgorized climbs? Such questions would be answered on this day. How many faster pure sprinters could the self-titled Band of Brothers shed for captain Sagan before the final sprint? And the answer was Many. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) was struggling early on the initial climb. He mightily fought to hang on, but finally had to pull the plug amidst the pair of Category4 climbs. Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Vimsa) could not handle the pace. Yesterday’s winner Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) wearing the Ciclamino Jersey was shelled out the back on the climbs. And the European and Italian Champion Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos) fought like a cliffhanger for the longest time—holding on for dear life by a fingernail; but eventually even his legs gave out too, and he was dropped. The brutality of a Bora Band of Brothers “Sprinters-Execution” paceline is not something to discuss lightly. It was such a regular practice at the 2020 Tour in service of Sagan that they now seem almost commonplace, but please understand they are not. Remember, remember, this is supposed to be the quiet transition stage with only a fine sprint at the end to send us home happy. With such a flat final 15km, even the purest of pure sprinters are fully motivated to dig extremely deep if need be to get over a Category3 and two Category4 climbs. To be shelling out as many riders as Bora did on the pair of Category4 climbs was quite a feat. With 20km to the finish, Bora still had 6 Brothers in a line on the front, the original breakaway had only just over a minute’s lead, and the peloton was half its full size.

One by one on the pointy-end of the spearhead arrow that was the peloton, the Bora Brothers emptied their tanks. Yes, yes, each did their part, their finish lines were no longer the actual finish line: their job was to ride as hard as possible in the service of Peter Sagan to not only drop all the faster riders, but also to assure they could not come back. Perhaps the analogy is crude, but in this instance they were sportsmen kamikazes: setting an infernal pace they themselves could not long handle in order to take faster men down with them. They had already claimed the big scalps of Ewan, Groenewegen, Merlier, and Nizzolo—three of whom beat Sagan the day before. There were only two massive sprinting names left that on paper could really trouble Sagan in the sprint: Italian Elia Viviani (Cofidis)—third on yesterday’s stage—and Fernando Gaviria (UAE) who looked good yesterday as well until his own teammate almost sent him into the barriers in the final 200m. Yes, yes, Viviani was at the back of the peloton which was surely a sign of fatigue, and yet Cofidis had him well supported; meanwhile Gaviria was glued to Sagan’s wheel. With 15km to go came the big “Sprint” Point that really functioned as more of a King of the Mountains Point. What remained of the breakaway would sweep up the time Bonus Seconds so those became inconsequential to any pertinent plot, what mattered was if the Bora-Hansgrohe Band of Brothers could shake off Viviani and Gaviria, Sagan’s chief competition left. Ah! That last climb was brutal for the quick men. Sagan was slyly sliding back from the front of the peloton to the middle, measuring his effort on the climb—and Gaviria was doing the same; but Viviani was struggling and hanging by a thread. Tony Gallopin (A2GR) and Guilio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) attacked on the steepest 15% ramp and then went over the top filled with high hopes of entrepreneurial ambitions to catch the remains of the breakaway and steal a march on the peloton. And just like that, they were over the top with a few seconds gap while Sagan, Gaviria, and even Viviani were still all together in the peloton as well.

The final 15km would have two or three uncategorized short but steep rises, but other than that it was a slight downhill run-in all the way to the finish with a technical last kilometer. Presumably, Viviani’s Cofidis and Gaviria’s UAE teams would have that time to regroup for the final sprint while Bora still continued to drive the pace. This would be a great sprint, this was everything we hoped the day could be. It was watching Frenchmen Tony Gallopin and Italian Guilio Ciccone striking out on the attack that I and, I presume, most of the viewership remembered the existence of the early day breakaway of riders. At one point they were 8 riders strong and had a gap of over 6 minutes. With 40km to go, that gap had already been reduced to just 2:00 with the full weight of Bora-Hansgrohe chasing as they shelled out the pure sprinters behind. With 30km to go, the gap was only 90 seconds, and as mentioned like clockwork with 20km to go the gap was at about one minute with Bora still charging like bulls ever ramping up the pace.

