The ‘Condor’ tried to cross first at the top of the climb, but lost by a few centimeters to Giulio Pellizzari (Bardiani CSF), the same Italian rider who came second in the stage on Tuesday over Daniel Felipe Martínez and received Tadej Pogačar’s pink shirt as a gift.
Nairo demonstrates with this movement that he is better than ever and is excited about a victory that has eluded Colombia in the two and a half weeks played so far in the pink corsa.
After having worked for Einer Rubio in stage 16, Nairo warned that his hopes were pinned on Wednesday, however, no one expected him to go out so early to work to bring another joy to the country.
“The idea was to leave him there with a few men and let him defend himself a little. He wanted to be a little further ahead. Today it was not possible, let’s wait for tomorrow“said Nairo after reaching the finish line in Monte Pana under extreme conditions of cold and rain that caused the immediately previous day to be shortened.
If Nairo had reached 100% for the Giro d’Italia, there is no doubt that he would be fighting for a place in the ‘Top 10’, as he has proven to have enough strength to fight with the best in the mountains and has dared to attack in a career that has had Pogačar as an undisputed figure.
His participation in the Giro came to be in doubt, however, hard work with therapies in Colombia allowed him to return in time to enter the call for the telephone squad.
Unfortunately, in the first days of the race he was attacked by respiratory allergies and this caused his position in the general classification to fall dramatically by more than 30 minutes from the leader. But everything changed after the first day of rest, when Nairo warned that he was beginning to feel better and went on the attack in search of a break that would allow him to reach the last kilometers with options.
After trying so much, the strategy worked last Sunday on the climb to Livigno. With two kilometers to go he was first alone, but Pogačar caught up with him and surpassed him by just 29 seconds, which prevented him from winning.
Despite the defeat, Nairo warned that he would continue trying and kept his promise this Wednesday standing on pedals to unleash chaos on a 17th stage that was marked on the climbers’ calendar since the official route was announced by the Giro organization. from Italy at the end of last year.
