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Our column that, between the serious and the funny, traces the balance of the day that just ended in Tour of Italy 2020.
UPPER PART
Filippo Ganna (Grenadiers of Ineos): Your magic moment continues. And his collection of jerseys: first the tricolor in the time trial of the National Championships, then the conquest of the world champion in the World Imola 2020, finally today he takes the Maglia Rosa dominating, managing to withstand the pressure of being the number one favorite, inauguration of the 2020 Giro d’Italia. There are no more adjectives to describe a rider who is a candidate to become one of the greatest exponents of the discipline of all time, assuming that he is not already. The first Rose is a more deserved satisfaction with a thought to your Region tormented by bad weather.
João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep): The young Portuguese is the real surprise of the day. He did it big, a few cents better than the other surprise Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates), and he lasted a long time on the bench, cherishing the great dream. He just gives in to a great Ganna but if a good day starts in the morning, we could be in front of a rider who can give us more surprises for the next three weeks.
Geraint Thomas (Grenadiers of Ineos): The best of the big names. It was predictable but the Welshman confirmed his good form, stopping just one second from the podium of the day. He set aside the first lead of this Corsa Rosa, winning 25 seconds over Simon Yates, more than a minute over Vincenzo Nibali and almost a minute and a half over Jakob Fuglsang. It was his field, but starting like this is not bad at all.
FAILURE
Rohan Dennis (Grenadiers of Ineos): The real disappointment today. Much more would have been expected from a specialist like him. The Australian sways dangerously due to the strong wind and closes 48 seconds behind his partner. The former world champion seems overshadowed by the voluminous and, above all, winning presence of Filippo Ganna who has now unseated him from the throne of the world’s best chronomancer.
Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma): Today was certainly not the exit that the Dutchman expected. His Giro d’Italia already begins with a fairly strong handicap against two of the favorites, Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates, although after all his result is not so different from other big names. The fact that he hasn’t run for a month and a half is the main mitigating factor for the 33-year-old’s poor test, who will have time and a way to make up for it.
Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe): In the end, he is the worst of the men in the ranking. He pays two minutes behind the winner of the day Filippo Ganna, but they are already 1’37 ”behind Thomas, and there are still two time trials left in this Giro. The Pole will necessarily have to invent something to try to make up for some of the time lost today, perhaps starting from Monday’s stage with the arrival at Etna.