With Gallopin and Ciccone eating up their gap further, and the peloton only giving them a short leash as well this looked like an all too familiar doomed breakaway in its last gasps. Only two men were really left out front, purely for the purposes of increasing their fame but a little I recorded their names before they would be caught: Swissman Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Dutchman Taco Van Der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux). Ah! It is not often we talk of these two smaller teams so wherever the chances arises, surely we must. Androni is one of those classic second division Italian teams that everyone likes: they always animate the Giro breakaways, their elderly manager Gianni Savio is a white-haired slimmer but jolly Italian Santa Claus, and their jerseys are perennially the busiest mess of sponsor titles and logos—so busy are they even a large page of coupons would raise an eyebrow upon inspecting them. Meanwhile Intermarche’s jerseys are dominated by white torso and dark blue shorts…and an offense violent highlighter green around the shoulders and helmet; they are the newest team to the World Tour, but thus far this season they have extremely lacked results. Thus I wrote down the such teams and names for such opportunities do not come frequently. With 10km to go, Simon Pellaud and Taco Van Der Hoorn had a 26 second gap on the chasing Gallopin and Ciccone, and a 38 second gap on the reduced peloton.

With 8.7km to ride, Taco Van Der Hoorn attacked this Simon Pellaud, his breakaway companion and unofficial makeshift teammate for the day. Ah! Such are the realities of cycling: after working together all day, still it comes to infighting at the end. Taco’s attack seemed one of last-gasp desperation; surely, it would have been wiser and more beneficial for the two to stay together to the finish as a unit, and sprint it out between them for the win. Ah! But what was this? Behind the time gaps went slightly back out: 28 seconds to Gallopin and Ciccone, 44 seconds to the peloton. And with 7.2km to go the gaps extended: already Taco had 12 seconds on Pellaud, now 42 seconds on Gallopin and Ciccone, and a full minute on the peloton! All realized then: this last man of the routinely-doomed breakaway actually had a chance. What was going on? Bora had been shredding the field and putting all to the sword for 50km already, how was the early breakaway not mopped up yet? Is Bora still driving the pace? Have they sat up, because no other teams were helping them? It seems by this point most of the Band of Brothers had already pulled the plug long ago and there were not many left to chase, let alone many who had the strength to pull back this mighty Taco Van Der Hoorn on the greatest ride of his career thus far.

Ah! But with 5.6km to go there came one of those brutal rises I spoke of earlier, O! how etched with pain was Taco’s face. His legs must have been screaming and screaming with pain by this point! And no matter how much his heart and mind were solely focused on pulling off the fairytale ending on this thrilling transition stage: the body has its limits. His momentum slowed, his cadence approached a “pedaling squares” scenario, surely all the chasers behind would eat into his gap now! But in an instant he was over the top on a descent and doing the most aero of legal tucking positions left to him. It was a moment of micro recovery before a last 4km road-Pursuit. But behind the chasers were in fact finally eating into his advantage: Gallopin and Ciccone closed to within 17 seconds, the peloton to within 33 seconds. To see Taco struggle and ride his heart out was one of those classic moments where we were all watching more than a bike race. It was one of those classic points where all with any human heart—no matter how much they love Sagan, Gaviria, or Viviani—were now vocally willing on Taco Van Der Hoorn from their couches. “Come on, Taco! Come on! Go!” The man had been out in the breakaway all day, and this breakaway had been doomed for the past 50km! O! But it was getting closer and closer—all coming back together! Gallopin and Ciccone were caught with 2.2km to go, and Taco’s lead was now only 19 seconds. By this point, though most of the Bora riders were spent, Sagan was still in the mix while Gaviria’s UAE teammates and Viviani’s Cofidis teammates were finally contributing to this final chase. O! It was something else to see the faces of pain and determination on the UAE and Cofidis teammates that were burying themselves to catch this lone rider. It was like watching rabid hounds chasing down the fox.

