Ineos is in command again: Tao conquers the Giro d’Italia

He Ineos is back. The Milan time trial closed the 2020 Giro with another success from Filippo Ganna and the pink jersey for Tao Geoghegan Hart. The British team ended their participation in the round with seven stage victories (four for Ganna, two for Hart and one for Narváez) and the overall, the first big for the 25-year-old Londoner. And without Geraint Thomas, called to lead this block, retired after breaking his pelvis in a fall on the neutralized Etna. He Egan Bernal’s Tour puncture, saved by a win by Michal Kwiatkowski in La Roche-sur-Foron, is already archived with the second title of the structure in Italy, after Chris Froome’s in 2018. The Vuelta is missing, with Richard Red carapace. We will see cohabitation, although Tao’s contract expires in December. Meanwhile, Ineos has 20 goals this season.

CAT took 39 seconds to Jai Hindley, who went out to compete on the final day with the weight of the leadership. For the first time in Grand Tour history, the top two finishers were tied on the last day, so the accounts were easy. Geoghegan Hart is more specialist than Hindley and imposed a strong superiority. He only donned the jersey once throughout the 21 stages, when it counts most: at the top of the Milan box. With a hell of a beat, Rohan Dennis was decisive in the Stelvio and Sestriere to burst the group of favorites and win the race.

Wilco Kelderman finished third, at 1:29. Surely the Sunweb could better manage Hindley and KeldermanAs happened to Sky with Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins in the 2011 Vuelta. Loyalty to the boss, in this case the Dutchman, deprived the Australian of total freedom of movement. Juanjo Cobo (later dispossessed by doping) raised the portfolio to Froome, second, and Wiggins, third, in that Vuelta. In this Giro, something similar happened with Tao. Of course, the Sunweb and Hindley demonstrated their professionalism by maintaining their commitment and their loyalty to Kelderman, who will leave for Bora in 2021.

Joao Almeida (at 2:57) snatched fourth place from Pello Bilbao (at 3:09). Despite his regularity, the Basque deflated little by little as the test progressed. However, it is his best position in a big round (in 2018 he finished sixth at the Giro), a worthwhile performance after working for Mikel Landa on the Tour. For his part, the Portuguese presented his visiting card to the international squad at 22, 15 days in pink. With second-row protagonists, positive for COVID-19 from cyclists, doubts and plagues, but the Giro ended at the peak of the pandemic in Italy. La Vuelta will throw the curtain on the atypical 2020.