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On Saturday morning, the scirocco wind made its rebellious presence felt in the heart of Palermo, rattling the shutters of Via Maqueda, sweeping newspapers through Piazza Politeama, flapping tablecloths outside the cafes around the Teatro Massimo.
The wind was even more persistent in the exposed fall of the Cathedral of Monreale to the city itself, raising all kinds of decisions about strategy and equipment for the 176 participants in the opening time trial stage of the 2020 Giro d’Italia. At the end of the day , the decisions made, in particular regarding the start times, were confirmed by the results sheet.
You don’t really need a “meteorologist to know which way the wind is blowing,” but Bob Dylan forgot to add that it does help to find a meteorologist who knows when it is blowing the strongest. The generals men who raced with a very favorable wind in the middle of the order, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), performed considerably better than those who had the breeze against them at the end, such as Vincenzo. Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) and Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Team Sky were heartily talked about as the smartest guys in the room when they entered pro cycling in 2010 and the schadenfreude was not lacking as Bradley Wiggins rode the Tour de France prologue in a deluge after being sent down the starting ramp early expressly. to avoid the rain.
A decade later, Ineos’ ability to decipher isobars appears to have greatly improved. Both Thomas and stage winner Filippo Ganna set out before 3pm local time, and although the gusty wind was barely negligible at that point in the afternoon, their direction had apparently changed when Nibali, Kruijswijk and others boarded the course during a time. then.
Ganna was a dominant stage winner; indeed, his strength was such that he could have won even if he had run with an open parachute strapped to his back. Thomas finished fourth on stage, 23 seconds behind, and won time over all of his established rivals in the overall standings. His mid-afternoon start partner Simon Yates (17th, 49sec away) limited his losses to Thomas well, but the Welshman has built up surprising leads early on over all the other pre-race favorites.
Nibali (69th at 1:29) has lost 1:03 to Thomas, while Kruijswijk (96th at 1:44) is already 1:21 behind the Ineos driver, with Fuglsang (100th at 1:47) 3 seconds more behind. Majka lost 1:37 to Thomas.
Of course, there are 20 stages to go and 20 days in which the soft flapping of butterfly wings can quickly turn into hurricanes, but the gaps are still notable. A minute or more is not easily recovered in modern cycling, at least before accumulated fatigue begins to take its toll in week three.
“The forecast was that the wind was a little less in the afternoon, but in the end, it didn’t turn out that way,” Kruijswijk said afterward. “I realized that I was not getting the travel speed that I was in recon. It’s not a good feeling, but it is what it is.
“You also saw that the drivers who started around the same time as me also lost a lot of time. Thomas took advantage of the advantage from the beginning. “
Saturday’s time trial was Kruijswijk’s first race since he broke his scapula at the Dauphiné, but he said the injury didn’t bother him as much as the first field he had given up. “The only thing that bothers me right now is 1:30 or whatever on Thomas,” he said. “We have to wait and see where we can get it back. But fortunately, we still have time. “
Nibali’s disappointment was obvious as he crossed the finish line, though he struck a more optimistic note in a statement released by his Trek-Segafredo team about an hour later, declaring himself “satisfied” with a performance that he deemed “online.” with the expectations we have ”.
Considering how well Nibali did in all three time trials at last year’s Giro and given the presence of another 50km of time trials later in this year’s race, his deficit here is sure to be cause for concern. Like Kruijswijk, he felt that the wind accounted for a considerable part of his losses.
“In general, the only note to highlight at this stage is the wind factor which, numbers in hand, greatly affected the final results,” said Nibali. “Having said that, we guide Thomas through his performance, and now let’s look at the next stages.”
In addition to losing ground to Thomas, Fuglsang is now also nearly half a minute behind his stablemate Aleksandr Vlasov (54th at 1:20 on stage). The Astana pair presented a united front before the race, but falling behind an ambitious teammate early on can leave a man feeling cornered, as Mikel Landa was able to attest after last year. Fuglsang will also have to dispense with the support of Miguel Ángel López, who was forced to leave after a heavy fall in the time trial.
The road ahead
Despite the big differences, it is usually not wise to extrapolate too much from the opening time trial of a Grand Tour, even one as long as this one, and in a race with two more stages against the clock to come. The largely downhill nature of the route made this a different kind of test than the 35km time trial to Valdobbiadene on stage 14 or the short flat race to Milan on the final day.
Still, the performances of Thomas and Yates seem to confirm their demonstrations at Tirreno-Adriatico last month. The high mountains will present another kind of challenge, of course, but the British pair seem ready and are backed by two of the strongest teams in the Giro.
“It’s funny because when a time trial is as short and fast as that, you think there will be no gaps, but when you have to put out a lot of power, I think there can be pretty big gaps,” Thomas said. “I don’t think you can read too much, but we’ll see. There are many difficult days left. “
Another surprising performance was that of João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep), the neo-professional whose light has been hidden under the bushel of Remco Evenepoel’s enthusiasm for much of the season. The Portuguese was second here, a second ahead of Thomas. In the absence of Evenepoel, the 22-year-old will have the opportunity to explore his own skills as a general driver in Italy. The latest omens are promising: he was third in the Vuelta a Burgos, second in the Giro dell’Emila and third in the Settimana Coppi e Bartali.
“Remco is stronger than me and I would have supported him. It’s a bit more open without him, ”said Almeida, who is a short distance from the Pink sweater in the uphill final on Sunday in Agrigento. “Who knows? Everything is a possibility.”
It’s also a thought to sustain those who lost on Saturday, even if the downhill time trial in Palermo has left Nibali, Kruijswijk and others with an extra mountain to climb at this Giro. The redesigned route of the rescheduled race requires the contestants to start running. They will expect better when they take on Etna on Monday.