But finally, Taco came under the 1km to go banner, and he still had a 14 second lead. The technical run-in would be to Taco’s advantage for the peloton could not keep accelerating through the tight turns—though they would still try coming out of them! Taco took the righthander gracefully keeping his speed, but also keeping safe to stay upright. A few seconds later he took the narrow chicane in the road with optimal precision. He rode it all the way out, but with 200m he allowed himself a look behind to see if he had it over the ferocious peloton still ceaselessly bearing down. The road had a gentle rise for the last 200m, but Taco emerged over the little horizon in view of the finish line knowing he did have it. Then came one of the best victory salutes I have seen in a long time. Taco took another look back, then turned around covering his jaw-dropped mouth with his hand, and then laughed in disbelief at his own accomplishment. Yes, yes, it was one of the best breakaway fairytales in years. The 27-year-old Dutchman, on one of the smallest teams, in his first Grand Tour pulled off this upset. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the day? Was this tale not everything I initially hyped it up to be? Truly, we had hoped the Band of Brothers would put the sprinters to the sword, but none dared hope the breakaway could stay away if Bora went to work. It wasn’t until less than 10km to go the breakaway even factored into the equation. Do you see what I mean whenever I announce there is more than just a bike race going on here? Do you see what I mean when I speak of the romantic unbridled racing that dazzles us at the Giro? And I absolutely loved that cherry-on-top celebration where Taco Van Der Hoorn laughed with the rest of us in shock and in exhilaration of his own accomplishment—no author and artist could have contrived such a beautiful ending touch. Yes, yes, a Giro transition stage at its finest, after some early exposition chapters the Giro is now roaring into life.

2021 Giro: Alpecin-Fenix Wastes No Time (Written)

Stage 2: Stupinigi – Novara, 179km

It was a cloudy and quiet ride through Piedmont for Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia. The breakaway was kept in check. The breakaway’s sprint for the one mountain point available was about the only highlight early in the day, for whoever won that would pull on the Blue King of the Mountains Jersey at the end of the stage. The lack of early action surprised no one who looked at the stage profile before. Besides three little blimps of hills, the route was entirely pan flat. Yes, the Giro was meandering through the Po River Valley. Though Piedmont is the Northwest province of Italy, the Po River is still The River in this region as it flows East all the way across Northern Italy to empty out in the Adriatic Sea on Italy’s East Coast. As I said yesterday in Turin through which the Po flows, to look at a map of the Po River and all the branches that filter into it, it truly looks like Italian’s mini-version of the Amazon. The race passed many flooded fields growing the famous rice risotto all day long. For the Midwestern Americans listening, truly I wondered if I was seeing an Italian version of Nebraska. In classic Italian fashion, it was still more picturesque than the Husker State, but it was still shockingly flat. Nobody ever—not even the Pope—imagines such a wide expanse of flat farmland in Italy, but that is exactly what the Po Valley is. Yes, it is as flat as the Netherlands, surely this is Italy’s breadbasket. I mention all this, because often in previous years as I previewed the stage profiles: there were always one or two stages that shared this similar flat profile. I have an affinity for geography so I put two and two together a few years back to understand you can find something so flat in the Po Valley. But the strange thing this year is that there are three or four of these extremely flat stages in the race…but they are not all grouped together in the same block, they are interspersed throughout the race. But if you look at the route of this Giro, or if you listened to my preview as I described the looping and zig-zagging nature of this route: you will see that the 2021 Giro keeps coming back and back to this flat Po Valley to provide sprinters with ample opportunities to win without any significant climbing efforts to speak of. An interesting feature of this route to be aware of should you ever wonder how the organizers can possibly find so much unequivocal flat in Italy: it is deceptively all in the same one region. And so let us see how the sprinters faired in their first opportunity.

All the teams with even a half decent sprinter were contributing to the pace-making on the front of the peloton for the length of the day. It was a cordial gesture, because the pace was not very high and there were many riders ready to help. One team who had riders on the front was the second division wildcard-invite team Alpecin-Fenix. Yes, all World Tour teams are automatically invited and obligated to send a team to every World Tour race, and it almost needs not be said that the Grand Tours are surely the biggest of the World Tour races. But since Alpecin-Fenix is a second division team, they needed to earn an invitation from each of the Grand Tour organizers. With Alpecin-Fenix’s sterling record as by far-and-away the best second division team led by their star rider Mathieu Van Der Poel, the team has received invitations to all three Grand Tours this season. So here at the Giro d’Italia, the Alpecin-Fenix team was making its Grand Tour debut. But instead of acting like the typical wildcard invitational team sending riders up the road in the breakaway to animate the race, Alpecin-Fenix was helping catch the break. Alpecin was acting like they had been here before. They appeared to be undaunted by the teams with the top sprinters. Such confidence would be supremely logical if the Madman Mathieu Van Der Poel were in attendance, but he and his ambitious Madman schedule were off somewhere else in Europe participating in some Mountain Bike World Cup in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. With or without their Madman, Alpecin-Fenix was ready to impress at their Grand Tour debut and prove they assuredly belong at this Giro d’Italia.

With the likes of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma), Fernando Gaviria (UAE), Elia Viviani (Cofidis), and Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos), it would be a tall order for Alpecin-Fenix’s Tim Merlier to pull off a stage win this Giro—but that was the team’s goal nonetheless. Judging by the team’s lineup, most or all of the selected riders would be here to support this Merlier in the sprints. Merlier has low-key been called the fastest man in Belgium. In my opinion this moniker is under review, for a certain Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) has won more higher-level bunch sprints at this point. But in 2019, off of his sprinting abilities Merlier did win the Belgian Nationals to don the Black, Yellow, and Red Jersey for an entire season. In addition to sprinting, I have known Tim Merlier first from cyclocross. For the past six or seven years, he was one of those riders in the top ten-to-twenty range that gets just a bit of airtime for the first couple laps, and as he crosses the finish line. That sounds insulting, but that is the way of viewing international cyclocross: on the broadcast you only ever see and know the top ten or fifteen names in the sport. The last quirky thing I can say about Tim Merlier is that for cyclocross, he does not race for Alpecin-Fenix, but each season he does on the road. To each his own, perhaps the Alpecin shampoo hurts his blonde hair in the winter? But enough of Tim Merlier’s past, how did he do today?

After the long, slow flat day, the peloton rolled into the outskirts of Novara way behind schedule. The final kilometers were dramatically tricky; many narrow twists and turns as they weaved through a few solid roundabouts. There was a crucial tight righthand turn with 4.2km to go, and then an even narrower righthand turn with 1.5km to go. The final straightaway was on a gentle bend, and the riders could not even see the finish line until 150m to go. The General Classification teams actually controlled the front all the way until the Groenwegen’s Jumbo team led the peloton through the last righthand turn with 1.5km to go. It was a speedy sprint by any measure, but despite the ferocity and the pinch-points of the road there were no crashes of any kind. Yes, that is one of the counter-intuitive realities of sprinting. Sprinting is actually safer at higher speeds, because the riders all become more strung out and thus less bodies and bikes are in contention. This was absolutely the case today, under the Red Kite signifying 1km to go the top favorite Caleb Ewan was nowhere to be seen, and he would not even be in contention for the sprint come the end. It was actually Elia Viviani in the best position with 500m to go, with a Cofidis teammate on the front. UAE had a teammate racketing up the lead-out sprint as well, but he committed a blunder the equivalent of cycling friendly-fire. When he swung off the front, he actually cut off his own sprinter Fernando Gaviria who was forced to take evasive action instead of hit ignition on his final sprint. As Gaviria was about to launch, Alpecin’s Merlier actually did with 180m to go. On his wheel, in his slipstream were Giacomo Nizzolo, Dylan Groenewegen, Elia Viviani, and Peter Sagan, but Merlier was on flying form. Merlier had the clearest look at it, the inside line on the bending finish, and all the speed needed. None could even attempt to come around him. Nizzolo added to his record of most second places on Giro stages without ever taking a win. Viviani nipped Groenewegen for the last podium spot, but none of that mattered compared to this unexpected Merlier victory.

On the first road stage of the first Grand Tour they ever road, Alpecin-Fenix has already gotten the stage win monkey of their back. Surely, their sponsors will already be happy for the team has already achieved their Giro goal, already everything after this shall be a bonus. Yes, Tim Merlier has won the Belgian Nationals before which is solidly the hardest national championship to win; but this Giro stage victory should go down as his biggest and greatest win to date. Tim Merlier can now rest easy each night for the rest of this Giro, because he is a winner of a Grand Tour stage. He and his team shall surely fight to win again, but they can now each and all focus on finishing their debut Grand Tour as well without the yearning pressure of an unrealized “W” for the team.

The Giro’s Opening Weekend has been a subdued affair, but that is not to be unexpected or frowned upon. As soon as the route was unveiled, I predicted it would take a few stages for this Giro to roar into life. All need to measure their efforts, from the riders to people like myself covering the race from a far; there are many days still to go. The Giro especially is historically known for a tail-stinging brutal final week in the high mountains in the North of the country. I have no problems leisurely researching the geography of the Po River while watching a slow flat stage while all the riders keep their powder dry for the great battles to come. In all great sports, sitting through the slow parts make the exciting finales even more exciting. By the third week of the Giro, all will be on their hands-and-knees and this tranquil traversal through Piedmont shall seem a lifetime ago. Perhaps in that third week, we shall all be like those reading the grueling and heavy-hearted Mordor chapters of Lord of the Rings who nostalgically yearn for the simpler days of the leisurely Shire chapters at the beginning of the series where green hopes were high and all possibilities still potential. Surely, so deep into the story none remember the markedly “drawing-in” slow start. Yes, today was not the most exciting day as we passed through the Nebraska of Italy, but we should soak it in nonetheless. It was a day Tim Merlier and his Alpecin-Fenix team shall fondly look back on for the rest of their lives. Such pure joys of first victories are a dime-a-dozen on the Grand Tours, but that does not mean any should be overlooked. Today we watched an exposition chapter that introduced us to many characters who shall be central in this 2021 Giro. Via its slow buildup, like the Lord of the Rings, the Giro is slowly luring and immersing us into the world we shall be intensely inhabiting for the next full three weeks.

2021 Giro: Opening Fireworks in Historic Turin WRITTEN

Stage 1: Torino-Torino, 8.6km

Thus begins the greatest love affair in cycling, the Giro d’Italia. Get out your record players, Spotify playlists, and YouTube videos to have the appropriate accompanying soundtracks for the next three weeks: Verdi, Vivaldi, Rossini, Bocelli, and Pavarotti among others are the beloved native sons that shall serve as my ambient background for this first Grand Tour of the year. This 104th Giro d’Italia begins in Turin to celebrate the 160th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy. In 1861, Turin became the first capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Of all great Italian cities, why was Turin the first capital, you ask? Ah! Ah! It had all to do with the politics of the Unification process, synonymously called the Risorgimento movement. The Risorgimento is a great story if ever there was one: drama, intrigue, setbacks, heartbreak, rising-above inspiring moments, and of course larger-than-life central personalities who led the movement. Mazzini, Cavour, and—the most famous of all—Garibaldi are some of those larger-than-life personalities; the Giro still honors Garibaldi every year by naming their comprehensive roadbook after him. But of course, one of the most central players in the Risorgimento was also Victor Emmanuel II from the House of Savoy who historically ruled the Piedmont region for centuries—of which Turin has always been the historic capital. Victor Emmanuel was the talisman all rallied around: he was the one who provided the native noble blood and had the right ancestry to be made a King. Yes, in 1861 his reign began and his native Turin was the first capital of the united Kingdom of Italy. May I add as well to those who may already be rolling their eyes at an opening history lesson: the unification of Italy is truly something for cycling fans to celebrate. Without the unification in 1861, surely none would have ever created the Giro d’Italia some five decades later. Truly, truly, since the unification itself, the Giro d’Italia has been one of Italy’s greatest symbols and practical tools in continuing to solidify that unification process in addition to being a great sporting event in itself. It is thanks to the Giro and its daily news and content from all over the country that many Italians would learn what another far-flung region of Italy is really like. Truly, it is a chicken-and-egg scenario: Does the Giro better explain a place already unified, or does it actively unify the Italian peninsula even more? The logical, and beautiful answer is simply: “Why not both?” And with that initial historical tangent done-and-dusted, the significant anniversary and Turin’s pride of place have been distinguished. Now let us get down to business.

The Opening Turin Stage 1 Time Trial was a Prologue in all but name. The course was set in the center of town on the famous Po River—Italy’s mini-Amazon river—thus the course was flat with no significant rises of any note. To be an official Prologue, the Time Trial must be less than 8km. It seems in recent years the Grand Tour organizers have been avoiding formal Prologues and my hunch is because it confusingly throws off the rest of the race; for after the Prologue comes not Stage 2, but Stage 1. Then three weeks later the race shall finish on Stage 20 instead of Stage 21, and all—even the most experienced—will be slightly confused because it will slip their mind a Prologue had occurred. Additionally, in my opinion, if we strictly get “only” 21-days of racing I do not like to see one slightly “wasted” on less than 8km of racing; personally, I would be a great fan of a mandatory uniform opening Prologue as an extra 22nd day of racing on the Friday before or early Saturday morning of every Grand Tour. But the Giro organizers opted for an 8.6km Time Trial—just slightly above the 8km Prologue threshold—so that it could officially be called Stage 1. Short Opening Time Trials have their pros and cons. In the cons column, the “wasted-day” feeling has already been stated. A more practical con is that by this point there is not yet an official GC order thus teams can be strategic where they send their headliners in the start order—it is not mandatory for the favorites to start towards the end providing a thrilling finale. But for the pros column, the short length creates explosive intrigue. Minute after minute, rider by rider launches off to start their Giro d’Italia campaign, each rider gets a mini-spotlight and for viewers with short attention spans there is always something new to see. Additionally, since the length is so short, almost all riders—even most sprinters—give it their all, there full gas 100%, because they want to try to stay as high on the General Classification (GC) as they can. All hope to keep alive any potential chances to move into the maglia rosa—the Pink Giro Leader’s Jersey—sometime later during the opening flatter stages before the mountains create insurmountable time gaps. Yes, yes, every rider wishes to pull on the maglia rosa in their career, even if only for a day. Thus let us see who it was that pulled on the first maglia rosa of this year’s Giro.

It is fair to admit, it was not the most sensational Prologue or Opening Stage Time Trial anyone has ever seen. Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech) set the GC benchmark time of 9:11 early on the stage. Anything below that 9:11 mark was excellent or completely flying, anything over 20 seconds slower than 9:11 was subpar or bad, and anything within 20 seconds of the 9:11 was ultimately average on the day. It is a small beauty of time trials such as these to see how these categories organically establish themselves as the riders finish one by one, but as stated it is also not the most riveting of processes either. And so, for posterity purposes, allow me to rattle off the GC men who had the average and subpar days before we detail and praise the ones who lit up the stage for the rest of this recap. Egan Bernal, Pavel Sivakov, Dani Martinez (all of Ineos Grenadiers), Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo), Vincenzo Nibali and Bauke Mollema (both of Trek-Segafredo), George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma), Marc Soler (Movistar), and even Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE) all finished in that “average” category—of course, it should be noted that none of the performances by these professional athletes was actually objectively average. Meanwhile Jai Hindley and Romain Bardet (both of Team DSM), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) all got off to a bad start, and begin this Giro behind the metaphorical “eight-ball.” With such GC housekeeping done, let us praise those who rode O! so well against the clock.

After Vlasov’s impressive early time, it was from a surprising source that the action heated up. Down the straightaway came a streaking Black and Yellow Wasp Jersey surely of a Jumbo-Visma rider, but the rider was not Primoz Roglic or Wout Van Aert or Tom Dumoulin who are not riding this Giro. No, the Jumbo rider was the young Norwegian Tobias Foss in his debut Grand Tour. Many in-tune cycling fans have heard his name since he is the most recent winner of the Tour de l’Avenir, “The Race of the Future,” the most prestigious Under-23 race that has previously been won by the likes of Egan Bernal and Tadej Pogacar (UAE). Finally, this was the first time we were all seeing Foss come out swinging in the big leagues. He came in with a time of 9:00 to take up his position in the hotseat as the stage leader. All expect big things from l’Avenir winners at this point, yet still all were greatly impressed…until he was bested just a few minutes later by a teammate. Yes, within 20 minutes of Foss’ finish, down the finishing straightaway came Jumbo-Visma’s Italian Edoardo Affini to best Foss’ time by 3 seconds. Now this one was a bigger shock for at this point to all besides his inner circle, Edoardo Affini was just one of those names that help fill out the results. None could tell where this 8:57 Affini time had come from, especially when Quickstep’s pre-race favorite Remi Cavagna could only turn up a 9:05 time. When Jumbo’s Jos Van Emden crossed the line in 9:05 to match Cavagna, all began to suspect Jumbo-Visma had developed some new technical advantage for their riders—such race winning innovations are a beloved aspect of the sport. So perhaps Jumbo made some leap forward, but Jumbo’s George Bennett’s relatively mediocre performance undermines such a theory. Eventually one of Quickstep’s other pre-race favorites Joao Almeida came in right around 9:05 as well. It was a good performance for Almeida’s GC campaign, but he was unable to best the leading Jumbo pair. Only two other undiscussed options could.

The last two unmentioned pre-race favorites started one minute apart, they were of course Quickstep’s young Belgian superstar Remco Evenepoel and the reigning Time Trial World Champion the Italian Filipo “Top” Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers). Yes, yes, Remco Evenepoel starts this Giro d’Italia with as many question marks as one could possibly have since he has not raced since August when fell off a bridge mid-race at il Lombardia. He has never ridden a Grand Tour either, so three weeks of grueling racing in a row will surely be unknown territory for this youngster. But if this Remco has proven anything so far in his young career, he loves and is always ready to race. Meanwhile Filipo Ganna has seemed off his best in recent time trials by simply losing three of them in a row. All realize his biggest goal of the season will be the Olympic TT in Tokyo, but how would he fair here today? Both starting only a minute apart, were we already seeing a pre-Tokyo showdown? There was small and compact and spritely Evenepoel zipping and zooming along the course like a hummingbird; while Top Ganna smashed the pedals every stroke like the Incredible Hulk. They came through the intermediate ctime check within two seconds of each other, and on pace for the best times of the day. Evenepoel looked so light and efficient, sleek and smooth, swimming through the air, gliding at high speeds like an X-Wing through the Deathstar’s Trench. Alternatively, Top Ganna was barreling through every turn with the force of a bowling ball rolling a strike, or a cannonball bashing a hole in a ship’s hull; he cruised down the straightaways like a bulky fighter engine primed to break the sound barrier ten-times over. Yes, the contrasting styles were on full display, and it was beautiful to watch. But before any realized it—for we were in such a trance watching both the praiseworthy performances—Remco Evenepoel came down the final straightaway to finish in a time of 9:06 to about match his Quickstep teammates, Almeida and Cavagna. Remco faded a little bit in the second half. He would not win the day, but he did get his Giro GC campaign off on the right foot: already 20 seconds on Simon Yates and Egan Bernal, the only others with smaller Overall Odds.

In less than a minute after Remco crossed the finish line, the other trance-inducing one, Filipo Ganna—who was born to be a time trialist—scorched down the final straightaway. Last year, he won the Opening Stage Time Trial in Palermo, here in Turin he would go two-for-two. Where Remco positive split the second half, Ganna had a superb and stunning negative split. He crushed Affini’s second-place 8:57 time by a full 10 seconds—an incredibly wide winning margin over only 8.6km. Affini literally tipped his hat to this Top Ganna. Ah! Correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe we have not seen such Opening TT dominance since the days of Monsieur Prologue, Chris Boardman. Yes, this Filipo Ganna is something else! Surely, Tokyo is the top goal this year, but of course he shall not roll over on home roads. O! Tokyo is not until late July, now it is May! Now it is time for the Giro with a beautiful maglia rosa prize on the line. Yes, with this Time Trial victory Ganna begins his second stint in Pink. The maglia rosa looks O! so good on everyone, but I noted last year that Ganna looked particularly stylish—perhaps even as good as a certain Musketeer looks in Yellow. O! How excited I am to see him again in the Pink Jersey tomorrow as the Giro d’Italia properly begins its journey.

Historic Turin served up a tasty appetizer, a well-run opening ceremony. It was an excellent time to spotlight Turin’s gravitas and significance to the Giro and all Italian history. But with its completion, let the real adventure—the yearly Italian Odyssey—properly begin.